THE BATTLE OF CENTRALIA

ON September 27, 1864, Bloody Bill Anderson and about 80 men took over the small railroad village of Centralia, looting stores and discovering a barrel of whiskey that they hauled out into the street. Wild enough when sober, they soon were roaring drunk.

A.V.E. Johnston, the Union major who led his men against Bloody Bill outside town Courtesy Mark Boardman

They robbed the passengers of a stagecoach and then stopped an express train on the North Missouri Railroad full of 125 passengers and 25 Union soldiers on furlough from Sherman’s army, which had recently taken Atlanta. The passengers were robbed and the soldiers stripped and brutally gunned down except for one sergeant who Anderson intended to keep as a possible hostage exchange. They then torched the train, tied down the whistle and sent it roaring down the tracks. They burned the depot and another train before leaving in the early afternoon.

Centralia Butchery Mark Lee Gardner makes a good suggestion to bring accounts of the killing and "read them to the wind!"
Illustrations by Bob Boze Bell

A detachment of about 147 Union troops from the 39th Missouri Mounted Infantry, led by A.V.E. Johnston, subsequently pursued Anderson and his men, closing in on the bushwhackers around 4 p.m. They were mounted on horses confiscated from “disloyal persons.” In other words, they were riding horses they had purloined from secessionist sympathizers. They were armed with muzzleloading Enfield rifles, while the Bushwhackers were armed with multiple pistols.

FRANK JAMES

Bushwhacker Dave Pool lured the detachment to an open field above a creek bottom about three miles southeast of Centralia. The Union troops dismounted and formed a skirmish line. The rebels, some 225 strong, came out of the trees on the jump, charging up the hill. Two bushwhackers were hit on the first volley from Johnston’s men, but most of the shots went high. The Federals never had a chance to reload.

BLOODY BILL ANDERSON