The infamous, bloody raid on Lawrence, Kan., had taken place Aug. 21, 1863, forever placing Quantrill and his men into the annals of Civil War history as some of the most brutal of killers. Interestingly, some historical accounts by those who witnessed the Lawrence raid have stated that Quantrill himself never killed a soul that day. But he sure did order the massacre of as many men as possible.
Indeed, over 150 men and boys were slaughtered in Lawrence that piping hot August day. Some of the men, wounded, were finished off as their wives clung to them, attempting to hiding their wounded husbands from the bushwhackers. The guerrilla would simply point his gun around the woman and finished off his victim at point-blank range. No women were killed during this raid.
It seemed as if Quantrill had not thought his men would resort to such heinous actions as occurred that day and afterward, it was as if he had lost his taste for blood. It wasn't long before he left for Kentucky with about 33 of his own loyal men following him, leaving the remainder to do as they wanted.
They were free to scout about Missouri and kill whomever they wanted, in whatever manner they wanted.
Captain William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson was happy to take the reins from Quantrill. Born around 1840, Anderson moved to Kansas in the late 1850s and got involved in the Border Wars – ironically on the side of anti-slavery. He trafficked stolen horses and was the escort of wagon trains along the Santa Fe Trail. As an abolitionist, he joined an anti-slavery band of guerrillas known as "Jayhawkers." However, he quickly switched sides for some reason and joined a group of Confederate sympathizers known as "bushwhackers."
At this early point in the war, the guerrillas had little leadership and were more interested in robbery, looting and their own gain than that of the issue at debate – slavery.
In 1862, Anderson's father was murdered by a local judge during a confrontation with the man and an enraged Anderson and his brother, Jim, tracked down their father's killer and gunned him down, as well as the judge's brother-in-law, then proceeded to burn down a store owned by the judge. This is one of the first occurrences in the young man's life that presents an indication of his explosive, passionate personality. He became a fierce hater of all things Union and vowed revenge.
Anderson has been described as handsome and tall, with dark curly hair and piercing blue-gray eyes. I've always thought of him as much like modern day killer Charles Manson or Ted Bundy. As a sociopath, he was charismatic and thus able to easily coerce his followers to do his bidding. Again, I am reminded of Frank James' statement nearly 40 years after the war, where he said it was easy to train a group of teenage boys into bloodthirsty killers – they were ripe for teaching and didn't have the wisdom of older men to hold them back.
Anderson was a superb horseman and feared no man nor beast. He was a savage in battle and developed such a reputation for his butchery, that he was quickly nicknamed "Bloody Bill," for his propensity for scalping his victims and hanging their bloody scalps from his saddle, as if they were some sort of trophy.
General Thomas Ewing, in command of the border – Kansas and the western border of Missouri – and aware of the viciousness of the guerrilla attacks, stepped up patrols and issued a command for his soldiers to find the women important to the bushwhackers – mothers, daughters, sisters – the one's whom the soldiers depended upon for warmth, clothing, shelter and food, and jail them where the men couldn't get at them. Additionally, Ewing knew the act of incarcerating the women would so anger the bushwhackers, that they would drop their cloak of secrecy, screw up their strategies and they'd be able to flush the men out.
But he would be wrong.
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| General Thomas Ewing outraged by the bloodbath in Lawrence, Kansas, drafted Order #11, expelling the families of known guerrillas/southern sympathizers from four western counties in Missouri from the state until after the war. |
Anderson's sisters were arrested and jailed in the facility, located at what is now 14th and Grand avenues in Kansas City, in an old three-story brick building. The building collapsed on Aug. 14, 1863, killing four women, including Anderson's sister, Josephine, 15, and maiming another sister, Mary, 18. Another sister, Martha, escaped without serious injury.
The jail was called #13 or known as the Thomas Building, and was located very near to where the huge Sprint Center building is today. The third floor of the building housed an art studio for famed Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham, who owned the building and the first floor was a Jewish grocery.
Ewing, it is believed, was aware that the building had been deteriorating, but was conveniently ignoring the fact. According to a Union surgeon who came forward 11 years after the disaster, more genteel women had been housed on the second floor of the building, while the more "questionable" women were put in the basement – "women of bad character and diseased," he said.
Apparently, soldiers located in the adjacent Cockrell Building had been removing supports on their side – allegedly to enlarge their side, or as some have stated, to get at the women on the other side. No one truly knows how or why, but the structure nevertheless came down like a house of cards.
The collapse of the building so enraged Anderson that all reasonable thought had escaped him by now and he became a "homicidal maniac."
It was the collapse of the building and death of the women that was the impetus Quantrill needed to order the raid on Lawrence. And Anderson was chomping at the bit to do it.
