Jesse James Tastes Blood

Jesse James had just turned 17 when the opportunity for violence first arose—up close and personal. He and his older brother, Frank, were riding through Missouri with Confederate guerrilla leader William “Bloody Bill” Anderson, and they were in a foul mood.  They had lost 13 men in battle on September 24, 1864. That same day, Union troops executed and scalped six of Anderson’s troops captured the day before. Anderson wanted revenge. He got it on September 27. That morning, some 80 reb