Jesse James

Jesse James was one of the most famous outlaws of the American West. Young Jesse learned a lot about guerrilla activities during the U.S. Civil War, fighting and sabotaging the Union army in the cause of the Confederacy. After the war, Jesse formed a gang of outlaws, which included his brother Frank James and the brothers Cole and James Younger. In 1866 they began an on-again, off-again crime spree that lasted for 15 years. The James-Younger gang robbed banks and trains throughout the Midwest and the South, eluding law enforcement and gaining a popular following and mythic stature, although their fame soured a bit as they turned increasingly violent in later robberies. James was finally betrayed by one of his own gang, Robert Ford, who shot him to death in Missouri 1882.