Sunday, December 29, 2013

December 30, 1863---The Wilson Massacre



DECEMBER 30, 1863:        

Reports reach Washington and Richmond of the tragic Wilson Massacre. 

In southwestern Missouri, Unionists and Confederates had decided to declare a holiday cease-fire, and were sitting at the festive board enjoying a few moments of peace and good fellowship on Christmas Day, when local men belonging to the pro-Union State Militia descended upon the party, firing pistols and hacking at the guests indiscriminately with sabres. Of 300 attendees, 150 were killed outright, and about 100 captured. 

The purpose of the raid was to free Union troops held prisoner in the area. Many of the Union prisoners were killed by the raiders, as they had been allowed to join the revelers on this day. 

Major James Wilson, who led the raid, quickly sanitized his report. He never mentioned either the festivities, nor women and children being present, nor the fact that almost nobody at the scene was armed except his men. The truth became known when Union and Confederate survivors wrote of the incident afterward. 

Vengeful violence among the locals persisted in the area well into the 1870s.


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