Centralia Massacre (Missouri)

Centralia Massacre
Location	Centralia, Missouri
Date	September 27, 1864 (1864-09-27) 9:00 a.m.
Target	Union soldiers
Attack type	Mass execution
Deaths	24
Perpetrators	Bushwhackers led by William T. Anderson
No. of participants	~80

Battle of Centralia
Part of the American Civil War
Date September 27, 1864 (1864-09-27) Location Centralia, Missouri Result Confederate States victory
Belligerents
Confederate States	United States
Commanders and leaders
William T. Anderson	A.V.E. Johnston †
Units involved
Bushwhackers	39th Missouri Infantry Regiment
Strength
80 mounted guerrillas	155 mounted troops
Casualties and losses
unknown most likely very few	123

The Centralia Massacre was an incident during the American Civil War in which twenty-four unarmed Union soldiers were captured and executed at Centralia, Missouri on September 27, 1864 by the pro-Confederate guerrilla leader William T. Anderson. Future outlaw Jesse James was among the guerrillas.

In the ensuing Battle of Centralia, a large detachment of Union mounted infantry attempted to intercept Anderson, but nearly all of them were killed in combat.

In the fall of 1864, the Confederates, faced with a rapidly deteriorating position, launched an invasion of northern Missouri. It was led by General Sterling Price and his Missouri State Guard. The object was to influence the 1864 presidential election by capturing St. Louis and the state capital at Jefferson City. As part of his strategy, Price encouraged guerrilla warfare, especially the disruption of the railroads. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and his guerrilla company were among those who took part.

On September 23, 1864, Anderson engaged in a skirmish in Boone County, Missouri, seven miles east of Rocheport. His men managed to kill eleven Federal soldiers and three black civilian teamsters. The Federals responded the next day by shooting six of Anderson's men who were captured at a home in Rocheport.

That same day, September 24, Anderson attacked the pro-Union town of Fayette, losing thirteen killed and more than thirty wounded. Only one Union soldier had been killed and two wounded.

At 9:00 a.m. on September 27, Anderson with about 80 guerrillas, some dressed in stolen Union Army uniforms, moved into Centralia to cut the North Missouri Railroad. The guerrillas looted the town and reportedly drank whiskey from stolen boots. Anderson blocked the rail line, and the engineer of an approaching train failed to realize it until too late, since the men he saw were wearing blue uniforms. The guerrillas swarmed over the train. The 125 passengers were divided between civilians and soldiers. A total of 23 Union soldiers were aboard, all on leave after the Battle of Atlanta and heading to their homes in northwest Missouri or southwest Iowa.

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