This is the story of one of our cousins, John James “Jim” Wright. Jim and his family were Union Loyalists but never enlisted in the Civil War. When Jim was 13, he watched as his father  Samuel was shot dead by Confederate bushwhackers after they descended upon the family’s home, looking to kill Union sympathizers. From that day on, Jim entered into an outlaw lifestyle and vowed to kill the rebels who killed his father.

He was imprisoned twice, escaped twice, and even sentenced to life — a decision that would reach the Supreme Court in 1892, where they affirmed his life sentence. He was known to have killed 6 men in his life, consisting of Sheriffs and other men who had wronged him (one man he is said to have killed in a general store for a old grudge from a disagreement over the meaning of a bible scripture).

He was killed at the age of 51 with other members of his gang of outlaws, the Wright-Templeton Gang, in 1902 after their hideout location was shared with the authorities. His body was riddled with 15 bullets during the shootout, and when his wife and sister retrieved the body, blood dripped from the bed of the wagon onto the moving gears as they rode to collect the large bounty on their husband and brother. He is buried near Kyle’s Fort, TN.