The guerrillas were convinced that the collapse had been purposely
engineered by federal troops and became enraged. One of the women
killed was the eldest sister of William Anderson. Anderson, by now a
leader of a guerrilla band, is said to have been driven insane with a
lust for revenge. It is said that, after the jail collapse, he would
ride into battle weeping his sister's name and that he claimed that
he would never spare a federal. From that time on, there was no
return to "civilized" warfare for Anderson.
A little over a week after the jail collapse Anderson joined with
other guerrilla bands under the leadership of William Clarke
Quantrill for a raid into Lawrence, Kansas. By the end of August, the
federal commander, General Ewing, issued Order Number 11, which
effectively expelled all citizens from the western border of Missouri
and confiscated their property to federal authorities.
Waging war on the civilian population only galvanized the guerrillas
in their efforts to expel the federal occupation force. Anderson
moved to central Missouri where he could find more Confederate
sympathizers to supply and hide his band. In central Missouri his
guerrillas concentrated on disrupting communications and supplies to
the union forces. In 1864 his primary target was the railroad system
that tied Hannibal, St. Louis and St. Joseph, Missouri. His
guerrillas made several raids in towns along the Missouri and Grand
Rivers as well. They recruited for the regular Confederate army and
for their own forces. Union forces were at a disadvantage since the
population tended to side with the guerrillas providing supplies,
hiding places, and intelligence about union troop movements.
In late September of 1864, the union commander in the area, General
Fisk, issued orders to teach the Confederate sympathizers a lesson.
Some say that Anderson had been notified of these orders and had
suspected the town of Centralia, Missouri as a probable target of a
Union raid.
On 27 September, Anderson led his men into Centralia to collect
supplies and disrupt the railroad station. They found the rail
schedule and noticed a train was due so they stayed in the station in
order to rob the train. Anderson's guerrillas blocked the rail
forcing the train to stop. They boarded the train and began robbing
the passengers when they discovered 25 union soldiers on furlough
from General William Sherman's command in the southeast. The soldiers
were lined up beside the train, stripped of their uniforms, and
executed. The guerrillas would often wear stolen union uniforms in
order to ambush federal patrols so they took the uniforms and left
town suspecting a federal force was likely on the way.
In fact, a company of about 150 union troops had been on Anderson's
trail for some time and was not far behind them. They followed
Anderson's trail to just south of Centralia. Often the guerrillas
would send out a small group of their band to lure their enemy into a
trap. This tactic worked once again as some of Anderson's men lured
the federal patrol into a field surrounded by trees on three sides.
When the federals came into the field, they found themselves
surrounded by guerrilla forces that had been hiding in the trees
around the field. Several guerrilla leaders had joined forces to
annihilate the federal patrol. The guerrillas charged and killed
federals by the score giving no quarter to those attempting to
surrender. They pursued and killed the troops that attempted to
escape. Some guerrillas even scalped their victims.
After the battle the guerrilla bands separated again to elude their
pursuers. Anderson and his command headed west along the Missouri
river taking one of the federal troops from the train as a hostage to
be exchanged for one of their men being held in federal prison. They
continued to kill union militia and sympathizers along the way. By
October, Anderson's band was camping in the little town of Albany,
Missouri, just north of the modern-day town of Orrick. Federal troops
attacked the guerrilla camp and the guerrillas responded with a
daring charge led by Anderson. Anderson rode right through the
federal lines bullets whizzing around him but as he passed through
the lines his horse slowed and he dropped to the ground. The other
guerrillas, realizing their bold leader had been killed, scattered in
all directions.
The federal troops took Anderson's body to Richmond where a series of
ghoulish photographs were taken. He was buried in an unmarked grave
in Richmond and in the evening federal troops were said to have been
seen urinating on his grave. The federals found flowers on the grave
a few days later and road their horses over and over the grave in an
attempt to hide it. Just a few years ago, a simple marker was placed
on his grave in what is now called the Pioneer Cemetery in Richmond,
Missouri.
After his death, William Anderson gained the now familiar
nickname, "Bloody Bill." It is said that in war the winners write the
official history and so it is with Anderson. He has been remembered
