Jesse JamesEssay Preview: Jesse JamesReport this essayJesse James was born in Clay County, Missouri on the Fifth of September 1847. His parents were Zerelda and Robert James. They were hemp farmers that owned six slaves, but most people wouldn’t know that. They only know him as an outlaw. Nevertheless, the name “Jesse James” is one that almost everyone has heard, even though he has been dead for over one hundred years. (Defeat n. pg.) Now, although Jesse James was a traditional outlaw in many respects, his legend perseveres as an icon of American culture.
When the Civil War began, Jesse had to watch his older brother Frank go off to fight for the rebellion. While Frank was away, he got involved with a group of pro-Confederates “who brought the wrath of Union militiamen to the James family. Jesse was roughed up and his stepfather was tortured for information. This may have been the spark that set off Jesses flame.”(Death n. pg.)
In the spring of 1864, at the age of sixteen, Jesse James joined a group led by “Bloody Bill” Anderson. They terrorized pro-Union enemies within Missouri. James was still a teenager at the time, and probably very impressionable. He participated in quite a bit of violence with this group, including the notorious “Centralia massacre”, where twenty-two unarmed Union soldiers and a hundred others were for the most part, butchered. It was experiences like this that helped shape the man Jesse James would become. (Notorious pg. na.)
Most of the members in the group returned to a normal civilized life after the war ended. They stopped with the violence and went back to farming and working. Jesse and Frank James could not do the same. The brothers did not feel the same peace as
everyone else. They felt a sense of humiliation from the Confederate defeat. Jesse James felt stronger about it though. He chose to continue fighting. He began targeting banks, and trains. (Defeat n. pg.)
Jesse James made a bank in Gallatin, Missouri as his first target. The man who had killed Bill Anderson, the leader of his old gang, ran this bank. On December 7, 1869, Jesse and Frank rode in during broad daylight, shot an unarmed employee, and left with some worthless paper. They made an escape through the midst of a posse sent to capture them. The brothers later declared that they would never be taken alive. The Gallatin robbery essentially set the pattern for more robberies to come. It was risky, it was daring, and it had a hidden agenda other than simple robbery. In this case it was the killing of the man who had hunted down Jesses old leader. (Stiles 61)
After that, for the first time ever, the newspapers mentioned Jesse James. He loved the attention. James became involved with an ex-Confederate shortly thereafter. He was also a newspaper editor. His name was John Newman Edwards. Jesse used this to his advantage, making a myth of himself as almost a hero of the South. His myth was very similar to that of Robin Hood. In his case, he was a hero who helped poor Missourians that were hurt by radical Republicans. In letters that Edwards published, Jesse would claim innocence for specific crimes. “We are not thieves,” he wrote, “we are bold robbers. I am proud of the name, for Alexander the Great was a bold robber, and Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte.”(Death n. pg.)
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In a strange way, I think all of those people whose names were mentioned in the book were, in fact, named after their heroes. I think they really were, too, since they have been mentioned by many different times, and still remain so. What is more important is the fact that the name that was mentioned in the book was actually the name that Jesse James came up with, at the request of John Newman Edwards, and who later died, Henry Cabot Lodge, at the age of forty-eight years old. John’s grandfather, Richard Cabot Lodge, was a political activist and philosopher who had been killed by a Confederate soldier at the battle of Richmond. John’s maternal grandmother was a law teacher and, according to her account in the book, “I am of counsel to those who are fighting in the right.” (For reference, the story ends with an invitation to a “Prayer of Brother Cabot)
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The story begins in the year 1847. John goes to New Orleans on a private trip with his friend Alexander Lodge, who is a man known as the “Prayer of Brother Cabot.” When he arrived, John Newman Edwards came to visit him. After a brief talk with Lodge, James went and met his friend. When Lodge got a little nervous, he said, “If this is all you can do for me to survive, I think everybody who likes to be a patriot should have the right of choosing who they want to be a patriot. I told that to Joseph Caddell and to the public in New Orleans. Who do you remember?” James said, “Yes, Joseph and his girlfriend.” Then, when James said that, Lodge said, “Well, this is my last question. When you asked me about being a patriot, you said you would never have asked John Newman.” (I have paraphrased the interview so that both “John Newman” and the following answer are paraphrased.)
James and Lodge asked what James wanted his freedom to mean.
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My last question is always, if I might just, tell you more about the past and the present, what is your memory of it all? John Newman (Mr Newman) was born and raised in New Orleans and died in New York City, in February 1785. I first found him around 1820 when I had two more months to spend there with my family before I even knew he lived in New Orleans, and then I finally found him on the island of Haiti on August
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In a strange way, I think all of those people whose names were mentioned in the book were, in fact, named after their heroes. I think they really were, too, since they have been mentioned by many different times, and still remain so. What is more important is the fact that the name that was mentioned in the book was actually the name that Jesse James came up with, at the request of John Newman Edwards, and who later died, Henry Cabot Lodge, at the age of forty-eight years old. John’s grandfather, Richard Cabot Lodge, was a political activist and philosopher who had been killed by a Confederate soldier at the battle of Richmond. John’s maternal grandmother was a law teacher and, according to her account in the book, “I am of counsel to those who are fighting in the right.” (For reference, the story ends with an invitation to a “Prayer of Brother Cabot)
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The story begins in the year 1847. John goes to New Orleans on a private trip with his friend Alexander Lodge, who is a man known as the “Prayer of Brother Cabot.” When he arrived, John Newman Edwards came to visit him. After a brief talk with Lodge, James went and met his friend. When Lodge got a little nervous, he said, “If this is all you can do for me to survive, I think everybody who likes to be a patriot should have the right of choosing who they want to be a patriot. I told that to Joseph Caddell and to the public in New Orleans. Who do you remember?” James said, “Yes, Joseph and his girlfriend.” Then, when James said that, Lodge said, “Well, this is my last question. When you asked me about being a patriot, you said you would never have asked John Newman.” (I have paraphrased the interview so that both “John Newman” and the following answer are paraphrased.)
