Posted: 9:48 AM - Feb 25, 2013
Thought I would post for all our cousins. If you are through the Kansas City area you might enjoy a stop at Missouri City, Mo. It is located only a short drive from Kansas City.
I have been in contact with Jay Jackson who is the proprietor of the Frank James Bank Museum. I will post to this board information about his museum, but part of his museum experience is acting out parts of a specific day in history which was Tuesday, May 19, 1863. This day is centered around Captain Moses McCoy and his wife Lou McCoy. Jay Jackson's wife plays the roll of Lou McCoy and though I have not yet had the opportunity, I'm sure she does a wonderful protrail.
Captain Moses McCoy was Moses Isaac McCoy a grandson of Moses McKay who came to Missouri sometime around 1810 to 1820 and died in Clay County, Missouri.
The story attached below is about the museum and the story they tell.
The Excelsior Springs Standard Tuesday, November 15, 2011 5
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE FRANK JAMES?
FRANK WAS QUIET, DETERMINED AND POSSIBLY MORE DEADLY THAN HIS BROTHER, JESSE
One thing I have learned during my research of Jesse James,
is that those who love history are passionate about it. I literally
became attached to Jesse as I looked more and more
into what made the man tick. The same can be said for Jay Jackson,
proprietor of The Frank James Bank Museum in Missouri City.
Jay is passionate about Frank James and believes Frank is the forgotten
one a sentiment widely held in James family circles.
What about Frank? is a comment I frequently heard throughout
my research and articles on Jesse. Well, I havent forgotten about him
and firmly believe there is a lot more to the man than meets the eye.
Frank James was quiet and retrospective, but what simmered beneath
the surface of the older brother of the vivacious, outgoing, nervousacting
Jesse? Jay Jackson has some answers to that question.
I think Frank was a quiet killer, said Jackson as we looked at the
blown up photo of Frank taken as a 20-something man by Liberty
photographer Jacob Hicks.
Jackson said that he is often asked if Jesse James robbed the bank
that once existed in his museum building. His answer is, No, Frank
did when it was a store on Tuesday, May 19, 1863.
The bank was opened in 1867 (after the war). R.G. Gilmer was
president of the bank. Gilmer had sold Franks father, Robert James,
the farm in Kearney years before. Before the bank opened, a store was
here that was owned by Sam Nowlin, who was in the southern army
with Frank, added Jackson.
The building, built in 1858, now preserves the story of the first
known military action of Frank James
as a Confederate Partisan Ranger (also
known as guerrilla/bushwhacker).
To understand the story, one must
understand the beginning.
On June 2, 1855, a large public meeting
in Columbia met to support the spread
of slavery into Kansas, but the resolutions
offered by Whigs James Rollins and
Odon Guitar were not enough for hardline
Democrats who threatened violence
unless the meeting called for armed force
against abolitionists.
In June 1856, a pro-slavery mob
attacked Darius Sessions, a Know-
Nothing leader in Clay County, who
was saved from death (by lynching) through the intervention of a few
neighbors. (Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War, by T.J. Stiles
and The History of Clay County)
The Know-Nothing movement was a popular political movement
of the mid-1800s and was empowered by strong fears of some that
the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish-Catholic
immigrants, who were often looked at as hostile to the Anglo-Saxon
Protestant values of the day. The movement was mostly active from
1854 to 1856, when it tried to curb immigration and naturalization. For
the most part, it was unsuccessful. Members had to be Protestant males
over the age of 21 who were of British lineage. The movement began
to fragment over the issue of slavery, which was reaching its pre-Civil
War zenith during this time. The name Know Nothing derives from
the secrecy its members were expected to maintain. When asked about
the movements activities, one was to say, I know nothing.
By the time of the Missouri City events of 1863, Frank James, having
previously fought for the Missouri Home Guards and in the battles
of Lexington and Wilsons Creek, had been captured and, suffering
from measles, was sent home to Kearney (then called Centreville) after
signing the loyalty oath and paying a $1,000 bond. He was required to
enroll in the Enrolled Missouri Militia, but he didnt and was arrested
again and jailed in Liberty.
Frank managed to escape the facility with some aid and returned
home where he learned that William Quantrill was in Jackson County
looking for new recruits.
I met Bill Gregg, Quantrills First Lieutenant, in Clay County and
with him, rowed across the Missouri River to this county (Jackson)
and joined Quantrill at the Webb place on the Blackwater ford of the
Sni just a few miles from here (Blue Springs). This was May 1863. I
will never forget the first time I ever saw Quantrill. He was nearly six
feet in height, rather thin, his hair and mustache was sandy and he was
full of life and a jolly fellow. He had none of the air of the bravado or
the desperado about him he was a demon in battle, said Frank.
(Louisville Courier-Journal, Sept. 29, 1901)
The first action for Frank with the guerrillas was to head to the city
of Richfield (now known as Missouri City) on Tuesday, May 19, 1863,
under the command of Quantrill lieutenant Fernando Scott.
