To most people, the story of Jesse James was a part of the story of the Old West - of outlaws, gunslingers and saloons. But the real story was that of the Civil War and slavery. In 1818 the Territory of Missouri had applied for statehood, but the northern states didn't want to admit another slave state.
Both in their late teens
By 1854, Nebraska Territory applied for statehood. Under the terms of the Missouri Compromise, it would be admitted as a free state. The Nebraska-Kansas Act brought the sectarian conflict between North and South to a climax. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln became president on an anti-slavery platform and South Carolina announced its secession; the Civil War started.
James' family farm in Missouri had always had slaves, and the county had many Southern sympathisers. Frank quickly joined the local secessionist militia but Jesse, 13, was too young. In Aug 1861, Frank James fought for the Confederates at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield Missouri, the first major Civil War battle - bands of guerrillas executed soldiers, prisoners and civilians.
Frank was in a guerrilla group that carried out raids and massacres in Missouri and Kansas: Quantrill’s Raiders. So in 1863, Union troops moved onto the James farm looking for Frank and brutally attacked the estate. Including young Jesse.
Perhaps the cruel Union soldiers did promote rebellion in the James brothers. In one action for the Confederate Army, the Quantrill Raiders killed 22 unarmed Union prisoners; in another, they shot 100+ Federal troops who were surrendering. In Oct 1864, Jesse was shot and seriously wounded when his group was surrounded by a Union patrol, ending his Civil War action.
The Civil War ended in 1865 but tensions in Missouri continued. Jesse’s Confederate commander kept his band of guerrillas together, to attack the new Republican state government. The James brothers revolted against harsh post-war civil legislation and their gangs specifically targeted banks staffed by former Union sympathisers. But in 1866 Archie Clement, the pro-Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War, was killed in an ambush by Union militia. Jesse was severely wounded that day.
In Dec 1869, the brothers robbed a bank in Gallatin Missouri; James executed the bank teller, because he was one of the militia troopers who’d killed Archie Clement. So the Missouri Governor set a price on the James Gang’s heads.
The James brothers then joined forces with another former Confederate guerrilla, Cole Younger. Jesse began sending political letters to the pro-Confederate editor of the Kansas City Times, condemning the Republicans and supporting the Secessionists. A hero, he was defying oppressive Northern occupiers.
A valuable reward on Jesse James' head and on his brother, Frank's head
In 1874 Jesse married his long time sweetheart-cousin Zerelda and had two children. Both James brothers were good family men, but they still continued their life of crime – especially train robberies. Naturally they were targeted by police throughout the Mid West.
In Sep 1876, the James Gang robbed a bank in Minnesota, and while they were inside, the local citizens surrounded them and opened fire. In the ensuing gunfight, two gang members were killed. Jesse and Frank fled Missouri and hid in Virginia.
By Dec 1881 Jesse had returned to Missouri, accompanied by two trusted brothers, Charley and Robert Ford. Even after the gang had been killed, and their friends the Youngers had been sent to prison for 25 years, the James brothers planned one more robbery with the Fords. Apparently Missouri Governor Crittenden had promoted a reward so large that the Fords turned traitors to earn it. In April 1882, Rob Ford shot Jesse in the skull, killing him instantly at age 34. Missourians considered it a vicious assassination.
Henry McCarty aka Billy the Kid (1859-1881) was born in the New York slums. He moved to Wichita Kansas, and then New Mexico in the early 1870s. Henry quickly adapted to life in the rugged territory and learned Spanish, but his frail mother died of TB in 1874. Ignored by his absentee stepfather, the future gun slinger spent the next year living in boarding houses.
In 1874 Jesse married his long time sweetheart-cousin Zerelda and had two children. Both James brothers were good family men, but they still continued their life of crime – especially train robberies. Naturally they were targeted by police throughout the Mid West.
In Sep 1876, the James Gang robbed a bank in Minnesota, and while they were inside, the local citizens surrounded them and opened fire. In the ensuing gunfight, two gang members were killed. Jesse and Frank fled Missouri and hid in Virginia.
By Dec 1881 Jesse had returned to Missouri, accompanied by two trusted brothers, Charley and Robert Ford. Even after the gang had been killed, and their friends the Youngers had been sent to prison for 25 years, the James brothers planned one more robbery with the Fords. Apparently Missouri Governor Crittenden had promoted a reward so large that the Fords turned traitors to earn it. In April 1882, Rob Ford shot Jesse in the skull, killing him instantly at age 34. Missourians considered it a vicious assassination.
Henry McCarty aka Billy the Kid (1859-1881) was born in the New York slums. He moved to Wichita Kansas, and then New Mexico in the early 1870s. Henry quickly adapted to life in the rugged territory and learned Spanish, but his frail mother died of TB in 1874. Ignored by his absentee stepfather, the future gun slinger spent the next year living in boarding houses.
The Kid’s first trouble came in 1875, when he robbed a shop and hid the goods in his boarding house, but his landlord handed him in. The crime only carried a minor sentence, nonetheless the wiry youth escaped prison and fled town. The Kid worked as a roving ranch hand, gambler and gang member and became skilled with weapons. In Aug 1877 he killed a man in an Arizona saloon.
In the 1877-1881 era, the baby-faced outlaw was involved in the murder of many men. But Billy the Kid first became known as a significant gunslinger in 1878, when he participated in a bloody frontier war in Lincoln County New Mexico, regarding a business feud. Tunstall asked the Kid and other gunmen to protect his property. The tensions finally boiled over in Feb 1878, when Tunstall was murdered by Sheriff William Brady’s posse.
