I chose the moniker because Bill Anderson doggedly stood up for right and retaliated for the wrongs done to his family. He was of Scottish ancestory who's motto was "nemo me impune lacessit" (no one provokes me without impunity). While Anderson was alive he was simply known as "Bill Anderson". Sensationalizing historians added the "Bloody" part, later, after Anderson was dead.
Bloody Bill anderson was an insane homicidal son of a horse thief who greatest exploits in battle were the murder of innocent townsfolk and unarmed prisoners.
It would be a far stretch here to say you are partially correct, but I'll give you this much credit, your sorta-kinda close.
Anderson's father was a hatmaker by trade. He moved his family to Kansas because it was a free state. He wanted to escape the slave/no-slave battle. Because he refused to choose sides, the Unionists ACCUSED Anderson's father of stealing a horse in an attempt to force him to declare support for the North. When he refused, he was killed in cold blood in front of his family. Naturally, Bill Anderson sympathized with the Confederacy after that. The Unionists were a determined lot, (not unlike today's liberal democrats). In an attempt to force Bill Anderson to change to the Union side, the Unionists rounded up the women and children of Southern sympathizers, took em to Lawrence where the rest of the story has already been noted. When you back a dog into a corner, he is going to come out snarling and biting. I bet you would do the same. The Union issued official orders to execute any Confederate guerrilla on the spot. Bill Anderson simply responded in kind.
At the end of August, 1863, the Union commander, General Ewing, issued orders to expell all citizens from both sides of the Missouri/Kansas border, confiscate ALL property and turn it over to the Federals. Waging war against civilians only enboldened the guerrilla bands, including Bill Anderson, to defend what was rightfully theirs. From that time on, there was no return to "civilized" warfare for Bill Anderson. Yes, the cold-blooded killing of his father, the unnecessary death of his sister, and the maiming of another sister, drove Anderson to an "insane lust for revenge" against the Unionists. Anderson's guerrilla raid on Centralia, Missouri was NOT a revengeful action. It was a brilliant tactical move against an approaching Union army from information gathered by Confederate sympathizers.
This guy has got to be a plant or a troll
Not at all. I am sick of the way Hollywierd and Yankee liberal left have distorted the true facts of our history. Our nation has been duped by unscrupulous historians. I'll take truth over fiction every time.
