One of these men was Bloody Bill.īill’s grey mare was found adorned with Union scalps. Only two riders continued, plunging hell for leather through the Union line, but the troops turned round and brought both men down dead. He led a charge expecting results similar to those at Centralia, but the veteran Union troops laid down a withering fire that brought the charge to a halt at 100 yards distance. Anderson, typically, decided direct action was appropriate.
As one of the few regular officers to bother studying guerrilla tactics, Cox was the man for the job and was given men experienced in fighting bushwackers. Cox had been assigned the task of eliminating Anderson. The general was chased into Indian Territory, and by the time he returned to Arkansas he had only half the 12,000 men he had started with.īloody Bill’s reign of terror came to an end on Octoat Albany Missouri. The battle at Westport was the turning point of the campaign, with Price’s Army of Missouri badly defeated.
By this time, discipline had broken down in Price’s army and the expedition increasingly occupied itself with looting, murder and rape, especially of German women.
Largely relieved from having to pursue guerrillas by Price’s choice to attach them to his force, Union troops were able to concentrate in a force much stronger than Price’s at Westport. Bill gave Price a stolen set of fine pistols, which the general accepted. Instead of dismissing Anderson and his wild bushwackers, Price, desperate for support, issued a written order to “Captain Anderson” to destroy the North Mississippi Railroad. Price and Anderson met again later that day. The general and governor both erupted with rage at the display and told Anderson the CSA would have nothing to do with his band until all scalps disappeared. Perhaps showing some detachment from reality, Bloody Bill rode up to Price and Governor Reynolds with scalps hanging from his saddle. Price sought to incorporate most of them into his column rather than dispersing them throughout the state to draw off Union troops.Īnderson’s command rode into General Price’s camp on October 11. Price was strongly criticized by Jefferson Davis and others for his misuse of the guerrillas. Instead Price began a meandering march in which he wasted his strength in a series of pointless battles. General Sterling Price led the last Confederate attempt to secure Missouri in September 1864. A Talk given to the Civil War Roundtable, Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto on April 3, 2019.
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