Jesse James

[TallTallMan]

I am writing my own little history of the James-Younger Gang. My purpose is to analyze them from a larger perspective; that is, what was going on in Reconstruction and the West, and how did their robberies and crimes play into the larger picture? So; while the Sioux was on the warpath and there was a riot in Louisiana, Jesse James was robbing a train.

I mainly became interested when I found out there are not many histories of the gang AS A GANG. Most of them are individual biographies. This is their story within the context of an outlaw gang.

Anyway, are there any specific good sources for the James-Younger activities? When I look up books the majority seem pedestrian. Also suggest books on the CW and Reconstruction in Missouri, Kansas, etc...

Here's a supposed picture of them:

 

[Kurtlg]

I am writing my own little history of the James-Younger Gang. My purpose is to analyze them from a larger perspective; that is, what was going on in Reconstruction and the West, and how did their robberies and crimes play into the larger picture? So; while the Sioux was on the warpath and there was a riot in Louisiana, Jesse James was robbing a train.

I mainly became interested when I found out there are not many histories of the gang AS A GANG. Most of them are individual biographies. This is their story within the context of an outlaw gang.

Anyway, are there any specific good sources for the James-Younger activities? When I look up books the majority seem pedestrian. Also suggest books on the CW and Reconstruction in Missouri, Kansas, etc...

Here's a supposed picture of them:

View attachment 508089

Second guy from the left looks a bit like the character actor Leo Gordon.

 

[TallTallMan]

Second guy from the left looks a bit like the character actor Leo Gordon.

Looked him up. I guess he's that guy who threatens McLintock about his daughter disappearing?

 

[Kurtlg]

Looked him up. I guess he's that guy who threatens McLintock about his daughter disappearing?

He was in dozens of movies and TV shows always playing a heavy. As a young man he was shot by a cop during a bar robbery. He decided to get into acting and was also a successful writer for movies and TV shows. We discussed him before on the Western movies thread.
Good luck with your project. There is a lot of mythology concerning the James gang. To this day some folks see him as a Robin Hood figure.

 

[TallTallMan]

To this day some folks see him as a Robin Hood figure.

I certainly don't!

 

[John Winn]

I liked:

Stiles, T.J. (2002) Jesse James; Last Rebel of the Civil War (First Vintage Books Edition, October 2003).

I thought it covered the James brothers quite well and did discuss the gang factor. Worth a look.

 

[Kurtlg]

I liked:

Stiles, T.J. (2002) Jesse James; Last Rebel of the Civil War (First Vintage Books Edition, October 2003).

I thought it covered the James brothers quite well and did discuss the gang factor. Worth a look.

A friend gave me that book after she read it but it is still in one of my book cases. So many books and so little time.

 

[Pollaco]

Do you have the names of those gang members? I've seen a different picture of the supposed gang and there is no resemblance in the two.

 

[archieclement]

I certainly don't!

He certainly was at the time. He was rather a hero to the democrat majority of the state. It speaks as much to how poorly the Republican minority was viewed, and the lengths they had gone to try to remain in power. (Drake Constitution). As well he had a good press man

Then Pinkertons cemented the myth by killing Archie and maiming his mom.

Union Major General Francis Blair correctly pointed out he couldn't even vote if Drake was actually impartially applied..........Abraham Lincoln couldn't have voted if a Missouri resident, how ridiculous it was.

 

[Pollaco]

Second guy from the left looks a bit like the character actor Leo Gordon.

He don't have Gordon's eyes. Leo Gordon could send chills through your spine just by glancing or glaring at you.

 

[DixieRifles]

I picked up the best book on the James brothers at a garage sale. It was about a high school or maybe I should say Junior High level book. Very informative with photos and seems well documented. I noticed the book was stamped with school library markings. I called them and they said it was over due—i.e. the student was too lazy to return it when school ended.
Maybe you can find out the name of this book.

