William Anderson (1840 – October 26, 1864), known as "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was one of the deadliest pro-Confederate guerrilla leaders of the American Civil War, leading a band of volunteer partisans who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in Missouri and Kansas. After his father was killed by a Union loyalist judge during the war, Anderson killed the judge and fled to Missouri where he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In 1863 he took a leading role in the Lawrence massacre and later participated in the Battle of Baxter Springs. By 1864 Anderson was the leader of a group of raiders in Missouri. In September 1864, he led a raid on the town of Centralia, where his men captured a passenger train; they executed 24 unarmed Union soldiers in the Centralia Massacre. Later that day they killed more than a hundred Union militiamen in an ambush. Anderson died in battle a month later.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._Anderson
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
Ida B. Wells began to publish her research on lynching in the United States, for which she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells
1955:
Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam after defeating former emperor Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum supervised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_State_of_Vietnam_referendum
1994:
Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, settling relations between the two countries and pledging that neither would allow its territory to become a staging ground for military strikes by a third country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Jordan_peace_treaty
2000:
Following protests against military leader Robert Guéï, Laurent Gbagbo became the first elected president of Ivory Coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Gbagbo
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
sheepshank: (nautical) A type of knot which is useful for shortening a rope or taking up slack without cutting it. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sheepshank
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Simply caring is not enough. To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws. You need both understanding and action. --Hillary Clinton https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton