Bloody Bill Anderson

[Rebel_Doc]

CaptainJim, thanks for asking an intelligent question.  Bloody Bill Anderson had at least one brother who survived the War.  That was James.  It is also possible that Ellis survived but the traditionalists have done an excellent job of covering up his tracks just as they refuse to give the full middle name of Bloody Bill's father, William C. Anderson.

Any covering up of James Anderson's tracks was most likely done by Jim himself, as he seems to have had a murder charge hanging over him.  To the best of my knowledge, no one has found any document that contains Wm. C. Anderson's (the father of Wm. T. Anderson) full name, and if one did, they would publish the find.  "Traditionalist" (I prefer the term "responsible") historians rely on the best evidence available, then draw their conclusions from that evidence rather than drawing a conclusion and then cherry-picking the evidence that might support it.

The traditionalists also fail to account for the reasons historians Shelby Foote and Dr. Richard S. Brownlee specifically said, in their books, that Bloody Bill Anderson's full name was "William C. Anderson" - just like his father.  They had rather avoid this blatant fact of history because it shreds their William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson myth to pieces.

This has been dealt with in the past.  Brownlee made an error in his Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy, and Foote -- using that work as one of the sources for his trilogy -- merely repeated Brownlee's earlier error.  The perpetuation of an author's error by those who follow is a common occurance.

They cannot even say, or won't say, when the famous Jim Anderson died or where he is buried.  Yet they all crowd together when their myth is challenged with cold hard historical facts and reason.

Since the contemporary accounts of Jim's death are sketchy, there are no known surviving newspaper accounts of it, and it reportedly occurred prior to the requirement for death certificates, no responsible historian can or will speculate on it without including a disclaimer citing the lack of documentation.  If you have any "cold hard historical facts" regarding the matter, trot them out.

When pressed on any issue, the traditionalists and their mouthpieces simply resort to making cheap and false personal attacks and unfounded allegations.  What else can they do? 
~Jay~

While I have seen a number of snide remarks posted about the poor quality of your research, I have yet to see anything untrue in them.
Doc

[Gay Mathis]

Yes, Gay, this plainly shows what words cannot describe about that infamous
"T" on Bloody Bill's marriage certificate. Actually, there are two "T"s to back up which is correct. Plus, the "T" on the census when he is 21, so surely he and his parents would know.
One poster has chosen to read the "L" in Lieut. to be identical to the "T" middle initial. I would like to add that "L" could be more easily confused with an "S" !

Yohoosue

See this marriage license copy, also..Click to enlarge on the site, if necessary:

Not "Bloody Bill" only "Uncle Billy"

http://unclebilly.texas-heartland.com/images/WillTAndersonBushMarriagesm.jpg

*******************

Gay

[Webmaster Ann]

Hi is anyone that have a articel about the true about Bloody Bill Anderson, i want to publish that articel on my site

[yohoosue]

Ann, here is a report of William T "Bloody Bill" Anderson's death. Copy and paste the whole link, it is long:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fwaro%2Fwaro0083%2F&tif=00466.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DANU4519-0083


Excerpt:
"We have the honor to report the result of our expedition on yesterday against the notorious bushwhacker William T Anderson near Albany, in the South west corner of this county (Ray).
Anderson was killed.
We captured on Anderson private papers and orders from General Price that identify him beyond a doubt"

If you can't copy and paste the entire link, use this link, and do a simple search for William T Anderson. Searching for Bill Anderson, William Anderson, W T Anderson will bring up other reports of his bushwhacking days.

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html


Here is a message on another Civil War board that tells of how his widow recieved the news of his death:

http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/mocwmb/index.cgi?noframes;read=11251
Jim Cummins The Guerilla

Posted By: David Martin
Date: Wednesday, 27 February 2008, at 5:06 p.m.

