William T. Anderson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William T. Anderson
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Anderson c. 1864
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| Birth name | William T Anderson |
| Nickname(s) | Bloody Bill |
| Born | c. 1840 Hopkins County, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | October 27, 1864 (aged 23–24) Albany, Missouri, U.S. |
| Buried |
Pioneer Cemetery
Richmond, Missouri |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States of America |
| Service/ |
Partisan rangers |
| Years of service | 1863–64 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | Quantrill's Raiders |
| Battles/wars |
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William T. Anderson (c. 1840 – October 26, 1864) was a soldier who was one of the deadliest and most notorious Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a band of volunteer partisan raiders who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas.
Anderson is loosely portrayed by Jim Caviezel as “Black John Ambrose” in the 1999 Ang Lee film Ride With The Devil.
Life
William T. Anderson was born around 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, they relocated to the Kansas Territory, traveling southwest on the Santa Fe Trail and settling 13 miles (21 km) east of Council Grove. Their move to Kansas was likely for economic rather than political reasons. After settling there, the Anderson family became friends with A.I. Baker, a local judge who was a Confederate sympathizer. By 1860, the young William T. Anderson was a joint owner of a 320-acre (1.3 km2) property that was worth $500; his family had a total net worth of around $1,000. On June 28, 1860, William's mother, Martha Anderson, died.
In the late 1850s, Ellis Anderson fled to Iowa after killing a native American. Around the same time, Anderson began to support himself by stealing and selling horses. He then moved to Missouri, where he robbed travelers. In early 1863 he joined Quantrill's Raiders, a group of Confederate guerrillas which operated along the Kansas–Missouri border. He became a skilled bushwhacker, earning the trust of the group's leaders, William Quantrill and George M. Todd. Anderson's bushwhacking marked him as a dangerous man and eventually led the Union to imprison his sisters. After a building collapse in the makeshift jail in Kansas City, Missouri, left one of them dead in custody and the other permanently maimed, Anderson devoted himself to revenge. He took a leading role in the Lawrence Massacre and later took part in the Battle of Baxter Springs, both in 1863.
Anderson was killed in 1864 in battle.
See also
In Spanish: William T. Anderson para niños
- William Quantrill
- George M. Todd
- Partisan Ranger Act
