Jesse James and Frank James
- In full: Jesse Woodson James
- Born: September 5, 1847, Centerville [now Kearney], Missouri, U.S.
- Died: April 3, 1882, St. Joseph, Missouri
- In full: Alexander Franklin James
- Born: January 10, 1843, near Centerville [now Kearney], Missouri, U.S.
- Died: February 18, 1915, near Kearney
-
Who were Jesse James and Frank James?
Jesse James (born September 5, 1847, near Centerville, Missouri) and Frank James (born January 10, 1843, near Centerville) were brothers and notorious outlaws of the American West.
When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Frank joined a Confederate guerrilla group, and Jesse followed. After the war, they began their outlaw careers by robbing a bank in Liberty, Missouri, on February 13, 1866. The James gang robbed banks and trains from Iowa to Alabama and Texas. On September 7, 1876, the James gang was nearly destroyed while trying to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota.
In 1881, Missouri Gov. Thomas T. Crittenden offered a reward for their capture. Jesse was shot and killed by Robert Ford. Frank surrendered a few months after his brother’s death and retired to his family’s farm, where he died in 1915.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What does it mean to be an outlaw?
To be an outlaw means to be a fugitive from the law or a lawless person. It can also mean someone unconventional or rebellious. Historically, outlawry was a legal punishment that removed a person from the law's protection for defying a court's jurisdiction. This could lead to death or forfeiture of property.
Jesse James and his brother Frank were among the most notorious outlaws of the American West, typifying the hazards of the 19th-century frontier. After the Civil War, they began a career of robbing banks, trains, stagecoaches, stores, and individuals, becoming romanticized figures in the process.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why did Jesse and Frank James become outlaws?
Jesse and Frank James became notorious outlaws after the American Civil War. Raised on a Missouri farm, their family sympathized with the Southern cause. Frank joined a Confederate guerrilla group, and Jesse followed, joining another band. After the war, Jesse was allegedly shot by Federal soldiers while under a truce flag. Afterward, the brothers began their outlaw careers by robbing a bank in Liberty, Missouri. The James gang robbed banks and trains, also preying on stagecoaches, stores, and individuals. The brothers sought to justify their actions based on persecution.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What kinds of crimes were the James brothers known for?
Jesse and Frank James, notorious American West outlaws, engaged in robberies that came to typify the hazards of the 19th-century frontier.
Their outlaw career began after the Civil War, with their first bank robbery in Liberty, Missouri, on February 13, 1866. The James gang robbed banks from Iowa to Alabama and Texas and began holding up trains in 1873. The bandits also preyed upon stagecoaches, stores, and individuals. On September 7, 1876, the James gang was nearly destroyed while trying to rob the First National Bank at Northfield, Minnesota.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did the actions of Jesse and Frank James affect their communities?
Jesse and Frank James were notorious outlaws in the American West whose actions had a complex impact on their communities. While some Missouri Ozark people romanticized Jesse as a figure persecuted for his Confederate sympathies, the James Gang's robberies instilled fear and disrupted economic stability in the communities they targeted.
Their crimes, ranging from bank robberies to train heists, spread from Iowa to Alabama and Texas, creating an atmosphere of insecurity and challenging the rule of law. The constant pursuit by law enforcement and Pinkerton agents further destabilized the region.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How are Jesse and Frank James remembered in American history today?
Jesse and Frank James are remembered as notorious outlaws of the American West who engaged in robberies that came to typify the hazards of the 19th-century frontier. After the Civil War, the James brothers began their outlaw career by robbing a bank in Liberty, Missouri, on February 13, 1866. Throughout their long career and afterward, their exploits were seized upon by writers who exaggerated and romanticized their deeds. To the Missouri Ozark people, Jesse emerged as a romantic figure, hounded into a life of crime by authorities who never forgave his allegiance to the South.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Jesse James and Frank James were two brothers who were among the most notorious outlaws of the American West, engaging in robberies that came to typify the hazards of the 19th-century frontier as it has been portrayed in motion-picture westerns.
Reared on a Missouri farm, Jesse James and Frank James shared their family’s sympathy with the Southern cause when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Frank James joined William C. Quantrill’s Confederate guerrillas, becoming friends with Cole Younger, a fellow member. Jesse James followed suit by joining “Bloody” Bill Anderson’s guerrilla band. At the end of the war, the bands surrendered, but Jesse James was reportedly shot and severely wounded by Federal soldiers while under a flag of truce. The brothers, joined by eight other men, then began their outlaw career by robbing a bank in Liberty, Missouri, on February 13, 1866. During the same year, Cole Younger joined the gang, with the other Younger brothers following his lead one by one during the next few years. The James gang robbed banks from Iowa to Alabama and Texas and began holding up trains in 1873. The bandits also preyed upon stagecoaches, stores, and individuals. Throughout their long career and afterward, their exploits were seized upon by writers who exaggerated and romanticized their deeds to meet the demands of Eastern readers for bloody Western tales of derring-do. To the Missouri Ozark people, Jesse James emerged as a romantic figure, hounded into a life of crime by authorities who never forgave his allegiance to the South. The James brothers did, in fact, always seek to justify their banditry on grounds of persecution.
On September 7, 1876, the James gang was nearly destroyed while trying to rob the First National Bank at Northfield, Minnesota. Of the eight bandits, only the James brothers escaped death or capture. After gathering a new gang in 1879, the James brothers resumed robbing, and in 1881 Missouri Gov. Thomas T. Crittenden offered a $10,000 reward for their capture, dead or alive. Reputedly, Crittenden promised immunity for the murder of the James brothers to would-be assassin Robert Ford, whose brother Charles was a member of the new gang. (That immunity took the form of a gubernatorial pardon after Ford was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Jesse.)
In the event, Jesse James, living at St. Joseph under the pseudonym of Thomas Howard, was unarmed and in his home adjusting a picture frame on the wall (containing the words “In God We Trust” in cross-stitch) when he was shot in the back of the head and instantly killed by Robert Ford. Later Ford would be popularly characterized as a Judas, a judgment that may have derived largely from his portrayal as a “dirty little coward” in the “Ballad of Jesse James,” a traditional folk song, probably written in the immediate aftermath of James’s death, possibly by Billy Gashade. That song—recorded through the years by such performers as Vernon Dalhart, Pete Seeger, and Bruce Springsteen—also likely had much to do with the tradition that cast Jesse James as an American Robin Hood. Ford himself was shot in Creede, Colorado, on June 8, 1892, by Edward Capehart O’Kelley, who was viewed by some as Jesse James’s avenger and whose life sentence for Ford’s murder was commuted in 1901 by Colorado Gov. James Bradley Orman in response to pleas for executive clemency from at least two strident advocates for O’Kelley.
A few months after his brother’s death, Frank James gave himself up. He was tried for murder in Missouri and found not guilty, tried for robbery in Alabama and found not guilty, and finally tried for armed robbery in Missouri and again released. A free man, he retired to a quiet life on his family’s farm, dying in 1915 in the room in which he was born.