Sept. 5, 1847
Jesse Woodson James is born at his parents’ Clay County home. He is the third son of Rev. Robert and Zerelda James, who moved to Missouri from Kentucky in 1842. His father is a busy Baptist minister and the family operates a 275-acre farm.
Sept. 30, 1852
Zerelda Cole James, 27, a widow with three young children, marries wealthy Benjamin A. Simms, 52, who had served with the Virginia Militia in the War of 1812. He is the son of Revolutionary War veteran Richard Simms, who died the same year, 1850, as Zerelda’s first husband, Rev. Robert James.
Sept. 12, 1855
Dr. Reuben Samuel becomes the third husband of widow Zerelda James Simms. He is three years younger than his new wife. He came to Clay County as a youngster in 1840, attended [L1] medical school in 1850-51 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and set up a medical practice in Liberty and later in Greenville, just three miles from the James farm. She is the widow of Benjamin Simms, who died in 1854 after a fall from a horse.
Sept. 20, 1861
The three day “Battle of the Hemp Bales” at Lexington, Mo. ends in victory for Confederate Gen. Sterling Price when Union Col. James A. Mulligan, whose forces are greatly outnumbered, surrenders. The Rebels effectively used huge water-soaked bales as shields from the fierce Union fire. Price’s army grew to about 12,000 men after his August victory at Wilson’s Creek. Mulligan’s troops, mainly from Illinois, number only about 3,500. Some 20,000 Union soldiers, stationed within a day’s march of Lexington, did not respond to Mulligan’s requests for help.
Sept. 22, 1861
“King of the Jayhawkers” Jim Lane and his men hit Osceola, Mo., an important port and Rebel supply depot on the Osage River. Nearly all the businesses and over 100 homes are burned; about 10 are killed. The loot includes wagons filled with supplies and merchandise and about $8,000 from the bank.
Sept. 30, 1863
In response to Quantrill’s call, 400-500 guerrillas rendezvous on the Black Water River in Johnson County, Mo. They organize the First Regiment, First Brigade, Army of the South under “Col.” Quantrill and begin their journey to winter in Texas. Their next major stop will be Baxter Springs, Ks. (Historians disagree as to whether Quantrill actually held a Confederate commission.)
Sept. 8, 1864
Guerrilla George Todd receives a message from Confederate Gen. Sterling Price, who is preparing to invade Missouri. Price asks for the help of all guerrillas in disrupting Union communications, defenses and supply lines. Accordingly, Todd reassembles his band north of the Missouri River, in Bill Anderson country.
Sept. 19, 1864
Confederate Gen. Sterling Price and his 12,000-man Army of Missouri re-enter the state from Arkansas. The three cavalry divisions are led by Generals Joseph Shelby, John S. Marmaduke and James Fagan.
Sept. 23, 1864
Bill Anderson’s guerrillas attack a wagon train seven miles northeast of Rocheport, Mo. The 18 supply wagons are escorted by 80 members of the Third Missouri Militia, many of whom escape as the bushwhackers charge. The 12 men who surrender are ordered to remove their Union uniforms and are promptly executed. After plundering and burning the wagons, the guerrillas break into small groups and scatter. One of these Rebel bands is pursued by members of the Ninth Missouri who kill and scalp six bushwhackers and take the seventh man, Cave Wyatt, prisoner.
Anderson and his men, seeking revenge, regroup the next morning to march on Fayette, where the Ninth Missouri is stationed. Biographers say it is at this time that Bloody Bill encounters Todd’s band which now includes groups led by Dave Poole, John Thrailkill and Quantrill. This is the largest assembly of Confederate guerrillas since the 1863 raids on Lawrence and Baxter Springs. The leaders of these 400-plus men agree to put their differences aside, at least temporarily.
Sept. 26, 27, 1864
While en route to St. Louis, Gen. Price and his Confederate cavalry attack the Federal garrison at Ironton, near Pilot Knob. Gen.Thomas Ewing is the Union commander. The rebels lose 1,500 men in the two-day assault while the greatly outnumbered Union forces suffer only 78 casualties. Ewing and his men retreat to Rolla having succeeded in delaying Price and giving St. Louis time to strengthen its defenses.
