24. Quoted in Settle, 90.
25. Kansas City Journal of Commerce, October 20, 1876. White, 399, argues the opposite, saying support for the outlaws was “not a simple reflection of Union/Confederate divisions.” He is mistaken, though the nature of those divisions were complicated.
26. Sedalia Democrat, April 13, 1882. On honor and Southern violence, see Edward L. Ayers, Vengeance and Justice: Crime and Punishment in the 19th-Century American South (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), 9–74. The argument here wholeheartedly echoes that of Christopher Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate: Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Creation of Southern Identity in the Border West (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000), 274–96.
27. David Thelen, Paths of Resistance: Tradition and Dignity in Industrializing Missouri (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 75; Sedalia Democrat, April 13, 1882; Kansas City Journal, April 5, 1882. Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 127–30, 137–9, and Michael Denning, Mechanic Accents: Dime Novels and Working-Class Culture in America, rev. ed. (London: Verso, 1998), 157–66, argue that the dime-novel representations of Jesse James positioned him as a social bandit, striking out against powerful monied interests; but neither writer is particularly interested in the real Jesse James, or the roots of his very real support in Missouri.
28. See especially George C. Rable, But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984); Allen W. Trelease’s classic White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971); and the following chapters from Graham and Gurr: Richard Maxwell Brown, “Historical Patterns of American Violence,” 19–48, Brown, “The American Vigilante Tradition,” 153–85 (which notes the political divisions often expressed in vigilante and anti-vigilante groups), and G. David Garson and Gail O’Brien, “Collective Violence in the Reconstruction South,” 243–60. Donald G. Nieman has gathered a useful collection of articles (some of them dated), Black Freedom/White Violence, 1865–1900 (New York: Garland, 1994). Two instructive studies are William J. Crotty, James F. Kirkham, and Sheldon G. Levy, Assassination and Political Violence: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (New York: Praeger, 1970), 1–59, 212–95, and Ida Waller Pope, “Violence as a Political Force in the Reconstruction South” (Ph.D. diss., University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1982). See also Ayers, 141–84, though I strongly disagree with his suggestion that the violence of this era was “not nearly as novel and as political as it appeared to outsiders” (163). Special note must be made of the work of Richard Maxwell Brown, one of the most insightful interpreters of American violence; see especially three recent works, No Duty to Retreat: Violence and Values in American History and Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); “Western Violence: Structure, Values, Myth,” Western Historical Quarterly 24, no. 1 (February 1993): 5–20; and “Violence,” in The Oxford History of the American West, ed. Clyde A. Milner, II, Carol A. O’Connor, and Martha A. Sandweiss (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 393–425.
29. Rable, 12. Richard Maxwell Brown has made the same point repeatedly and effectively. Walter Laqueur notes, “There is in fact no clear dividing line between guerrilla warfare, terror and brigandage”; Laqueur, Guerrilla Warfare: A Historical and Critical Study (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1998), 93–8, 384–7. Part of what divides banditry from guerrilla warfare, he writes, is the “political incentive” of the guerrilla; it has been argued here that this incentive was present in the band of former bushwhackers, at fluctuating levels, from the end of the war to the end of Reconstruction.
30. Kansas City Times, July 27, 1881; Kansas City Journal of Commerce, September 27, 1876, and October 12, 1879; White, 395.
31. This argument runs counter to the claims of Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 134, that Edwards and other Missouri newspaper editors “fabricated for Jesse” the myth that he was a political figure in the context of continuing Confederate resistance to the Union victory and Reconstruction.
32. Nashville Republican Banner, July 11 and 28, 1875; Kansas City Times, August 23, 1876.
33. Kansas City Journal of Commerce, September 27, 1876.
34. Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 128, 138, argues that Jesse James’s “greatest significance was not developed in the folklore of the provincial community whose resentments and resistance they initially symbolized,” but rather in the dime-novel-driven “mass cultural myth of social banditry … As historical social bandits, the James boys had been a distinctly local and partisan phenomenon whose careers ended in failure.” I strongly question whether the dime-novel representation of Jesse James can be considered more significant than his often central role in the political and cultural battles of his home region, or that he can be considered a failure (despite his early death). Slotkin’s assessment, appearing in a very perceptive and significant work of history, seems to reflect both his concern with mass-culture mythology in general, and his lack of detailed knowledge of James’s life.
35. Jesse James’s career resembles in some respects (though not in specific political content) Hobsbawm’s account of Francisco Sabaté Llopart, a Spanish Republican who battled the Franco regime as a political outlaw; see Hobsbawm, Bandits, 114–26.
36. See Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 125–55, and, for a more general discussion of the frontier myth, The Fatal Environment; Denning, 149–66; and Kent L. Steckmesser, The Western Hero in History and Legend (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965). For an inventory of Jesse James folklore, books, and movies, see Settle, 160–201; Yeatman, 223–4, 275–6, 296–7, 368–70; and Frank Richard Prassel, The Great American Outlaw: A Legacy of Fact and Fiction (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).
37. Eric Foner is particularly eloquent on this point in The Story of American Freedom (New York: W. W. Norton, 1998), xiii–xxii, 95–113.
