Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare during the American Civil War that was particularly prevalent in rural areas where there were sharp divisions between those favoring the Union and Confederacy in the conflict. The perpetrators of the attacks were called bushwhackers. Look up bushwhacker in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... “Guerrilla” redirects here. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... In this map:  Union states prohibiting slavery  Union territories  Border states on the Union side which allowed slavery  Kansas, which entered and fought with the Union as a free state after the Bleeding Kansas crisis  The Confederacy  Confederate claimed and sometimes held territories During the American Civil War, the Union... Motto Deo Vindice (Latin: Under God, Our Vindicator) Anthem (none official) God Save the South (unofficial) The Bonnie Blue Flag (unofficial) Dixie (unofficial) Capital Montgomery, Alabama (until May 29, 1861) Richmond, Virginia (May 29, 1861–April 2, 1865) Danville, Virginia (from April 3, 1865) Language(s) English (de facto) Religion...

Bushwhackers were not, generally, part of the military command and control of either side. While bushwhackers conducted a few well-organized raids in which they burned cities, most of the attacks involved ambushes (hence, the term) of opponent individuals or families in rural areas. In areas affected by bushwhacking the actions were particularly insidious since it amounted to a fight of neighbor against neighbor and the attacks bordered on vigilantism. Since the attacks were non-uniformed, the government response was complicated by trying to decide whether they were legitimate military attacks or criminal actions. For the aircraft, see A-5 Vigilante. ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ...

Union and Confederate bushwhackers

The term was widely used during the conflict, though it came to be particularly associated with the guerrillas of Missouri, where such warfare was most intense. Guerrilla warfare also wracked Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and northern Virginia, among other locations. Official language(s) English Capital Jefferson City Largest city Kansas City Largest metro area St Louis[1] Area  Ranked 21st  - Total 69,709 sq mi (180,693 km²)  - Width 240 miles (385 km)  - Length 300 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Largest metro area Little Rock Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 29th  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

Pro-Union guerrilla fighters in Kansas were called "jayhawkers". They used tactics similar to the bushwhackers. One of the most vicious actions during the Civil War by the bushwhackers was the Lawrence Massacre. Official language(s) English[2] Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Area  Ranked 15th  - Total 82,277 sq mi (213,096 km²)  - Width 211 miles (340 km)  - Length 417 miles (645 km)  - % water 0. ... A jayhawker was a radical guerrilla fighter during the American Civil War. ... Combatants United States of America Confederate States of America Commanders No Union commander William C. Quantrill Strength Lawrence Union Militia, Unknown number Redlegs, 21 U.S. soldiers 14th Kansas Infantry Regt, 20 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regt Quantrill’s Raiders and other guerrillas (400) Casualties 164 40 The Lawrence Massacre...

In some areas, particularly the Appalachian regions of Tennessee and North Carolina, the term bushwhackers was used for Union partisans who attacked Confederate forces. During the Gettysburg Campaign, Pennsylvanian civilians at times bushwhacked stragglers from the Army of Northern Virginia. The Appalachian Mountains are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Largest metro area Charlotte metro area Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (240 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (901 km)  - % water 9. ... Meade and Lee of Gettysburg Gettysburg Campaign (through July 3); cavalry movements shown with dashed lines. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Largest metro area Delaware Valley Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War in the eastern theater. ...

Partisan rangers

In most areas, irregular warfare operated as an adjunct to conventional military operations. The most famous such "partisan ranger" (to use the title adopted by the Confederate government in formally authorizing such insurgents) was Col. John Singleton Mosby, who carried out raids on Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Virginia. Colonel John Singleton Mosby (December 6, 1833 - May 30, 1916), also known as the Gray Ghost, was a Confederate guerilla fighter in the American Civil War. ... Canoeing on the Shenandoah River near Winchester, VA. The Shenandoah Valley region of western Virginia, from Winchester to Staunton, is bounded by the Blue Ridge mountains to the East and the Allegheny mountains to the West. ...