On Friday, May 15, Lurena (Lou) McCoy had been arrested by
the Federals. She was suspected of aiding the escape of Frank James
from the Clay County Jail and had also refused to tell officials of the
whereabouts of her husband, Confederate Captain Moses McCoy,
whom she had fed and clothed. Lou was taken from her 2-year-old
son and transported to St. Joseph 50 miles from home.
Lou, who lived just outside of Missouri City, was arrested by
Darius Sessions, who was also the mayor of Missouri City as well
as a militia captain.
McCoy informed Quantrill of his wifes arrest and a party of volunteers
were assembled, led by the aforementioned Fernando Scott.
The group included: Frank James, Laugh (Laftish) Easton of Clay
County; Joe Hart of Andrew County; Louis Vandiver of Missouri City;
Charles Fletch Taylor, William Gregg, John Jackson, James Little,
Henry Coward and James Bernard. Captain McCoy, Lous husband,
came with the group.
Arriving in Missouri City, the guerrillas first went to the McCoy
home and then to a neighbors, who headed into Missouri City where
Darius Sessions was with Lieutenant Louis Gravenstein. Gravenstein,
thinking it would be a rather quiet day, was planning instead for the
following day to take two companies to surround the Fishing River
with one company on each bank prime bushwhacker country where
they hoped to drive the rebels out into the open.
Instead, it was Gravenstein and Sessions who would be ambushed
and fooled.
The men took the bait from the informant sent by the guerrillas who
told Gravenstein and Sessions that several bushwhackers had come to
his home, drunk and boasting that they were Quantrills men.
Having set up the enemy, Fernando Scott and his men hid themselves
near a bridge, and as Gravenstein, Sessions and three soldiers
approached the bridge, the thick foliage beside the road erupted with
gunfire, smoke and flame. They had been ambushed.
Sessions and another man, Private Rapp (feigning death), collapsed
to the ground, while Gravenstein tried to plead for his life to no avail.
He surrendered, but was shot anyway, twice through the head now
the guerrillas signature.
Sessions was approached by Captain McCoy and Louis Vandiver
and begged for his life. Sessions said Louis, I am a dead man, dont
shoot me anymore. Vandiver turned to McCoy and said, He is at war
with you and yours, you can finish him. Sessions was then shot twoto-
three times in the head, said Jay Jackson, recounting the events of
that day. (It is not known if Vandiver shot Sessions or if Frank James
was encouraged to step forward and prove he was made of guerrilla
stock by shooting Sessions in cold blood.)
Silent and thoughtful, one can easily imagine a solitary Frank James
stepping forward especially as a new recruit and popping the final
bullets into Sessions head. It must have been enticing for Frank.
Previously, hed been a private in the Army with all the rigid rules
and regulations. With the guerrillas, he was riding hard, hiding out,
shooting off guns and the intrigue of guerrilla warfare would lure any
20-year-old into its web. And Frank James was ripe for the picking.
Somehow, Private Rapp escaped and made it back into town,
wounded and seeking medical aid. Somehow the guerrillas learned
of this, found the wounded private, and shot him three more times.
Amazingly, Rapp survived. (Frank and Jesse James, The Story
Behind the Legend, by Ted P. Yeatman)
The two remaining Federal soldiers managed to escape.
Frank and his comrades werent done with Missouri City. After killing
the men, they went into town where they pillaged local Unionists.
Their shenanigans included a trip to the mercantile to get cigars from
the store of Sam and Bryan Nowlin. Sam Nowlin, 23, had served in
the Missouri State Guard with Frank during the Battle of Lexington.
He was concerned that he would be considered aiding and abetting
the Confederates if he let them have cigars, so he requested that the
gang make it look like a robbery, a request the men were happy to
oblige.
Were Nowlin to be arrested, he would lose the $5,000 bond
that had been imposed upon him and his father by the occupying
troops.
Again the question of whether Frank James ever killed anyone
that day. Perhaps not Louis Vandiver later bragged that he killed
Darius Sessions because Sessions reported on him and wouldnt
let him live in peace, said Jay Jackson. Nevertheless, Frank James
was also recognized by residents of Missouri City so the question
of did he or didnt he still remains.
The guerrillas stayed in Missouri City until nightfall and then left
for Plattsburg, where they believed the garrison there was weakened.
Not expecting to find troops in Plattsburg, the guerrillas found the
courthouse occupied by the militia instead. A battle ensued and
Col. James H. Birch, an aide to Union Gov. Hamilton Gamble was
captured in front of the courthouse. A deal was struck to parole the
militia inside if they surrendered. They did and approximately 200
muskets were taken along with a payroll of $10,000-11,000.
Lurena Lou McCoy was in Federal custody in St. Joseph and
charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy, by feeding,
sheltering and otherwise harboring brigands disloyal conduct by
repeatedly using violent language in favor of persons engaged in the
present rebellion and of the rebellion itself, to wit; I have fed Hard
[a guerrilla] and will feed him again and if I had no children I
would turn out in the bush myself. (Yeatmans book)
McCoy later stated that she fed both Confederate and Union soldiers
whomever landed on her doorstep that was hungry.
Clearly, a strong, independent, stubborn woman, McCoy was the
perfect example of a solid pioneer woman. In 1912, she contributed
two articles to the Confederate Veteran, in one of which she stated,
Let us teach our children that their fathers were not traitors, but
patriots. (Yeatmans book)
This incident in Missouri City was followed by the visit to the
James-Samuel farm by the 51st Enrolled Missouri Militia who beat
15-year-old Jesse James and hung Reuben Samuel three times in an
attempt to find out where Frank and the guerrillas were hiding.
So, who is Jay Jackson? He has been a reenactor for decades.
He is a member of the Missouri-Kansas Border War Network and
he really knows his history.
Jackson also works with Lt. Col. (U.S. Army Ret.) Dave Chuber
in teaching bushwhacker/guerrilla warfare at Fort Leonard Wood
to senior non-commissioned officers.
Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan deal with situations very similar
to those of the Civil War, such as the Centralia, Mo., massacre and
battlefield situations. What Chuber and Jackson teach helps the
NCOs to understand what they went through while at war.
Their experiences in seeing some of these things you cant lose
your composure when you see an atrocity you cant lose it, or you
would fall into a trap set by the enemy, said Jackson.
Jackson explained that the way the guerrillas fought here in
Missouri, can teach our own soldiers how to cope, understand and
defend themselves from the ambushes and under-handed way the
enemy is attacking us during current wars.
The Frank James Bank Museum is located at 417 Donipha
The following is additional information about the Frank James Bank Museum and the story about it.
The Frank James Bank Museum
Written by Jay Jackson, January 31, 2012 Revised May 3, 2012
The Frank James Bank Museum is located in the old Nowlin Building at Main and Doniphan
streets in Missouri City, Missouri. It is outfitted to look like an old general store like it was on
May 19, 1863. On that date Frank James and several of William Quantrills partisan rangers
came to Missouri City to kill Mayor Darius Sessions for arresting the wife of a local Confederate
officer.
The museum setting is used to tell the story of that day. Also discussed is the story of the Civil
War in this area with focus on guerrilla warfare, the war that women endured at the hands of US
military policy at the time, the creation of insurgent resistance to Federal occupation, and the role
that Frank James played in creating the Jesse and Frank James legend of Clay County.
The museum is located on the first floor of the Nowlin building. The second story houses a
meeting room for historical groups. Its significance also has to do with its use as a business
house during the steamboat, coal mining and railroad eras. The building was placed on the
National Register of Historic Sites on August 6, 2010.
The museum is located in the southeast corner of Clay County. It is 15 miles from the James
family farm in Kearney and 10 miles from the Jesse James Bank Museum in Liberty. It was
established in order to bring attention to the May 19, 1863 killing as the first event in the long
and interesting legend of the James brothers.
Franks Story
By 1863, twenty year old Frank James had been trying to be a law abiding citizen for two years
after being an Rebel soldier early in the Civil War. He joined the Southern Missouri State
Guard in the heated furor that followed the attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861. Frank enlisted
on May 4, 1861, then marched off to battles at Wilsons Creek near Springfield on August 10,
1861 and at Lexington September 18-20, 1861. He was later captured in a hospital while ill with
the measles. He signed a parole agreement stating he would go home and fight no more. The
harsh US policies at the time permitted mandatory cash bonds to be taken from paroled Southern
soldiers, incarceration without due process, harassment, humiliation, and disarmament. Frank
was forced to post a $1,000 bond in the spring of 1862 in order to insure his loyalty after his
brief stint in the Missouri State Guard.
Franks army mate, Captain Sam Nowlin and Sams father, Brian Nowlin, owners of the
Nowlin Building, each had to post a $5,000 cash bond in order to remain free. Sam had also
been a Southern soldier in the Missouri State Guard, also fought at Lexington, and thus his
service affected his fathers civil rights. Brian had been a business man in Missouri City since
1852. At one point he had been in business with Mayor Darius Sessions, the victim of the day.
Sam resumed working with his father in the family business after ending his army service and
posting his loyalty bond. Sam lived in the yellow two story frame house at 600 Main Street. It
was a gift from his father when he turned 21.
Sam came home after the Battle of Pea Ridge in March of 1862 when his 6 month enlistment in
the Missouri State Guard ended. As the Southern armies retreated into Mississippi, the Missouri
countryside became filled with hopeful Southern recruiters who were working to convince
paroled soldiers to return to the army. Some of the soldiers who came home tried to be good
citizens. Others became discourage with the harassment by US troops and became partisan
rangers (authorized by the Confederate States Government). They were called guerrillas or
bushwhackers. They interrupted federal recruiting, protected southern recruiters, harassed the
Federal Provost Marshals as they continued taking bond money from citizens, and fought the
constant threat of Jayhawk raids from Kansas. In May of 1863, after trying to be a civilian and
being arrested twice, Frank James joined the guerrilla group that was led by the notorious
William Clarke Quantrill.