This is an interesting excerpt frpm the 1908 "Jim Cummins, The Guerialla. I had not seen this before and thought it might shed some additional light, prior to the subject of Bill Anderson being closed;
***************excerpt**************************
Jim Cummins, the Guerrilla. pg 60

HE VISITED BILL ANDERSON'S GRAVE

On the 26th day of February 1908, I visited the grave of Bill Anderson at Richmond, Mo. While I was fixing up the grave to put some flowers on it, an old colored lady came along. She asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was fixing up Anderson's grave. She said she stood by and seen him buried. She told me that right east of his grave was the place where two Federal soldiers were buried. She said when Bill Anderson was buried she and several other southern women helped to put some flowers on his grave. A short time after this, when the flowers had dried up, Colonel King, of the 13th Missouri Regiment, came along with his men and set fire and burned them, all the while cursing the women who had placed them there. Prof. Dunn came along then and as he was a friend of Anderson he placed stones on his grave and caused me to think when I arrived in Sherman, Texas with three or four of Anderson's men in advance of the company and went to Mrs. Smith's house, the mother of Bill Anderson's wife. and when Mr. John Moppin, who had been waunded in the fight in which Anderson was killed and we had taken through to Sherman, told Mrs.Smith and Bill's wife of the death of Bill Anderson,the wife cried all night and almost went into hysterics. After the long and tiresome traveling which we had just done we were very dirty and tired and some of the men were even lousy and so we told Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Smith that we would go because we were not fit to sleep in her house. But they would not let us leave and soon had beds made down on the parlor floor for us and made us sleep there in the house, as dirty as we were. They were even then afraid we would get up and leave so they locked all the doors.
***************************************************
DM


Sincerely,
Yohoosue

[sallyfromhouston]

I am joining this conversation long after the fact, but I wanted to add to this thread that Gay Mathis and others have started a Yahoo site called Bloody Bill Mystery Solved group. Many of the topics touched on in this thread are discussed by the group. The research talents of Ms. Mathis and the others, pooled together, have gathered an incredible archive of records dealing with William T. Anderson, his life, his death, Bush Smith/Mary Erwin, his immediate and extended family and the controversy stirring about who the two Williams really are.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BloodyBillMysterySolvedGroup/

Anyone that has ever shown and interest in the subject will enjoy the site.

Sally

[Webmaster]

I am joining this conversation long after the fact, but I wanted to add to this thread that Gay Mathis and others have started a Yahoo site called Bloody Bill Mystery Solved group. Many of the topics touched on in this thread are discussed by the group. The research talents of Ms. Mathis and the others, pooled together, have gathered an incredible archive of records dealing with William T. Anderson, his life, his death, Bush Smith/Mary Erwin, his immediate and extended family and the controversy stirring about who the two Williams really are.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BloodyBillMysterySolvedGroup/

Anyone that has ever shown and interest in the subject will enjoy the site.

Sally

Hello Sally
I have a suggestion for you if you are the owner of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BloodyBillMysterySolvedGroup/
If you want to we can combine our forums so they become an instead, the serving of it is you for you is over 500 members of which may discuss Billy.
If you agree with this and you will be given will be the moderator of Bloody Bill Anderson category.
What do you think.
Want to know what you think

[sallyfromhouston]

Howdy. Its been quiet here about Uncle Bill. I thought I'd add something that might connect some dots. The following is part of one of my posts on another Civil War site. I thought I'd share it here:

"...On the other side of Dad’s family, we are Andersons. This side of the family was in Missouri as the Civil War gripped the states. The War split the family. The eldest son fought for the Union and others for the Confederacy. A brother of my father’s grandfather has the dubious reputation laid on him by some as being Bloody Bill, having miraculously survived the ambush in 1864. Of course, the real Bloody Bill, William T. Anderson, was killed that day. My father’s great uncle, William C. Anderson and his brother, James Noble Anderson, did fight but started in 1861, before William T. Anderson joined the War. A relative in Missouri tells that Uncle Bill had a dislike for the Dutch in central Missouri and spent a good deal of his time raiding there. Uncle Bill and Uncle James also spent time with Quantrill when he was in southwest Missouri fighting over the mines there. I believe this is how they get confused with William T. Anderson and his own brother James. My great uncles settled in Texas. Their older brother who fought for the Union remained on the family farm, which is still intact and in the family. He told Uncle Bill that if he returned to Missouri, he’d hang him. So, he stayed in Texas with Uncle James, great-Uncle Moses and my great grandfather David Anderson. Thus, my interest in the Civil War."