Archie Clement's Bloody Last Stand

The Wild West Extravaganza

Wild West Josh

History, Education

4.8 • 833 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Archie Clement was one of the most notorious guerrilla fighters to emerge from Missouri during the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Barely over five feet tall and weighing around 130 pounds, Clement quickly became feared across the state for his ruthlessness and intensity. Riding with William “Bloody Bill” Anderson, Jesse James, and Frank James, he participated in some of the most infamous raids of the war, including the Centralia Massacre, where unarmed Union soldiers were executed and scalped. After Anderson’s death, Clement took command and refused to surrender even after the Confederacy collapsed. Instead, he escalated his attacks, intimidating towns, influencing elections with violence, and masterminding the very first daylight bank robbery in American history. His defiance of Reconstruction authorities eventually brought him into direct conflict with Major Bacon Montgomery’s militia, leading to a violent showdown in Lexington. Reportedly carrying up to eleven revolvers, Clement fought ferociously, even after being riddled with more than thirty bullets, attempting to cock a pistol with his teeth before finally succumbing just days shy of his 21st birthday. DONATE TO BEAU: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-beaus-family-be-by-his-side/cl/s?lang=en_US&ts=1756683605 Buy Me A Coffee – https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Join Patreon for ad-free and bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	He stood at just five feet tall and weighed maybe 130 pounds soaking wet.
0:04.0	But by the time he turned 20, he was one of the most feared men in all of Missouri.
0:08.3	His name was Archie Clement, wrote with the likes of Bloody Bill Anderson and the James
0:12.3	boys during the war.
0:14.0	And while most of his compadres laid down their arms after Lee surrender, Archie kept rod
0:18.3	on a killing.
0:19.4	He also led the very first daylight bank robbery in American history. But who was Archie kept right on a killing. He also led the very first daylight bank robbery
0:22.2	in American history. But who was Archie really? How the quiet farmer's kid from Missouri
0:27.9	turned to such a cold-blooded killer? Is it true that it took over 30 bullets just to put him down?
0:33.6	And even then, he was still trying to cock the revolver with his teeth. And what exactly were Archie's final words?
0:40.1	Stick around and find out.
0:41.4	My name's Josh and this is the Wild West extravaganza.
0:45.4	Yeah!
0:46.9	Archibald Clement was born on January 1st, 1846 in Stokes County, North Carolina.
0:52.7	The son of southern farmers, who soon pulled up stakes and headed
0:55.8	west to Missouri, which in hindsight may not have been the best of choices. You see, back in those days,
1:01.9	Missouri was basically a war zone even before the war had started. Towns were split, families divided,
1:08.1	and lifelong friends became mortal enemies overnight. All it took was a
1:12.4	whispered opinion in the wrong company, and before you knew it, you were getting dragged out of bed
1:16.1	in the middle of the night. And that's the environment the young Archie Clement grew up in.
1:21.4	By the time he was 15 and the war had officially begun, he had spent years in a world where loyalty
1:26.1	meant everything, and revenge was practically
	...

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