Alexander Franklin James was the older brother of
Jesse James. He was born January 10, 1843, to
Robert and
Zerelda James. Frank, like the rest of his family, was a Confederate sympathizer. He joined a unit of Governor
Claiborne Fox Jackson’s Home Guard on May 4, 1861, and fought at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek under General
Sterling Price. Because he came down with measles and was left behind, Frank was captured by
UnionUnion is the term used to identify the United States and its government during the Civil War.
forces. After taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, he was allowed to go home. Afterwards, Frank joined the infamous
guerrilla
A guerrilla is someone who fights in a war but is not part of an officially recognized military force. Often outnumbered or facing forces with superior weaponry, guerrillas rely on ambushes, raids, and surprise attacks. Their unconventional style of warfare includes attacking and killing civilians, which conventional militaries typically forbid. One of the most well-known guerrilla raids of the Civil War occurred in 1863 when Confederate guerrillas from Missouri raided Lawrence, Kansas, killed over two hundred men and boys, and burned the town. Guerrillas in Missouri were also called bushwhackers because they frequently launched attacks from heavily wooded areas in order to surprise the enemy and often in hid in rugged, forested terrain that made it difficult for the enemy to pursue them.
raiders William Clarke Quantrill and
William “Bloody Bill” Anderson and participated in various assaults on Union troops.
After the
Civil WarThe Civil War was a military conflict that began on April 12, 1861, when Southern forces fired on Fort Sumter outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Several Southern states had seceded from the United States (also known as the Union) and formed the Confederate States of America (also referred to as the Confederacy) out of fear that the United States' newly elected president, Abraham Lincoln, would not allow the expansion of slavery into new western states. Battles and skirmishes were fought throughout the country by Union and Confederate forces. General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. As other Confederate forces heard the news of Lee's surrender, they surrendered as well and the war was soon over. Over half a million men were killed or wounded in the war. Thousands of former slaves gained their freedom. After the war, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution were passed prohibiting slavery, providing equal protection for all citizens, and barring federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote due to their race, color, or status as a former slave.
, Frank James returned to the family farm in Clay County. He was an avid reader and enjoyed the works of William Shakespeare. By 1869, however, the James brothers were involved in a series of bank robberies and murders. For the next decade, Frank lived the life of an outlaw, alternating between committing crimes and falling out of sight.
Following a failed bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, on September 7, 1876, the James brothers settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where they lived under false names. Frank called himself “B. J. Woodson.” He lived with his wife, Ann Ralston, and son, Robert, and took up raising hogs and racing horses. By this point, Frank wanted to lead a respectable life and put his criminal past behind him. He was pressured by Jesse, however, to commit more robberies.
Frank finally turned himself in to Governor Thomas T. Crittenden in Jefferson City, Missouri, six months after Jesse was killed. He was tried for crimes in Missouri and Alabama, but was found not guilty. He spent the rest of his life working menial jobs and struggling with his past. Frank returned to the Clay County family farm after his mother’s death in 1911. He died there on February 18, 1915.
