Centralia Massacre

[D Pace]

My questions may sound naïve because I'm new to this. Was Bill Anderson actually a confederate soldier, or just murderous outlaw under the veil of the confederacy?

 

[archieclement]

Its somewhat debated as he was a controversial character, so there is those who try to pretend otherwise.

But best I have determined is Quantrills company was sworn into Confederate service in 1862. Which would make anyone they then recruited Confederate soldiers as they were recruited by confederate officers. He is often recognised as a Capt in Confederate service.

Nor have I seen any record suggesting Quantrill or any of the active partisan rangers having been either court martialed or mustered out of the service.

One could be an outlaw or criminal while being in either sides service. For example most jayhawkers were in Union service while not following laws as well. Both sides certainly had militias operating under questionable practices as well. There's certainly wasn't a shortage of people on both sides who violated civil or military law, or both during the war who never faced any criminal charges or legal accountability.

Both sides seemed to grant even more latitude to forces behind lines, out of both necessity and practicability.

 

[Patrick H]

As @archieclement has written, he was a very controversial guerrilla leader. Many historians believe he was totally unhinged and insane with hatred after his little sister was killed in the Kansas City jail collapse. William Gregg (another guerrilla leader in Quantrill's band) said he rode into combat frothing at the mouth. I suspect he was murderous at times. He condoned scalping. I have no doubt he was brutal most of the time. I believe he was responsible for most of the excesses at Lawrence. He and his men no doubt scouted for General Price at times. If you use the term "Bloody Bill Anderson" in the presence of one lady I know, she will say "You mean Captain Anderson..." I'm not sure any of this answers your question. I think Anderson's status is largely a matter of opinion. I know I would not have wanted to be on his bad side.

 

[Fairfield]

Consider the different treatments of the corpses of "Bloody Bill" and his sometime colleague, William Quantrill. After Quantrill died in a Union hospital, his body was accorded a decent burial in Louisville. When Anderson died, his body was dragged through the streets. His Union contemporaries had widely different opinions on two man who appeared to have been similar.

 

[ErnieMac]

IMO Anderson was a Confederate officer who was responsible for a number of reprehensible acts. There were a number of men on both sides who acted similarly.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Thought some pertinent points were made about Anderson throughout this thread.

Without attempting to analyze his mindset, and whether he was insane or otherwise, nor the reasons for his behavior, there is no doubting that the ways in which Anderson performed his murderous actions were excessive/extreme and nefarious. No doubting too, that the lawless conditions (in Kansas and Missouri) where he mainly operated, were conducive to such acts of savagery and wanton killings being committed.

Am unsure, though, about the validity of his officer rank status in the Confederate service. Interestingly, however, in one of his letters, dated July 7, 1864, to newspapers editors in Lexington (MO), he wrote, ..."I am a guerrilla. I have never belonged to the Confederate Army, nor do my men. A good many of them are from Kansas."...('OR': Series 1, Vol. XLI, Part II, at page 75).

In another letter he wrote that same day, addressed to Union General Egbert Brown, he ended it with his name, followed by the designated title, 'Commanding Kansas First Guerrillas'. ('OR': Vol. XLI, Part II, at page 77). There was no mention here of any rank status.

Significantly also, I thought, these documented references above by Anderson were made when his career in irregular warfare was well-advanced (he was killed shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1864).

 

[D Pace]

I am a descendant of one of the Union soldiers killed at Centralia, Edward Milburn Pace, 1st Regiment Missouri Engineers. Edward was furloughed, and on his way home at the time. There is a very interesting short book by Sgt. Thomas Goodman, who was also on the train and was taken hostage by Anderson and his men. It can be read online at the Internet Archives. Here is the link if anyone is interested:
A thrilling record: : founded on facts and observations obtained during ten days' experience with Colonel William T. Anderson (the notorious guerrilla chieftain,) : Goodman, Thomas M : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
I highly recommend it if you have interest in the event.

 

[archieclement]

Thought some pertinent points were made about Anderson throughout this thread.

Without attempting to analyze his mindset, and whether he was insane or otherwise, nor the reasons for his behavior, there is no doubting that the ways in which Anderson performed his murderous actions were excessive/extreme and nefarious. No doubting too, that the lawless conditions (in Kansas and Missouri) where he mainly operated, were conducive to such acts of savagery and wanton killings being committed.

Am unsure, though, about the validity of his officer rank status in the Confederate service. Interestingly, however, in one of his letters, dated July 7, 1864, to newspapers editors in Lexington (MO), he wrote, ..."I am a guerrilla. I have never belonged to the Confederate Army, nor do my men. A good many of them are from Kansas."...('OR': Series 1, Vol. XLI, Part II, at page 75).

In another letter he wrote that same day, addressed to Union General Egbert Brown, he ended it with his name, followed by the designated title, 'Commanding Kansas First Guerrillas'. ('OR': Vol. XLI, Part II, at page 77). There was no mention here of any rank status.

Significantly also, I thought, these documented references above by Anderson were made when his career in irregular warfare was well-advanced (he was killed shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1864).

I would think that when he was killed he was bearing orders to Capt Anderson from a Confederate Major General also rather significant. The Confederacy recognized him as such on Oct 11th 1864 evidently.

Special order
Headquarters Army of Missouri
Boonville, Oct 11th 1864

Captain Anderson with his command will at once proceed to the north side of the Missouri River and permanently destroy the North Missouri Railroad, going as far east as practicable. He will report his operations every two days.

By order of Major General Price
McLean
Lt Col and Assistant Adjutant General

 

[Patrick H]

I would think that when he was killed he was bearing orders to Capt Anderson from a Confederate Major General also rather significant. The Confederacy recognized him as such on Oct 11th 1864 evidently.

Special order
Headquarters Army of Missouri
Boonville, Oct 11th 1864

Captain Anderson with his command will at once proceed to the north side of the Missouri River and permanently destroy the North Missouri Railroad, going as far east as practicable. He will report his operations every two days.

By order of Major General Price
McLean
Lt Col and Assistant Adjutant General

General Price obviously treated Anderson as a Confederate soldier, but Price had an underlying reason for issuing this order.

Sergeant Goodman had just escaped from Anderson in the thickets of Howard County, Missouri, while Anderson's band was crossing the Missouri River in skiffs and swimming their horses behind. In "A Thrilling Record" he describes how he simply slipped away into the bush as the men were busy and distracted. He walked quietly at first, expecting to be shot in the back at any time. But he escaped undetected.

Meanwhile, Price had just captured my home town of Boonville, Missouri, with an enormous "army" of tag-alongs. Anderson and his men showed up sporting human scalps from the Centralia battlefield hanging from their bridles! Imagine the effect on Price's foot-sore troops when a couple hundred well-mounted horsemen rode into town with these bloody trophies hanging from their horse trappings! Price was horrified! He was striking to the west--toward Independence, and he was being shadowed by a sizeable Union force in the southern part of Cooper County. Price ordered Anderson "as far east as practicable," to get as much distance between them as was possible. Anderson more or less obeyed the order, striking east to the town of Danville. He then turned back westward and soon went to Glasgow, Missouri on a pillaging spree. Anderson was a bad actor--an effective guerrilla leader who followed no one else's orders unless they fit his own agenda.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Archieclement, thanks for pointing this out. Saw that too.

Price's order referred to him as 'Capt. Anderson', but this was a mere reference to, not an official appointment of, rank.

The question remains. Was Anderson validly appointed as a Captain in the Confederate Army? Or was the mention of this rank title in the order merely an honorable or convenient reference by Price temporarily designed for specific expeditious purposes?

It's difficult to reconcile any valid appointment to Captain being made (and accepted by Anderson himself), given his documented strong personal views expressed three months earlier (and elsewhere), disassociating himself and his men from any connection with the Confederate Army.

To me, the explanation above by Patrick H. makes sense. Price may have treated Anderson as a Captain for his own reasons, but I doubt that he was actually made a Captain in the Confederate military (unless there is some evidence showing otherwise).

 

[D Pace]

Thank you to everyone responding to my question regarding Bill Anderson and the Centralia Massacre. My takeaway from your knowledgeable responses supports my original personal opinion of William Anderson. His loyalty was to no other than himself, he was driven by hate, greed and revenge. His actions, whether directly or indirectly, resulted in the murder of hundreds of innocent people. His death did not come soon enough.
The following as a speech given by Edward M. Pace's nephew, Edward Alexander Pace, on Memorial Day 1907, in New Market Iowa.

Gentlemen of the Grand Army
It has been my sad pleasure to attend Memorial services on the thirtieth of May every year since Memorial Day was instituted by the Grand Army of the Republic to commemorate the heroism and bravery of their fallen comrades, and to recount the hardships that they endured, in the great struggle for the preservation of the Union, the liberty of themselves and their children.

