Bloody Bill Anderson in repose

[Skeeter Lewis]

My new avatar shows Bloody Bill resting from his labors. Shotgun Steve posted it elsewhere and it tickled my fancy. Note the three revolvers. Apparently those are ostrich plumes on his hat. Shirt fetishists should enjoy this one. What looks like a holster flap coming over a revolver may be an unbuttoned shirt cuff.
What seemed at first like a wide shirt collar seems to be part of a cloak of some kind. You can see an edge of it above his elbow on our left. Any thoughts?
Skeet

[River City John]

"Repose?"

With that arm coming in from the left side to hold his head up, I'd say it's a case of eternal rest.
It's hard to tell. Many outer garments of the era had a half-cape for inclement weather.
RCJ

[James Hunt]

Nice overshirt. Potential Missouri Guerrillas should note that it is tucked inside his trousers, not gallantly flowing outside as seen in Ride with the Devil. (then again, perhaps that has been argued out elsewhere)

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[Skeeter Lewis]

RCJ, it was an attempt at humor....

[River City John]

I kinda guessed . . .
RCJ

[Montana Slim]

Looks like an overshirt to me as well.....& I do like that shirt he's wearing.

I also see this scoundrel (or hero, depending on your orientation), carries his belt revolvers in reverse fashion.....yes, much easier to sit, stand & even draw those long barreled pistols carried high & comfortable like that.

He definitely has style for a dead-man.

Slim

[Stillwater]

That is the cuff of his outter garment show next to his left side firearm.

And, those are ostritch feathers on his hat...

Bill

[Mogorilla]

Well, what you don't see is the guy holding him up must have had an ax in his other hand.  They took his head and hung it up for a while.    He is buried just north of here.   

[Stillwater]

Well, what you don't see is the guy holding him up must have had an ax in his other hand.  They took his head and hung it up for a while.    He is buried just north of here.   

Anderson was such a mean SOB, he deserved having his head chopped off...!

Where is, just north of here?

Bill

[Mogorilla]

I am in the Kansas City Area.  he is buried near Richmond Missouri, near where he was killed.   He definitely came a little unhinged after the yankees dropped a building on his sisters. 

[MJN77]

Anderson was such a mean SOB, he deserved having his head chopped off...!

It wasn't just Anderson.......The "yankee" militia was just as brutal. So were the "jayhawkers" (union guerillas). Both sides killed civilians, dressed in the other sides uniforms, looted, and generally terrorised the population. Read about Charles Jennison's 7th Kansas "red legs". They were the union's version of Anderson's men.  It was a whole different war in that area. Neither side has much to be proud of.

[MJN77]

p.s.
 This is the ol' boy alive.......

 Tell me those eyes aint creepy. Also he was only 25 when he died.

[Stillwater]

I am in the Kansas City Area.  he is buried near Richmond Missouri, near where he was killed.   He definitely came a little unhinged after the yankees dropped a building on his sisters. 

On my grandmothers side, most of my people are originally from Columbia, Missouri. The other side of my family, the Beckwiths, are from Iowa. They supported the Union, while the Taylor side of my family, the Missouri side, were southern supporters. We've never had a family reunion...

The "Yankee's" as you put it, did not purposefully  "drop a building," on Anderson's sisters. His sisters were put in a decrepit old building, for safe keeping, which collapsed on them, killing his sisters. An unfortunate thing to happen to them. However, Anderson was a SOB before the building incident, which is why pressure was being put on his family, by Union authorities.

Anderson is seen by a small coterie of supporters, as a hero. He wasn't a hero..., He was a terrorist, and nothing can be said, or done, that will detract from that stigma.

Anderson, and others, randomly attacked and butchered people, based on local politics and unsupported belief, in their Union sympathys. Anderson's and Quantrill's actions were one reason the Kansas, Missouri areas, were so bloody, which brought intense union attention to the area.  Do you know what happened in Lawrence, Kansas?

Can you understand the term "Fit Shappens?" War is hell, and a lot of unwanted things happen. Then many people, on both sides of an incident, with an axe to grind, will start lies and rumors about incidents, which with the passsage of years, take on unwarrented creedence.

Bill

[Stillwater]

It wasn't just Anderson.......The "yankee" militia was just as brutal. So were the "jayhawkers" (union guerillas). Both sides killed civilians, dressed in the other sides uniforms, looted, and generally terrorised the population. Read about Charles Jennison's 7th Kansas "red legs". They were the union's version of Anderson's men.  It was a whole different war in that area. Neither side has much to be proud of.

You are absolutely right on all counts. However, the original subject was "Bloody Bill Anderson."

Bill

[MJN77]

You are absolutely right on all counts. However, the original subject was "Bloody Bill Anderson."

Bill

What in my post did not have to do with him? I posted about his kind of "warfare". He was a product of his time and place. If not for the war, Bill would've been another one of the countless, faceless horse theives and murderers in history. You can't really fairly talk about a man without talking about his surroundings. It's like talking about George Patton without mentioning WWII. (not a comparison, just an example) As brutal as Bloody Bill was, he was really not much worse than the worst guerillas on either side. He is just more famous. Read about Dave Pool, or Archie Clements, or George Todd, or on the other side, Jim Lane or Charles Jennison, or the many many "yankee" militia units in the area. So in point of fact, my post was about Anderson.

[Mogorilla]

Hey Stillwater, I believe the building was new, about 6 months old.  Multiple stories exist as to why it collapsed, but working from memory one problem was no Union soldiers at guard were injured.   Other rumors abound as there were supposedly sporting women locked up with the Partisan rangers' families, further insult.  This drove the troops to dig a tunnel to meet up with them.  Thus the new building collapsed. No one will ever know for sure.

[MJN77]

I have read that union troops were billeted in an adjoining building that shared a common wall. To make more room, the "yankees" knocked out support posts that were in the middle of the floor. Sadly these were main supports for the building. When the posts were removed, a crack appeared in the wall. The next day, the wall collapsed, killing three women (including 16 year old Josephine Anderson) and injuring a lot more. So, if the report is true, the "yankees" in fact did cause the collapse accidentally or not.

[Stillwater]

Hey Stillwater, I believe the building was new, about 6 months old.  Multiple stories exist as to why it collapsed, but working from memory one problem was no Union soldiers at guard were injured.   Other rumors abound as there were supposedly sporting women locked up with the Partisan rangers' families, further insult.  This drove the troops to dig a tunnel to meet up with them.  Thus the new building collapsed. No one will ever know for sure.

I've read in several books about the condition of the building, which these articles said the building was old and decrepit.

Do I know this for sure? Obviously not, because I wasn't there. I have only read about it.

Bill

[MJN77]

Hey Stillwater, I believe the building was new, about 6 months old.  Multiple stories exist as to why it collapsed, but working from memory one problem was no Union soldiers at guard were injured.   Other rumors abound as there were supposedly sporting women locked up with the Partisan rangers' families, further insult.  This drove the troops to dig a tunnel to meet up with them.  Thus the new building collapsed. No one will ever know for sure.

I've also read that the building wasn't that old. It was a pretty new three story brick building. This isn't an excuse for a lot of the things that Anderson did, but neither side was  blameless in that damn war. Especially in Missouri and Kansas. There were no "good guys".

[Stillwater]

<snip>

 There were no "good guys".

How can you make such a blanket, unprovable statement like that? You weren't there.

My grandmother who lived during those times, said the majority of the people, who were supporting either the Union side, or the confederate side, in the Civil War, didn't support either side involved in the Kansas/Missouri conflict.

I think her recollections are a pretty fair statement of fact...

Bill