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Jesse was whipped and his stepfather tortured when Union forces came to the family farm seeking information on Frank and the Confederate raiders. Too young to properly enlist, Jesse nonetheless rode
off to fight for the Confederacy and joined the “Bushwhackers” with his brother. They later fought under “Bloody Bill” Anderson, including in the Centralia Massacre during which the town was looted, an unarmed man was killed, and then around 22 unarmed Union soldiers were stripped, executed, and scalped or otherwise mutilated. Around 123 responding Union soldiers were ambushed and killed in the Battle of Centralia, including Union Major Andrew Johnston who was reportedly shot by Jesse. Some of those that surrendered were tortured before being killed, and many of the slain Union dead were mutilated. Jesse was also severely wounded twice during the war. Thus, from the beginning of his “career,” he and his allies left many unarmed men dead in their wake.
During Reconstruction, some of his former comrades continued to operate illegally against the Republican led government in Missouri. Jesse and Frank are believed to have helped break out a former Quantrill Raider in 1866 in Jackson County. On December 7, 1869, Jesse and Frank shot and robbed a cashier. Many of their subsequent robberies also left men dead in their wake, sometimes because of their Republican or Union Army connections. By 1869, Governor Thomas T. Crittenden had put an award for Jesse’s capture, and he clearly enjoyed the notoriety and wrote in to the newspapers promoting himself as a hardened Confederate hero fighting against Republican domination and continued to use other former Confederates to shelter him from persecution. Over time, the outlaws, known as the James-Younger Gang led by Jesse James and Cole Younger, conducted a long string of bank robberies and then turned their attention to trains and stagecoaches which were easier. Their first train robbery was on July 21, 1873, outside of Adair, Iowa. In addition to the contents of the express car, the gang robbed the passengers. Nonetheless, their exploits earned them fame and admiration from many, and even other crimes committed by different outlaws were blamed on the famous gang.
Jesse married his first cousin, Zerelda Mimms, named after his mother. Their son Jesse Edward James was born in 1875. By that time, the Pinkertons and law enforcement were working to track down James and his outlaws, and the Pinkertons attacked the James family farm in 1875 thinking Jesse and Frank James where there. They tossed a smoke bomb into the house to smoke them out. Their nine year old half-brother Archie threw the bomb into the fireplace leading to an explosion that killed Archie and permanently maimed
their mother who had one arm blown off in the explosion. Soon after, a neighbor who had aided the Pinkertons and one of their agents were shot and killed. The following year, the James-Younger Gang was nearly wiped out when they attempted to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. Jesse shot the bank cashier when he refused to open the safe, and the townsfolk armed themselves and assailed the gang. Several gang members were killed or seriously wounded. By the time the smoke cleared, everyone but Jesse and Frank were either dead or arrested. The James brothers fled and hid out in Tennessee. Frank apparently wanted to retire from the outlaw life and live in peace with his family, but Jesse created a new gang of outlaws in 1879 robbing for money and fame rather than to resist the Republicans and pulled Frank back into it. Multiple gang members were killed or captured, and Jesse’s circle of support kept shrinking.
Governor Thomas T. Crittenden’s offer of a reward enticed Bob and Charley Ford to stop Jesse James. Bob had also been arrested for the murder of Wood Hite earlier that year and was promised to be pardoned if he helped bring down James. He shot Jesse James in the back of the head while he was unarmed. Jesse was reportedly meeting with the Fords to plan one last big robbery before settling down. It has generally been believed that James knew he had been betrayed and accepted his fate before he was shot on April
3, 1882. Instead of receiving a reward, the Ford brothers were arrested and convicted for murder and sentenced to death. They were then pardoned by the governor and received only part of the reward. Charley Ford killed himself two years later, and Bob Ford made money with a stage show reenacting the event and was shot in his saloon in Creede, Colorado, in 1892. Frank surrendered himself to the authorities and was acquitted. He later appeared in some Wild West shows with Cole Younger in the early 20th century. At least seventeen men were killed by Jesse James and his outlaws. Across approximately 26 heists, they stole around $200,000 (worth over $5,000,000 today).
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