Jesse James: American Outlaw

“We are not thieves; we are bold robbers. I am proud of the name, for Alexander the Great was a bold robber, and Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte.” -Jesse James

Jesse James did not want to be called a thief. After all, General Ulysses Grant and his Union troops were the real thieves, having stolen everything from James’s beloved South, and Jesse did not want to be associated with the Union Army’s kind of thievery.

After the Civil War ended in defeat for the South, James began building a myth of himself as a Robin Hood. Helping his fellow Missourians who were being crushed by Northern indignations. With the help of a Southern sympathizer and publisher, James was able to build his reputation and make his claims publicly:

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