Date of birth: sources range from 1837 to 1839
Place of birth: Hopkins County, Kentucky
Claim to fame: Confederate guerrilla; Captain of Quantrill's Raiders, 1863-1864
Nickname: "Bloody Bill" Anderson
Date of death: October 27, 1864 (some sources state October 26; see Bloody Bill Anderson, p. 155)
Place of death: Albany, Missouri
Cause of death: Killed by Union soldiers in the Battle of Albany
Final resting place: Pioneer Cemetery, Richmond, Missouri
William T. Anderson was one of the most notorious Confederate guerrillas of the Civil War. Operating against Unionists in the midst of the guerrilla war in Missouri and Kansas, he was a leading figure in the infamous Lawrence Massacre and the Centralia Massacre, gaining the nickname “Bloody Bill” for the perceived savagery of his exploits. Like fellow Confederate irregulars William Clarke Quantrill and Jesse James, segments of Anderson’s life are shrouded in doubt, giving rise to a romantic guerrilla mythology.
Anderson was born sometime between 1837 and 1839 in Hopkins County, Kentucky, to William C. and Martha Anderson. His family moved to Huntsville, Missouri, as a child, and in 1857 the Andersons moved again, to Kansas, and settled near Council Grove. Despite not owning any slaves, the Andersons were deeply proslavery. Besides befriending a local proslavery judge, I. A. Baker, the family personally experienced the “Bleeding Kansas” conflict over slavery that had embroiled the territory.
