The James-Younger Gang Attempts To Rob A Bank

On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger gang attempted a raid on the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota.

After this robbery and a manhunt, only Frank and Jesse James were left alive and uncaptured. Cole and Bob Younger later stated that they selected the bank because they believed it was associated with the Republican politician Adelbert Ames, the governor of Mississippi during Reconstruction, and Union general Benjamin Butler, Ames's father-in-law and the Union commander of occupied New Orleans. Ames was a stockholder in the bank, but Butler had no direct connection to it.

After leaving office, Ames settled briefly in Northfield, Minnesota, where he joined his father and brother in their flour-milling business. During his residence there, in September 1876, Jesse James and his gang of former Confederate guerrillas raided the town's bank, largely because of Ames's (and controversial Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's) investment in it, but failed in their attempt to rob it. Ames next headed to New York City, then later settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, as an executive in a flour mill, along with other business interests.