Centralia Massacre

[Fairfield]

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.

Perhaps that is true of Guerillas...but I don't understand why the war in that area (Missouri, Arkansas, etc.) was so brutal. I find the targeting of civilians (by both sides) especially incomprehensible.

 

[19thGeorgia]

Perhaps that is true of Guerillas...but I don't understand why the war in that area (Missouri, Arkansas, etc.) was so brutal. I find the targeting of civilians (by both sides) especially incomprehensible.

It was 'no quarter' territory...

"How many Missourians had been murdered by Lane and the other Kansans? Age made no difference to jayhawkers or redlegs:
Old men were strung up, young boys shot down--Henry Morris was only eleven when he was killed. How many homes had been plundered and burned? Every officer in Quantrill's band could recite a litany of atrocities, had friends or loved ones among the victims."
-The devil knows how to ride, Leslie, p.194

 

[Iowa Miss]

Thank you D Pace for your postings and starting this discussion. Here are a couple more resources, some of you might be
interested in.

www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/2014/09/27/the-centralia-massacre-complete-account/21721393007/
This is a lengthy article in the 27 Sep 2014 issue of the Columbia Daily Tribune, taken from an 1882 History
of Boone County.

Centralia massacre and battle

These are postings on the Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Find A Grave has a virtual cemetery for the Centralia Massacre. However the soldiers killed at the rail station are not listed.

 

[damYankee]

Bloody Bill lived up to his reputation, he was a killer and he enjoyed it.
The man who impresses me is Samuel Cox, the man who outsmarted this thug using his own tactics.

On October 26, 1864 in the community of Albany, Missouri (now Orrick, Missouri and unrelated to another similarly-named town). [4] Cox used Anderson's strategy against him, luring Anderson's men screaming the Rebel Yell to charge a seemingly vulnerable Union advance only to run into the guns of the Union lines. Anderson was shot twice in the back of the head. His body was taken back to Richmond, Missouri where it was placed on display. [5] Various reports indicated that he had a scalp on his saddle and another report indicated that Anderson had 59 knots on a rope on his horse indicating the men he had killed. [4]
The attacking Confederate force only had included Anderson and five or six men (although some reports say 20) [6] and the Confederate losses in the battle including the attacking line as well as those in the rear was just 7. Four Union soldiers were shot but no injuries were fatal. [2]

https://everipedia.org/Samuel_P._Cox

Bloody Bill indeed

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Has any member visited this battlefield and the 2 historic markers in this town? I am planning a side trip to this venue in the summer. My little sister lives in Boonville, Missouri.

 

[Patrick H]

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.

@archieclemet, I wasn't suggesting that Anderson wasn't a Confederate, nor whether Price considered him a Confederate. I was talking about Price's reaction to Anderson's men showing up in Boonville with fresh human scalps dangling from their bridles. Price was horrified, although he softened somewhat when Anderson gave him a cased set of presentation pistols (undoubtedly stolen.) Price's reason for ordering Anderson eastward might also have had the effect of taking some pursuing heat off of Price's own army, which was moving westward. Remember, though, that Price was already being shadowed by a large Union force in southern Cooper County (Boonville is on the northern border of the county) and I don't think there's any doubt that he wanted to distance Anderson's band from his own army. Price was happy to have Todd's band and other elements of Quantrill's band scouting for him near Independence. And he had Shelby's formidable troopers with him. He didn't need Anderson and I don't think he wanted Anderson. However, that is purely my opinion.

 

[Patrick H]

The man who impresses me is Samuel Cox, the man who outsmarted this thug using his own tactics.

A very capable man, and VERY brave, as were his soldiers.

 

[Booner]

Has any member visited this battlefield and the 2 historic markers in this town? I am planning a side trip to this venue in the summer. My little sister lives in Boonville, Missouri.

View attachment 462561

View attachment 462562

Bill,
When you go to Centralia, you be very careful. For the past few days there have been numerus reports on the radio of a large mountain lion being spotted in the Sturgeon area. The Dept. of Conservation has speculated that the lion is originally from the Black Hills of South Dakota.

So, if you're out stomping around the battlefield and you see a large kitty, don't pet the wildlife!

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Bill,
When you go to Centralia, you be very careful. For the past few days there have been numerus reports on the radio of a large mountain lion being spotted in the Sturgeon area. The Dept. of Conservation has speculated that the lion is originally from the Black Hills of South Dakota.

So, if you're out stomping around the battlefield and you see a large kitty, don't pet the wildlife!

I will be packing heat!

But I will make sure to bring my "Dirty Harry" water pistol.

Bill

 

[Patrick H]

I will be packing heat!

But I will make sure to bring my "Dirty Harry" water pistol.

Bill

He's not kidding, Bill. It has definitely been IDd as a mountain lion, although it has not threatened any humans.

 

[Booner]

Perhaps that is true of Guerillas...but I don't understand why the war in that area (Missouri, Arkansas, etc.) was so brutal. I find the targeting of civilians (by both sides) especially incomprehensible.

I think, because Missouri was a slave state, we were viewed as either being successionists, or not loyal enough by the Federal government, and by the out-of-state troops they brought in when they invaded the state. I also think that how the northern press portrayed Missourians during the "Bleeding Kansas" period played a part in how Missouri and its people was viewed by other Northerners. Once the war broke out, the Federal gov. made huge errors in dealing with those they deemed not loyal. If you were thought to be a Southerner, or you had a son serving in the Missouri State Guard, you had to post a loyalty bond, you were also charged for the expenses incurred by the Gov. for their occupying troops. If guerrillas destroyed public property, you were charged for its replacement. If federal troops came to your farm and took your food, wagons and horses, you had no recourse to recoup your losses. In those areas of the state that had a direct border with Kansas, the Jayhawkers would freely invade the state and take everything they could carry off, burn the farm and often kill the head of the household; the Jayhawker's wore federal uniforms and flew the Union flag. This all occurred in the first year of the war.

In the spring of 1862, the Missouri State Guard disbanded and many of the men returned home, took a loyalty oath, and tried to get on with their life. After constant harassment by the Federal authorities, some of these returning men joined local guerrilla units that were being formed to combat the actions of the Federal Gov. as a means to provide some form of protection for their families. Later that spring, Gen. Halleck declares all guerrillas to be outlaws and to be killed on site. From that point on, the war became increasingly more violent, with no neutral parties.

What I don't understand is why, when the Missouri State Guard disbanded, some of those members joined the Confederate army and went to Mississippi to fight in those battles, where the real war their families their families were enduring was being fought on their doorsteps.

 

[Booner]

He's not kidding, Bill. It has definitely been IDd as a mountain lion, although it has not threatened any humans.

I'm surprised some deer hunter hasn't seen it. But it's causing quite a stir locally.

 

[Booner]

I am a descendant of one of the Union soldiers killed at Centralia, Edward Milburn Pace, 1st Regiment Missouri Engineers.

Do you know where he is buried?

 

[D Pace]

Booner, I don't think it's a marked grave. He was first buried at the site of the massacre. There is no documentation to date where he was taken afterward.

 

[Booner]

Booner, I don't think it's a marked grave. He was first buried at the site of the massacre. There is no documentation to date where he was taken afterward.

Some were taken to Mexico, Mo and buried there. At a later date they were reinterred at Jefferson Barracks Nat. Cemetery in St. Louis. The cemetery in Mexico is no longer in use. From a link I'll provide below, I kind of get the feeling the engineers were the ones buried in Mexico, but again, it's just a feeling.

Others of the killed were buried in a common grave in Centralia, and later reinterred at the Fed. cemetery in Jefferson City, MO. There is a list of the known dead from this second group, but I'm sorry did not see your ancestors name on it, although there were many "unknown" of this group.

Here's the link to an old discussion group that I think is no longer active. It may give you some hints as to where your ancestor was buried. One of the members is named Tom Thomas and he mentioned an ancestor of his by the name of James Pace from Platte Co. Mo. who was a member of the Paw-Paw Militia, would you be related to either of these two men?

