American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer
1847 CE
to 1882 CE
Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) is an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang.
Already a celebrity when he is alive, he becomes a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death.
Some recent scholars place him in the context of regional insurgencies of ex-Confederates following the American Civil War rather than a manifestation of frontier lawlessness or alleged economic justice.
Jesse and his brother Frank James are Confederate guerrillas during the Civil War.
They are accused of participating in atrocities committed against Union soldiers.
After the war, as members of one gang or another, they rob banks, stagecoaches and trains.
Despite popular portrayals of James as a kind of Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, there is no evidence that he and his gang used their robbery gains for anyone but themselves.
The James brothers are most active with their gang from about 1866 until 1876, when their attempted robbery of a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, results in the capture or deaths of several members.
They continue in crime for several years, recruiting new members, but are under increasing pressure from law enforcement.
On April 3, 1882, Jesse James is killed by Robert Ford, who is a member of the gang living in the James house and who is hoping to collect a state reward on James' head.
