My grandfather's grandfather was named Thomas Jefferson (no, not THAT one). He and his wife, Louisa, had two children, I.R. and Will. In late 1865, shortly after the Civil War ended and a few months after Will's birth, Thomas was accidentally shot and killed while traveling by wagon train by a fellow traveler who was cleaning his gun. Louisa continued on the trip with the two little boys and settled around Holden, Missouri, around 50 miles southeast of Kansas City.
It was during this time that Jesse James and his brother, Frank, joined Quantrill's Raiders, one of the many vigilante groups of secessionists in western Missouri, guerilla fighters known as "bushwhackers." After the war, the James Brothers turned to robbery, robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains. They joined forces with the Younger Brothers, also former Quantrill's Raiders, becoming known as the James-Younger Gang. They terrorized people from Minnesota to Texas to Kentucky and beyond, their reign finally ending in 1882 when Jesse was killed.One day, when my great-great grandfather Thomas and his brother Will were young boys, they went to town with their mother. They were standing on the sidewalk on the main street of Holden, Missouri, when there was a commotion of horses and riders passing through town in front of them. The townspeople called to each other that it was Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang.
Last month, for the first time in my life, I was in Holden for a volleyball tournament. The venue was half a block from Main Street.
More than 140 years after my great-great grandfather and his brother stood on the sidewalk in Holden, watching Jesse James and his gang ride by, I stood on that same street, in front of the same buildings, imagining the clatter of hooves, the clouds of dust, the excitement mixed with fear at the realization the notorious outlaw rode through the center of town.
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| Close your eyes and imagine.... |
Awesome was the word I chose as well, when thinking about this entry. Beautiful vivid and a real piece of history! xox jean
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jean! I started researching it for a little background information and got so caught up in all of it that I barely got the post done in time. Maybe a future post in the making...?
DeleteVery cool.
ReplyDeleteYes, what Zoe said.
DeleteYou're both cool :)
Deleteim a sucker for history, especially when its so personal! great post! xo, jess
ReplyDeletewww.dreamingofleaving.com
Thank you, Jessica! It's all stuff I grew up around but didn't know much about!
DeleteThe whole bushwhacker/guerilla warfare/James Gang thing is pretty gory and horrible, but it certainly is historical!
ReplyDeleteMy Great Great Uncle Jesse Briley fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After the war (where exactly I cannot remember) he was a great supporter of the James Gang because he believe the James Gang was right, the banks were robbing the common citizens and they were the bad guys (sound familiar?) He would let the James gang use his barn to sleep when they were passing through. My cousin tells me that a couple of decades ago he and my uncle were visiting the ancestral lands as it were, and ran across a cache of antique guns in the ruins of the barn. True story.
ReplyDelete- Stacy Jo
A lot of people approved of Jesse James, because they were secessionists, and he often THOUGHT he was robbing from Republicans and other Union sympathizers, although he was wrong more than once.
DeleteHe has quite a legacy, I will say that much. A great American icon
ReplyDeleteHe was considered a hero in parts of the state. I really got caught up in researching him. I want to go back and read more when all this A to Z Challenge is done!
DeleteCool! I love ready stuff like this. It is great that you were able to be in that same spot as great-great-grandfather did and imagine what it was like when he saw Jesse James.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dawn! I had never heard the story until I told my mother we were going to Holden to play volleyball, and she told me then. Makes me wonder how many other gems she's got stored away like that!
DeleteWhoa, cool snapshot of family history. Even cooler that you were able to relive it in your own way!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This is some of my favorite ways to learn historical events :) I've always been fascinated by Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Wild Bill type folk.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that is why I'm a huge fan of Young Guns, Tombstone, and some other Westerns
Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink