Jesse James | Timeline

Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla, and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of western Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. He and his brother Frank James joined pro-Confederate guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" operating in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. As followers of William Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they were accused of participating in atrocities against Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre in 1864. (Intro from Wikipedia)

September 5, 1847 - Kearney, Missouri - Jesse Woodson James is born
August 18, 1850 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - Reverend Robert Sallee James, Jesse's father, dies in California
September 30, 1852 - Kearney, Missouri - Zerelda James, Jesse's mother, marries Benjamin Simms, a wealthy farmer
January 2, 1854 - Kearney, Missouri - Benjamin Simms is killed when he is thrown by his horse. A relief to brothers Frank and Jesse, who were reportedly victims of their stepfather's cruelty
September 25, 1855 - Kearney, Missouri - Zerelda James marries Dr.Reuben Samuel
November 3, 1856 - Kearney, Missouri - Dr.Reuben Samuel assumes legal guardianship of Zerelda's children
December 26, 1858 - Kearney, Missouri - Sister Sarah is born
May 4, 1861 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - Jesse's older brother Frank join the Missouri State Guard (part of the Confederate Army) at 18
August 10, 1861 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - Frank James fights at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, in Missouri
July 1(?), 1862 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - Frank James joins William Clark Quantrill's raiders
May 1(?), 1863 - Kearney, Missouri - A union militia raids the James-Samuel farm looking for Frank James. Reuben Samuel is tortured by being briefly hanged from a tree. Reportedly, young Jesse is lashed
August 21, 1863 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - Quantrill leads a massacre in Lawrence, Kansas. After robbing two banks and other buildings, they set them on fire. Some 180 people are killed including women and children. It's doubtful, but Jesse James might have been present, as he later bragged about it

16-year-old Jesse James, 1864

April(?) 1(?), 1864 - Clay County, Missouri - Frank James returns to Missouri in a squad of William C.Quantrill's Raiders (commanded by Fletch Taylor). 16-year-old Jesse joins his group =(START)
June(?) 1(?), 1864 - Clay County, Missouri - Jesse James is introduced to guerrilla warfare, as Taylor uses his "gang" as a death squad, going house to house to murder unionist farmers
July(?) 1(?), 1864 - Clay County, Missouri - Frank and Jesse James join William T.Anderson's bushwhacker group in the Summer. "Bloody Bill", how he was called, used to tie a knot in a silken cord every time he made a kill
July 4, 1864 - Waverly, Missouri - William “Bloody Bill” Anderson and his men attempt to seize the steamboat Live Oak at Waverly; unsuccessful, many have their pictures taken, including 16-year-old Jesse JamesWilliam “Bloody Bill” Anderson and his men attempt to seize the steamboat Live Oak at Waverly; unsuccessful, many have their pictures taken, including 16-year-old Jesse James
July 12, 1864 - Carroll County, near Wakenda - Bloody Bill Anderson crosses the Missouri River into Carroll County near Wakenda
July 14, 1864 - Chariton County, near Salisbury - Bloody Bill stops a mail coach near Salisbury. A soldier and a passenger are killed
July 15, 1864 - Huntsville, Missouri - Bloody Bill occupies Huntsville. A civilian is killed and $45,000 are taken
July 23, 1864 - Renick, Missouri - Skirmish with Union militia. Five guerrillas are killed
July 24, 1864 - Between Fayette and Huntsville, Missouri - Skirmish with Union militia. One guerrilla killed, two federals are scalped
July 31, 1864 - Clay County, Missouri - Bloody Bill Anderson meets Fletcher Taylor in Clay County. In Carroll County "again there was a carnival of blood and arson. Houses were burned. Home guard units were ambushed, men were shot, scalped and stripped" (Richard Brownlee)
August 12, 1864 - Fredericksburg, Ray County - Anderson and Taylor's guerrillas ambush and kill 5 union soldiers
August  14, 1864 - SE of Carrollton - Jesse James is seriously wounded in the chest during a milita attack
August 30, 1864 - Rocheport, Missouri - Anderson captures the steamboat "Buffington", its captain is killed.
September 23, 1864 - E. of Rocheport, Boone County, Missouri - William T.Anderson's guerrilla company engages in a skirmish with union soldiers - eleven of them are killed aswell as three black civilian teamsters
September 24, 1864 - Fayette, Missouri - Union troops respond by shooting six of Anderson's captured guerrillas. Anderson attacks the pro-union town of Fayette, but looses 13 men and 30 others are wounded in the failed attack
September 27, 1864 - Centralia, Missouri - Centralia massacre and Battle of Centralia - 23 union soldiers returning by train from the Battle of Atlanta are executed (their sergeant is made POW) by William T.Anderson's confederate guerrillas. In the ensuing Battle of Centralia, Anderson's 80 experienced guerrillas kill 123 of 147 union cavalry troops commanded by Major A.V.E. Johnston. The shot that killed Johnston is fired by future outlaw Jesse James
October 6, 1864 - Boonville, Missouri - Anderson and his men travel to Boonville to meet General Price and be assimilated by the Confederate Army
October 14, 1864 - Danville, Montgomery County - Three civilians and two soldiers are killed in an attack
October 15, 1864 - High Hill, Montgomery County - Anderson's guerrillas destroy the railroad depot in High Hill. Five civilians are killed
October 24, 1864 - Carroll County, Missouri - Five people killed in Carroll County
October 26, 1864 - Albany, Missouri - Anderson's group is pursued by Lieutenant Colonel Samuel P.Cox and 150 experienced men. In the ensuing battle, "Bloody Bill" Anderson is killed. His cord had 53 knots
November(?) 1(?), 1864 - Sherman, Texas - Goes to Texas under the command of Archie Clement
January 29, 1865 - (While in Sherman, Texas) - Dr.Reuben Samuel and Zerelda are ordered to take their children and leave the state. They settle in Rulo, Nebraska
April 1(?), 1865 - Sherman, Texas - Archie Clement and his 70 bushwhackers depart to Missouri
May 9, 1865 - (While near Lexington, Missouri)(?) - End of the Civil War. Jesse James never ceases to be a confederate supporter all his life =(noflagchange)
May 15, 1865 - near Lexington, Missouri - 17-year-old Jesse James is shot in the chest while trying to surrender after skirmishes with a Union cavalry patrol
May 16, 1865 - near Lexington, Missouri - Jesse James drags himself to a field, where he is found by a plowman
June(?) 1(?), 1865 - Rulo, Nebraska - When he regains some strenght, he is helped by friends to travel to his mother's new house in Rulo, Nebraska
February(?) 1(?), 1866(?) - Harlem, Missouri - Jesse James recovers from his chest wound at his uncle's boardinghouse. He is tended to by his first cousin Zerelda "Zee" Mimms
February 13, 1866 - Liberty, Missouri - First daylight armed bank robbery in US history. The robbery of the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri. During the gang's escape, with $58,000 in cash and bonds, an innocent bystander is shot dead
June 13, 1866 - Jackson County, Missouri - The gang frees two jailed members of Quantrill's gang, killing the guard in the action
October 30, 1866 - Lexington, Missouri - The gang steals $2,000 from Alexander Mitchell and Company
November 15(?), 1866 - Lexington, Missouri - Archie Clement's 100 former bushwhackers arrive in Lexington on election day. Their gunfire and intimidation lead to the defeat of the Republican Party in the election
December 13, 1866 - Lexington, Missouri - Archie Clement's bushwhackers return to Lexington. Clement is killed by the state militia
March 2, 1867 - Savannah, Missouri - The Judge John McClain Banking House of Savannah, Missouri, is robbed by the James-Younger gang
May 23, 1867 - Richmond, Missouri - Bank robbery in Richmond, Missouri (Hughes and Wasson Bank). The mayor and two lawmen are killed
March 20, 1868 - Russellville, Kentucky - Frank and Jesse join Cole Younger in a bank robbery in Russellville, Kentucky (Nimrod Long Banking Co.)
December 7, 1869 - Gallatin, Missouri - Bank robbery of the Davies County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. Jesse kills the cashier, Captain John Sheets, mistakenly believing him to be Samuel P.Cox, the officer who had killed "Bloody Bill" Anderson in 1864. Jesse James becomes a famous outlaw
June 3, 1871 - Corydon, Iowa - Bank robbery in Corydon, Iowa. The Ocobock Brothers' bank of Corydon contacts the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago
April 29, 1872 - Columbia, Kentucky - Bank robbery in Columbia, Kentucky. The cashier is shot for refusing to open the safe
September 23, 1872 - Kansas City, Missouri - Jesse James, Cole and John Younger, and Jim Chiles, take some $900 from a ticket booth of the Second Annual Kansas City Industrial Exposition
May 27, 1873 - Ste.Genevieve, Missouri - Robbery of the Ste.Genevieve Savings Association
July 21, 1873 - W. of Adair, Iowa - The James-Younger gang derail a locomotive of the Rock Island Line train. The engineer dies in the crash. Using Ku Klux Klan masks, Jesse James and his associates steal $2,337 from the express safe. It is the first train robbery west of the Mississippi River
November 24, 1873 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - John Newman Edward, a journalist from the St.Louis Dispatch, publishes a supplement to the newspaper, titled "A terrible quintet", in which the James brothers, Cole and John Younger and Arthur McCoy (but mostly Jesse James) are glorified
January 8, 1874 - Bienville Parish, Louisiana - The James-Younger gang is suspected of holding up a Monroe-Shreveport stagecoach
January 15, 1874 - between Malvern and Hot Springs, Arkansas - Stagecoach robbery. The gang takes cash and jewels valued $3,000
January 31, 1874 - Gads Hill, Missouri - Robbery of a southbound train on the Iron Mountain Railway. The Adams Express Company, owner of the robbed stafe, hires the Pinkerton National Detective Agency
March 11, 1874 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - John W.Whicher, the agent sent to investigate the James brothers, is found dead in Jackson County
March 17, 1874 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - John Younger is killed in a gunfight with three lawmen. One of them, deputy sheriff Edwin B.Daniels is also killed. Jim Younger escapes]
April 23, 1874 - Kansas City, Missouri - Jesse James marries Zerelda Mimms after 9 years of courtship. The wedding ceremony is performed by Methodist Minister William James, Jesse's uncle
May(?) 1(?), 1874 - Galveston, Texas - Honeymoon on the Gulf of Mexico. Jesse James is tracked by a reporter from the "St.Louis Dispatch". In Austin, a stagecoach robbery in credited to members of the gang, who take $3,000
August 30, 1874 - across the Missouri River, from Lexington, Missouri - Frank, Jesse and another associate hold up a stagecoach across the Missouri River from Lexington, Missouri.
December 8, 1874 - near Muncie, Kansas - Robbery of a train on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, gaining the gang $55,000
January 25, 1875 - Kearney, Missouri - Allan Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton detective agency, raids Jesse James' house. Detectives throw an incendiary device into the house, killing James's young half-brother Archie and blowing off the right arm of his mother, Zerelda Samuel. Frank and Jesse had been there earlier
April 12, 1875 - (While in Kearney, Missouri) - Daniel Askew, a neighbor suspected of providing the Pinkertons information for their raid is shot dead by an unknown gunman. Allan Pinkerton abandons the chase to the James-Younger gang
May(?) 1(?), 1875 - Nashville, Tennessee - The James brothers move to the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee
August 31, 1875 - Nashville, Tennessee - First son Jesse Edward "Tim" James is born
September 5, 1875 - (While in Nashville, Tennessee) - Part of the gang appears in Huntington, West Virginia, where another bank is robbed
July 7, 1876 - near Otterville, Missouri - Robbery of the Missouri Pacific Railroad
August 1, 1876 - Pecos Valley, SE New Mexico - 29-year old Jesse James and 17-year old Billy the Kid begin raiding the Chisum-Tunstall-McSween herds, selling the stolen cattle to Murphy
September 1(?), 1876 - St.Paul, Minnesota - The James-Younger gang takes the train to St.Paul, Minnesota
September 7, 1876 - Northfield, Minnesota - Failed robbery of the First National Bank of Northfield. The civilians fire at the gang, killing two of them. The other six, are all shot and wounded, taking only a few bags of nickels
September 21, 1876 - South Dakota / Nebraska border - The gang decides to split up after the failed robbery. While the James brothers flee on horseback to the South Dakota/Nebraska border area,  the Youngers and Pitts remain on foot, being cornered south of La Salle, Minnesota. After a gunfight, Pitts is killed and the Youngers surrender, pleading guilty to murder in order to avoid certain execution
February 28, 1878 - Humphreys County, Tennessee - Twins Gould and Montgomery James are born, but die the same day
June 17, 1878 - Nashville, Tennessee - Daughter Mary Susan James is born

