How Did Jesse James Get Famous
While Jesses James preferred the spotlight, his brother Frank James preferred a good book and the company of his family. Still, his gun was always at the ready.
Jesse James was a daring outlaw from Missouri. He became a legend in his own lifetime by committing crimes supposedly out of revenge for the poor treatment he, his family, and other Southern sympathizers received from Union soldiers during the Civil War. The robbery of 1869 made James a famous criminal and he was titled as an outlaw and the then Governor of Missouri put a reward on his capture. This started the famous union of James and the editor of the Kansas City Time, John Newman Edwards. Edwards published letters from James for the public to let people know his motives.
Wikimedia CommonsAn older Frank James at 55-years-old.
Frank James was the older brother to the now-legendary American outlaw Jesse. Although on the surface they seemed very similar, in truth the siblings were quite different.
Jesse was showy, daring to the point of recklessness, and had a thirst for fame that would eventually be his downfall. Frank was shy, referred to spend his time reading, and married a schoolteacher. What both brothers did have in common was a fierce love of their Southern home and a deep resentment of the “Northern aggressors.”
The Start Of The James Gang
How Did Jesse James Get Famous People
Wikimedia CommonsJesse James and his older brother Frank (right).
Seemingly in contrast with his bookish nature, Frank joined up with William Quantrill‘s famously bloody Confederate guerrillas during the American Civil War. Jesse James eagerly followed his older brother into battle and together they terrorized the countryside, attacking both Union soldiers and civilians as part of the guerrilla gang.
Far from healing the nation’s wounds, the Civil War left deep scars of regional divisions throughout the United States. Some in the former Confederacy harbored feelings of resentment towards the North; to the agricultural South, the post-war boom of industry and finance represented the triumph of the Union victors. Although their side had lost, Jesse and Frank were not ready to surrender their arms, and the cash-carrying trains and banks presented tempting targets.
On Feb. 13th, 1866, a group of unidentified outlaws carried out the first daytime bank robbery in the United States. The robbery was notable because rather than slink in anonymously under the cover of darkness, the thieves had boldly walked in, beat up the cashier, and made off with nearly $60,000 worth of cash, gold, and bonds. Although it has never been proved, it’s believed this 1866 robbery was the first committed by the James brothers and their gang.
It certainly fits the pattern: Jesse’s flair for showmanship combined with the gang’s choice of targets (the Clay County Savings Association that was robbed in 1866 was run by former Republican militiamen) would characterize the gang’s exploits during their decade-long reign.
1881 Reward poster for the James Brothers
Newspapers quickly realized the popularity of stories about the outlaw brothers and eagerly published as many stories as possible about the James brothers’ exploits, presenting them as heroes of the repressed Southern states. James-mania reached such a fever-pitch in the South that the state legislature of Missouri actually came close to granting amnesty to their entire James–Younger Gang, despite their string of violent escapades.
Jesse thrived in the spotlight and even began dropping his own press releases at the crime scenes. Frank, however, eventually tired of a life on the run. After a botched robbery, he recalled the days he had spent with his family on a farm as “the happiest I have spent since my boyhood.”
The Public Turns On The Jesse And Frank James
Getty ImagesAmerican outlaw Frank James (second from left) and others pose over the dead body of his brother Jesse James at Sidenfaden Funeral Parlor in St. Joseph, Mo. April 4, 1882.
Public sympathy for the James Brothers did have its limits.
The golden boys of the South lost their Robin Hood-like image as protectors of the poor after an 1881 train robbery. Conductor William Westfall was shot in the back as he was collecting tickets while passenger Frank McMillen was shot straight through the forehead as he peered through a car window. There was no positive spin the formerly-fawning press could put on these murders.
After popular support for the brothers eroded, Missouri put out a $5,000 reward for each of them. Jesse’s band of merry men clearly valued cash over loyalty and the outlaw was brutally shot down by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang. Showing that his hold on the popular imagination had not quite broken, one newspaper wistfully reported the story with the headline “GOODBYE JESSE.”
Although his brother’s death had sealed Jesse’s status as an American legend, Frank James decided he preferred to live on in the real world rather than just American lore. Five months after his brother was murdered, he turned himself in to the governor of Missouri, stating, “I have been hunted for twenty-one years, have literally lived in the saddle, have never known a day of perfect peace. It was one long, anxious, inexorable, eternal vigil.”
Luckily for him, the allure of the James brothers lingered long enough to ensure that three separate juries failed to convict Frank of any crime.
Frank went on to live a relatively normal life for the next three decades.