Can you go to their graves? Sad to say, you cannot for they were buried where they fell in the old field, in the thicket, in the corn field, some on the mountain‑top and on the hillside, in the valley, down by the spring, in the dry creek, in the gutter in the old road, single and double and in groups and in piles in the sink‑holes.

These dead comrades of yours, they were buried where they fell, or not buried at all. Some of them were torn to pieces by blood‑hounds, in the gloomy swamps of Alabama, North Carolina, at the prison‑pens at Anderson Ville and Tyler Texas and no man knows their graves. For they were killed by Guerrillas, in the lonely woods, and assassinated by citizens when hunger drove them to some house in a clearing.

It is for these men I speak today, these one hundred and sixty thousand private soldiers who fill unknown graves. The private soldiers whose bodies were lain upon the altar of our country and whose blood was accepted as a part of the sacrifice and was offered as an atonement for the National sin. Each of you may stand at this mound and see under it the mangled form of your father, your brother, your cousin, or some dear friend, who went forth at his country's call, Alas ‑ never to return. This mound does not represent an Officer's grave, it is of the man of whom the old couple speaks, all quiet on the Cumberland tonight, not an officer lost, only a private or two moaning out alone the death rattle. These were the men whose memory cheered you on to the charge, to avenge whose death you rushed upon the sheets of flame that leaped from the cannons mouth and streamed from thousands of muskets. These were the men that fell by your
sides, amid the leaden hail, who died amid the roar and carnage of battle. They died as heroes die with their backs to the field and their feet to the foe.

___[missing]had incurred the anger of Almighty God. By the destruction of the liberties of a race of people we had imperiled our own liberty and the liberty of our children. We had to fight; the war was inevitable. It came and after four years of toil and strife and blood and carnage it ended but the root of the tree of liberty had been watered by the blood of five hundred thousand men. And it is a fitting tribute to their memory that you assemble once at least a year and recount their deeds of valor and commemorate their glorious death.

We have paid a great price for our liberty, and I am proud that I had an interest in that great price, that great sacrifice. I am proud that my father was a soldier and stood shoulder to you in that great struggle. You have passed in review the history of the events that immediately preceded that war. You have heard the shot at Sumpter and felt again the tingling sensation that thrilled you. At that time, you have again heard the bugles notes calling you to battle, again you hear the fierce music of the fife and drum, again you have enlisted and taken leave of father and mother, of wives and children, and of brothers and sisters and sweet‑hearts.

And you go into camp and soon you are drilled, and soon you are drawn out in lines of federal blue. You have marched down the Mississippi, you have been to Fort Donaldson, to Shilo, Vicksburg, Milliken's bend, Champion Hill and Iuka. You have been down on the Potomac and through the wilderness. You have been down on Stone River and heard the Rebel yell at Gettysburg. You have recounted the defeats and victories of four years of terrible war. But after each battle you had duty to perform, you had to bury the dead. Where did you bury those whose lives were accepted, whose blood was spilled.

The shackles that fell from four million of Negroes was only an incident of the war for the preservation of the principle of self-government. And your comrades that fell on the six hundred battle fields that dot the mountains, plains, hills, and valleys of the Southland died that the principle of government, by the people, for the people, should not perish from the earth. I know of no grander duty to our country than to teach patriotism and I know of no better way to teach patriotism than by holding up for example those who have died for liberty.


We assemble together on the Lords Day and listen to the old old story of the Cross. We look upon him who died to redeem us from spiritual bondage, whose blood was shed that we might escape the bondage of sin and ascend again from the vaults of the tomb and are made glad in our hearts, that we can have a part in that blood that was so freely shed and rejoice in feeling that the sacrifice was made in our behalf.

And we teach our children that it was necessary for Christ to die the death of the cross for without the effusion of blood there is no remission of sins. We as a nation had sinned. We as a nation had held a race of men in bondage. We had sold them, we had parted man and wife, and we had indeed denied him the most sacred relation in life, we had parted families, we had sold maidens on the auction block for enforced prostitution, we had robbed them, beat them, scourged them and shed their blood. Their blood was on our fathers, and on you their children, and it is written, who so shedeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed.

Our government had permitted a wrong ‑ a terrible wrong. It had shed the blood of a race of men. WE as a government and incidentally, the preservation of Liberty for the whole world. The issue for which you fought and for which your comrades died was of far more consequence than the freedom of the Negroes of the south. Human liberty was the vital issue at stake. Popular Government was on trial. Monarchists claimed that men are incapable of self‑government, that our Union was a rope of sand to be washed away by the waves of discord, brought about the clashing interests of different localities and conditions.

