Memorials › William H. "Bill" Stewart

William H. "Bill" Stewart

1838 – 13 Nov 1864

Birth	1838
Death	13 Nov 1864
Cemetery	Sunset Hills Cemetery Boonville , Cooper County , Missouri , USA
Added by	Kathy Margrave on 20 Jan 2011
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64119004

Bio

Columbia, Missouri Statesman, November 2-5, 1864, Page 3, Col. 1: Death has overtaken another notorious desperado and robber, in the person of rebel captain Stewart [sic], who, a companion of Anderson and a participator in many of the enterprises of that brigand, has been a curse to this section for many months past. Stewart was killed at the house of M'Donald in old Franklin, Howard county, on Friday last, by a cattle drover. Two drovers were at the home of Mr. M'Donald when Stewart and two companions rode up for the purpose of robbing or murdering them. The drovers fastened the doors of the house and Stewart in attempting to break them down was shot by one of the drovers and killed instantly. One shot penetrated his neck, another entered near the mouth, and a third passed fairly into the corner of the forehead. The other two guerrillas escaped. Stewart was a man of medium height, spare made, smooth of face, and wore very long hair of a red color. He was on the whole a fine looking man. The drover who killed him was in town on Wednesday and had in his possession a photograph of the desperado taken [by Boonville photographer O.D. Edwards] after death, exhibiting plainly the holes where the fatal bullets entered [see cover of this issue]. Stewart was from the vicinity of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri. ********** Thanks very much to FAG Member, Bobby Jo, for providing this information: I have an old newspaper article that states he was shot on November 17 by William Burford. **Conflicting dates.** *********** I have received a Suggested Edit for Veteran status. The term "guerrilla" makes me pause from doing so. I can find no enlistment/unit information on Ancestry. I did find this, however: From Prologue Magazine, National Archives, "Abraham Lincoln and the Guerrillas", Spring 2010, Vol. 42, No. 1, Daniel E. Sutherland: First, to put things in perspective, it must be explained that far more guerrillas fought in far more places and with far graver consequences than students of the Civil War have supposed. Not just Confederates either, which is the general impression. The results were three distinct yet interconnected guerrilla contests. One was a military aﬀair, with rebel guerrillas confronting and harassing the Union Army. The second was a purely civilian aﬀair, if "civilian" may be applied to bands of armed men who engaged in arson, torture, terror, and murder. These bands were composed of Southern neighbors who had taken rival sides, Unionists and Confederates, and who battled each other to maintain political and economic control of their communities. The third guerrilla contest had even less to do with military operations. Rather, it was simple outlawry, sometimes engaged in by "legitimate" guerrillas, but more often pursued by bands of deserters, draft dodgers, and thugs who held loyalty to no side. Taken together, the three guerrilla conﬂicts created utter chaos in many parts of the South and went a long way toward crippling Confederate resources and morale. Another source: "Anderson and his crew, including Frank and Jesse James, were in the Midwest as unconventional Guerrilla troops, loosely associated with regular confederate forces." Does anyone have more information regarding his status?

Inscription

Captain, Bloody Bill Anderson's Confederate Guerillas. Fatally shot by cattle drover and buried in an unknown spot within the grounds.

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