Following Tunstall’s death, the Kid and others organised themselves into a revenge-filled vigilante group: The Regulators. They assassinated Sheriff Brady and spent months shooting it out with government forces. The Kid left the war reputed to be one of the West’s most skilled gunmen, but he was wanted for Sheriff Brady’s murder. After claiming that he killed more than 20 men, the Kid spent the rest of his VERY short life on the run.
In late 1880, Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett tracked the Kid to a cabin in New Mexico, and arrested him. In the Lincoln courthouse the Kid was found guilty of Brady’s murder and was scheduled to be hanged. But he planned a daring getaway in April 1881, ambushed two guards and killed both. Once in control of the courthouse, the Kid collected weapons and fled on a stolen horse. Newspapers across the country made the Kid the most wanted man in the West.
The Kid hid for months on the frontier with locals in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. In July 1881 Sheriff Garrett and his deputies rode into town and shot the 21-year-old dead.
Films Billy the Kid was a relatively unknown historical figure until the publication of The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, written by his killer, Sheriff Garrett in 1882. And with the 1911 silent film “Billy the Kid”, he became an even greater celebrity.
Over time Hollywood transformed James and the Kid from murderous outlaws into young, romantic heroes who were fighting the authorities. At least one film suggested that Jesse invited the Kid to join his gang, but robbing banks and trains did not interest the Kid. The UCLA Film & Television Archive explored the cinematic history of these two outlaws in its Two Western Myths: Billy the Kid and Jesse James film series in 2010.
14 comments:
Well, you think you know someone... This post shows that myth is more powerful than truth and that history is written by the victors. I wonder how many other characters from history were not as we think we know them. Rasputin, Richard the Third etc?
Billy the Kid and Jesse James were certainly known as outlaws when I was growing up. I remember being confused on hearing a folk-song painting them as heroes.
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They became 'heroes', not unlike our own Ned Kelly and Captain Starlight. Once these historical myths begin, it seems no amount of correction can paint them as vicious murderers that they were.
We have said this before, Helen. Free guns, free mass murders, few consequences.
bazza
"Mythological History" is written by governmental bodies, the military and the church, as soon as the myths suit them. "Historical Truths" have to be dug out over the decades by academics and historians, even when they run the risk of job-loss or gaol for doing so. How much more difficult the debate about the truth is.. when one half of a nation opposes the other half, as in a civil war.
You are absolutely right about other characters from history who were not as we think we know them. Every time I read modern analyses of Queen Victoria, for example, I think of the VERY different woman we learned about at school and university.
Andrew
the use of the word hero is powerful, isn't it. On one hand Ned Kelly’s life was a chaotic rampage consisting of murdering, shooting and robbing establishments. That by itself should have ensured him the rest of his life in gaol. But the Irish in particular felt he inspired their lives to fight against police corruption and oppression of the working class.
Student
we have said it so often I am still amazed when some civilised countries have not yet banned guns from private citizens (i.e not police or army). In just one sentence in this post, I talked about the Quantrill Raiders killing 22 unarmed Union prisoners; then they shot 100+ Federal troops who were surrendering. And bank tellers who were holding money the James brothers wanted.
Hi Hels - it's always interesting to learn other sides of their stories ... cheers Hilary
Hilary
do you remember the tv cowboy programmes that arrived in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s? Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, Sugarfoot, Roy Rogers, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, Wyatt Earp, Zorro, Rifleman, Laramie, Maverick, The Virginian, Cheyenne, Rawhide etc etc.
We learned their stories very well :) I can still sing the musical themes!
Hello Hels, The Western outlaws certainly have their cult followings. What I find it hard to understand is what they were thinking when they started their sprees of robbery and murder. They could not possibly have thought of getting away with it and eventually "retiring"--they were essentially signing their own death warrants. Were their defiant gestures worth that much to them?
--Jim
Parnassus
The term "cult followings" suggests that most people ignored the outlaws or disapproved of them. But actually most young boys over the decades dressed up as gun slingers for parties and dressups, and found the outlaws perfectly fine adults to copy.
Signing their own death warrants should have been obvious, should it not? Why didn't Mrs James say to her boys "I have already lost a young husband. Do I have to lose two teenage sons as well?" Perhaps women kept quiet:(
Oh, yes, Hels, I grew up with those Westerns too! And remember some of the theme tunes. I think Wyatt Earp gave advice on some of the early Western films, too.
One of my favourites was Bonanza, but I can’t help remembering an episode in which Adam Cartwright casually kills an Indian and gets on with whatever he was doing. That sort of put me off a bit.
Interesting to read how very political the Jesse James story was. A murderer, yes, but a political murderer.
Sue
My parents got the family's first tv in 1960, so I remember programmes like Rawhide (1959-65) and Wagon Train (1957-65) best. A couple of years after the American Civil War, Rowdy Yates came from Southwestern Texas, joined the Confederate States Army as a teenager and was gaoled in a federal prison camp. Frequent topics included cattle rustling, bandits, murderers and other signs of brutality that my parents eventually banned.
Important that you, as an adult, remember racism you saw as a child. It marked your growing brain.
And I guarantee you, there’s a lot more to this than what we’ve been told from the story line from the government that wrote this. My grandpa told me things that is not in the history books, but definitely challenges this narrative and storyline.
Anonymous
yes indeed. Exactly as I said to bazza. Official History is written and published by governmental bodies, the military and the church, as soon as possible. Historical Truths have to be dug out from "ordinary witnesses", over the decades by academics and historians, regardless of the risk.
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