The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-10-04
FIRST IOnA CAVALRY AT MExI.
CO, MISSOURI.
The III cfribio Massacre NJ Centrnlia
.--I3i Men Wounded.
MEXICO, Missouri, !
SEP tcmber 2Sih, lSd4.

September 2Sih, lsd4.
Editor Gate CITY: Ii becomes my
painful duty to record oue OF the most dia-
bolical and fendish massactes OF this or
sny other war.
+. Yesterday the express train from St
LOUIS TO Macon On the North Missouri
h. X. carried as passengers between thirty
and forty soldiers frola various r giments,
some on furlough. others en- their way
bone from the front a. Atlana and New
Orleans, being houorably dischar Eed after
three years. service.
At THIS place four tf the Is. Iowa cav
airy, under guard OF corporal and tw 0
men OF the same regiment, wete placed
or the train en- route to St. Joseph, No
All were without arms, except the cor
poral and TWO men aforesaid, and upon
reaching CeDtralis, the next staii9a above,
The trsin was attacked by about 400 mee
under The desperate Biii Anderson, the
two Todds, Thrailkill ard Perkins, and
all the soldiers were brutaIiy III nrdered i,
not leaving one to tell the tale The cti.
zen passengers were robbed aud trunks
and boxes broken open and contents scat.
tered all around, tue fsnds ,akiog what
| they desired
In this there were fhirty-four soldiers
! Ii led, seven Of WHOM. were Of the First
low. Cavalry Some were sealped, others
had their skulls broken Ia With hammer
and all stripped OF soy good clothing they
had on.
The train was then allowed to pass.
and the CONSTRUCTION" train which came
up soon after, WAS robbed aud set on Gre.
soon after this, detachment vi about lac
men, of the o9th No Vols, unuer Major
Johnson, came up and started 10 pursuit,
ssirmishing with the rear of their forces
| Upon reaching the edge OF the timber,
near Centralia, they were fired ppon and
Major Johnson, dismouotlng nearly all
his men and moving forward Ia line To-
ward the brush, when the whole force
/ emerged from the timber and charged
their line, yelling like tends. This STAN
peded their horses and threw ITEM into
confusion, and then commenced second
hatchery, allowing none to surrender OF
escape. Being overpowered by an over
wheming force there was no alternative
for the Major but TO order retreat, and
hose mounted tried TO make good theil
escape. The Msjor aud % men reached
Sturgeon. leaving their dead scattered FOL
six miles.
We sent up FROM this post and brough
81 bodies, of 80 slaughtered, for buria
here, and we have jnst learned that they
have gathered 81 bodies at Ceniralia ane
II at Sturgeon, maxim. in all 1888
The veteran 39ih had not been in the
service long. and were armed as Infantry
and had just mounted themselves OF
horses from the country, which accounts
for their being SO badly stampeded
Comment upon such massacre i
useless, for it eelipses Fort Pillow, OF
even the River kaisen of savage memory
J Humanity shudders a, the spectacle pre-
sented here to-day, as We lower into thei
, last resting place the heroes OF Murfrees
! boro, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Ken
: nessw Mountain aud Atlanta, and besid
, them place the heroes of Peairie Grove
Van Buren,, Chalk Bluff, Little Rock
!, Bayou Metre aud Saline river, ali mos
brutaliy murdered by those relentless enc
) mics and outlaws, the bushwhackers d
; Missouri, who are fed, hid and lied for b
. the Conservative Democracy of Missouri
aye, more than that, for all this is don
, in the name of Democracy and Conserve
tism and the Conservatives, and in thei
r ranks aud affiliated with the nd-hande
} murderer in the busa.
81 While we'll know that all Democrat
. are not traitors and ushwhsckets, sti