 

[Richard Appledorf]

Frank, Jesse, and Cole Younger rode with the Quantrell/Anderson raiders during the war. Missourians who supported Confederate guerrillas also tended to look favorably on their bank robbing activities; especially if the banks were associated with unionists.

 

[DanSBHawk]

He was rather a hero to the democrat majority of the state. It speaks as much to how poorly the Republican minority was viewed...

Much as how John Brown was considered a hero by many Americans disgusted with slavery.

 

[archieclement]

Not sure there was ever a set gang, core is generally considered James/Youngers, but others would participate as well.

One the real problematic issues is determining which ones they even did. The James's weren't actually convicted of any, were they?

Frank was tried for 2, acquitted both times.

 

[7thWisconsin]

T.J. Stiles and James Horan´s Desperate Men are my favorite books on the James Brothers.
@archieclement : Remember: ¨It was said there was no man with the law in his hand, who could take Jesse James when alive.¨

 

[Patrick H]

I am writing my own little history of the James-Younger Gang. My purpose is to analyze them from a larger perspective; that is, what was going on in Reconstruction and the West, and how did their robberies and crimes play into the larger picture? So; while the Sioux was on the warpath and there was a riot in Louisiana, Jesse James was robbing a train.

I mainly became interested when I found out there are not many histories of the gang AS A GANG. Most of them are individual biographies. This is their story within the context of an outlaw gang.

Anyway, are there any specific good sources for the James-Younger activities? When I look up books the majority seem pedestrian. Also suggest books on the CW and Reconstruction in Missouri, Kansas, etc...

Here's a supposed picture of them:

View attachment 508089

I am not familiar with the likeness of every person who rode with the James / Younger gang, but I can confidently say that Frank James and Cole Younger are NOT in this group photo. As far as references, I also endorse T.J. Stiles Jesse James-Last Rebel of the Civil War. Regarding Jesse's supposed Robin Hood image, I believe that was largely crafted by Jesse himself with the aid of John Newman Edwards. Edwards had been Gen. J.O. Shelby's Adjutant, and later became a very bombastic author and newspaper editor. Stiles relates a story about James as a Robin Hood: Jesse came upon a distraught widow who had been robbed a bit earlier. She showed him which way the bad guy had gone. Jesse ran the guy down, took the widow's money and valuables for himself, and rode on. Some Robin Hood! Frank was supposed to stand trial in my home town for a train robbery. Local friends raised his bond and put him up in the city hotel. When the prosecutor asked for a continuance, the judge allowed Frank to travel back home on his own word of honor. Frank kept showing up at the appointed court dates, and the prosecutor kept asking for continuances. He would not find anyone to testify against Frank! The judge finally dismissed that case. True story.

 

[Pollaco]

I'm thinking alot of the Jesse James Legend is just that, "legend".He was just a bandit. No need to make him out some Heroic Robin Hood Character, he did that himself from what I understand.

 

[PatW]

It sort of seems that the James Gang was a continuation of Bloody Kansas, the Civil War in Missouri and the aftermath. The Civil War in Missouri was probably the worst of the conflict with Anderson, Quantrell and The Grim Chiefton, Jim Lane not to mention a host of others.

It is interesting that outlaws can create havens for themselves. Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch did so by robbing banks and trains and spending money among the poor farmers. Also unlike the James Gang, Cassidy was careful in his planning and avoided killing people so only the rich got hurt. And who cared about bankers and mine owners?

 

[TallTallMan]

Much as how John Brown was considered a hero by many Americans disgusted with slavery.

I guess hacking some guys he didn't agree with was a much saintlier deed.

Honestly, even the kleptomaniacal nuts called the James-Younger Gang didn't do anything like this.

Also, there is no way of knowing how popular Brown was. Given the large amount of evidence that the average Union soldier was indifferent to slavery on at least a moral basis, it seems unlikely everyone approved of him. Lincoln didn't.

 

[TallTallMan]

Do you have the names of those gang members? I've seen a different picture of the supposed gang and there is no resemblance in the two.

They look more like Texas Rangers to me.