Bill Earngey

First, let's take a generality as a given: In war, there is a fine line between combat and murder.

  The Civil War did not begin at Fort Sumner, S.C. It began in "Bleeding" Kansas during the 1850s, where pro- and anti-slavery politics escalated from violent arguments to violent combat along the mutual borders of eastern Kansas and western Missouri.

  Most notoriously violent were William Quantrill's Raiders and (Bloody) Bill Anderson's guerrillas. Quantrill, wanted for murder, fled to Missouri in late 1860, but continued raiding Kansas, as did Anderson, described as a sociopath.

  During 1863-1864 these two Confederate partisans and the Federals bottomed out in a war already known for being ugly.

  In 1863, Quantrill and 450 "raiders" attacked Lawrence, Kansas. They killed 183 men and boys, "dragging some from their homes to murder them in front of their families." Frank James, Jesse's brother, rode with Quantrill.

  In 1863, Order No. 11 was issued by Federals damaged in a guerrilla night raid. Residents in western Missouri counties could be forced out of their homes within 15 days, including all residents within one mile of Independence, Kansas City and Blue Springs. Some towns were burned.

  In 1864, in-and-near Centralia, Missouri, Anderson caught 22 soldiers on leave. He stripped and shot them. The wounded were shot repeatedly and bodies were mutilated.

  Even worse, Anderson ambushed the rescue troops, killing 150 Federals and allowing his men "to crush faces, disembowel corpses, take scalps, and cut off noses." A 16-year-old Jesse James admired and rode with Anderson. Later Jesse James was notorious for shooting unarmed men.

  In 1882, Jesse James was fatally shot in the head at his own house by gang-member Bob Ford (" ... That dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard has laid poor Jesse in his grave.").

  Unfortunately his life is still romanticized, and, second only to George Washington, he has visited and slept in an awful lot of places, including -- 23 years after his death -- the Basin Park Hotel.