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William T. Anderson (1840 – October 26, 1864), better known as Bloody Bill, was one of the deadliest and most brutal pro-Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a band that targeted Union loyalists and Federal soldiers in Missouri and Kansas. Raised by a family of Southerners in Kansas, Anderson began supporting himself by stealing and selling horses in 1862. After his father was killed by a Union-loyalist judge, Anderson fled Kansas for Missouri. There, he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In early 1863, Anderson joined Quantrill's Raiders, a pro-Confederate group of guerrillas that operated in Missouri. He became a skilled bushwhacker, earning the trust of the group's leaders, William Quantrill and George M. Todd. Anderson's acts as a guerrilla led the Union to imprison his sisters; after one of them died in custody, Anderson devoted himself to revenge. He took a leading role in the Lawrence Massacre, and later participated in the Battle of Baxter Springs. In late 1863, while Quantrill's Raiders spent the winter in Texas, animosity developed between Anderson and Quantrill. Anderson, perhaps falsely, implicated Quantrill in a murder, leading to the latter's arrest by Confederate authorities. Anderson subsequently returned to Missouri as the leader of a group of raiders and became the most feared guerrilla in the state, killing and robbing dozens of Union soldiers and civilian sympathizers throughout central Missouri. Although Union supporters viewed him as incorrigibly evil, Confederate sympathizers in Missouri saw his actions as justified, possibly owing to their mistreatment by Union forces. In September 1864, he led a raid on Centralia, Missouri. Unexpectedly, they were able to capture a passenger train, the first time Confederate guerrillas had done so. In what became known as the Centralia Massacre, possibly the war's deadliest and most brutal guerrilla action, his men killed 24 Union soldiers on the train and set an ambush later that day that killed more than 100 Union militiamen. A month later, Anderson was killed in battle. Historians have made disparate appraisals of Anderson: some see him as a sadistic, psychopathic killer, but for others, his actions can not be separated from the general lawlessness of the time. == Early life == William T. Anderson was born in 1840 in Hopkins County, Kentucky, to William C. and Martha Anderson. His siblings were Jim, Ellis, Mary Ellen, Josephine and Janie. His schoolmates recalled him as a well-behaved, reserved child. During his childhood, Anderson's family moved to Huntsville, Missouri where his father found employment on a farm and the family became well respected. In 1857, the family relocated to Kansas, traveling southwest on the Santa Fe Trail and settling east of Council Grove, Kansas. The Anderson family supported slavery, although they did not own slaves; however, their move to Kansas was likely for economic rather than political reasons. At that time, there was significant debate about slavery in Kansas, and many residents of the northern United States had moved there to ensure that it would not become a slave state. Animosity soon developed between these immigrants and Confederate sympathizers, but there was little unrest in the Council Grove area. After settling near Council Grove, the family became friends with A. I. Baker, a local judge who was a Confederate sympathizer. By 1860, William T. Anderson was a joint owner of a property that was worth $500 and his family had a net worth of around $1,000. On June 28, 1860, Martha Anderson died after being struck by lightning. In the late 1850s, Ellis Anderson fled to Iowa after killing an Indian. Around the same time, William T. Anderson fatally shot a member of the Kaw tribe outside of Council Grove; he related that the man had tried to rob him. He joined the freight shipping operation that his father worked for and was given a position known as "second boss" for a wagon trip to New Mexico. The trip was not successful: he returned to Missouri without the shipment, and stated that his horses had disappeared with the cargo. After he returned to Council Grove, he began horse trading, taking horses from towns in Kansas, transporting them to Missouri, and returning with more horses. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William T. Anderson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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