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Frank James

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Alexander Franklin James (January 10, 1843 – February 18, 1915) was an American outlaw and older brother of Jesse James.

Contents

Childhood

He was born in Kearney, Clay County, Missouri to Baptist minister Reverend Robert Sallee James (July 7, 1818 – August 18, 1850) and his wife Zerelda Cole (January 29, 1825 – February 10, 1911), who had moved there from Kentucky. Frank was the first of four children.

As a child, Frank developed an interest in his late father's sizeable library, particularly in the works of his favorite author William Shakespeare. Census records show that Frank attended school throughout his childhood, and he reportedly wanted to become a teacher.

Riding with the CSA

In 1861, when Frank turned eighteen years old, his life was permanently altered by the outbreak of the American Civil War. Missouri, where Frank and his family still lived, was also set in a state of war. Though a majority of Missourians had voted against a secession from the Union, there was also a significant number of people with Confederate sympathies (including the outspoken Zerelda Samuel). This led to the formation of two separate governments with different allegiances during the war. Missourians would serve in the armies of both sides of the war until 1865. In Frank's case he joined the Missouri State Guard on May 4, 1861, fighting for the Confederacy.

The State Guard's first major battle was the Battle of Wilson's Creek, on August 10, 1861. The force fought under Major General Sterling Price and alongside with the Confederate troops of Brigadier General Ben McCulloch (in all about 12,000 men), against the Army of the West under Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, in all about 5,400 men. Lyon was killed and his army, now under Major General Samuel D. Sturgis, had to retreat to Springfield, Missouri. The battle cost the Confederates approximately 1,095 men and the Union only 1,235 men, but it allowed the victorious Confederate forces to advance farther north.

On September 13, 1861, Sterling Price's State Guard, including Frank, besieged Lexington, Missouri, garrisoned by 3,500 men of the Union army, under the orders of Colonel James A. Mulligan. On September 20, Price's men finally attacked and by the early afternoon Mulligan and his men had surrendered and gave up their weapons. The Confederates had only lost about 100 men while the Union forces' losses were estimated at 1,774 men. The Battle of Lexington was the second major victory of the State Guard and Confederates took control of Southwestern Missouri by October.

Frank, however, fell ill and was left behind by the retreating Confederate forces. He surrendered to Union forces and returned home. There he was arrested by a local Unionist militia. He was released when he signed a statement of allegiance to the Union. But a bitter guerrilla conflict was being waged across the state between bands of Confederate insurgents (commonly known as bushwhackers) and Federal forces. By early 1863, Frank had joined a guerrilla band led by a former saddler named Fernando Scott. Before long he joined the infamous William Clarke Quantrill, attacking both the Union forces and civilian Union supporters in western Missouri.

The warfare was savage, with atrocities committed by both sides. Militiamen searching for Frank and Fernando Scott's band, for example, raided the Samuel farm, and briefly (and not fatally) hanged Dr. Reuben Samuel, torturing him to reveal the location of the guerrillas. Shortly afterward, Frank joined Quantrill's band in the savage raid on Lawrence, Kansas on August 21, 1863. The town, which was home to a number of prominent Union supporters, was attacked by 400 of Quantrill's men, killing at least 200 men and boys, and burning most of the buildings.

Outlaw years and retirement

For the career of the James brothers after the Civil War, see Jesse James.

Five months after the murder of his brother Jesse in 1882, Frank boarded a train to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he had an appointment with the Governor in the state capitol. Placing his holster in Governor Crittenden's hands, he explained,

"I have been hunted for twenty-one years, have literally lived in the saddle, have never known a day of perfect peace. It was one long, anxious, inexorable, eternal vigil." He then ended his statement by saying, "Governor, I haven't let another man touch my gun since 1861."
Frank was tried for one of the many crimes he stood accused of, and was found not guilty.

The last thirty years of Frank James's life saw him work in a variety of jobs including as a shoe salesman and then as a theater guard in St. Louis. In 1902, former Missourian Sam Hildreth, a leading thoroughbred horse trainer and owner, hired James as his betting commissioner at the Fair Grounds Race Track [link] in New Orleans.

References

External links

 

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