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.
