William T. Anderson

William T. Anderson (1840 – October 26, 1864), also known as "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was one of the deadliest and most famous pro-Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a group of volunteer rangers who attacked Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas.

Early life

William T. Anderson was born in 1840 in Hopkins County, Kentucky, to William C. and Martha Anderson. His siblings were Jim, Ellis, Mary Ellen, Josephine and Janie. His schoolmates remembered him as a well-behaved, quiet child.  During his childhood, Anderson's family moved to Huntsville, Missouri, where his father got a job on a farm, and the family became well-respected. In 1857, they moved to the Kansas Territory, going southwest on the Santa Fe Trail and settling  east of Council Grove.

The Anderson family supported slavery, though they did not own slaves. They moved to Kansas most likely for economic rather than political reasons.

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References

Category:1840 births
Category:1864 deaths
Category:Bushwhackers
Category:American rapists
Category:People from Kentucky
Category:People from Missouri
Category:Deaths by firearm in the United States