The first Burning of Platte City, Missouri occurred during the American Civil War on December 16, 1861, after Union troops attempted to capture the bushwhacker Silas M. Gordon. Gordon, who lived in Platte County, Missouri, had been conducting numerous raids and was suspected of masterminding the September 3, 1861, Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy in which a Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad train was derailed on a sabotaged bridge across the Platte River (Missouri) by St. Joseph, Missouri, killing 17 to 20 and injuring 100.