"Lawrence or hell," he shouted "but with one proviso, we kill every male thing." Anderson did not disappoint. He and his immediate group made the streets of Lawrence run red with the blood of the many shot up close and personal.
Joining Quantrill's group of guerrillas, Anderson quickly rose through the ranks to that of captain, his motivation – revenge on any man in blue, blaming them all on Josephine's death and Mary's injuries in the collapsed prison.
The second Battle of Fredericksburg occurred just four weeks after the first, on Aug. 12, 1864, and was reported in the Aug. 19, 1864 edition of the Liberty Tribune, "The bushwhackers were being chased out of Clay County by Col. Catherwood's men and the militia of this county under Captains Garth and Young, that on Friday, they left the county, going through Ray into Carroll. During their passage out, they encountered Capt. Colly [sic], of the Ray militia and killed him and his men ... Col. Catherwood, on learning of their killing Capt. Colly, immediately went out at the head of an additional force and pursued them into Carroll County."
Colley belonged to Company E. 51st E. M.M. – the militia group mentioned in the Liberty Tribune, was comprised of Ray County citizens who were guarding Albany (now the town of Orrick). These citizens – men – were not military trained, but normal, ordinary citizens who found themselves defending their fellow citizens from the most feared Confederate guerrilla of them all.
The bushwhackers were successful in their attacks because they used guerrilla tactics. They hid in the bushes and ambushed their targets.
This day, Anderson captured two of Colley's men while he waited for Colley to reach the ambush. Then Anderson proceeded to brutally murder the men – Ray County brothers, Smith and John Hutchings – by slitting their throats. According to historian Brian Smarker, the men's throats were slit so no shots would be fired, preventing additional soldiers from being alerted to the planned ambush by Anderson's men.
As Colley's men were ambushed, the assault became even more brutal. Shots were fired, killing George O'Dell. Pvt. Phillip Siegel was killed after his horse tripped over a log, throwing him to the ground – leaving him wide open for Anderson's men.
It has not been proven that Anderson himself killed Pvt. Siegel, in fact, it has been long rumored that one of Anderson's protege's, Archie Clement (another bloodthirsty young Rebel), is the one who killed Siegel. No matter what, Siegel, 21, had his throat slit and his heart cut out and placed on his body.
Siegel's horse ran home and the soldier's father took the heavily lathered horse out to a creek some distance from the home in order to temporarily hide him – the family feared that the guerrillas would come looking for the horse, connect the horse to the home and then slaughter the family because they were northern sympathizers.
I learned the above from Martin Siegel, a descendant of the Siegel family. Martin said that Phillip's brother Jacob, 2 years younger than Phillip, had enlisted with his older brother; they had fought together and Jacob was supposed to have gone out with Phillip that day, but his horse had gone lame, so he had remained at home – an act that saved his life.
It is believed that Jesse James was riding with Anderson that day, and possibly Frank too. Jesse rode with Archie Clement right until the end of the war. With this knowledge in hand, another interesting footnote is that the Siegel brothers younger brother, George, would later marry Amanda Ford, the sister of Robert "Bob" Ford and Charlie Ford – Bob would become infamous as the "dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard" – Jesse James – on April 3, 1882 in St. Joseph, Mo.
Not only have I met descendants of the Siegel family, but also those of the Hutchings boys. The Civil War is fresh in the minds of these descendants out here, therefore you get a real good picture of how both sides felt about the bloody, savage War Between the States.
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| Pictured is Martin Siegel at the Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives, holding a rifle owned by George Siegel, a brother of the murdered soldier Pvt. Phillip Siegel. It is likely that the rifle, given to George by Jacob, may have belonged to Phillip. Photo by Liz Johnson |
As the ambush continued, Anderson himself went after Colley, cornering him in a barnyard where Colley's horse refused to jump. Anderson shot Colley and then proceeded to scalp the captain, hanging the bloody trophy from his bridle where it was discovered and identified three months later after Anderson's death.
Colley, like many killed during the war, left behind family – his wife Rebecca, and three sons and two daughters. He was buried in Riffe Cemetery, north of Albany (now Orrick, Mo.).
The Hutching brothers were buried together in one grave at Enon Cemetery in Clay County, Mo.
The five killed in this second Battle of Fredericksburg were: Colley, age 37; Pvt. George O'Dell, believed to be between 35 and 39; Pvt. Smith Hutchings, 39; Pvt. John Hutchings, 30; and Phillip Siegel, 21. The men are also remembered in the Fredericksburg monument, along with the members of the 2nd Colorado killed in the first battle.
This brutal killing of local Ray County men would be the impetus that would finally take down Bloody Bill Anderson just a few months later.
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