Robert Ford and Jesse James

July 26, 1879 - Las Vegas, New Mexico - Billy the Kid has dinner at the Adobe Hotel with his old friend Dr. Henry Hoyt, who was now working at the Exchange Hotel in Vegas. Also having dinner with them is Billy's new friend which he introduces as Mr. Howard. Later, when Billy and Mr. Howard go their seperate ways, Billy tells Hoyt that his friend is really Jesse James, who was asking him to join his gang. However, Billy the Kid wasn't inclined to become a bank and train robber.
October 8, 1879 - near Glendale, Missouri - Not adapted to peace like his brother Frank, Jesse and his new gang robs the Chicago and Alton Railroad
September 3, 1880 - near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky - Stagecoach robbery
October 5, 1880 - Mercer, Kentucky - Robbery of a store, belonging to John Dovey
February 1(?), 1881 - Nashville, Tennessee - B.J.Woodson (Frank James) rents a house in Nashville. He receives a visit by John Davis Howard (Jesse James)
March 11, 1881 - Muscle Shoals, Alabama - Robbery of a federal paymaster, taking $5,240
September 7, 1881 - near Winston, Missouri - Robbery of the Rock Island Railroad, taking $900. A passenger and the train conductor are killed by Frank
December 4, 1881 - (While in Nashville, Tennessee)(?) - Robert Ford kills Robert Woodson "Wood" Hite, Jesse James' cousin and member of the gang
December 24, 1881 - St.Joseph, Missouri - Jesse James moves with his family to St.Joseph, Missouri, using the name "Tom Howard"
January 12, 1882 - (While in St.Joseph, Missouri) - Robert Ford meets with Missouri governor Thomas Crittenden, who agrees to pardon Ford for the murder of Wood Hite if he would deliver Jesse James, dead or alive (wikipedia)
April 3, 1882 - St.Joseph, Missouri - Jesse James is shot in the back by Robert Ford and killed, aged 34 =(END)

Bibliography
STILES, T.J. - "Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War"