The last hurrah of the James-Younger gang / Robert Barr Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Robert B. (Robert Barr), 1933-2017.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gangs.

History.

Outlaws.

Northfield (Minn.)--History--19th century.

Northfield (Minn.).

Outlaws--Minnesota--Northfield--History--19th century.

Gangs--Minnesota--Northfield--History--19th century.

Younger, Cole, 1844-1916.

Younger, Cole.

Younger, James, 1848-1902.

Younger, James.

James, Frank, 1844-1915.

James, Frank.

James, Jesse, 1847-1882.

James, Jesse.

Minnesota--Northfield.

Physical Description:

xiv, 252 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, [2001]

Summary:

So small it had only one bank, so quiet no citizens carried guns, hardworking, peaceful Northfield, Minnesota, was an orderly yet busy mill-town in the heart of prosperous farm country. On a serene autumn Tuesday in 1876, local shopkeepers, farmers, and citizenry went about their normal routines, little realizing that the infamous and deadly James-Younger gang had designs on tiny Northfield.

The experienced robbers planned to target the single bank, which held the hard-earned money of the townsfolk. Jesse and Frank James and the Younger brothers had never experienced defeat.

During a wild gun battle that raged between the outlaws and the citizens up and down the town's main street, two unarmed townsfolk were murdered. Northfield's angered populace fought back. The townspeople killed two members of the James-Younger gang and wounded several more. The remaining bandits fled but were pursued across southwestern Minnesota by a posse that gradually grew to more than a thousand men.

In The Last Hurrah of the James-Younger Gang, Robert Barr Smith debunks the James-Younger "Robin Hood" image and shows that the real heroes of the Northfield raid were the ordinary people -- the bankers who protected their depositors at their own risk, the townspeople who pitched in to chase the gang from town, and the posse members who pursued and triumphed over the retreating remnants of the gang.

Smith reviews the violent Civil War heritage of the Jameses and Youngers, their extensive criminal careers after Appomattox, the subsequent history of the outlaw survivors of Northfield, and the later lives of the Minnesota defenders.

Contents:

Chapter 1. The Desperadoes 10

Chapter 2. The Gang Moves North 52

Chapter 3. Cows, Colleges, and Contentment 65

Chapter 4. Those Gentlemen Will Bear Watching 85

Chapter 5. Pursuit 136

Chapter 6. Showdown at Hanska Slough 160

Chapter 7. The Two Who Got Away 183

Chapter 8. The Years After 193.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [237]-243) and index.

ISBN:

0806133538

OCLC:

45799780