a hill; a group of guerrillas led by Anderson had been stationed at the bottom and other guerrillas hid nearby. Anderson then led a charge up the hill. Although five guerrillas were killed by the first volley of Union fire, the Union soldiers were quickly overwhelmed by the well-armed guerrillas, and those who fled were pursued. One Union officer reached Centralia and gave word of the ambush, allowing a few Union soldiers who had remained there to escape. However, most were hunted down and killed. Anderson's men mutilated the bodies of the dead soldiers and tortured some survivors. By the end of the day, Anderson's men had killed 22 soldiers from the train and 125 soldiers in the ensuing battle in one of the most decisive guerrilla victories of the entire war. It was Anderson's greatest victory, surpassing Lawrence and Baxter Springs in brutality and the number of casualties. The attack led to a near-complete halt in rail traffic in the area and a dramatic increase in Union rail security. Anderson achieved the same notoriety Quantrill had previously enjoyed, and he began to refer to himself as "Colonel Anderson", partly in an effort to supplant Quantrill. Sutherland saw the massacre as the last battle in the worst phase of the war in Missouri, and Castel and Goodrich described the slaughter as the Civil War's "epitome of savagery". However, Frank James, who participated in the attack, later defended the guerrillas' actions, arguing that the federal troops were marching under a black flag, indicating that they intended to show no mercy. Aftermath Anderson left the Centralia area on September 27, pursued for the first time by Union forces equipped with artillery. Anderson evaded the pursuit, leading his men into ravines the Union troops would not enter for fear of ambush. In the aftermath of the massacre, Union soldiers committed several revenge killings of Confederate-sympathizing civilians. They burned Rocheport to the ground on October 2; the town was under close scrutiny by Union forces, owing to the number of Confederate sympathizers there, but General Fisk maintained that the fire was accidental. Anderson watched the fire from nearby bluffs. Anderson visited Confederate sympathizers as he traveled, some of whom viewed him as a hero for fighting the Union, whom they deeply hated. Many of Anderson's men also despised the Union, and he was adept at tapping into this emotion. The Union soldier held captive