One of the Southern recruiters in Clay County was Captain Moses McCoy. He had been serving
with General Jo Shelby in the regular Confederate Missouri Cavalry and was home on a
recruiting mission in May of 1863. Moses and his 19 year old wife, Lurena, or Lou, lived about
two miles north of Missouri City. Lou fed Moses while he was at home, which was one of the
charges that was later brought against her. Lou also made a uniform for one of his recruits using
notions that she had bought in Nowlins store. Lou was not the reticent type and might have
spoken of her activities in town.
Mayor Sessions was aware that Lou McCoys Confederate officer husband was in the area
recruiting. Sessions sent soldiers to Lous home to look for Captain McCoy. Lou and Mayor
Sessions already knew each other because she had been a frequent shopper in his mercantile
store. Lou was questioned regarding the location of her husband and asked about the
Confederate uniform which she had supposedly made. Lou refused to give them any information.
Mayor Sessions was also a Captain of the US 48th Enrolled Missouri Militia. He had a few
soldiers in Missouri City from the post at the Liberty Arsenal, seven miles away, which were
assigned to help scout for Southern recruiters and guerrillas. They were members of the 25th
Missouri US Infantry from St. Joseph.
Because Lou refused to give up information regarding her husband she was arrested and taken to
the Liberty Arsenal. Lou had a two year old son, a five year old adopted son, and a ten year old
step-son that she had to leave behind when she was arrested. Lou was placed on a steamboat and
sent up-river fifty miles to St. Joseph for incarceration and questioning. This harsh action was
authorized by the new federal policy of arresting women associated with guerrillas in an attempt
to restrain the effectiveness of their husbands and sons. That ill-begotten policy had been
developed by the Federals out of frustration with the growing effectiveness of southern
insurgents.
After Lou McCoy was arrested her husband went to William Quantrill in Jackson County to ask
for help. Quantrill provided Captain Moses McCoy with about ten of his partisan rangers. This
band of guerrilla fighters included Frank James, who had just joined Quantrills group that
month. They crossed the Missouri River into Clay County and set up an ambush for the
offending Militia Captain Darius Sessions. In order to set the trap they went to the home of Peter
Mahoney, acting as if they were drunk. They convinced Mahoney to go into town to tell
Sessions of the easy catch that they could make of these bushwhackers. Sessions went for the
trap. He took Lieutenant Lewis Grafenstein, Sergeant Benjamin Rapp and two other soldiers of
the 25th Missouri Infantry and set out in search of the bushwhackers. They had been garrisoned
at the Liberty Arsenal but that day had been sent on temporary duty to Missouri City.
The ambushers waited in the brush and trees on both sides of the road about two miles above
Missouri City. They shot Sessions, Grafenstein and Rapp out of their saddles. They talked to
Sessions before he died, then finished him off by putting two more bullets in his head. They shot
Lieutenant Grafenstein twice more in the head. They left Rapp wounded, thinking he was dead.
The other two soldiers got away. The ambushers then went into town to get cigars at the store of
their former army mate, Captain Sam Nowlin. Sam told them they could have anything they
wanted from the store but they must make it look like a robbery so the Federals wouldnt take his
$5,000 bond and put him in jail.
Six days later, on May 25, Federal soldiers went to the James family farm in Kearney hunting for
Frank and the others. Not finding Frank, they hung his stepfather several times and beat his
fifteen year old brother Jesse in an attempt to get information. This incident is where most
historians begin their story of Frank and Jesse James. It would be another year before Jesse
would join with his brother Frank as a guerrilla fighter.
During this period there were many other instances of actions against women and families of the
disloyal. In the summer of 1863 several southern woman were arrested and incarcerated in
Kansas City. They had relatives in the Partisan Ranger, guerrilla, bushwhacker category. They
were jailed in a condemned three story brick building. The building collapsed on August 13 and
several of them were killed or maimed for life. After this happened, Quantrill responded by
burning Lawrence, Kansas on August 21. One hundred eighty men and boys were killed in that
raid. Although triggered by the collapse, it is said that the Lawrence raid was also done in
retaliation for the burning of Osceola, Missouri in September of 1861.
The incident involving the killing of Sessions and Grafenstein in Missouri City preceded the
Lawrence raid by three months and probably should have served as a warning to federal
authorities regarding the fierce response that would likely occur if women were made a factor in
the war against insurgents.
Frank James was jailed twice while trying to live peacefully under his $1,000 parole. Lou
McCoy had been accused of helping him escape once and that was part of the charges that were
brought against her when she was arrested. Lou described this in an article which she wrote in
1912 for the Confederate Veteran Magazine. She said I have always felt sorry for any man who
was killed on my account. I also reflect that Mr. McCoy would have been less than a man and
unworthy of a wife if he had permitted such an injustice to go unpunished. Moses McCoy died
shortly after the war. Lou McCoy later remarried. Frank James went on to infamy with his
brother Jesse James.