He coasted off of his former celebrity status by touring the country as part a traveling theater company. Far from lapsing back into his former outlaw ways, the only connection he had with his past life as a criminal was when he and his old fellow gang-member Cole Younger teamed up to produce the “James-Younger Wild West Show. ”
In contrast to his brother’s bloody demise, Frank James passed away peacefully on his family’s Missouri farm at the ripe old age of 72.
Famous Jesse Owens Quotes
After learning about Frank James, read about the Robert Ford, the man who killed Jesse James. Then learn about Ned Kelly, Australia’s armored outlaw turned folk hero.
Why We Enjoy Outlaw Songs
There’s a reason the Outlaw Music of Country and Americana stations has such an appeal to us. They are generally ballads, and they tell stories of bad boys and girls that history and mythology has made into heroes. Take for example, famous outlaws like Jesse James. We know about him, but we don’t know what MADE him. I recently purchased a book entitled, The Civil War in the Ozarks by Phillip W. Steele and Steve Cottrell, and it gave me some insights into Jesse James I wanted to share with you. In a future post, I’ll try to make a list of the Outlaw songs I like.
The philosophical war between Northern and Southern views had been going on both verbally and physically several years before the Civil War actually started. The Civil War in the Ozarks says this of James:
”Jesse James was only 14 when the war began and was too young to be accepted by the Confederate Army or by Quantrill’s irregular forces. While plowing in a field behind his home in late May of 1863, young Jesse was suddenly surrounded by a mounted detail of Union soldiers. Because he refused to answer after being repeatedly asked about the location of his brother Frank and Quantrill’s camp, the detail severely whipped Jesse with bull whips and left him bleeding in the field. Half crawling to the house, he found his stepfather Reuben hanging from a tree and his mother desperately trying to cut him down while his young sister Susan and Sarrah Samuel watched in Horror. Dr. Samuel had been left hanging by the Federal [Yankee] party after several unsuccessful attempts to get information from him about his stepson’s whereabouts. He did not die from the hanging but oxygen had been deprived from his brain so long he would remain mentally incapacitated the rest of his life. Although Jesse was now only 15 years of age, the tragic events of the day inspired him to wait no longer and he left to join Quantrill’s ranks.”
After Jesse James became a Confederate guerrilla fighter, his leadership and fighting abilities were recognized quickly. Here are some notable incidents that I gleaned from Cottrell’s book: Jesse James was the one who shot down the Federal Major Johnson who with a force of mounted infantry had attempted to capture Bloody Bill Anderson. The Federal forces were decimated ferociously near Centralia, Missouri. Jesse and his brother Frank also rescued the captured General Jo Shelby and his staff from the Federals in Arkansas. Jesse eventually drifted into Indian Territory and participated in battles at Cabin Creek and other localities. He and others settled for a while in Scyene, Texas, near Dallas with the Shirley family. (John Shirley’s beautiful daughter, Myra Maebelle, would later be known as Belle Starr). When he heard the war ended, Jesse and a “sizable group of his associates” approached A Federal garrison at Lexington, Missouri, under a white flag, with plans to surrender. Jesse was seriously wounded with a “bullet in his right lung and in one leg.” James suffered greatly from these wounds the rest of his life. There is no doubt that this was another setback that spurred him on down the outlaw trail.
Jesse James was “never again known to officially surrender.”
This photo of James was taken in Platte City, Missouri in 1864 and shows him in typical guerrilla uniform and carrying three pistols.
Is there any wonder why this boy refused to make peace with the Yankees and became an outlaw and a killer? Another of the many untold stories of history.
Here are the lyrics for a song written by Warren Zevon that I learned from Johnny Oneal when I played bass guitar with him (If you don’t know about Johnny and his music, you can read about him here.) I also perform the song when I do my own Americana show.
Frank and Jesse James
On a small Missouri farm
Back when the west was young
Two boys learned to rope and ride
And be handy with a gun
War broke out between the states
And they joined up with Quantrill
And it was over in Clay County
That Frank and Jesse finally learned to kill
CHORUS
Keep on riding, riding, riding
Frank and Jesse James
Keep on riding, riding, riding
‘Til you clear your names
Keep on riding, riding, riding
Across the rivers and the range
Keep on riding, riding, riding Frank and Jesse James
How Did Jesse James Get Famous Children
After Appomattox they were on the losing side
So no amnesty was granted
And as outlaws they did ride
They rode against the railroads,
And they rode against the banks
And they rode against the governor
Never did they ask for a word of thanks
REPEAT CHORUS
How Did Jessie James Decker Get Famous
Robert Ford, a gunman
Did exchange for his parole
Took the life of James the outlaw
Which he snuck up on and stole
No one knows just where they came to be misunderstood
But the poor Missouri farmers knew
Frank and Jesse do the best they could
How Did Jesse James Get Famous
REPEAT CHORUS