Massacre, Centralia

On September 27, 1864, during the American Civil War, Confederate bushwhackers led by William T. Anderson executed 24 Union army soldiers they had taken prisoner in Centralia, Missouri. Among those responsible for the killings was Jesse James, who would later become an outlaw. The violence continued when a sizable force of Union mounted infantry moved to cut off Anderson, resulting in the Battle of Centralia, in which almost all of these soldiers lost their lives in the fighting.

Background

By 1864, Confederate forces found themselves in a worsening military situation, prompting General Sterling Price to lead the Missouri State Guard into northern Missouri as an invading force. This campaign aimed at swaying that year's presidential election through seizing St. Louis along with Jefferson City, the seat of state government. Price's broader plan involved encouraging guerrilla activity, particularly efforts aimed at disrupting rail lines. Among the irregular fighters answering this call was "Bloody Bill" Anderson, leading his own band of guerrillas.

A skirmish broke out on September 23, 1864, when Anderson's forces clashed with Union troops in Boone County, located seven miles from Rocheport. Eleven Union soldiers and three civilian teamsters lost their lives in the fighting. Retaliation came swiftly: the following day, Union forces executed six of Anderson's men after capturing them at a house in Rocheport.

That same day, September 24, Anderson turned his attention to Fayette, a town loyal to the Union, but his assault there ended in defeat. Thirteen of his men died in the failed attack, and wounds were sustained by more than 30 others. Union casualties proved far lighter, with only one soldier killed and two others wounded.

Massacre

At nine in the morning on September 27, Anderson led roughly eighty guerrillas into Centralia intending to sever the North Missouri Railroad. Several wore uniforms stolen from U.S. Army soldiers. The band ransacked the town, and stories circulated afterward that they had guzzled whiskey poured into looted boots.

Having cut the rail line, Anderson set a trap that the engineer of an incoming train never spotted until it was too late, since the figures ahead appeared to be clad in blue like Union troops. The guerrillas overran the train and split its 125 passengers into two groups, soldiers and civilians. Among those aboard were 24 Union soldiers, all traveling home to northwest Missouri or southwest Iowa on leave following the fighting at Atlanta.

At gunpoint, the guerrillas forced the soldiers to shed their uniforms. Anderson demanded that any officer present come forward, and Sergeant Thomas Goodman obliged, believing his sacrifice might spare his comrades. His gesture accomplished nothing, however, as Anderson's men turned their guns on the remaining soldiers and killed them, then scalped and mutilated the corpses.

Afterward, the guerrillas set the train ablaze and let it roll unmanned toward Sturgeon, Missouri. They also burned the local depot before riding off. Goodman alone was spared, held on Anderson's orders as a bargaining chip meant for a future exchange for one of Anderson's own men then in Union custody. He remained a captive for ten days until he slipped away one night near Rocheport, just as his captors readied to cross the Missouri River.

Battle of Centralia

Around three in the afternoon, Major Andrew Vern Emen Johnston of the Union Army, a onetime schoolteacher with little combat background, brought 146 troops from the freshly organized 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Mounted) into the town of Centralia. Local residents cautioned him that Anderson commanded a force of no fewer than eighty heavily armed fighters, yet Johnston pressed forward regardless, setting off after the raiders. When contact was made with the guerrillas, Johnston chose to engage them on foot rather than horseback, instructing his troops to dismount and organize into a battle line.

Accounts hold that Johnston issued a challenge to the opposing side. Anderson's fighters answered not with words but by launching a charge on horseback. The federal recruits, equipped only with muzzle-loading Enfield rifles, stood little chance against opponents wielding revolvers. Although Johnston's opening volley cut down a number of the attackers, his line quickly collapsed under the assault. As the soldiers broke and tried to escape, the vast majority were gunned down. Frank James later claimed that it was his younger brother Jesse who fired the fatal shot that brought down Major Johnston. Out of 147 Union troops present, 123 lost their lives in the clash, and just a single soldier was left wounded. On the Confederate side, losses amounted to three killed and ten wounded.

Aftermath

Writing to General William Rosecrans on September 28, 1864, Union Brigadier General Clinton B. Fisk pressed for a harsh response to the killings, one that would strip the region of its people and lay it waste. He noted that he had already given a full account the day before, and that his telegrams since then had kept Rosecrans informed of the calamity at Centralia. To Fisk's mind, few episodes of the war matched what had happened there for sheer cruelty: the train seized, the soldiers aboard cut down though they could not defend themselves, the passengers stripped of their belongings, the cars set ablaze while still moving, and the women aboard subjected to further abuses. He pointed out that the counties in question sheltered not just local rebels but also many of those who had been driven out of Johnson, Jackson, and other border counties the previous year under Gen. Ewing's order. Depopulation and devastation, he acknowledged, were drastic remedies, yet he argued that if the brutal fighting persisted, applying them firmly wherever bushwhackers commanded more loyalty than the government did would ultimately save lives and prove the more merciful course.