The contention of the South was well expressed in these words. I hold (said that great statesman Stephen A. Douglass) that this is a white mans Government, made by white men, for white men and their posterity forever. This was the feeling and sentiment that animated the southern soldier. His principle was the puritanical principle, liberty for himself, and was only racial in extent and confined to the white race. And a government built upon such a foundation cannot stand as was well stated by the immortal Lincoln, in answer to Douglass, a then famous statement. I hold said Mr. Lincoln That a house divided against itself cannot stand. This government cannot exist half slave and half free. It must become all slave or all free. So, you soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic in the great contest that was waged between the North and the South fought for the liberty of yourselves, the liberty of your children, but for the liberty of the whole world.

What thoughts of home, of loved ones, of mother, and wife and children and sweet‑hearts, flitted through their minds ere their sprits fled, we cannot tell. But the last sight their glazing eyes beheld was that starry‑banner, streaming above the blood-stained field. And the last sound that fell upon their ears was the shout of victory when the red field was won. And when the long roll was again beaten you felt that their souls were marching on and their spirits sang to in memories song:
But though my body moulder boys my spirit will be free, and every comrade's honor boys will still be dear to me, there in the thick and bloody fight near let your courage lag for I'll be there still hovering near above the dear old flag.
Yes, cover this mound with flowers and cherish their names as precious memories, let there be flowers for those that you love. Has anyone remembered John SEARS, the first from Memory Iowa to offer his life for his country who fell in the gray of the morning at Shilo. Yes there is a flower for Sears. Robert HOLIDAY too is remembered by some soldier friend. And Benson THOMPSON whose life‑blood stained the snow at Ft. Donaldson, he too is remembered at this hallowed spot. And Ben BROWN who fell at Kelley's ford. And Hiram CUNNING who sleeps on Champion Hill. And brave John MORGAN who rests with Perry MURRAY in the deep dark waters of the Mississippi. Did anyone think of Jonah (Done) REED who rests at Duvals Bluff whose last words were as he threw his wasted arms around his Captains neck, good‑bye Captain, tell Mother, God bless her for I am not coming home. Yes, there is a flower in memory of him from his mother's grave. And there is a flower for Andy CHAPLE who fell at Black River bridge. And there is one for poor Bob SIMMONS , Bob was not accounted as much but his name is on the roll of fame that is as lasting and eternal as the hills. And has John ELKINS been forgotten. I think I see a flower on this Unknown grave in kind remembrance. And ROSE and MEBLEY are not forgotten by their comrades. There is a bunch of flowers, a red rose and a white rose and a forget‑me‑not in hallowed memory of Sargent E. M. PACE (Uncle Milburn) who was killed at Centralia Missouri. In memory I can see him now. How I loved him How proud I was of my dashing uncle, so tall and manly. And I see him now, through history's eye on that fatal morning. I see him stand erect before that fatal line of murderous men. I see that smiling demon, Anderson, and I hear the calmly given command, Fire. I hear the murderous roar of the volley as it rolls out on the plains of Centralia. I hear the dull thud of the bullets. I see him fall and his blood, my kindred blood, blood spilled to cement together the union of the states, blood shed that his children and my children might always be free.

But why go on with the list, time fails but loving hearts will never fail and each returning year will witness the fact that they did not die in vain. And coming generations will remember them with gratitude and do honor to their memory. And Gentlemen of the Grand Army of the Republic, when you have answered the roll‑call on earth and sleep in the quiet grave the custom that you have instituted will be kept. And you too will be remembered by a grateful people and your graves will be yearly covered with natures adornment ‑ beautiful flowers. And when Revelry sounds on Eternity's Morn and your fallen come forth in their faded coats of blue you too will be there with your robes washed white in the blood of Christ and join with them in singing glad Hosanna to the Savior.
Edward Alexander Pace

 

[Nathan Stuart]

His loyalty was to no other than himself, he was driven by hate, greed and revenge.

Agree with this summation of him. And he was so consumed by this hate, greed and revenge, that it drove him into insanity. (My view).

 

[lupaglupa]

Agree with this summation of him. And he was so consumed by this hate, greed and revenge, that it drove him into insanity. (My view).

Or exacerbated an existing mental imbalance. Terrible things happen every day but few people (thanks heavens) are driven to take revenge.

 

[archieclement]

General Price obviously treated Anderson as a Confederate soldier, but Price had an underlying reason for issuing this order.