38. O.R. I: XLVIII, part 2: 322; see also page 163 of this book. Colt began to prosper in the 1850s, but the Civil War marked a clear departure in revolver production, ownership, and use. See also Charles T. Haven and Frank A. Belden, A History of the Colt Revolver, and the Other Arms Made by Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company from 1836 to 1940 (New York: W. Morrow, 1940).
39. Brown, No Duty to Retreat, 39–86.
40. Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 608–9; James W. Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1964, orig. pub. 1901), 408. The estimate that at least half the public supported the Reconstruction agenda is based on Republican victories in 1868 and 1872, when African Americans were allowed to vote (particularly in 1872). See also an important recent study, David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).
41. C. Vann Woodward identified Howard Beale’s The Critical Year as a decisive book in creating a non-Marxist economic interpretation of Reconstruction; see Woodward’s introduction to Robert P. Sharkey, Money, Class, and Party: An Economic Study of Civil War and Reconstruction (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1959), vii–ix, itself an influential work in this regard. The work of Charles A. and Mary R. Beard contributed to this trend; see, for example, The Rise of American Civilization (New York: Macmillan, 1927), 2: 111–14, which places an economic interpretation on the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment. On the widow story, see Settle, 171–2, 227. As railroad historian Maury Klein notes, there is “a folklore of reform in which the struggle between the railroads and ‘the people’ occupies a prominent niche”; Maury Klein, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), 160–1.
42. Settle, 160–6; Yeatman, 287–321; F. Y. Hedley, “John Newman Edwards,” in Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, ed. Howard L. Conard (St. Louis: Southern History Company, 1901), 2: 354–6; Petrone, 189–209. Bob Ford attempted to cash in on his notoriety almost immediately,
asking for free passes on the railroads; Bob Ford, Slayer of Jessie James, to President, Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific RR., October 14, 1882, Railroads Collection, MHS. Zee James offered to sell some items to Eugene Field in 1896, writing, “I am not in good circumstances and a little money would greatly assist me”; Mrs. Jesse James to Eugene Field, April 1, 1896, Field Collection, MHS. Zerelda briefly rented out the farm in 1902; during that period, she reinterred Jesse’s body in a Baptist cemetery in Kearney when she discovered that the tenants were selling flowers from his grave for twenty-five cents each; Kansas City Star, June 30, 1902. Jesse Jr. was tried and acquitted in 1899 for the holdup of a Missouri Pacific train on September 23, 1898. He died in 1951; Settle, 165.
Bibliography
Unpublished Primary Sources
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois
Charles C. Curtiss Diary
Allan Pinkerton Papers
Clay County Archives, Liberty, Missouri
Daniel Askew Probate Records
Robert James Probate Records
William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Missouri Militia Papers
Phineas Messenger Savery Papers
Jane Peterson Papers
W. W. Scott Papers
William Dunlap Simpson Papers
James C. Zimmerman Papers
Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota
“Northfield (Minnesota) Bank Robbery of 1876: Selected Manuscripts Collection and Government Records” (microfilm publication)
John E. Risedorph Papers
Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri
Civil War Collection
Field Collection
Hamilton R. Gamble Papers
Railroads Collection
Reynolds Collection
Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
Governors’ Papers:
B. Gratz Brown Papers
Thomas C. Fletcher Papers
Charles H. Hardin Papers
Silas Woodson Papers
Office of the Adjutant General: Letterbook, December 17, 1866 to January 22, 1869
National Archives, College Park, Maryland
Records of the U.S. Secret Service, Record Group 87:
Daily reports of U.S. Secret Service Agents, 1875–1936, Microfilm Publication T-915
Record of Arrests and Convictions, 1869–1930
Register of Letters Received at New York, April 1, 1870–1874
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Office of the Adjutant General, Record Group 94:
Letters Received 1881–1889, Microfilm Publication M–689
Office of the Chief of Engineers, Record Group 77:
Letters Received Bulky Package File 1871–1881, 4521 GR 1881 #348, General Records Division, Special Collections: 1789–1923, Unregistered Letters, Reports, Histories, Regulations, and Other Records, 1817–1984
Department of the Missouri, U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821–1920, Record Group 393:
Letters Received 1861–1867
Post Office Department, Record Group 28:
Letters Sent by the Chief Special Agent, Office of Special Agents and Mail Depredations, 1875–1877
Case Files, Office of Special Agents and Mail Depredations, 1875–1877
Letters Sent 1789–1952, Office of the Postmaster General
Union Provost Marshal Papers, Record Group 109:
One-Name Citizen File, Union Provost Marshal Papers, Microfilm Publication M-345
Two or More Name Citizen File, Union Provost Marshal Papers, Microfilm Publication M-416
Western Historical Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Clarence W. Alvord and Idress Head Collection
David Rice Atchison Papers
“Democratic Picnic Summary, Buckner, Missouri, September 16, 1876”
Greenup Bird, “Clay County Savings Association Robbery Description, 1866”
Charles W. Clark Papers
John N. Edwards Letters, 1865–1866
Elias Eppstein, “Kansas City Diary,” 1880–1883
Charles B. France Papers
Gallatin Bank Postcard
William Gregg, “A Little Dab of History Without Embellishment”
J. S. Hughes & Co. Discount Book
Bazel F. Lazear Papers
Abiel Leonard Papers
Thomas Riley Shouse, “My Father and Jesse James”
Walter B. Stevens Scrapbook
Other Archives
Bond-Fentriss Family Papers, Southern History Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Blythe, Culbertson, Frass, and William Jewell collated and typescript letter collections, Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site and Park, Lawson, Missouri
William Connelly Collection, Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado
Tho. C. Fletcher to Col., March 19, 1866, Collection KC 200, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri
Papers of Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Published Primary Sources
Adams, Charles F., Jr., “A Chapter of Erie.” North American Review (July 1869): 30–106.
Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams. New York: Penguin, 1995.
Ames, Adelbert. “The Capture of Fort Fisher.” Civil War Papers. Boston: The Commandery, 1890.
Ames, Blanche Butler, ed. Chronicles from the Nineteenth Century: Family Letters of Blanche Butler and Adelbert Ames. Clinton, Mass.: n.p., 1957.
Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Currency. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1865, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876.
Annual Report to the President, Directors, and Stockholders of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad Company, April 1, 1874. New York: Clarence Levey & Co., 1874.
Appler, Augustus C. The Younger Brothers: The Life, Character, and Daring Exploits of the Youngers, the Notorious Bandits Who Rode with Jesse James and William Clarke Quantrill. New York: Frederick Fell, 1955. Orig. pub. 1876.
Beath, Robert B. History of the Grand Army of the Republic. New York: Bryan, Taylor, & Co., 1889.
Bergeron, Paul H., ed. The Papers of Andrew Johnson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
Berkey, William A. The Money Question: The Legal Tender Paper Money System of the United States. New York: Greenwood Press, 1969. Orig. pub. 1876.
Berlin, Ira, Steven F. Miller, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation: 1861–1867. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Britton, Wiley. The Civil War on the Border. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1899.
Buel, Clarence Clough, and Robert Underwood Johnson, eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. New York: Century Co., 1887.
Bunyan, John. The Holy War. New York: New York University Press, 1967. Orig. pub. 1682.
Bushman, Katherine Gentry, ed. Index of the First Plat Book of Clay County, Missouri, 1819–1875. N.p., n.d.
Carnegie, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
Carr, Nanon Lucile, ed. Marriage Records of Clay County, Missouri, 1822–1852. Privately printed: 1957.
Crittenden, H. H., ed. The Crittenden Memoirs. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1936.
Cullom, Shelby M. Fifty Years of Public Service: Personal Recollections of Shelby M. Cullom. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1911.
Cummins, Jim. Jim Cummins’ Book Written by Himself. Denver: Reed Publishing, 1903.
________. Jim Cummins, the Guerrilla. Excelsior Springs, Mo.: Daily Journal, 1908.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. New York: Penguin, 1968.
Edwards, Jennie, ed. John N. Edwards: Biography, Memoirs, Reminisce
nces, and Recollections. Kansas City, Mo.: Jennie Edwards, 1889.
Edwards, John N. Noted Guerrillas, or the Warfare of the Border. St. Louis: H. W. Brand & Co., 1879. Orig. pub. 1877.
________. Shelby and His Men: or, The War in the West. Cincinnati: Miami Printing and Publishing, 1867.
Eldridge, Benjamin P., and William B. Watts. Our Rival the Rascal. Boston: Pemberton, 1897. Fyfer, Thomas. History of Boone County, Missouri. St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1882.
Goodman, Thomas M. A Thrilling Record. Des Moines: Mills & Co., 1868.
Goodrich, James W., and Donald B. Oster, eds. “ ‘Few Men But Many Widows’: The Daniel Fogle Letters, August 8–September 4, 1867.” Missouri Historical Review 80, no. 3 (April 1986): 273–303.
Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. New York: Da Capo, 1982. Orig. pub. 1885.
Greenwood, J. M. “Col. Robert T. Van Horn.” Missouri Historical Review 4, no. 2 (January 1910): 92–105, and 4, no. 3 (April 1910): 167–81.
Hanson, Joseph Have. The Northfield Tragedy: A History of the Northfield Bank Raid and Murders. St. Paul: n.p., 1876.
Heilbron, W. C., ed. Convict Life at the Minnesota State Prison. Stillwater, Minn.: n.p., 1911.
History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri. St. Louis: National Historic Company, 1885.
Hodges, Nadine, and Mrs. Howard W. Woodruff, eds. Genealogical Notes from the Liberty Tribune. Liberty, Mo.: n.p., 1975.
James, Stella F. In the Shadow of Jesse James. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Dragon Books, 1990.
Journal of the House of Representatives at the Regular Session of the Twenty-Eighth General Assembly of the State of Missouri. Jefferson City: Regan & Carter, 1875.
Korner, Barbara Oliver, and Carla Waal, eds. Hardship and Hope: Missouri Women Writing About Their Lives, 1820–1920. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997.
Kroos, Herman E., ed. Documentary History of Banking and Currency in the United States. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1965.
T. J. Stiles Page 71