Jesse James

By Sky

Jesse James, played by Christopher Pettiet, is one of only three Young Rider characters based on a real person. Jesse is a tall, lanky boy with soft light brown hair that is just long enough for the curls to fall into his blue eyes. At first, he seems like a harmless, innocent adolescent. When we first meet him, Jesse wouldn’t even kill a little rabbit that was stuck in a bush. He let it hop away after freeing it of the branch instead of killing it. But we soon see signs of the future notorious Jesse James. He sees Doc Woodson, who he lived with, later in the day and tells him about the rabbit, pointing out that they could have had a good stew if he only had a gun. To this Doc scoffs that everyone thinks that guns are the answer to everything. His words, of course, do not have a great impact on Jesse.

Later, after Doc is killed by bandits, we see that Jesse is not really a helpless little boy. On his way to town, Lou rides by. Jesse tries to steel Lou’s horse, they fight, and he discovers her secret. Despite this, Lou gives Jesse a ride to town, because he “looks like a kid in trouble” (Jesse is quick to point out that he “ain’t no kid”).

Somehow, although some still aren’t sure why, Jesse becomes a main character on The Young Riders, and Teaspoon lets him live in one of the jail cells. (Jesse said he hoped that was the last jail cell he would have to spend time in. Ha. Ha.) He causes a lot of trouble, especially when his brother Frank comes along and tries to get Jesse to join him in the fight for the South. Lou once observed that Jesse struck her as someone who would sooner or later have lots of places to go. We all know that her prediction came true.

Still, the character of Jesse James provides us with a glimpse of what it was like to be a younger person during a time when the whole country was torn apart by civil war.

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