There are names like Frank and Jesse James and Cole and Jim Younger. The main job of the guerrillas is to harass the Federal troops, and because they are so good at it, they are attached to the regular Southern army and Quantrill is given the rank of captain. Sisters arrested The guerrilla band has a few advantages. They ride like the wind, are expert shots and they know the territory. Plus, they are aided by the locals with food, shelter and medical help.
Federal authorities decide to get at the bushwhackers through their families.
In a roundup of Southern sympathizers, authorities arrest Bill's three sisters and hold them in an old and unstable three-story building in Kansas City. In seeking revenge, Bill becomes a psychotic killing machine. He has now split from Quantrill and is leading his own band of raiders, cutting a broad path of destruction and leaving dead troops and sympathizers in their wake. It's a raid in Centralia, Mo., that cements his legend. The raiders waltz into town and generally burn it to the ground.