JESSE JAMES
The last rebel of
the Civil War
THEMES AND THESIS
Some of the central questions and conflicts in
American history defined Jesse James’ life:
slavery and abolition, the Civil War,
Reconstruction, railroads, the corporate
economy. James was essentially driven by
politics.
TERRORIST OR THUG?
James was part of a cultural and
political offensive waged by the
defeated rebels to undo the
triumph of the Radical Republicans
in the Civil War. He saw himself
as a Southerner, a Confederate,
and a vindicator of the rebel
cause. He promoted himself as a
Robin Hood figure; his enemies
derided him as a common thug. In
the life of Jesse James, we see the
place where politics meets the
gun.
ANTEBELLUM
MISSOURI
Jesse’s father, Preacher Robert Sallee James,
was a wealthy slave-owner in Clay County,
MO (known as Little Dixie). MO was a
border state, but Clay County considered
itself to be an extension of the South. Jesse
was born in 1847, and his father went off to
CA in 1850 to strike it rich in the Gold Rush.
He died mining for gold months later. Jesse’s
mother Zerelda was so fiercely pro-slavery
and loyal to her children that when a man
came looking for Jesse, the sheriff warned him
“The old woman would kill you if the boys
don’t”. The next day, the man turned up
dead.
THE JAMES FAMILY
AND SLAVERY
Zerelda owned seven slaves. Jesse grew
up in a household more black than white.
He grew up immersed in the implicit and
explicit cruelties of slavery. Jesse and his
older brother Frank came of age in an
atmosphere of suspicion and anxiety,
particularly in the border state of MO.
Events turned Clay County into the center
stage in a great national drama over the
fate of slavery, and in that drama, Jesse
and Frank would find lifelong roles.
THE CIVIL WAR
In May of 1861, 18 yr old Frank James goes to war.
Though MO declared neutrality, Clay County
remained militantly pro-slavery. However, there were
also pro-Union militants in Clay. Neighbors became
highly suspicious of each other. Before Unionism
triumphed through strict military discipline, rebels
waged a reign of terror, driving Unionists to flee.
When the Union army took control of MO, small
bands continued a deadly guerilla struggle. Fighting
without central direction from the Confederates, these
bands fought under the nickname “bushwackers”
(after the dense forest bush in MO). In the
burgeoning war of bushwackers against Unionist
civilians, Jesse learned that his enemies were not
invading Yankees, but the men who lived next door.
THE JAMES FARM
MILITIA RAID
Frank joined the bushwackers in 1863.
Despite wanting to join, Jesse was too young
at 15 years old. One day that year, Unionist
militia came looking for Frank who was hiding
in the bush. Finding James on the farm, they
savagely beat him and attempted to lynch
Zerelda’s husband Reuben. Zerelda and
Reuben were arrested and forced to sign
loyalty oaths. That day on the farm was the
culmination of a process that goes back to his
father’s battle with abolitionists. Many claim
that this was the day that Jesse started his
quest for revenge.
JESSE JAMES THE
BUSHWACKER
A year after the militia came to the farm, 16 yr old
Jesse rides to war. Jesse and the bushwackers were
guerillas and not part of an army. They had no
command and their only strategy was to kill. What
made MO and full of terror during the Civil War
were the actions of the bushwackers. They used terror
as a weapon and mostly set out to kill pro-Unionist
civilians. Jesse’s introduction to the war was being
part of a death squad, killing innocent neighbors.
These actions initiated Jesse’s violentization:
brutalization, belligerency, and violence. Jesse was
fighting as a warrior for a cause. He was prepared
for murder by his beliefs, experiences, and family.
Jesse’s gang would routinely cut their victims throats
from ear to ear, scalp them, and then display their
scalps on their saddles.
CENTRALIA MASSACRE
Jesse, Frank, and the bushwackers came to the Unionist town
of Centralia in 9/1864. They were eager to spread horror
on what would prove to be one of the most important days of
Jesse’s short and violent life. Noticing an approaching train,
the bushwackers rode alongside and opened fire. Entering
the baggage car, they looted thousands of dollars in
greenbacks. They then caught sight of 23 unarmed Union
troops, veterans of Sherman’s army returning to their homes.
Forcing the men to strip naked, they shot each and every
soldier. Jesse was heard to say “Every Federal soldier on
whom I put my fingers shall die like a dog”. After the
bloodbath, they proceeded to rob the stunned passengers of
the train. The bushwackers celebrated, becoming drunk on
blood. The rebels walked among the dead, crushing faces
with rifle butts. The carved the nose of a victim, sliced ears,
sawed off heads and switched their bodies. Someone pulled
the pants off one corpse, cut off the penis, and shoved it in the
dead man’s mouth. Jesse James’ education was complete.