And thus, the Frank and Jesse James story of robbery and murder started here in Missouri Cit
I have been in contact with Jay Jackson who is the proprietor of the Frank James Bank Museum. I will post to this board information about his museum, but part of his museum experience is acting out parts of a specific day in history which was Tuesday, May 19, 1863. This day is centered around Captain Moses McCoy and his wife Lou McCoy. Jay Jackson's wife plays the roll of Lou McCoy and though I have not yet had the opportunity, I'm sure she does a wonderful protrail.
Captain Moses McCoy was Moses Isaac McCoy a grandson of Moses McKay who came to Missouri sometime around 1810 to 1820 and died in Clay County, Missouri.
The story attached below is about the museum and the story they tell.
The Excelsior Springs Standard Tuesday, November 15, 2011 5
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE FRANK JAMES?
FRANK WAS QUIET, DETERMINED AND POSSIBLY MORE DEADLY THAN HIS BROTHER, JESSE
One thing I have learned during my research of Jesse James,
is that those who love history are passionate about it. I literally
became attached to Jesse as I looked more and more
into what made the man tick. The same can be said for Jay Jackson,
proprietor of The Frank James Bank Museum in Missouri City.
Jay is passionate about Frank James and believes Frank is the forgotten
one a sentiment widely held in James family circles.
What about Frank? is a comment I frequently heard throughout
my research and articles on Jesse. Well, I havent forgotten about him
and firmly believe there is a lot more to the man than meets the eye.
Frank James was quiet and retrospective, but what simmered beneath
the surface of the older brother of the vivacious, outgoing, nervousacting
Jesse? Jay Jackson has some answers to that question.
I think Frank was a quiet killer, said Jackson as we looked at the
blown up photo of Frank taken as a 20-something man by Liberty
photographer Jacob Hicks.
Jackson said that he is often asked if Jesse James robbed the bank
that once existed in his museum building. His answer is, No, Frank
did when it was a store on Tuesday, May 19, 1863.
The bank was opened in 1867 (after the war). R.G. Gilmer was
president of the bank. Gilmer had sold Franks father, Robert James,
the farm in Kearney years before. Before the bank opened, a store was
here that was owned by Sam Nowlin, who was in the southern army
with Frank, added Jackson.
The building, built in 1858, now preserves the story of the first
known military action of Frank James
as a Confederate Partisan Ranger (also
known as guerrilla/bushwhacker).
To understand the story, one must
understand the beginning.
On June 2, 1855, a large public meeting
in Columbia met to support the spread
of slavery into Kansas, but the resolutions
offered by Whigs James Rollins and
Odon Guitar were not enough for hardline
Democrats who threatened violence
unless the meeting called for armed force
against abolitionists.
In June 1856, a pro-slavery mob
attacked Darius Sessions, a Know-
Nothing leader in Clay County, who
was saved from death (by lynching) through the intervention of a few
neighbors. (Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War, by T.J. Stiles
and The History of Clay County)
The Know-Nothing movement was a popular political movement
of the mid-1800s and was empowered by strong fears of some that
the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish-Catholic
immigrants, who were often looked at as hostile to the Anglo-Saxon
Protestant values of the day. The movement was mostly active from
1854 to 1856, when it tried to curb immigration and naturalization. For
the most part, it was unsuccessful. Members had to be Protestant males
over the age of 21 who were of British lineage. The movement began
to fragment over the issue of slavery, which was reaching its pre-Civil
War zenith during this time. The name Know Nothing derives from
the secrecy its members were expected to maintain. When asked about
the movements activities, one was to say, I know nothing.
By the time of the Missouri City events of 1863, Frank James, having
previously fought for the Missouri Home Guards and in the battles
of Lexington and Wilsons Creek, had been captured and, suffering
from measles, was sent home to Kearney (then called Centreville) after
signing the loyalty oath and paying a $1,000 bond. He was required to
enroll in the Enrolled Missouri Militia, but he didnt and was arrested
again and jailed in Liberty.
Frank managed to escape the facility with some aid and returned
home where he learned that William Quantrill was in Jackson County
looking for new recruits.
I met Bill Gregg, Quantrills First Lieutenant, in Clay County and
with him, rowed across the Missouri River to this county (Jackson)
and joined Quantrill at the Webb place on the Blackwater ford of the
Sni just a few miles from here (Blue Springs). This was May 1863. I
will never forget the first time I ever saw Quantrill. He was nearly six
feet in height, rather thin, his hair and mustache was sandy and he was
full of life and a jolly fellow. He had none of the air of the bravado or
the desperado about him he was a demon in battle, said Frank.
(Louisville Courier-Journal, Sept. 29, 1901)
The first action for Frank with the guerrillas was to head to the city
of Richfield (now known as Missouri City) on Tuesday, May 19, 1863,
under the command of Quantrill lieutenant Fernando Scott.
On Friday, May 15, Lurena (Lou) McCoy had been arrested by
the Federals. She was suspected of aiding the escape of Frank James
from the Clay County Jail and had also refused to tell officials of the
whereabouts of her husband, Confederate Captain Moses McCoy,
whom she had fed and clothed. Lou was taken from her 2-year-old
son and transported to St. Joseph 50 miles from home.
Lou, who lived just outside of Missouri City, was arrested by
Darius Sessions, who was also the mayor of Missouri City as well
as a militia captain.
McCoy informed Quantrill of his wifes arrest and a party of volunteers
were assembled, led by the aforementioned Fernando Scott.
The group included: Frank James, Laugh (Laftish) Easton of Clay
County; Joe Hart of Andrew County; Louis Vandiver of Missouri City;
Charles Fletch Taylor, William Gregg, John Jackson, James Little,
Henry Coward and James Bernard. Captain McCoy, Lous husband,
came with the group.
Arriving in Missouri City, the guerrillas first went to the McCoy
home and then to a neighbors, who headed into Missouri City where
Darius Sessions was with Lieutenant Louis Gravenstein. Gravenstein,
thinking it would be a rather quiet day, was planning instead for the
following day to take two companies to surround the Fishing River
with one company on each bank prime bushwhacker country where
they hoped to drive the rebels out into the open.
Instead, it was Gravenstein and Sessions who would be ambushed
and fooled.
The men took the bait from the informant sent by the guerrillas who
told Gravenstein and Sessions that several bushwhackers had come to
his home, drunk and boasting that they were Quantrills men.
Having set up the enemy, Fernando Scott and his men hid themselves
near a bridge, and as Gravenstein, Sessions and three soldiers
approached the bridge, the thick foliage beside the road erupted with
gunfire, smoke and flame. They had been ambushed.
Sessions and another man, Private Rapp (feigning death), collapsed
to the ground, while Gravenstein tried to plead for his life to no avail.
He surrendered, but was shot anyway, twice through the head now
the guerrillas signature.
Sessions was approached by Captain McCoy and Louis Vandiver
and begged for his life. Sessions said Louis, I am a dead man, dont
shoot me anymore. Vandiver turned to McCoy and said, He is at war
with you and yours, you can finish him. Sessions was then shot twoto-
three times in the head, said Jay Jackson, recounting the events of
that day. (It is not known if Vandiver shot Sessions or if Frank James
was encouraged to step forward and prove he was made of guerrilla
stock by shooting Sessions in cold blood.)
Silent and thoughtful, one can easily imagine a solitary Frank James
stepping forward especially as a new recruit and popping the final
bullets into Sessions head. It must have been enticing for Frank.
Previously, hed been a private in the Army with all the rigid rules
and regulations. With the guerrillas, he was riding hard, hiding out,
shooting off guns and the intrigue of guerrilla warfare would lure any
20-year-old into its web. And Frank James was ripe for the picking.
Somehow, Private Rapp escaped and made it back into town,
wounded and seeking medical aid. Somehow the guerrillas learned
of this, found the wounded private, and shot him three more times.
Amazingly, Rapp survived. (Frank and Jesse James, The Story
Behind the Legend, by Ted P. Yeatman)
The two remaining Federal soldiers managed to escape.
Frank and his comrades werent done with Missouri City. After killing
the men, they went into town where they pillaged local Unionists.
Their shenanigans included a trip to the mercantile to get cigars from
the store of Sam and Bryan Nowlin. Sam Nowlin, 23, had served in
the Missouri State Guard with Frank during the Battle of Lexington.
He was concerned that he would be considered aiding and abetting
the Confederates if he let them have cigars, so he requested that the
gang make it look like a robbery, a request the men were happy to
oblige.
Were Nowlin to be arrested, he would lose the $5,000 bond
that had been imposed upon him and his father by the occupying
troops.
Again the question of whether Frank James ever killed anyone
that day. Perhaps not Louis Vandiver later bragged that he killed
Darius Sessions because Sessions reported on him and wouldnt
let him live in peace, said Jay Jackson. Nevertheless, Frank James
was also recognized by residents of Missouri City so the question
of did he or didnt he still remains.
The guerrillas stayed in Missouri City until nightfall and then left
for Plattsburg, where they believed the garrison there was weakened.
Not expecting to find troops in Plattsburg, the guerrillas found the
courthouse occupied by the militia instead. A battle ensued and
Col. James H. Birch, an aide to Union Gov. Hamilton Gamble was
captured in front of the courthouse. A deal was struck to parole the
militia inside if they surrendered. They did and approximately 200
muskets were taken along with a payroll of $10,000-11,000.
Lurena Lou McCoy was in Federal custody in St. Joseph and
charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy, by feeding,
sheltering and otherwise harboring brigands disloyal conduct by
repeatedly using violent language in favor of persons engaged in the
present rebellion and of the rebellion itself, to wit; I have fed Hard
[a guerrilla] and will feed him again and if I had no children I
would turn out in the bush myself. (Yeatmans book)
McCoy later stated that she fed both Confederate and Union soldiers
whomever landed on her doorstep that was hungry.
