It would be fair to say that villians (and heroes) were on both sides - Confederate and Union - during the Civil War in Missouri. There are too many examples on both sides to not assume that. In addition, there is a common error, that the division between Kansas troops and Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops were Kansans against Missourians, exclusively. From the records of Lane's Kansas Brigade and Kansas census records, there were more Kansans from mid-western states than New England States and the largest single state contributing to the brigade outside of Kansas was, in fact, Missouri. The nature of warfare in Missouri and along the Kansas border was greatly impacted by factors such as strategy and the lack of a consistent presence of either side's military forces, resulting in guerrilla warfare by both sides until late in the war when Union troops became more of an occupation force. Because the majority of Missouri outside of metropolitan St. Louis, Jefferson City and Kansas City, was subject to guerrilla warfare tactics, war devolved on the citizens as much as competing soldiers. This allowed for personal attitudes to become more important than larger scale maneuvering by armies which, I believe turned the state into one large feud. In that case murder, mayhem, robbery and other atrocities became as common as chivalry, mercy and protection.

So, who was the villian..... anyone could be and who was the hero.... again anyone could be... and Civil War history in Missouri and Kansas have examples of both.