In Missouri, however, secessionist bushwhackers operated outside of the Confederate chain of command. On occasion, a prominent bushwhacker chieftain might receive formal Confederate rank (notably William Clarke Quantrill), or receive written orders from a Confederate general (as "Bloody Bill" Anderson did in October 1864 during a large-scale Confederate incursion into Missouri, or as when Joseph C. Porter was authorized by Gen. Sterling Price to recruit in northeast Missouri). For the most part, however, Missouri's bushwhacker squads were self-organized groups of young men, predominantly from the slave holding counties along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, who took it upon themselves to attack Federal forces and their Unionist neighbors, both in Kansas and in response to Federal invasions of their home state. William Clark Quantrill of Quantrills Raiders William Clark Quantrill (July 31, 1837–June 6, 1865) was a pro-Confederate States of America guerrilla fighter during the American Civil War. ... William T. Anderson William T. Anderson a. ... Some Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army (CSA) was organized in February 1861 to defend the newly formed Confederate States of America from military action by the United States government. ... Joseph Chrisman Porter (September 12, 1819 – February 16, 1863) was a Confederate officer in the American Civil War, a key leader in the guerilla campaigns in northern Missouri, and a figure of controversy. ... General Price Sterling Old Pap Price (September 20, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was an antebellum politician from the U.S. state of Missouri and a Confederate major general during the American Civil War. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the United States. ... For the river in Canada, see Mississippi River (Ontario). ...

Jesse James

The guerrilla conflict in Missouri was, in many respects, a civil war within the Civil War. One of the most famous men who fought as a bushwhacker was Jesse James, who began to fight in 1864. During months of often intense combat, he only battled fellow Missourians, ranging from Missouri regiments of U.S. Volunteer troops to state militia to unarmed Unionist civilians. The single confirmed instance of him exchanging fire with Federal troops from another state occurred a month after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, during a near-fatal encounter with Wisconsin cavalrymen. In the course of the war, his mother and sister were arrested, his stepfather tortured, and his family banished temporarily from Missouri by state militiamen—all Unionist Missourians. A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight against each other for the control of political power. ... For other persons named Jesse James, see Jesse James (disambiguation). ... Lebanese Kataeb militia A Militia is an army composed of ordinary [1] citizens to provide defense, emergency or paramilitary service, or those engaged in such activity. ... // For other uses, see Robert E. Lee (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Largest metro area Greater Milwaukee Area  Ranked 23rd  - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 310 miles (500 km)  - % water 17  - Latitude 42° 30′ N to 47° 05′ N  - Longitude 86° 46′ W to...

Atrocities

As is often the case in insurgencies, the conflict with Confederate bushwhackers everywhere rapidly escalated into a succession of atrocities committed by both sides. Union troops often executed or tortured suspects without trial and burned the homes of suspected guerrillas and those suspected of aiding or harboring them. Where credentials were suspect, the accused bushwhacker was often executed, as in the case of Lt. Col. Frisby McCullough after the Battle of Kirksville. Bushwhackers frequently went house to house, executing Unionist farmers. Lt. ... Battle of Kirksville Conflict American Civil War Date August 6-9, 1862 Place Adair County, Missouri Result Union victory The Battle of Kirksville was a battle in the American Civil War. ...

In response to the Kansas Jayhawkers sacking Osceola, Missouri, in which the entire town was set aflame and nearly all of the male residents killed, and the collapse of a Kansas City, Missouri, jail in which female relatives of bushwhackers were incarcerated and many killed in the collapse, Bill Quantrill led a raid in August 1863 on Lawrence, Kansas, burning the town and murdering some 200 men and boys. In response, the Union district commander, Thomas Ewing, Jr., ordered the total depopulation of all men, women, and children (both Unionists and Southern sympathizers) of three and a half Missouri counties along the Kansas border from Kansas City, Missouri south, under his infamous Order No. 11. (The Missouri-Kansas conflict was in many ways a continuation of Bleeding Kansas violence.) In other areas, individual families (including that of Jesse and Frank James and the grandparents and mother of future President Harry Truman) were banished from Missouri. Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... William Clark Quantrill of Quantrills Raiders William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865), was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. ... Lawrence is a river city in and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. ... Thomas Ewing, Jr. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Division of the states during the Civil War:  Union states  Union territories  Border states  Bleeding Kansas  The Confederacy  Confederate territories (not always held) Bleeding Kansas, sometimes referred to in history as Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a sequence of violent events involving Free-Staters (anti-slavery) and pro... Alexander Franklin James (January 10, 1843 – February 18, 1915) was an American outlaw and older brother of Jesse James. ... For the victim of Mt. ...