Sergeant Goodman had just escaped from Anderson in the thickets of Howard County, Missouri, while Anderson's band was crossing the Missouri River in skiffs and swimming their horses behind. In "A Thrilling Record" he describes how he simply slipped away into the bush as the men were busy and distracted. He walked quietly at first, expecting to be shot in the back at any time. But he escaped undetected.

Meanwhile, Price had just captured my home town of Boonville, Missouri, with an enormous "army" of tag-alongs. Anderson and his men showed up sporting human scalps from the Centralia battlefield hanging from their bridles! Imagine the effect on Price's foot-sore troops when a couple hundred well-mounted horsemen rode into town with these bloody trophies hanging from their horse trappings! Price was horrified! He was striking to the west--toward Independence, and he was being shadowed by a sizeable Union force in the southern part of Cooper County. Price ordered Anderson "as far east as practicable," to get as much distance between them as was possible. Anderson more or less obeyed the order, striking east to the town of Danville. He then turned back westward and soon went to Glasgow, Missouri on a pillaging spree. Anderson was a bad actor--an effective guerrilla leader who followed no one else's orders unless they fit his own agenda.

Don't make any difference Prices reasons.

I can't imagine another case where a combatant is killed in combat, and bearing orders from one of the combatents to him............where people would then try to argue he didn't belong to that combatent.....seems a case of some wish he was disassociated, yet there is nothing suggesting he wasn't in their service, or even disproved of by their service. I've seen individual accounts, but nothing official of the service either censoring, court martialling, or removing him (or other of Quantrills men) from service. Instead they continue to issue orders to them acknowledging them by ranks.

He wintered in Texas it seems 63 and 64, not sure 62 for him. They were not courtmartialed or any record of them being mustered out of service at all, instead a week and half before his death he is received by a Confederate Major General and gave orders acknowledging him as a Captain...........

As far if he was a Confederate, personally if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.......it's most likely a duck. The Confederacy recognized him as a duck with the orders........Certainly Anderson rode extensively non stop with Confederate forces for least two years.

 

[archieclement]

Archieclement, thanks for pointing this out. Saw that too.

Price's order referred to him as 'Capt. Anderson', but this was a mere reference to, not an official appointment of, rank.

The question remains. Was Anderson validly appointed as a Captain in the Confederate Army? Or was the mention of this rank title in the order merely an honorable or convenient reference by Price temporarily designed for specific expeditious purposes?

It's difficult to reconcile any valid appointment to Captain being made (and accepted by Anderson himself), given his documented strong personal views expressed three months earlier (and elsewhere), disassociating himself and his men from any connection with the Confederate Army.

To me, the explanation above by Patrick H. makes sense. Price may have treated Anderson as a Captain for his own reasons, but I doubt that he was actually made a Captain in the Confederate military (unless there is some evidence showing otherwise).

As far as the letter, not sure it can be determined it was actually his words or that he wrote it. Haven't seen written correspondence of his, he may been illiterate.

Frank James who it appears was rather educated himself, stated postwar Archie Clement was the brains to the outfit.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Or exacerbated an existing mental imbalance.

Agree with this, too.

Wartime environmental conditions might also have triggered an existing innate predisposition towards excessively violent conduct.

Thought Anderson's own personal history prior to the war, showed glimpses of his tendancies towards such unconscionable (unlawful) behaviors, that included murder, robbery and horse-stealing.

 

[Lubliner]

@D Pace that was an incredible speech by your nephew.
Lubliner.

 

[Booner]

Thank you to everyone responding to my question regarding Bill Anderson and the Centralia Massacre. My takeaway from your knowledgeable responses supports my original personal opinion of William Anderson. His loyalty was to no other than himself, he was driven by hate, greed and revenge. His actions, whether directly or indirectly, resulted in the murder of hundreds of innocent people. His death did not come soon enough.
The following as a speech given by Edward M. Pace's nephew, Edward Alexander Pace, on Memorial Day 1907, in New Market Iowa.

Gentlemen of the Grand Army
It has been my sad pleasure to attend Memorial services on the thirtieth of May every year since Memorial Day was instituted by the Grand Army of the Republic to commemorate the heroism and bravery of their fallen comrades, and to recount the hardships that they endured, in the great struggle for the preservation of the Union, the liberty of themselves and their children.

Can you go to their graves? Sad to say, you cannot for they were buried where they fell in the old field, in the thicket, in the corn field, some on the mountain‑top and on the hillside, in the valley, down by the spring, in the dry creek, in the gutter in the old road, single and double and in groups and in piles in the sink‑holes.

