The James-Younger Gang was a legendary 19th century band of American outlaws.

The James-Younger Gang had its origins in a group of Confederate bushwhackers who fought in the bitter partisan conflict that wracked the divided state of Missouri during the American Civil War. This group's postwar crimes began in 1866, though it did not truly become the "James-Younger Gang" until 1868 at the earliest, when the authorities first named Cole Younger and both the James brothers as suspects in the robbery of the Nimrod Long bank in Russellville, Kentucky. It dissolved in 1876, after the capture of the Younger brothers in Minnesota with its ill-fated attempt to rob the Northfield First National Bank. Three years later, Jesse James organized a new gang and renewed his criminal career, which came to an end with his death in 1882. During the gang's period of activity, it robbed banks, trains, and stagecoaches in Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, and West Virginia.

Early in the American Civil War, the state of Missouri fell into Union hands. Missouri, however, had been the center of much of the agitation leading up to the outbreak of the war, and was home to dedicated partisans of both sides. Well before the end of 1861, local Unionists and secessionists began to battle each other across the state, and guerrilla warfare erupted between Confederate insurgents and organized Union forces. By early 1862, the Unionist provisional government mobilized a state militia to fight increasingly organized and deadly guerrillas. This conflict (fought largely, though not exclusively, between Missourians themselves) raged until after the fall of Richmond and the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, costing thousands of lives and devastating broad swathes of the countryside.

The James and Younger brothers belonged to slave-owning families with ties to the South. Zerelda Samuel, the mother of Frank and Jesse James, was an outspoken partisan of the South, though the Youngers' father, Henry Washington Younger, was believed to be a Unionist. Cole Younger's initial decision to fight as a "bushwhacker," or Confederate guerrilla, is usually attributed to the death of his father at the hands of Union forces. He and Frank James had served and fought under one of the most famous bushwhacker leaders, William Clarke Quantrill, though Cole eventually joined the regular Confederate army. Jesse James began his guerrilla career in 1864, at the age of sixteen, fighting alongside Frank under the leadership of Archie Clement and "Bloody Bill" Anderson. See also Missouri Civil War History and Border State Civil War History.

At war's end, Frank James surrendered in Kentucky; Jesse James surrendered after being shot through the lung outside of Lexington, Missouri; and Cole Younger returned from a mission to California. Quantrill and Anderson had both been killed. The James brothers, however, continued to associate with their old guerrilla comrades, who remained together under the leadership of Archie Clement. It was likely Clement who, amid the tumult of Reconstruction in Missouri, turned the guerrillas into outlaws; an era which is commonly referred to as the Wild West.

On February 13, 1866, a group of gunmen carried out the first daylight, peacetime, armed bank robbery in U.S. history, when they held up the Clay County Savings Association, stealing some $60,000 in cash and bonds. The state authorities suspected Archie Clement of leading the raid, and promptly issued a reward for his capture. In later years, the list of suspects would grow to include Frank James, Cole Younger, John Jarrette, Oliver Shepard, Bud and Donny Pence, Frank Greg, Bill and James Wilkerson, Joab Perry, Ben Cooper, Red Mankus and Allen Parmer (who later married Susan James, Frank and Jesse's sister). The outlaws also killed George Wymore, a bystander on the street outside the bank.

That crime began a string of robberies, many of which were linked to Clement's group of bushwhackers. The hold-up most clearly linked to the group was of Alexander Mitchell and Company in Lexington, Missouri, on October 30, 1866, which netted $2,011.50. Clement was also linked to violence and intimidation against officials of the Republican government that now ruled the state. On election day, Clement led his men into Lexington, where they drove Republican voters away from the polls, and secured a Republican defeat. A detachment of state militiamen was dispatched to the town. They convinced the bushwhackers to disperse and then attempted to capture Clement, who still had a price upon his head. Clement refused to surrender, and was shot down in wild gunfight on the streets of Lexington.