Clearly, a strong, independent, stubborn woman, McCoy was the
perfect example of a solid pioneer woman. In 1912, she contributed
two articles to the Confederate Veteran, in one of which she stated,
Let us teach our children that their fathers were not traitors, but
patriots. (Yeatmans book)
This incident in Missouri City was followed by the visit to the
James-Samuel farm by the 51st Enrolled Missouri Militia who beat
15-year-old Jesse James and hung Reuben Samuel three times in an
attempt to find out where Frank and the guerrillas were hiding.
So, who is Jay Jackson? He has been a reenactor for decades.
He is a member of the Missouri-Kansas Border War Network and
he really knows his history.
Jackson also works with Lt. Col. (U.S. Army Ret.) Dave Chuber
in teaching bushwhacker/guerrilla warfare at Fort Leonard Wood
to senior non-commissioned officers.
Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan deal with situations very similar
to those of the Civil War, such as the Centralia, Mo., massacre and
battlefield situations. What Chuber and Jackson teach helps the
NCOs to understand what they went through while at war.
Their experiences in seeing some of these things you cant lose
your composure when you see an atrocity you cant lose it, or you
would fall into a trap set by the enemy, said Jackson.
Jackson explained that the way the guerrillas fought here in
Missouri, can teach our own soldiers how to cope, understand and
defend themselves from the ambushes and under-handed way the
enemy is attacking us during current wars.
The Frank James Bank Museum is located at 417 Donipha
The following is additional information about the Frank James Bank Museum and the story about it.
The Frank James Bank Museum
Written by Jay Jackson, January 31, 2012 Revised May 3, 2012
The Frank James Bank Museum is located in the old Nowlin Building at Main and Doniphan
streets in Missouri City, Missouri. It is outfitted to look like an old general store like it was on
May 19, 1863. On that date Frank James and several of William Quantrills partisan rangers
came to Missouri City to kill Mayor Darius Sessions for arresting the wife of a local Confederate
officer.
The museum setting is used to tell the story of that day. Also discussed is the story of the Civil
War in this area with focus on guerrilla warfare, the war that women endured at the hands of US
military policy at the time, the creation of insurgent resistance to Federal occupation, and the role
that Frank James played in creating the Jesse and Frank James legend of Clay County.
The museum is located on the first floor of the Nowlin building. The second story houses a
meeting room for historical groups. Its significance also has to do with its use as a business
house during the steamboat, coal mining and railroad eras. The building was placed on the
National Register of Historic Sites on August 6, 2010.
The museum is located in the southeast corner of Clay County. It is 15 miles from the James
family farm in Kearney and 10 miles from the Jesse James Bank Museum in Liberty. It was
established in order to bring attention to the May 19, 1863 killing as the first event in the long
and interesting legend of the James brothers.
Franks Story
By 1863, twenty year old Frank James had been trying to be a law abiding citizen for two years
after being an Rebel soldier early in the Civil War. He joined the Southern Missouri State
Guard in the heated furor that followed the attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861. Frank enlisted
on May 4, 1861, then marched off to battles at Wilsons Creek near Springfield on August 10,
1861 and at Lexington September 18-20, 1861. He was later captured in a hospital while ill with
the measles. He signed a parole agreement stating he would go home and fight no more. The
harsh US policies at the time permitted mandatory cash bonds to be taken from paroled Southern
soldiers, incarceration without due process, harassment, humiliation, and disarmament. Frank
was forced to post a $1,000 bond in the spring of 1862 in order to insure his loyalty after his
brief stint in the Missouri State Guard.
Franks army mate, Captain Sam Nowlin and Sams father, Brian Nowlin, owners of the
Nowlin Building, each had to post a $5,000 cash bond in order to remain free. Sam had also
been a Southern soldier in the Missouri State Guard, also fought at Lexington, and thus his
service affected his fathers civil rights. Brian had been a business man in Missouri City since
1852. At one point he had been in business with Mayor Darius Sessions, the victim of the day.
Sam resumed working with his father in the family business after ending his army service and
posting his loyalty bond. Sam lived in the yellow two story frame house at 600 Main Street. It
was a gift from his father when he turned 21.
Sam came home after the Battle of Pea Ridge in March of 1862 when his 6 month enlistment in
the Missouri State Guard ended. As the Southern armies retreated into Mississippi, the Missouri
countryside became filled with hopeful Southern recruiters who were working to convince
paroled soldiers to return to the army. Some of the soldiers who came home tried to be good
citizens. Others became discourage with the harassment by US troops and became partisan
rangers (authorized by the Confederate States Government). They were called guerrillas or
bushwhackers. They interrupted federal recruiting, protected southern recruiters, harassed the
Federal Provost Marshals as they continued taking bond money from citizens, and fought the
constant threat of Jayhawk raids from Kansas. In May of 1863, after trying to be a civilian and
being arrested twice, Frank James joined the guerrilla group that was led by the notorious
William Clarke Quantrill.
