Last Hurrah of the James-Younger Gang - Hardcover

Smith, Robert Barr

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806133538 ISBN 13: 9780806133539

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001

Synopsis

So small it had only one bank, so quiet no citizens carried guns. Hard-working, 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 bankmen 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 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.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Barr Smith, retired Colonel, United States Army, was Professor of Law, Director of Legal Research and Writing, and Adjunct Professor of Military Science at the University of Oklahoma.

From Library Journal:

Many books have been written about the James brothers, Jesse and Frank, and their associates the Younger brothers. This title is the first book-length treatment of the attempted bank robbery in Northfield, MN, in 1876, in which several of the outlaws were killed; others, including the Younger brothers, were captured and imprisoned; and only two escaped. The botched robbery drew the attention of the townspeople, who got guns from their homes and the local hardware store and outfought the raiders. Whether the James brothers were present has long been a matter of debate, but Smith (To the Last Cartridge) argues that they were and were the two henchmen who got away. Smith's detailed account of the raid is prefaced by chapters that relate the violent, murderous climate of the Kansas and Missouri border region in the Civil War era, the place and time that molded the James and Younger brothers. He concludes by describing the latter years of both the surviving outlaws and the surviving heroes of Northfield who defeated this famous outlaw clan. A readable enough book, this is illustrated and has adequate chapter notes. While not essential for academic libraries, unless for large Western collections or regional collections, this title would likely be popular in the public library setting. Charles Cowling, SUNY at Brockport Lib.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0806133538
• ISBN 13: 9780806133539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272