Sept. 27, 1864
After several days of frustration because their target towns are too heavily guarded, the huge band of Confederate guerrillas is camped at Young’s Creek in Audrain County. Anderson and his subgroup visit the village of Centralia where the raiders search for plunder and find whiskey. At about noon, after the bushwhackers have robbed a stage, a train carrying unarmed Union soldiers pulls into the depot. The safe, baggage cars and civilian passengers are robbed, and the soldiers, who are on leave, are ordered to leave the train and to remove their uniforms. Remembering their comrade, Cave Wyatt, who was taken prisoner by Union troops four days earlier, Bloody Bill singles out Union Sgt. Tom Goodman, from Page County, Iowa, for a possible prisoner exchange. He then orders the execution of the 23 other men.
When they return to their camp, the Rebels are pursued by Union Maj. A.V.E. Johnston and some 120 men of the Missouri 39th Infantry. A small group of guerrillas lure Johnston and his newly organized regiment into a trap. As he confidently faces Anderson’s group, Johnston orders about 90 of his men to dismount and form a line with their fixed bayonets , hoping to make the best use of their muzzle-loading rifles. The Union line is flanked by Rebels led by George Todd and John Thrailkill. Anderson’s men go up the middle, killing most if not all of the front line. Johnson’s troops fire only one volley and three Rebels will die of their wounds. The bushwhackers take off after the remaining Union men, to Centralia and across the prairie. Very few of the pursued will survive. After it is over,
some corpses are mutilated while prisoner Tom Goodman looks on.
Different historians have written that Frank James was one of the men who boarded the train, something he later denied. In the fall of 1897, 33 years after the battle/massacre, Frank was in Centralia to start a horse race. He visited the historic scene and commented on the loss of his best friend, Richard Kinney, one of the few Rebels killed in the charge. At that time he described the fight, saying that not a single man on the Union line escaped, and that his brother Jesse was the man who killed Maj. Johnston.
Sept. 26, 1872
Three bandits ride up to the gate of the crowded Kansas City fairgrounds and take $978 from the cash box. A shot fired at the ticket seller hits a little girl in the leg. The gunmen disappear into the estimated 10,000 people who are attending the exposition. The James and Younger brothers deny any involvement in this crime.
Sept. 5, 1875
Four men rob a Huntington, W. Va. bank of approximately $10,000. One of the bandits, Tom McDaniel, a friend of the late John Younger, is fatally injured by the pursuing posse. Tom Webb, a former guerrilla, is later arrested, convicted and sentenced to 12 years. It is speculated that the other two gunmen were Cole Younger and Frank James. The robbery took place on Jesse James’ 28th birthday.
Sept. 7, 1876
Eight men ride into Northfield, Minn. by twos and threes and casually station themselves near the First National Bank. Three enter the building and demand money from the employees. Before leaving nearly empty handed, one of the robbers kills the acting bank teller. On the street, townspeople, realizing a crime is in progress, begin firing at the riders. Two gang members are killed by Northfield sharpshooters and an onlooker is mortally wounded in the crossfire. Weeks later a third bandit is killed by pursuers and Bob, Jim and Cole Younger, all badly wounded, are arrested. Frank and Jesse James escape.
Sept. 18, 1878
Mrs. Ada Askew, widow of Daniel Askew, and Richard Swearingen of Liberty, are married at the bride’s home. According to the Liberty Tribune, the groom is a “lucky man” and his new wife is a “handsome and accomplished lady.” The Askew farm adjoins the James-Samuel property on the east. Daniel Askew was murdered at his home in the aftermath of the 1875 Pinkerton raid.
Sept. 3, 1880
A sightseers’ stage is stopped and robbed near Mammoth Cave, Ky. Two of the passengers are Judge R. H. Rountree and his daughter, Lizzie. When Jesse James is murdered 19 months later in St. Joseph, a gold watch belonging to Judge Rountree is found among his possessions. Jesse’s widow, Zee, is wearing Lizzie Rountree’s ring.
Sept. 7, 1881
On the fifth anniversary of the botched Northfield bank robbery, and just six weeks after Missouri's governor announced a $l0,000 reward each for Frank and Jesse James, a Chicago and Alton Railroad train is stopped at Blue Cut, in Jackson County. The bandits, described as loud, boastful and threatening, are dissatisfied with the contents of the safe, and proceed to search and rob all of the nearly 100 passengers. Later, the leader, who claims to be Jesse James, rewards the train’s engineer for his bravery by giving him $2. The gang may have included Wood and Clarence Hite, Frank James, Dick Liddil and Charley Ford.
May 15, 1882
Another in a series of Frank James “sightings” is published by the Omaha Bee. The paper reported that Omaha had been the headquarters of Frank James for some time and that an actress, Lottie Lee, had “positively” identified Frank as a patron of a local theater.
