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=__Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang__=

After the Civil War and the defeat of the Confederates, the State of Missouri was taken over by pro-Union politicians.who made it impossible for veteran Confederates to vote or hold any kind of public office.



Some Confederate veterans refused the defeat and did not want to start a peaceful life, so in 1866 a group lead by [|Jesse James] and Archie Clement held up Clay County Savings Association and staged the very first armed robbery of a bank during peacetime. From that point in time the Legacy of Jesse James sprung into action but his reputation as a bandit did not necessarily start because of the robbery in Clay County. It started due to a self-proclaimed attempt to avenge the Civil War by killing a cashier thought to be Samuel P. Cox, an officer who killed [|"Bloody Bill" Anderson] during the war, while robbing the Daviess Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri and James made front page for the first the time.

Jesse James started an allegiance with a Kansas City Times editor that was on a campaign to restore power to ex-Confederates in Missouri. This editor would publish any letters that Jesse James wrote and "made him into a symbol of rebel defiance of [|Reconstruction] through his elaborate editorials and praiseful reporting." (Jeff Soapy). In collaboration with Cole Younger, his brothers, Frank James, and Jesse James, made up the newly founded James-Younger Gang. With a new crew and a big name, James-Young did back to back robberies ranging from Iowa to Texas and from Kansas to West Virginia. The gang robbed banks, stagecoaches and trains. For a while they secluded themselves to robbing trains but never robbing the passengers. All of James' actions were being published by the editor back in Kansas and Jesse James was becoming a favorite among the public due to a "Robin Hood" image that the editor was creating.

After more and more publicaions of Jesse James' robberies and upholdings, more and more random "gangs" or groups aroused all over the southern region of the U.S but more heavily in the central region like Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Alabama. Most of these new gangs and robbers had no success though as they would either get caught or shot while trying to rob banks or stagecoaches "The gang barely escaped, leaving two of their number and two unarmed townspeople dead in Northfield" (Johnson). The public was deeply influenced by the robbers because it showed an easy way to get money and revenge for the outcomes of the Civil War, They were all a "bunch of dumb farmers who don't have any saddle horses and they can't shoot" (Mark Steil).

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