Centralia Massacre (Missouri)

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.[1]

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, but the attack was a failure. Thirteen of Anderson’s men were killed and more than thirty were wounded. Only one Union soldier had been killed and two wounded.[2]

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.[3] 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 24 Union soldiers were aboard, all on leave after the Battle of Atlanta and heading to their homes in northwest Missouri or southwest Iowa.

The Union soldiers were ordered at gunpoint to strip off their uniforms. Anderson called for an officer. Sergeant Thomas Goodman bravely stepped forward, expecting to be shot and the rest spared. Instead, Anderson's men ignored Goodman and began shooting the others. The bodies were then mutilated and scalped. The guerrillas then set fire to the train and sent it running down the tracks toward Sturgeon, Missouri. They torched the depot and rode away from the town.[4] Sergeant Goodman was taken prisoner on Anderson's orders, with the plan that he would be exchanged later for one of Anderson's own men held prisoner by Federal forces. Goodman spent ten days in the captivity of the guerrillas before escaping at night as they prepared to cross the Missouri River, near Rocheport.[5]

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	147 mounted troops
Casualties and losses
3 killed, 10 wounded	123 killed, 1 wounded

At about 3:00 p.m., Union Major Andrew Vern Emen Johnston, with 146 men of the newly formed 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Mounted), rode into Centralia.[6] He was a former school teacher without much military experience.[7] The townspeople warned him that Anderson had at least 80 well-armed men, but Johnston nevertheless led his men in pursuit. The Union soldiers soon encountered the guerrillas, and Johnston decided to fight them on foot. He ordered his men to dismount and form a line of battle.[8]

He then reportedly called out a challenge. Anderson's men replied by making a mounted charge. Armed with muzzle loading Enfield rifles, the Federal recruits were no match for the guerrillas with their revolvers. Johnston's first volley killed several guerrillas, but then his men were overrun. Most were shot down as they attempted to flee. According to Frank James, his younger brother Jesse fired the shot that killed Major Johnston. Of the 147 Union soldiers, 123 were killed during the battle with only one man wounded.[9] Confederate forces lost three men killed and ten wounded.[10][5][11]

On September 28, 1864, in a letter to Union Gen. William Rosecrans, Union Brig.-Gen. Clinton B. Fisk suggested depopulation and devastation in retribution for the massacre,

I had the honor to write you fully under yesterday's date, since which time my telegrams have advised you of the disasters at Centralia. The capture of the railway train, the inhuman slaughter of the defenseless soldiers thereon, the robbery of the passengers, the burning of the moving train, and the indignities visited upon helpless women must be regarded as one of the chief barbarisms of the war. ... We have in these counties not only the resident rebels, but in addition a large proportion of those who, by Gen. Ewing's order, were last year expelled from Johnson, Jackson, and other border counties. Depopulation and devastation are extreme measures, but if this infernal warfare continues it will be humane and economic of human life to adopt and vigorously enforce such measures wherever the bushwhackers have more friends than the government.[12]

• Battle of Fort Pillow, a similar event five months earlier
• Battle of Baxter Springs

• Goodman, Thomas M. A thrilling record: Founded on facts and observations obtained during ten days' experience with Colonel William T. Anderson (the notorious guerrilla chieftain). Des Moines, Iowa: Mills & Co., 1868.
• The Carnage at Centralia, in Switzler, William F. History of Boone County, Missouri: Written and Comp. from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources; Including a History of Its Townships, Towns, and Villages. Together with a Condensed History of Missouri; the City of St. Louis ... Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Prominent Citizens. St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1882, pp. 439-467.

• Centralia Battlefield
• The Civil War in Missouri - Animated battle
• Listing of names at Jefferson City National Cemetery, Cole County, Missouri where 79 Federal Soldiers killed at Centralia are buried
• Thomas D. Thiessen, Douglas D. Scott and Steven J. Dasovich. "This Work of Fiends": Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on the Confederate Guerrilla Actions at Centralia, Missouri, September 27, 1864, Lincoln Nebraska, March 2008