Search results
Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies.
- Gunshot wound to the head
- 4, including Jesse E.
- 1866–1882
Apr 3, 2014 · Learn about Jesse James, the notorious bank and train robber in the American Old West, who led the James-Younger gang. Find out how he died, who his wife and brother were, and why he was a legend.
- Elizabeth Nix
- Jesse James was a preacher’s son. Frank and Jesse James’ mother, Zerelda. Jesse Woodson James, born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847, was the son of Kentucky native Zerelda Cole James and her husband, Robert James, a Baptist minister and slave-owning hemp farmer who assisted in founding William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.
- He fought as a Confederate guerrilla in the U.S. Civil War. During the Civil War, the border state of Missouri was home to bitter fighting in which both sides of the conflict regularly murdered prisoners and civilians alike, mutilated enemy dead, looted property and livestock, and left towns and homes ablaze.
- James wasn’t a Wild West Robin Hood. During the 1869 bank robbery in Gallatin, the incident that first brought Jesse public notice as an outlaw, he shot and killed the bank’s cashier in an act of revenge, thinking the man was Samuel Cox, commander of the pro-Union militia troops who had murdered guerrilla leader Bloody Bill Anderson in October 1864.
- James and his cohorts eluded the Pinkertons. Allen Pinkerton (left) with President Abraham Lincoln and a Union general during the Civil War. After Jesse and Frank robbed a train at Gads Hill, Missouri, in January 1874, the Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency was called in to hunt them down.
Jul 9, 2020 · Learn how Jesse James, a notorious robber and Confederate guerrilla, was killed by a former ally in 1882. Find out how his legend grew and how his family and associates fared after his death.
Jesse James and Frank James were two brothers who were among the most notorious outlaws of the American West, engaging in robberies that came to typify the hazards of the 19th-century frontier as it has been portrayed in motion-picture westerns.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Learn about Jesse James, a former Confederate guerrilla who became a notorious outlaw and robber after the Civil War. Explore his life, crimes, and legacy in this article from American Experience.
Jesse James is born in Clay County, Missouri, son of Baptist minister and slaveholder Robert James and his wife Zerelda. Jesse is almost five years younger than his brother Frank and two...
