Bushwhacker - Jesse James

Jesse James

The guerrilla conflict in Missouri was, in many respects, a civil war within the Civil War. One of the most famous men who fought as a bushwhacker was Jesse James, who began to fight in 1864. During months of often intense combat, he only battled fellow Missourians, ranging from Missouri regiments of U.S. Volunteer troops to state militia to unarmed Unionist civilians. The single confirmed instance of his exchanging fire with Federal troops from another state occurred a month after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, during a near-fatal encounter with Wisconsin cavalrymen. In the course of the war, his mother and sister were arrested, his stepfather tortured, and his family banished temporarily from Missouri by state militiamen— all Unionist Missourians.

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Famous quotes by jesse james:

    O Jesse had a wife, a mourner all her life
    And the children they were brave,
    But the dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
    He laid Jesse James in his grave.
    —Administration in the State of Miss, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    But the dirty little coward that shot Mister Howard,
    He laid poor Jesse in his grave.
    —Unknown. Jesse James (l. Chorus)

    They robbed the Danville train.
    And the people they did say, for many miles away,
    ‘Twas the outlaws Frank and Jesse James.
    —Unknown. Jesse James (l. 6–8)