In late 1863 , while Quantrill 's Raiders spent the winter in Sherman , Texas , animosity developed between Anderson and Quantrill . Anderson , perhaps falsely , implicated Quantrill in a murder , leading to the latter 's arrest by Confederate authorities . Anderson subsequently returned to Missouri as the leader of his own group of raiders and became the most feared guerrilla in the state , killing and robbing dozens of Union soldiers and civilian sympathizers . Although Union supporters viewed him as incorrigibly evil , Confederate supporters in Missouri saw his actions as justified , possibly owing to their mistreatment by Union forces . In September 1864 , Anderson led a raid on the town of Centralia , Missouri . Unexpectedly , his men were able to capture a passenger train , the first time Confederate guerrillas had done so . In what became known as the Centralia Massacre , Anderson 's bushwhackers executed 24 unarmed Union soldiers on the train and set an ambush later that day that killed more than 100 Union militiamen . Anderson himself was killed in battle a month later . Historians have made disparate appraisals of Anderson : some see him as a sadistic , psychopathic killer , but for others his actions can not be separated from the general desperation and lawlessness of the time
Centralia Massacre
Centralia Massacre (Missouri)
William T. Anderson