Jesse James

Jesse James was a bank and train robber in the American Old West, best known as the leading member of the James-Younger gang of outlaws.

Who Was Jesse James?
Jesse James and his brother Frank served for the Confederate Army before embarking on criminal careers in the Old West. The James brothers made a name for themselves as bank and train robbers, leading the James-Younger gang. Gang member Robert Ford killed Jesse James in 1882, after which James became a legend of the Old West.

Early Life
American outlaw, robber and legendary figure Jesse Woodson James was born on September 5, 1847, in Kearney, Missouri.

Jesse and his brother Frank James were educated and hailed from a prestigious family of farmers. Their father, the Reverend Robert James, was a Baptist minister who married Zerelda Cole James and moved from Kentucky to Missouri in 1842. In the summer of 1863, the James farm was brutally attacked by Union soldiers.

Jesse was 16 when he and Frank became Confederate guerrilla soldiers, riding alongside William Quantrill and “Bloody Bill” Anderson.