Despite the death of Clement, his old followers remained together, and robbed a bank across the Missouri River from Lexington in Richmond, Missouri, on May 22, 1867, in which the Town Mayor and two lawmen were killed. This was followed on March 20, 1868, by a raid on the Nimrod Long bank in Russellville, Kentucky. In the aftermath of the two raids, however, the more senior bushwhackers were killed or captured. This set the stage for the emergence of the James and Younger brothers, and the transformation of the old Clement crew into the James-Younger Gang.

On December 7, 1869, Frank and Jesse James were believed to have robbed the Davies County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. Jesse was suspected of shooting down the cashier, John W. Sheets, in the mistaken belief that he was Samuel P. Cox, the Union militia officer who had ambushed and killed "Bloody Bill" Anderson during the Civil War. The notoriety of the crime, a dramatic escape through the midst of a posse a few days later by the James brothers, and letters to the press that followed, written by Jesse, made Jesse James famous. He would only grow more famous, and notorious, until his death more than a decade later.

In January 1874, the outlaws were suspected of holding up a stagecoach in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, and later another between Malvern and Hot Springs, Arkansas. At the latter, the gang returned a watch to a Confederate veteran, saying, "Northern men had driven them to outlawry, and they intended to make them pay for it." On January 31, 1874, the gang robbed a southbound train on the Iron Mountain Railroad at Gads Hill, Missouri. For the first of only two times in all their train robberies, the outlaws robbed the passengers; in both instances, their usual target, the safe in the baggage car belonging to an express company, held an unusually small amount of money. On this occasion, the outlaws reportedly examined the hands of the passengers, to ensure that they did not rob any working men.

On May 13, 1875, the outlaws robbed a rural store north of Clinton, Missouri, for $300. On September 1, 1875, the gang ventured to Huntington, West Virginia, to rob the bank there. Tom McDaniels (brother of Bud) and Tom Webb joined the crew for the raid, but McDaniels was killed by a posse and Webb was caught.

Also in 1875, the two James brothers moved to the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee; probably to save their mother from further raids by detectives. Jesse James then began to write letters to the local press, asserting his place as a Confederate hero and martyr to Radical Republican vindictiveness.

On July 7, 1876, Frank and Jesse James, Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger, Charlie Pitts, Bill Chadwell, and Hobbs Kerry robbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad at the "Rocky Cut" near Otterville, Missouri. Kerry, a raw recruit, was arrested soon after and he readily identified his accomplices.

The Rocky Cut raid set the stage for the final act in the history of the James-Younger Gang: the famous Northfield, Minnesota Raid. The target was the First National Bank of Northfield, located far outside of the gang's usual territory, which previously had included only the South and the Border States. The bank, according to public reports that were required of all national banks, was a perfectly ordinary rural bank. Shortly after the robbery, Bob Younger declared that they had selected it because of its connection to two Union generals and Radical Republican politicians: Benjamin Butler and Adelbert Ames. Ames had just stepped down as governor of Mississippi, where he had been strongly identified with civil rights for freedmen, and had recently moved to Northfield, where his family owned a mill and a large amount of stock in the bank. One of the outlaws "had a spite" against Ames, Bob said. Cole Younger made the identical remarks years later.

Frank and Jesse James, Cole, Jim and Bob Younger, Charlie Pitts, Clell Miller, and Bill Chadwell took the train to St. Paul and Minneapolis at the beginning of September 1876. They divided into two groups, one going to Mankato, Minnesota, and the other to Red Wing, on either side of Northfield. They purchased horses and scouted the terrain around the town. On September 7, 1876, at 2 p.m., they attempted to rob the bank. Three outlaws entered the bank, and the other five stood guard outside. The citizens realized a robbery was in progress and took-up arms. Shooting from behind cover, they poured a deadly fire on the outlaws, killing Miller and Chadwell, and wounding the Youngers (particularly Bob, who suffered a shattered elbow). They also shot Bob Younger's horse. One of the outlaws shot a bystander dead. Inside the bank, cashier Joseph Lee Heywood refused to open the safe, and was murdered in cold blood for his resistance. The infamous failure of the raid is celebrated every year in Northfield as Defeat of Jesse James Days.

