Bushwhackers in Arizona, 1865
Bushwhackers were pro-Confederate guerrillas who operated against the Union and its supporters in rural areas such as those of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, West Virginia, and even California during the American Civil War. The first Bushwhackers were secessionist guerrillas who waged an asymmetric war against unionists in Missouri at the start of the conflict, and, while the Confederacy formally authorized men such as William Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson to serve as "partisan rangers", many operated outside of the Confederate chain of command. Bushwhackers carried out several war crimes such as the house-to-house executions of Unionist sympathizers, and 220 miles of Missouri - including the whole of the border with Arkansas - became desolate by September 1863. The Union employed their own atrocious measures to combat Bushwhackers, such as the extrajudicial execution or torture of suspected guerrillas, the burning of the homes of the guerrillas and their supporters, and banishing suspected guerrillas, their supporters, and their families. After the war, many former Bushwhackers became outlaws of the Wild West, including Jesse James, Cole Younger, Tom McCauley, and William McWaters.
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