In September 1864, Jesse James rode with Bill Anderson's bushwhackers into the small Missouri town of Centralia. There the 16-year-old James took part in one of the worst atrocities of the Civil War. The Confederate guerrillas executed 22 Union soldiers in what a witness called a "carnival of blood," then ambushed and killed 150 more Federals who set out in pursuit of the guerrilla group.
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Actor Mitchell McCann as Jesse James. WGBH.
A panel of experts describe to American Experience what happened at Centralia and what these guerrilla experiences meant for young Jesse James.
Was the Centralia attack planned?
T.J. Stiles, Author, Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War: Centralia is one of the stories that resulted by accident, in a sense. Just before the battle of Centralia, the Confederate guerrillas under Bill Anderson and Todd and other leaders, had collected into a large force, relatively speaking, by accident, to prepare for the Confederate invasion of Missouri in 1864. It was an unusually large collection of guerrillas, about 400 men or so. Then Bill Anderson led his men into this little railside village of Centralia to get information.