Sept. 30, 1882
While in St. Louis, Frank James writes a letter of surrender to Missouri Gov. Thomas Crittenden in Jefferson City.
Sept. 14, 1883
Bob Ford’s reaction to Frank James’ acquittal is belatedly reported in newspapers throughout the country. Ford, who was appearing in a play, “The Brothers’ Oath,” in Indianapolis, expresses surprise at the verdict. “I never believed that it was possible for the jury to acquit knowing as I did that he was guilty. Even this afternoon I had offered to wager $1,000 on his conviction.”
Sept. 9, 1887
Frank James is working as a clerk in a dry goods store in Dallas, Tx., when he is visited by a writer from the St. Louis Globe Democrat. Frank was standing behind the counter in Mittenhalls, according to the account. “His coat was off and he had a tape line over his neck.” Since the reporter was rushing to catch a train, the visit was short, but Frank recognized him and remembered that he had covered the 1883 trial in Gallatin. The resulting story of the encounter suggests that Frank was hoping to become a storekeeper himself.
Sept. 16, 1889
Bob Younger, 34, dies of tuberculosis in the Minnesota State Penitentiary in Stillwater. He and his brothers Cole and Jim had received life sentences for their part in the failed 1876 bank robbery in Northfield. Present at his death are his two brothers and his sister, Retta. She had arrived in Stillwater two weeks earlier from Missouri and the warden allowed a family portrait and individual photographs to be taken of the four siblings.
Sept. 10, 1898
Some 35 former Confederate guerrillas gather at the first reunion of Quantrill’s raiders in Blue Springs. There are about 500 spectators and Frank James, dressed in checkered trousers, black vest and coat, red tie and patent leather shoes, is the center of attention. These annual events continue until the 32nd reunion in 1929 when only five attend. The last survivors are Frank Smith, George Noland, Henry Wilson and brothers D. C. and William F. Hopkins.
Sept. 1, 1905
In the days following the August reunion of Quantrill’s raiders, area papers print a story from Lawrence suggesting that it would be possible to revive old indictments against the bushwhackers who participated in the 1863 raid. Jackson County Judge A.J. Liddil, who served as host for many of the reunions, announced that he received a letter from a former member of Doc Jennison’s Seventh Kansas Cavalry suggesting that the next reunion be held in Lawrence. “If you still have any fight left in you,” the ex-Jayhawker wrote, “and desire to settle old scores, we will be perfectly willing to bring our trusty old carbines along and join you in a little match, just to let the natives know how we whipped thunder out of you back in the sixties…The grandchildren of those whom Quantrell (sic) murdered at Lawrence, would be present and would no doubt enjoy the fun hugely.”
Sept. 22, 1929
The Kansas City press covers in great detail the posthumous 20-page memoir of Jim Cummins who died in July at the Confederate Veterans Home in Higginsville. Called “the last survivor of the James-Younger gang,” Cummins revealed a bitter resentment toward Frank James, that he had not shown in his 1903 autobiography. Cummins claimed to have participated in both the Lawrence and Centralia guerrilla raids and the Northfield, Minn. debacle. He said he taught both Frank and Jesse how to shoot and that Frank James tricked him into becoming an outlaw. In an interview a few years before his death, Cummins offered a full list of James gang members and their robberies. His sister was married to William Ford, uncle of Bob and Charley.
Sept. 23, 1968
A fund for the purchase, restoration and maintenance of the James Farm is started with some $500 in donations. The five organizers of the fund drive include Milton Perry, curator of the Truman Library and Jack Wymore, Liberty. The home has been owned by Mae James since the 1959 death of her husband, Robert, only child of Frank James. She was declared incompetent in 1967 making the future of the farm uncertain.
Sept. 21, 1885
“The Life and Times of Jesse James,” a three-act play, premniers on the grounds of the James farm. Tickets are $3. The play was commissioned by Clay County and costs of the production were estimated at $12,000 - $15,000.
Sept. 23, 1995
Forensic Prof. James E. Starrs, who exhumed the body of Jesse James in July for DNA testing, announces that no exit wound has been found for the fatal bullet. The Jesse James Home, a popular tourist attraction in St. Joseph, displays “THE BULLET HOLE” that supposedly went through Jesse’s head and ended up in the house wall. Starr’s team has reconstructed about 80 per cent of Jesse’s skull. Starrs said that everything he has found so far is consistent with the traditional Jesse death theory, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch story.