RECONSTRUCTION
Though the war ended in 1865, the war would
continue for the James brothers. Jesse’s crimes,
wrote one newspaper in 1876, were “looked upon
as merely a continuation of the war. Don Carlos
refuses to recognize the Spanish government, and
why should not the James’ decline to recognize the
terms of Appomattox?” A month after the war
ended, the bushwackers continued their war of
terror. They were fighting against the social and
political revolution of the Radical Republicans to
remake society. This fight was made easier by a
new trend after the war...ex-soldiers were allowed
to bring their army guns home, and thus began a
wholly new custom of carrying firearms.
CLAY COUNTY BANK
ROBBERY
American banks had been a symbol of Northern
power since the days of Hamilton. Thus, they made
a perfect target for the James brothers and the
bushwackers. In February of 1866, they entered
the Clay County Savings Association and
demanded all the money in the bank. The raid on
the Clay County Savings Association was a classic
bank robbery—except there was no such thing in
1866. Criminals had frequently plundered banks,
but almost exclusively through fraud or late-night
burglary. This event has often been called
America’s first daylight bank robbery. It was
obvious to the authorities that the bushwackers were
responsible. But they were not just robbing banks
for money. These were political acts. They were
men with beliefs, men radicalized by the war who
saw it as their duty to fight against Reconstruction.
GALLATIN BANK
ROBBERY
At the age of 22 in 1869, Jesse along with Frank
entered a bank in Gallatin, MO. Thinking the cashier
had killed one of his fellow bushwackers during the
war, Jesse aimed the barrel at the cashier’s chest and
squeezed the trigger. The murder and bank robbery
led to Jesse’s name appearing in the press for the first
time. In 1870, the Kansas City Times published a letter
from the outlaw, addressed to the Governor. In it,
Jesse pleaded his innocence in the Gallatin attack. “It
is true that during the war I was a Confederate soldier
and fought under the black flag, but since then I have
lived as a peaceful citizen”. The letter began a
pattern for Jesse—I’m being persecuted, but I’m
dangerous. He attacked the Radicals for making him
into a fugitive. He blamed Republcian corruption and
gov’t extravagance for his bandit career. The was the
starting-point of Jesse’s rise from common criminal to
symbolic hero, of a legend that resonated with the lives
of MO secessionists. Jesse became convinced that this
public persona of chivalry was a fact.
JAMES GANG ATTACK
THE RAILROADS
In the summer of 1873, James found a target that
suited his taste for $ and politics: the railroads. In the
1870s, banks depended heavily on cash and they used
the railroads to ship bundles of currency across the US.
The railroad companies hired express companies like
Wells Fargo and American Express to handle the cash
shipments. James and rural America saw the power of
the great railroads as corrupt and pervasive. In July
of 1873, they attacked the Rock Island Railroad in
Iowa. The robbery made national headlines. James
openly embraced the Robin Hood image during the
train robbery. During the robbery, James announced
“We’re robbing the rich for the poor”. They had
declared themselves avengers of the working man
against the monstrous corporations. Their choice of
disguise shocked the passengers and the nation:
masked in full KKK-style”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzinPgsxokE
END OF
RECONSTRUCTION AND
THE ASSASSINATION OF
JESSE JAMES BY THE
COWARD ROBERT FORD
With the Compromise of 1877, Reconstruction was at its
end. There was nothing left for the Confederates to
resent. The bandit’s grassroots support faded. Frank
began to live a peaceful life, but Jesse continued his
robberies. Jesse needed a new group of bandits as his
gang began to dwindle. None of the new recruits were
former guerillas. They had no loyalty and could
potentially betray Jesse for $. One of the recruits, Bob
Ford, plotted to kill Jesse for the reward $. He got his
chance in April of 1882. His last words were “I guess I’ll
take off my pistols for fear somebody will see them if I
walk in the yard”. Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head
in Jesse’s home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPIivI1K6f0
JESSE’S LEGACY
So often, Jesse is misinterpreted as a product of the
Wild West. In this interpretation, he is seen as
simply an outlaw criminal. Many think Jesse was
merely an accomplished criminal whose career
symbolized the primitive West. But Jesse did not
look to the West, but rather to the South. Historians
often view him as apolitical. But people of his time
did not see his crimes as just crime…bushwacker
violence was seen as purely political in nature. But
Jesse was highly political in nature. He craved
publicity, planning his robberies with at least one
eye on their public effect. Jesse was a forerunner
of the modern terrorist.