The next morning, William Anderson led 30 guerillas into Centralia and began looting the tiny community and terrorizing the residents.Ī train from St. On the evening of September 26, a band of 200 Confederate marauders gathered near the town of Centralia, Missouri. In 1864, partisan activity increased in anticipation of Confederate General Sterling Price’s invasion of the state. In 1863, Confederate marauders sacked Lawrence, Kansas, and killed 250 residents. It was carried out primarily by partisan bands of guerilla fighters, and the atrocities were nearly unmatched. The Civil War in Missouri and Kansas was rarely fought between regular armies in the field. “If you think you know, how you would react and what your actions would be and what you would do to survive, you probably have never been there and have no frame of reference.” Many veterans, of different wars, offer a similar explanation, Whatever drives combatants to commit the gruesome and horrendous deeds is hard to judge. In some instances Hate Crime might be a more applicable term to explain the incomprehensible acts. The words war crime, atrocity, murder are often mixed interchangeably, in regard to soldiers heinous actions during the heat of battle. Missouri War Crimes, during the Civil War, were a common occurrence, but one in particular, would be remembered as the Centralia Massacre.
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