Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

At Centralia, Bill Anderson commanded the largest body of men he ever lead -- some 400 horsemen drawn from a number of guerrilla bands. Anderson had been a soldier in the State Guard early in the War, and a minor figure in the guerrilla ranks before 1864. From July to October, 1864, he conducted a reign of terror in central Missouri taht made him the most infamous of all Southern partisans. He was killed near Richmond, Missouri less than a month after Centralia. The federal commander, Maj. A.V.E. Johnston, was briefly also a member of the Missouri State Guard, then an officer assigned to Union militia units in his native Northeast Missouri. Little is known of his service before Centralia. He was once accused of disloyalty to the Union Cause, but gave his life for the cause in Centralia. He is buried in Monroe City, Missouri.

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