These dead comrades of yours, they were buried where they fell, or not buried at all. Some of them were torn to pieces by blood‑hounds, in the gloomy swamps of Alabama, North Carolina, at the prison‑pens at Anderson Ville and Tyler Texas and no man knows their graves. For they were killed by Guerrillas, in the lonely woods, and assassinated by citizens when hunger drove them to some house in a clearing.

It is for these men I speak today, these one hundred and sixty thousand private soldiers who fill unknown graves. The private soldiers whose bodies were lain upon the altar of our country and whose blood was accepted as a part of the sacrifice and was offered as an atonement for the National sin. Each of you may stand at this mound and see under it the mangled form of your father, your brother, your cousin, or some dear friend, who went forth at his country's call, Alas ‑ never to return. This mound does not represent an Officer's grave, it is of the man of whom the old couple speaks, all quiet on the Cumberland tonight, not an officer lost, only a private or two moaning out alone the death rattle. These were the men whose memory cheered you on to the charge, to avenge whose death you rushed upon the sheets of flame that leaped from the cannons mouth and streamed from thousands of muskets. These were the men that fell by your
sides, amid the leaden hail, who died amid the roar and carnage of battle. They died as heroes die with their backs to the field and their feet to the foe.

___[missing]had incurred the anger of Almighty God. By the destruction of the liberties of a race of people we had imperiled our own liberty and the liberty of our children. We had to fight; the war was inevitable. It came and after four years of toil and strife and blood and carnage it ended but the root of the tree of liberty had been watered by the blood of five hundred thousand men. And it is a fitting tribute to their memory that you assemble once at least a year and recount their deeds of valor and commemorate their glorious death.

We have paid a great price for our liberty, and I am proud that I had an interest in that great price, that great sacrifice. I am proud that my father was a soldier and stood shoulder to you in that great struggle. You have passed in review the history of the events that immediately preceded that war. You have heard the shot at Sumpter and felt again the tingling sensation that thrilled you. At that time, you have again heard the bugles notes calling you to battle, again you hear the fierce music of the fife and drum, again you have enlisted and taken leave of father and mother, of wives and children, and of brothers and sisters and sweet‑hearts.

And you go into camp and soon you are drilled, and soon you are drawn out in lines of federal blue. You have marched down the Mississippi, you have been to Fort Donaldson, to Shilo, Vicksburg, Milliken's bend, Champion Hill and Iuka. You have been down on the Potomac and through the wilderness. You have been down on Stone River and heard the Rebel yell at Gettysburg. You have recounted the defeats and victories of four years of terrible war. But after each battle you had duty to perform, you had to bury the dead. Where did you bury those whose lives were accepted, whose blood was spilled.

The shackles that fell from four million of Negroes was only an incident of the war for the preservation of the principle of self-government. And your comrades that fell on the six hundred battle fields that dot the mountains, plains, hills, and valleys of the Southland died that the principle of government, by the people, for the people, should not perish from the earth. I know of no grander duty to our country than to teach patriotism and I know of no better way to teach patriotism than by holding up for example those who have died for liberty.


We assemble together on the Lords Day and listen to the old old story of the Cross. We look upon him who died to redeem us from spiritual bondage, whose blood was shed that we might escape the bondage of sin and ascend again from the vaults of the tomb and are made glad in our hearts, that we can have a part in that blood that was so freely shed and rejoice in feeling that the sacrifice was made in our behalf.

And we teach our children that it was necessary for Christ to die the death of the cross for without the effusion of blood there is no remission of sins. We as a nation had sinned. We as a nation had held a race of men in bondage. We had sold them, we had parted man and wife, and we had indeed denied him the most sacred relation in life, we had parted families, we had sold maidens on the auction block for enforced prostitution, we had robbed them, beat them, scourged them and shed their blood. Their blood was on our fathers, and on you their children, and it is written, who so shedeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed.

Our government had permitted a wrong ‑ a terrible wrong. It had shed the blood of a race of men. WE as a government and incidentally, the preservation of Liberty for the whole world. The issue for which you fought and for which your comrades died was of far more consequence than the freedom of the Negroes of the south. Human liberty was the vital issue at stake. Popular Government was on trial. Monarchists claimed that men are incapable of self‑government, that our Union was a rope of sand to be washed away by the waves of discord, brought about the clashing interests of different localities and conditions.

