15 Facts About Cole Younger

Cole Younger was the elder brother of Jim, John and Bob Younger, who were members of the gang.

Cole Younger was a son of Henry Washington Younger, a prosperous farmer from Greenwood, Missouri and Bersheba Leighton Fristoe, daughter of a prominent Jackson County farmer.

Cole Younger's father was a Union supporter, but he was shot dead by a Union soldier from Kansas.

Cole Younger rode with Quantrill in a retaliatory raid on Lawrence, Kansas on August 21,1863, during which about 200 citizens were killed and the town looted and burned.

Cole Younger later claimed to have eventually left the bushwhackers and enlisted in the Confederate Army.

Cole Younger claimed he was sent to California on a recruiting mission, and returned after the war's end to find Missouri ruled by a militant faction of Unionist Radicals.

Lull and John Cole Younger were killed and Boyle and Jim Cole Younger fled the scene.

Some Cole Younger families changed their last names to Jungers to avoid a family association with the gangsters.

The James and Cole Younger brothers survived capture longer than most Western outlaws because of their strong support among former Confederates.

Three of the outlaws entered the bank, as the remaining five, led by Cole Younger, remained on the street to provide cover.

Pitts was killed, and Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger were badly wounded and captured.

Bob Cole Younger died in Stillwater prison on September 16,1889, of tuberculosis.

Cole Younger wrote a memoir that portrayed himself as a Confederate avenger more than an outlaw, admitting to only one crime, that at Northfield.

Cole Younger lectured and toured the south with Frank James in a wild west show, The Cole Younger and Frank James Wild West Company, in 1903.

Cole Younger was baptized at Lee's Summit Christian Church on 16 August 1913.