Next to the attack on Lawrence, the most notorious atrocity by Confederate bushwhackers was the murder of 22 unarmed Union soldiers pulled from a train in the Centralia Massacre in retaliation for the earlier execution of a number of Anderson's own men. In an ambush of pursuing Union forces shortly thereafter, the bushwhackers killed well over 100 Federal troops. In October 1864, "Bloody Bill" Anderson was tricked into an ambush and killed by state militiamen under the command of Col. Samuel P. Cox. Anderson's body was displayed and his head was severed. The Battle of Lawrence was an attack by Quantrills raiders, led by William Clark Quantrill, on the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas, a raid also known as the Lawrence Massacre. ... For other uses, see Centralia Massacre. ...

Postwar banditry

After the end of the war, the survivors of Anderson's band (including the James brothers) remained together under the leadership of Archie Clement, one of Anderson's lieutenants, and began a series of armed robberies in February 1866. This group became known as the James-Younger Gang, after the death or capture of the older outlaws (including Clement) and the addition of former bushwhacker Cole Younger and his brothers. In December 1869, Jesse James became the most famous of this group when he emerged as the prime suspect in the robbery of the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri, and the murder of the cashier, John W. Sheets. During Jesse's flight from the scene, he declared that he had killed Samuel P. Cox and had taken revenge for Anderson's death. (Cox lived in Gallatin, and the killer apparently mistook Sheets for the former militia officer.) Throughout Jesse James' criminal career, he often wrote to the newspapers with pride of his role as a bushwhacker, rallying the support of former Confederates and other Missourians who had been brutalized by Federal authorities during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Archie Clement a. ... Jesse and Frank James, 1872 The James-Younger Gang was a legendary 19th century gang of American outlaws that included Jesse James. ... A wounded Cole Younger, after his arrest in 1876 Cole Younger as a young man Thomas Coleman Younger (January 15, 1844 – March 21, 1916) a famous Confederate outlaw during and after the American Civil War. ... Gallatin is a city located in Daviess County, Missouri. ... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ...

In 1867, near Nevada, Missouri, a band of bushwhackers shot and killed Sheriff Joseph Bailey, a former Union brigadier general, who was attempting to arrest them. Nevada, Missouri, pronounced nuh-VAY-duh, is a city located in Vernon County, Missouri. ... Brigadier General Joseph Bailey Joseph Bailey (May 6, 1825 – March 27, 1867) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. ...

Popular culture

• The films The Outlaw Josey Wales and Ride with the Devil are both about bushwhackers.

The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 revisionist Western movie set at the end of the American Civil War starring Clint Eastwood (as the eponymous Josey Wales), Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon, Paula Trueman, Sam Bottoms, Geraldine Keams, Woodrow Parfrey, Joyce Jameson, Sheb Wooley, and Royal... Ride With the Devil is a 1999 American Civil War drama directed by Ang Lee. ...

See also

• Jayhawker
• Border Ruffian
• William Quantrill

Jayhawkers were guerrilla fighters during the American Civil War in Kansas who often clashed with States Rights and pro-slavery partisans, as well as Missouri militia units. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... William Clark Quantrill of Quantrills Raiders William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865), was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. ...

References

• T.J. Stiles: Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002

External links

• Centralia Massacre and Battle Reenactment