>http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/mocwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=15049>

The discussion that pertains to the engineers is down towards the bottom, but the thread contains a lot of information you may find interesting. By the way, one of the members of the forum, Bruce Nichols, has written a 4-volume history of the guerrilla war in MO.

 

[archieclement]

I think, because Missouri was a slave state, we were viewed as either being successionists, or not loyal enough by the Federal government, and by the out-of-state troops they brought in when they invaded the state. I also think that how the northern press portrayed Missourians during the "Bleeding Kansas" period played a part in how Missouri and its people was viewed by other Northerners. Once the war broke out, the Federal gov. made huge errors in dealing with those they deemed not loyal. If you were thought to be a Southerner, or you had a son serving in the Missouri State Guard, you had to post a loyalty bond, you were also charged for the expenses incurred by the Gov. for their occupying troops. If guerrillas destroyed public property, you were charged for its replacement. If federal troops came to your farm and took your food, wagons and horses, you had no recourse to recoup your losses. In those areas of the state that had a direct border with Kansas, the Jayhawkers would freely invade the state and take everything they could carry off, burn the farm and often kill the head of the household; the Jayhawker's wore federal uniforms and flew the Union flag. This all occurred in the first year of the war.

In the spring of 1862, the Missouri State Guard disbanded and many of the men returned home, took a loyalty oath, and tried to get on with their life. After constant harassment by the Federal authorities, some of these returning men joined local guerrilla units that were being formed to combat the actions of the Federal Gov. as a means to provide some form of protection for their families. Later that spring, Gen. Halleck declares all guerrillas to be outlaws and to be killed on site. From that point on, the war became increasingly more violent, with no neutral parties.

What I don't understand is why, when the Missouri State Guard disbanded, some of those members joined the Confederate army and went to Mississippi to fight in those battles, where the real war their families their families were enduring was being fought on their doorsteps.

I agree with the last.

To me it's easier to see why one would in a guerrilla war because it is personal, compared to fighting for abstract principles, people you don't know, or simply because a govt asked you.

 

[D Pace]

Some were taken to Mexico, Mo and buried there. At a later date they were reinterred at Jefferson Barracks Nat. Cemetery in St. Louis. The cemetery in Mexico is no longer in use. From a link I'll provide below, I kind of get the feeling the engineers were the ones buried in Mexico, but again, it's just a feeling.

Others of the killed were buried in a common grave in Centralia, and later reinterred at the Fed. cemetery in Jefferson City, MO. There is a list of the known dead from this second group, but I'm sorry did not see your ancestors name on it, although there were many "unknown" of this group.

Here's the link to an old discussion group that I think is no longer active. It may give you some hints as to where your ancestor was buried. One of the members is named Tom Thomas and he mentioned an ancestor of his by the name of James Pace from Platte Co. Mo. who was a member of the Paw-Paw Militia, would you be related to either of these two men?

>http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/mocwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=15049>

The discussion that pertains to the engineers is down towards the bottom, but the thread contains a lot of information you may find interesting. By the way, one of the members of the forum, Bruce Nichols, has written a 4-volume history of the guerrilla war in MO.

Booner, I was part of that discussion. Near the bottom, Deborah. Tom and I have common ancestors. If I remember correctly Edward's family couldn't locate his body and a memorial mound in New Market, Iowa, has his name. Edward's brother, Sgt. Elisha C Pace, Co. A 49th Indiana, also died in the war. He is buried at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

 

[DanSBHawk]

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?

More the latter option. He was a criminal before the war and then became worse during the war. A real sadist, in my opinion.

 

[Booner]

Booner, I was part of that discussion. Near the bottom, Deborah. Tom and I have common ancestors. If I remember correctly Edward's family couldn't locate his body and a memorial mound in New Market, Iowa, has his name. Edward's brother, Sgt. Elisha C Pace, Co. A 49th Indiana, also died in the war. He is buried at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

I guess I'm not surprised that you've seen that link.