Was Jesse James a Jesse?

Jesse James, gun slinger and hoodlum, is probably the epitome of macho in most people’s mind but the old gunslinger was prone to wear woman’s cloths. Nothing untoward and all in the line of duty, of course. Jesse James during the Civil War rode with a band of guerrillas who sought out Northern Troops to kill them. In Independence there was a brothel used by officers of the Federal garrison at Independence. Jesse was chosen to reconnoitre the place and because he had a smooth baby face, blue eyes and blooming cheeks and was a natural. Dressed in coquettish female apparel with the pink ribbons of a garish bonnet he looked the image of a bashful country girl not yet acquainted with vice but interested to learn. In drag Jesse James, rode side saddle to the door of the house and spoke to the mistress in the voice and manner of a girl. When he told her he lived not far away and was a girl fond of adventure and wanted to come to the house that night with two or three female friends of like mind to have a good time. The mistress laughed and was delighted at the thought of new girls to her brothel. She patted Jesse’s knee and gleefully ogled the guerrilla’s smiling mouth and girlish features. He must of sounded convincing because the mistress consented and immediately sent word to the fort that four new girls had joined the bordello. Mission accomplished Jesse returned to his group and the officers duly came whereupon the guerrillas killed them. The female disguise was a common deception used by both Union and Confederate combatants on covert operation. The came to be known as the Civil Wars; Manly Missouri Cross-Dressers The only indication the soldier was on duty was they wore cavalry boots under their dress signify a fellow engaged in a stratagem as opposed to one who was indicating an alternative lifestyle choice.