One of the Southern recruiters in Clay County was Captain Moses McCoy. He had been serving
with General Jo Shelby in the regular Confederate Missouri Cavalry and was home on a
recruiting mission in May of 1863. Moses and his 19 year old wife, Lurena, or Lou, lived about
two miles north of Missouri City. Lou fed Moses while he was at home, which was one of the
charges that was later brought against her. Lou also made a uniform for one of his recruits using
notions that she had bought in Nowlins store. Lou was not the reticent type and might have
spoken of her activities in town.
Mayor Sessions was aware that Lou McCoys Confederate officer husband was in the area
recruiting. Sessions sent soldiers to Lous home to look for Captain McCoy. Lou and Mayor
Sessions already knew each other because she had been a frequent shopper in his mercantile
store. Lou was questioned regarding the location of her husband and asked about the
Confederate uniform which she had supposedly made. Lou refused to give them any information.
Mayor Sessions was also a Captain of the US 48th Enrolled Missouri Militia. He had a few
soldiers in Missouri City from the post at the Liberty Arsenal, seven miles away, which were
assigned to help scout for Southern recruiters and guerrillas. They were members of the 25th
Missouri US Infantry from St. Joseph.
Because Lou refused to give up information regarding her husband she was arrested and taken to
the Liberty Arsenal. Lou had a two year old son, a five year old adopted son, and a ten year old
step-son that she had to leave behind when she was arrested. Lou was placed on a steamboat and
sent up-river fifty miles to St. Joseph for incarceration and questioning. This harsh action was
authorized by the new federal policy of arresting women associated with guerrillas in an attempt
to restrain the effectiveness of their husbands and sons. That ill-begotten policy had been
developed by the Federals out of frustration with the growing effectiveness of southern
insurgents.
After Lou McCoy was arrested her husband went to William Quantrill in Jackson County to ask
for help. Quantrill provided Captain Moses McCoy with about ten of his partisan rangers. This
band of guerrilla fighters included Frank James, who had just joined Quantrills group that
month. They crossed the Missouri River into Clay County and set up an ambush for the
offending Militia Captain Darius Sessions. In order to set the trap they went to the home of Peter
Mahoney, acting as if they were drunk. They convinced Mahoney to go into town to tell
Sessions of the easy catch that they could make of these bushwhackers. Sessions went for the
trap. He took Lieutenant Lewis Grafenstein, Sergeant Benjamin Rapp and two other soldiers of
the 25th Missouri Infantry and set out in search of the bushwhackers. They had been garrisoned
at the Liberty Arsenal but that day had been sent on temporary duty to Missouri City.
The ambushers waited in the brush and trees on both sides of the road about two miles above
Missouri City. They shot Sessions, Grafenstein and Rapp out of their saddles. They talked to
Sessions before he died, then finished him off by putting two more bullets in his head. They shot
Lieutenant Grafenstein twice more in the head. They left Rapp wounded, thinking he was dead.
The other two soldiers got away. The ambushers then went into town to get cigars at the store of
their former army mate, Captain Sam Nowlin. Sam told them they could have anything they
wanted from the store but they must make it look like a robbery so the Federals wouldnt take his
$5,000 bond and put him in jail.
Six days later, on May 25, Federal soldiers went to the James family farm in Kearney hunting for
Frank and the others. Not finding Frank, they hung his stepfather several times and beat his
fifteen year old brother Jesse in an attempt to get information. This incident is where most
historians begin their story of Frank and Jesse James. It would be another year before Jesse
would join with his brother Frank as a guerrilla fighter.
During this period there were many other instances of actions against women and families of the
disloyal. In the summer of 1863 several southern woman were arrested and incarcerated in
Kansas City. They had relatives in the Partisan Ranger, guerrilla, bushwhacker category. They
were jailed in a condemned three story brick building. The building collapsed on August 13 and
several of them were killed or maimed for life. After this happened, Quantrill responded by
burning Lawrence, Kansas on August 21. One hundred eighty men and boys were killed in that
raid. Although triggered by the collapse, it is said that the Lawrence raid was also done in
retaliation for the burning of Osceola, Missouri in September of 1861.
The incident involving the killing of Sessions and Grafenstein in Missouri City preceded the
Lawrence raid by three months and probably should have served as a warning to federal
authorities regarding the fierce response that would likely occur if women were made a factor in
the war against insurgents.
Frank James was jailed twice while trying to live peacefully under his $1,000 parole. Lou
McCoy had been accused of helping him escape once and that was part of the charges that were
brought against her when she was arrested. Lou described this in an article which she wrote in
1912 for the Confederate Veteran Magazine. She said I have always felt sorry for any man who
was killed on my account. I also reflect that Mr. McCoy would have been less than a man and
unworthy of a wife if he had permitted such an injustice to go unpunished. Moses McCoy died
shortly after the war. Lou McCoy later remarried. Frank James went on to infamy with his
brother Jesse James.
And thus, the Frank and Jesse James story of robbery and murder started here in Missouri Cit