The contention of the South was well expressed in these words. I hold (said that great statesman Stephen A. Douglass) that this is a white mans Government, made by white men, for white men and their posterity forever. This was the feeling and sentiment that animated the southern soldier. His principle was the puritanical principle, liberty for himself, and was only racial in extent and confined to the white race. And a government built upon such a foundation cannot stand as was well stated by the immortal Lincoln, in answer to Douglass, a then famous statement. I hold said Mr. Lincoln That a house divided against itself cannot stand. This government cannot exist half slave and half free. It must become all slave or all free. So, you soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic in the great contest that was waged between the North and the South fought for the liberty of yourselves, the liberty of your children, but for the liberty of the whole world.

What thoughts of home, of loved ones, of mother, and wife and children and sweet‑hearts, flitted through their minds ere their sprits fled, we cannot tell. But the last sight their glazing eyes beheld was that starry‑banner, streaming above the blood-stained field. And the last sound that fell upon their ears was the shout of victory when the red field was won. And when the long roll was again beaten you felt that their souls were marching on and their spirits sang to in memories song:
But though my body moulder boys my spirit will be free, and every comrade's honor boys will still be dear to me, there in the thick and bloody fight near let your courage lag for I'll be there still hovering near above the dear old flag.
Yes, cover this mound with flowers and cherish their names as precious memories, let there be flowers for those that you love. Has anyone remembered John SEARS, the first from Memory Iowa to offer his life for his country who fell in the gray of the morning at Shilo. Yes there is a flower for Sears. Robert HOLIDAY too is remembered by some soldier friend. And Benson THOMPSON whose life‑blood stained the snow at Ft. Donaldson, he too is remembered at this hallowed spot. And Ben BROWN who fell at Kelley's ford. And Hiram CUNNING who sleeps on Champion Hill. And brave John MORGAN who rests with Perry MURRAY in the deep dark waters of the Mississippi. Did anyone think of Jonah (Done) REED who rests at Duvals Bluff whose last words were as he threw his wasted arms around his Captains neck, good‑bye Captain, tell Mother, God bless her for I am not coming home. Yes, there is a flower in memory of him from his mother's grave. And there is a flower for Andy CHAPLE who fell at Black River bridge. And there is one for poor Bob SIMMONS , Bob was not accounted as much but his name is on the roll of fame that is as lasting and eternal as the hills. And has John ELKINS been forgotten. I think I see a flower on this Unknown grave in kind remembrance. And ROSE and MEBLEY are not forgotten by their comrades. There is a bunch of flowers, a red rose and a white rose and a forget‑me‑not in hallowed memory of Sargent E. M. PACE (Uncle Milburn) who was killed at Centralia Missouri. In memory I can see him now. How I loved him How proud I was of my dashing uncle, so tall and manly. And I see him now, through history's eye on that fatal morning. I see him stand erect before that fatal line of murderous men. I see that smiling demon, Anderson, and I hear the calmly given command, Fire. I hear the murderous roar of the volley as it rolls out on the plains of Centralia. I hear the dull thud of the bullets. I see him fall and his blood, my kindred blood, blood spilled to cement together the union of the states, blood shed that his children and my children might always be free.

But why go on with the list, time fails but loving hearts will never fail and each returning year will witness the fact that they did not die in vain. And coming generations will remember them with gratitude and do honor to their memory. And Gentlemen of the Grand Army of the Republic, when you have answered the roll‑call on earth and sleep in the quiet grave the custom that you have instituted will be kept. And you too will be remembered by a grateful people and your graves will be yearly covered with natures adornment ‑ beautiful flowers. And when Revelry sounds on Eternity's Morn and your fallen come forth in their faded coats of blue you too will be there with your robes washed white in the blood of Christ and join with them in singing glad Hosanna to the Savior.
Edward Alexander Pace

That's certainly a beautiful eulogy by your ancestor. I'm assuming your ancestor; Edward M. Pace was one of the twenty or so Union solders on leave from the Atlanta campaign who was taken off the train at Centralia and killed by Anderson's men.

When I retired and moved back to Missouri, I centered my life-long interest of the Civil War from the war that occurred in the east to the war as it occurred here in Missouri, and that meant my research centered on the guerrilla war. Centralia is about 40 miles from where I live, Fayette is 14. I often take my dog walking in the hills that the guerrillas hid out in and operated from. This part of central Missouri was guerrilla central in 1864.

