JESSE JAMESThe 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

SLAVERYZerelda 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

RAIDFrank 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

BUSHWACKERA 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

ROBBERYAmerican 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 RECONSTRUCTI

ON AND THE ASSASSINATIO

N OF JESSE JAMES BY THE

COWARD ROBERT FORDWith 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.