The gunifights of Jesse James - The Ayoob Files

American Handgunner, July-August, 2003 by Massad Ayoob

If this was indeed the case, then the lesson is, one has to be as careful in the cleaning of one's handgun as in any other element of its handling. That said, while the hammer of a percussion Colt revolver falls with a lusty snap and the charging lever exerts great pressure, it is hard to image either one amputating the distal joint of a mature male's middle finger. If this happened, it was indeed a "dodd-dingus pistol."

Another explanation is more plausible. Some believe Jesse James' finger was shot off by opposing gunfire in 1864, when the guerrilla band under the leadership of Anderson lieutenant Fletcher Taylor surrounded two brothers named Bigalow, one of whom had founded the Enrolled Missouri Militia, a group which opposed the Quantrill/Anderson/Taylor band. The Bigalow brothers were killed after an intense firefight, which some historians believe was actually young Jesse James' first taste of return fire.

Lesson 3: Aimed Fire

There are few contemporary witness accounts of what style of shooting Jesse James used for the most part, but such as exist indicate he was most successful delivering fight-stopping hits when he aimed his revolver at eye level rather than point shooting. On the afternoon of December 7, 1869, James believed he had tracked down the man who had killed his beloved mentor, Bloody Bill Anderson: one Samuel P. Cox, now working at the Daviess Count Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. Here is Stiles' account of what followed.

"Jesse reached under his coat, pulled out a revolver, and cocked the hammer. 'Cox,' he said with a curse, thinking he was talking to Samuel P. Cox, 'caused the death of my brother Bill Anderson, and I am bound to have my revenge.' He aimed the barrel at the cashier's chest and squeezed the trigger. The ear-splitting crack would have echoed in that small room, flame from the slow-burning black powder leaping Out of the muzzle as the bullet tore straight through the man's heart. Before the cashier could topple from his chair, Jesse aimed squarely at his forehead and fired again. A startled (Attorney William A.) McDowell leaped for the door. Jesse wheeled and snapped off two quick shots, one of them tearing through the lawyer's arm as he darted to safety." (7)

Analyzing the above as Stiles reconstructs it from his research, we note when Jesse James aimed and squeezed, he hit heart and brain. Two shots, two decisive hits. "Snap-shooting" with an equal number of rounds, he scored one miss and one non-neutralizing peripheral hit.

Stiles reports another incident, one in which a young Jesse's aimed fire trumped the snap-shooting of his opponent: the killing of Union Major "Ave" Johnston in a battle with Anderson's guerrillas. He recounts it thus:

"In the center of Anderson's line, Jesse bounded forward. He aimed right for Johnston, who shouted and snapped off shots. The boy aimed his revolver and fired. The Federal officer pitched to the ground." (8) The experienced Union combat vet who point-fired missed the young boy who then aimed and killed him with a return shot.