In trying to understand why our war was fought at a much more brutal level than anywhere else, I find that it's very difficult to find anything regarding the guerrilla war that is very biased towards one side or the other, it often takes reading several books on the subject before I can decide what version might be true. Perhaps the best book on the subject (in terms of a lack of bias) is Leslie's book, "The Devil Knows How to Ride." The book is centered on Missouri's most famous guerrilla, William C. Quantrill, but William Anderson plays an important role in the Quantrill story, so there's a lot of information in the book on him. Missouri lost 1/3 of its population during the war, and it's safe to say that many of the men who fought here from both sides found a way to profit from the state's civilians. I do think Anderson began his guerrilla career for personal gain. He merged his small guerrilla band with Quantrill's in 1863, and after one of his sisters was killed and the other two were severely injured in the Kansas City jail collapse in August of that year, he became more ruthless and violent towards his enemies. The men who rode under his command also had a reputation that mirrored Anderson's. I think they gloried in their savagery as a form of psychological warfare. They were always hunted; surrender was not an option for them, and they were surrounded by death. It's easy to see why their form of warfare was so violent. Please understand I'm not trying to make excuses for them, I'm just trying to understand them.

And welcome again to the forum.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

In trying to understand why our war was fought at a much more brutal level than anywhere else,

Thought it may have largely had something to do with the wild conditions of lawlessness that were allowed to exist and flourish in these regions at the time.

In such conditions, even previously law-abiding citizens might let their own innermost rages and grievances surface and translate into violent actions. Combine this with the conformity pressures created by local peer groups, especially those bands led by a few individuals possessing perhaps psychopathic personality types, and personal fires of discontent were easily stoked.

Without extensive effective controls exerted by governing authorities in these parts, the outcomes were a dangerous volatile situation where excessive violence was practiced unabated.

 

[D Pace]

Thought it may have largely had something to do with the wild conditions of lawlessness that were allowed to exist and flourish in these regions at the time.

In such conditions, even previously law-abiding citizens might let their own innermost rages and grievances surface and translate into violent actions. Combine this with the conformity pressures created by local peer groups, especially those bands led by a few individuals possessing perhaps psychopathic personality types, and personal fires of discontent were easily stoked.

Without extensive effective controls exerted by governing authorities in these parts, the outcomes were a dangerous volatile situation where excessive violence was practiced unabated.

That's certainly a beautiful eulogy by your ancestor. I'm assuming your ancestor; Edward M. Pace was one of the twenty or so Union solders on leave from the Atlanta campaign who was taken off the train at Centralia and killed by Anderson's men.

When I retired and moved back to Missouri, I centered my life-long interest of the Civil War from the war that occurred in the east to the war as it occurred here in Missouri, and that meant my research centered on the guerrilla war. Centralia is about 40 miles from where I live, Fayette is 14. I often take my dog walking in the hills that the guerrillas hid out in and operated from. This part of central Missouri was guerrilla central in 1864.

In trying to understand why our war was fought at a much more brutal level than anywhere else, I find that it's very difficult to find anything regarding the guerrilla war that is very biased towards one side or the other, it often takes reading several books on the subject before I can decide what version might be true. Perhaps the best book on the subject (in terms of a lack of bias) is Leslie's book, "The Devil Knows How to Ride." The book is centered on Missouri's most famous guerrilla, William C. Quantrill, but William Anderson plays an important role in the Quantrill story, so there's a lot of information in the book on him. Missouri lost 1/3 of its population during the war, and it's safe to say that many of the men who fought here from both sides found a way to profit from the state's civilians. I do think Anderson began his guerrilla career for personal gain. He merged his small guerrilla band with Quantrill's in 1863, and after one of his sisters was killed and the other two were severely injured in the Kansas City jail collapse in August of that year, he became more ruthless and violent towards his enemies. The men who rode under his command also had a reputation that mirrored Anderson's. I think they gloried in their savagery as a form of psychological warfare. They were always hunted; surrender was not an option for them, and they were surrounded by death. It's easy to see why their form of warfare was so violent. Please understand I'm not trying to make excuses for them, I'm just trying to understand them.

And welcome again to the forum.

Booner- Yes Edward Pace was a Union solider killed at Centralia, he was an artificer with the 1st Regiment, Missouri Engineers. He was furloughed and on his way home. His story was one reason I became interested in the Civil War, and like you, question such brutality. I agree with everything you said, and certainly understand not making excuses. You are much more knowledgeable and well-versed with the history than I am.

I've always thought the state of the country, and the war itself, created the perfect-storm for men like Anderson. Those with pre-existing vindictive, aggressive behavior to thrive and eventually become the monsters they were. I so appreciate your thoughts and insight.