One Of The Deadliest Massacres In American History Took Place In This Tiny Missouri Town

Almost 80 of Anderson's guerillas stopped a train in Centralia filled with civilians and Union volunteers. They shot all 22 of the unarmed Union volunteers, set the train on fire and left the civilians to tend to their mutilated bodies.

To retaliate against Anderson's followers, Major A.V.E. Johnson of the 39th Missouri Mounted Infantry launched an attack which later became known as the Battle of Centralia. Unfortunately, his 155 Union recruits were outnumbered and under-equipped to face Anderson's men.

Confederate Major General Sterling Price saw reclaiming Missouri for the South as a chance to turn the tide in the war, after William Tecumseh Sherman had captured Atlanta. Anderson's men were on their way to join Price's military after stopping in Centralia. The Battle of Centralia was known as one of the bloodiest, due to the nature of Anderson's men torturing and mutilating Union members who had survived the battle. The Confederacy ended up invading Missouri later in the fall.