The surviving outlaws rode out of town and took to the woods. After several days of dodging the pursuing Minnesotans, who had joined posses and picket lines by the hundreds, the gang had only reached the western outskirts of Mankato. They decided to split up (despite persistent stories to the contrary, Cole Younger told interviewers that they all agreed to the decision). The Youngers and Pitts remained on foot, moving west, until they were cornered near Madelia, Minnesota. In the gunfight that followed, Pitts was killed and the Youngers were wounded again. The Youngers surrendered, and pleaded guilty to murder in order to avoid execution.

The James brothers, on the other hand, secured horses and fled west across southern Minnesota, turning south just inside the border of the Dakota Territory. In the teeth of hundreds of pursuers and a nationwide alarm, they successfully returned to Missouri. The James-Younger Gang, however, was no more.

Having successfully escaped, the James brothers went to Nashville, Tennessee, where they spent the next three years living peacefully. Frank in particular seems to have thrived in his new life, farming in the Whites Creek area. Jesse, however, does not appear to have adapted well to ordinary pursuits.

Accordingly, he gathered up new recruits and returned to a life of crime. On October 8, 1879, Jesse led his new men in robbing the Chicago and Alton Railroad near Glendale, Missouri. Unfortunately, one of the raw recruits, Tucker Basham, was captured by a posse. He told authorities of how he had been recruited by Bill Ryan.

On September 3, 1880, Jesse James and Bill Ryan robbed a stagecoach near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. On October 5, 1880, they robbed the store of John Dovey in Mercer, Kentucky. On March 11, 1881, Jesse, Ryan, and his cousin Wood Hite robbed a federal paymaster at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, taking $5,240. Shortly afterward, a drunk and boastful Ryan was arrested in Whites Creek, near Nashville, and both Frank and Jesse James fled back to Missouri.

On July 15, 1881, Frank and Jesse James, Wood and Clarence Hite, and Dick Liddil robbed the Rock Island Railroad near Winston, Missouri for $900. Train engineer William Westfall and a passenger were killed by one of the outlaws. On September 7, 1881, Jesse James carried out his last train robbery, holding up the Chicago and Alton Railroad. For only the second time, the gang held up the passengers when the express safe proved to be nearly empty. With this new outbreak of train robberies, the new governor of Missouri, Thomas T. Crittenden, convinced the state's railroad and express executives to put up the money for a vast reward for the James brothers.

Creed Chapman and John Bugler were arrested for participating in the robbery on September 7, 1881. Though they were confirmed as having participated in the robbery by convicted members of the gang, neither was ever convicted.

In December 1881, Wood Hite was killed by Dick Liddil in an argument over Martha Bolton, the sister of the Fords. Bob Ford, not yet a member of the gang, assisted Liddil in his gunfight. Ford and Liddil, with Bolton as intermediary, made deals with Governor Crittenden. The authorities soon arrested Wood Hite's brother Clarence, who made a confession but died of tuberculosis in prison. Ford, on the other hand, agreed to bring down Jesse James in return for the reward. On April 3, 1882, Ford shot Jesse behind the ear. Bob and his brother Charley surrendered to the authorities, pleaded guilty, and were promptly pardoned by Crittenden.

On October 4, 1882, Frank James surrendered to Crittenden. Accounts reflect that Frank surrendered with the understanding that he would not be extradited to Northfield, Minnesota.

Only two cases were to come to trial: one in Gallatin, Missouri, for the July 15, 1881, robbery of the Rock Island Line train at Winston, Missouri, in which the train engineer and a passenger were killed. The other trial was in Huntsville, Alabama, for the March 11, 1881, robbery of a United States Army Corps of Engineers payroll at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

James was found not guilty by juries in both cases (July 1883 at Gallatin and April 1884 at Huntsville). Missouri was to keep jurisdiction over him with other charges but they never came to trial and they kept him from being extradited to Minnesota.

Bob Younger died in prison of tuberculosis at age 36 in 1889. Cole and Jim were both paroled in 1901, but Jim, however, could not cope and shot himself to death the next year. He was 54. Cole lived until 1916, when he died at age 72. The Youngers remained loyal to the Jameses when they were in prison and never informed on them. They ended up being model prisoners and in one incident helped keep other prisoners from escaping during a fire at the prison. Frank James died in 1915 at age 72.