Jessie James :: essays research papers

Jessie James Murdering Outlaw or American Hero &9There atomic number 18 dickens sides to everything. Coins have both(prenominal) heads and tales, the moon has a dark side and a face that we are so familiar with, and yes, the Lochness Monster has both a head and a tail. To every opinion, or story, there will always be 1 that contradicts it. This is the case with conceptions regarding Jesse James. Jesse Woodson James was born on the cold and early forenoon of September 6, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri. At the age of fourteen, Jesse joined the collaborator private road during the Civil War and fought until a pairing bullet injured him in 1865. Instead of becoming a farmer like most of the remnant of the beaten Confederacy, Jesse good turned to crime. From 1866 to 1882, Jesse, his br opposite forthright, and other ex-Confederates robbed over fifteen divers(prenominal) banks and trains. The James Gang operated in the Mid-west until a fellow gang phallus shot Jesse in the bac k of the head. There are two unalike schools of thought regarding James. Most people consider Jesse James a murdering criminalise who was driven by a greed for money, while others sympathize with Jesse and visible horizon him as an American hero who had no choice but to turn to crime.&9. Ironically Jesses father was a Baptist preacher, but he did not have much if any influence on Jesse considering that his produce married three times. Jesses childhood abruptly ended when he was 14 years old. During this time, Civil War had broken out, dividing the United States into two parts. Not wanting to be left out, Jesse joined a Confederate control led by Lieutenant Bloody Bill Anderson. unalike most other confederate regiments, Bloody Bill Andersons regiment would "use small gang hit-and-run attacks" and raid mostly northerly cities in Kansas and Missouri (Bruns 35). James rode with Anderson until he was wounded and sent house in 1865. &9After Jesses recovery, he and his brothe r Frank began to work on their family farm. As time wore on however, the James boys grew pall of this and living under the control of "Yankees". Thus, Jesse James, along with Frank, his cousins Bob, Cole, and Jim Younger, and about seven other ex-confederate soldiers, turned to crime. The "James" gang committed their first robbery on a cold February day in 1866. The gang masqueraded in Union Army issued uniforms and entered the bank in Liberty, Missouri.