Jesse James was born in 1847 in Clay County, Missouri, to a pro-Southern family. His older brother Frank fought with the notorious Quantrill's Raiders, a Confederate guerrilla unit, and the teenage Jesse joined a similarly brutal band led by William 'Bloody Bill' Anderson. These 'bushwhackers' specialized in ambushes and raids. After the war, unable to reintegrate, Jesse and Frank formed the James-Younger Gang with other former guerrillas, targeting banks and trains they saw as symbols of Northe