January 1, 1839 - William T. Anderson
Anderson's trajectory from horse thief to guerrilla commander followed a pattern of escalating violence that eventually made him one of the most lethal figures of the Civil War's western border conflict. Operating under the Confederate guerrilla banner gave legal cover to raids that often amounted to massacre, most notoriously at Centralia in 1864, where his men killed unarmed Union soldiers and mutilated the dead. His effectiveness came not from strategy but from a particular ferocity that even some Confederate commanders found difficult to manage.
From Wikipedia
William T. Anderson (c. 1840 – October 26, 1864), known by the nickname "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was a Confederate soldier who was one of the deadliest and most notorious guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a band of volunteer partisan raiders who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas.
Raised by a family of Southerners in Kansas, Anderson began to support himself by stealing and selling horses in 1862. After a former friend and secessionist turned Union loyalist judge killed his father, Anderson killed the judge and fled to Missouri. There he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In early 1863 he joined Quantrill's Raiders, a group of Confederate guerrillas which operated along the Kansas–Missouri border. He became a skilled bushwhacker, earning the trust of the group's leaders, William Quantrill and George M. Todd.
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