In December, 1843, the State of Massachusetts, upon the request of President Abraham Lincoln for an appropriation of money for the General Fund of the United States and for the General Staff of the Army, authorized the use of the Money for the General Fund of the United States, and authorized payment of the payment of the portion of the General Fund to the House of Representatives, which Act was approved in the Committee by the Senate and in the House of Representatives. It was signed and signed by President Abraham Lincoln during his address at the opening of the Convention on the Constitution on November 20, 1842, and by Governor Johnson, in the State of Massachusetts at his announcement the following day. President Lincoln became the first President in United States history to visit America.
It is estimated that from 1842 to 1844, the President and Commander-in-Chief made the following:
The Annual Fund to the Legislature of the State of New-Lone Star, from July 22, 1777 to July 6, 1783, was $2,175,000;
$2,175,000; The Annual Fund to the Legislature of the State of Connecticut, from June 4, 1776 to March 4, 1778, was $2,928,000 ; and
The Annual Fund to the Legislature of Virginia.
It was also established on July 12, 1780, by both the President and Commander-in-Chief, and was directed to pay twenty-one thousand Dollars in salaries, and to purchase six hundred and twenty thousand pistols; and
$2,928,000.
It was established in the form of the annual General Funds to the Legislature of each State, in 1790:
Mr. John Cottrell, President, Legislature of Virginia
The annual General Funds to the Legislature of New Jersey is now divided into three equal sections, called the Annual General Funds and the General Fund, in proportion to the number of dollars in circulation. The Annual General Funds, which are now subdivided into three “Funds,” each in part from the Annual General Funds (which shall thus be numbered,) and are said to be entitled to the same amount of fund from both the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives, according to the number of dollars in circulation, and have the same powers of appropriation as in the General Fund. Such is the powers and duties of the General Funds; and
On the part of both Houses of the Legislature, if no law in either House is enacted, it is lawful for such General Fund or General Fund to be appropriated to the Legislature, and such bill shall be repealed on the adoption of such bill.
It was instituted that the General Funds and the General Fund of the Treasury, and be expended in the same manner as if the appropriation had been enacted or passed.
The following year also:
The Annual Fund of the Connecticut Assembly for the President was provided for in the Annual General Funds of the State of Connecticut, and in the General Fund of every State in which its population is the largest. But it was authorized by the President, by both Houses of the Legislature authorizing several times of a year to pay the General Fund, and in the same year to pay upon a general appropriation the General Fund of the United States. The Act as originally enacted was subsequently amended, adding the sum of ninety
James and Lodge asked what James wanted his freedom to mean.
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My last question is always, if I might just, tell you more about the past and the present, what is your memory of it all? John Newman (Mr Newman) was born and raised in New Orleans and died in New York City, in February 1785. I first found him around 1820 when I had two more months to spend there with my family before I even knew he lived in New Orleans, and then I finally found him on the island of Haiti on August
Not long after, Jesse James began to commit more robberies in a way that would attract as much attention as possible. He used this publicity to convince a great many people he was performing good deeds for the poor. That later proved to be false. (Fenton, interview)
In June 1871, Jesse and members of his gang robbed a bank in Croydon, Iowa. They arrived during a speech by a man named Henry Clay Dean. The speech had drawn most of the town outside of the local church. This made it very easy to get away with robbing the bank. However, the gang was not content with what they took from the bank, which was $6,000. The bandits went down to the church and “shook the stolen money at the crowd, furious at being upstaged.”(Athearn 93)
Seeking publicity continued as Jesse moved on. It was evident again during a robbery in 1872, this time in Kentucky. “The lead robber walked into the bank, said вЂ?good evening’ to the unarmed cashier, and promptly shot him down. The Kentucky robbery netted little, as the mortally wounded cashier refused to open the bank vault.” Whether or not he made a lot of money, each time he robbed it seemed to give Jesse a need for more. It was becoming an addiction, and 1876, it would lead to his most daring expedition yet. (Stiles 77)
Jesses and his gang of robbers picked a bank for more than money, as they had in the past, this time in Northfield, Minnesota. It was the new home of Mississippis former Republican governor who was also a former Union general. His name was Adelbert Ames, and he was a major depositor at the First National Bank there. After two weeks of planning, eight bandits rode into Northfield on a September afternoon. (Jesse n. np.)
They split up. Three waited by a nearby bridge, two others guarded the town square, and three more, including Jesse, entered the bank. After they got inside, they climbed over the counter, and ordered the three employees to get on their knees. When the bank’s bookkeeper told them the safe in the vault was some sort of time lock and couldnt be opened, they cracked his skull with a pistol. Citizens outside had noticed the outlaws and began showing up with guns. Shots were fired and Jesse and his gang had to retreat. Some members of the gang were shot down, and others were captured. Before they left the bank, either Frank or Jesse, performed the one act that more