On September 27 , 1864 , 22 unarmed Union soldiers returning home on leave were pulled from a train in Centralia and executed by Confederate bushwhackers under William T. " Bloody Bill " Anderson . A Union force pursuing the guerrillas was ambushed , and about 150 were killed ; some were executed , and some were tortured first . Many of the bodies were mutilated , then stuffed with the remains of decaying cattle bones . The incident came to be known as the Centralia Massacre
Centralia Massacre
Centralia Massacre (Missouri)
Centralia, Missouri