United States/Wild West

Overview

In the wild west people strive to find good land to grow crops and survive in closely knit small towns .

Politics

All though most areas have presidents governor's ect most of the time law and order is down to the town sheriff

Technology

Overview

a rough and ready place shotguns rifles and six shooters abound

New arms and equipment

Revolver

Transport

Groups

Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch

Front row left to right: Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, Ben Kilpatrick, alias the Tall Texan, Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy, Standing- Will Carver, alias News Carver and Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry; Fort Worth, Texas, 1901

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch was one of the loosely organized outlaw gangs operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming. It was popularized by the 1969 movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and took its name from the original Wild Bunch. The gang was led by Butch Cassidy, and it included his closest friend Elzy Lay, the Sundance Kid, Tall Texan, News Carver, Camila Hanks, Laura Bullion, Flat-Nose Curry, Kid Curry and Bob Meeks. They would become the most successful train-robbing gang in history.

This Wild Bunch gang claimed to make every attempt to abstain from killing people, and Cassidy boasted of having never killed a man. The non-violent claims about the gang were false, however. Kid Curry, George Curry, Will Carver and other members of the gang killed numerous people during law enforcement's pursuit of them. Kid Curry alone killed nine lawmen while with the gang, and another two civilians during shootouts, becoming the gangs most feared member. Elzy Lay killed another two lawmen following a robbery, for which he was wounded, arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. "Flat-Nose" George Curry killed at least two lawmen, before being killed himself by Grand County, Utah lawmen.

The gang was also closely associated with female outlaws Ann Bassett and Josie Bassett, whose ranch near Browns Park supplied the gang often with fresh horses and beef. Both Bassett girls would become romantically involved with several members of the gang, and both would occasionally accompany the gang to one of their hideouts, called "Robbers Roost". It was through associations with ranchers like this in the area that the gang were allowed considerable mobility, giving them an easy resupply of fresh horses and supplies, and a place to hole up for a night or two.

At 1:00 a.m on June 2, 1899, Cassidy, Kid Curry, Logan and Lay took part in a highly successful Union Pacific train holdup at Wilcox, Wyoming, where they stole between $30,000 and $60,000. Afterwards, the gang split up, a common ploy after a robbery, and several fled to New Mexico. When they committed the robbery, the men were wearing masks made from white napkins possibly pilfered from a Harvey House restaurant. On July 11, 1899, gang members robbed a train near Folsom, New Mexico, without Cassidy's presence. The pursuit by a well-led posse, led by Sheriff Ed Farr, culminated in two gun battles, which resulted in Sheriff Farr and two deputies being killed, the eventual death of gang member Sam Ketchum while in custody due to wounds he received, and the wounding and capture of gang member Elzy Lay, with whom Cassidy had first formed the Wild Bunch gang, and who was Cassidy's closest friend.

Cassidy and the other members regrouped in Wyoming. On August 29, 1900, Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry and another unidentified gang member believed to have been Will Carver held up another Union Pacific train at Tipton, Wyoming. Less than a month later, on September 19, 1900, they raided the First National Bank of Winnemucca, Nevada, stealing $32,640. These and other lucrative robberies led to much notoriety and fame.

The end of the Wild Bunch

In early 1901, Cassidy along with the Sundance Kid and his girlfriend Etta Place relocated to South America, owing to constantly having to remain on the move because of Pinkerton detectives and other lawmen. That same year, on April 1, Will Carver was killed by lawmen. Ben Kilpatrick was captured in Tennessee in December, 1901, along with Laura Bullion, and received a 20 year prison sentence, with her receiving a five year sentence. Kid Curry killed two lawmen in Knoxville, Tennessee, escaping capture, then traveled to Montana where he killed a rancher that had killed his brother Johnny years before. He then returned to Tennessee, was captured, only to escape once again. Kid Curry was killed in Colorado in 1904, during a shootout with lawmen. In 1908, Cassidy and Sundance were allegedly killed in a shootout with Bolivian cavalry.

Stories persist to present day that Cassidy and the Sundance Kid survived and lived for many years inside the United States, with Sundance dying in 1936. Etta Place disappeared completely, with her last known sighting being in 1909 in San Francisco. It is believed that she reinvented herself, becoming a brothel and hotel owner named Eunice Gray, in Fort Worth, Texas, dying in 1962. Elzy Lay was released from prison in 1906, and after a brief visit at the Bassett ranch in Utah, he relocated to California where he became a respected businessman, dying there in 1934. Ben Kilpatrick was released from prison in 1911, and was killed during a train robbery in Texas in 1912. Laura Bullion was released from prison in 1905, living the remainder of her life as a housewife, dying in Memphis, Tennessee in 1961, the last of the Wild Bunch.

The Regulators

Individuals

The Apache Kid (Haskay-bay-nay-natyl)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Apache Kid (Haskay-bay-nay-natyl) was a White Mountain Apache scout and outlaw, active in the US Southwest in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. He was probably born in the 1860s, might have been killed around 1890, but may have lived into the 1930s. The Apache Kid Wilderness in New Mexico was named after him.

Belle Starr

Belle Starr, American female outlaw. The caption reads, "A wild western amazon. The noted Belle Starr is arrested on the border of Indian Territory and being released on bail vanishes on horseback." Wood engraving in The National Police Gazette (1886 May 22), p. 16.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr, better known as Belle Starr (February 5, 1848 – February 3, 1889), was a famous American female outlaw.

Early life

She was born Myra Maybelle Shirley (known as May to her family) on her father's farm near Carthage, Missouri. Her mother was a Hatfield from the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feuding clans. In the 1860s her father sold the farm and moved the family to Carthage where he bought an inn and livery stable on the town square. May Shirley received a classical education and learned piano, while graduating from Missouri's Carthage Female Academy, a genteel institution her father had helped to found. After a Union attack on Carthage in 1864, the Shirleys moved to Scyene, Texas. According to legend, it was at Scyene that the Shirleys became associated with a number of Missouri-born criminals, including Jesse James and the Youngers. In fact, she knew the Younger brothers and the James boys because she had grown up with them in Missouri, and her brother John Alexander Shirley (known as Bud) served with them in Quantrill's Raiders, alongside another Missouri boy, James C. Reed. Her brother served as one of Quantrill's Scouts. Bud Shirley was killed in 1864 in Sarcoxie, Missouri, while he and another scout were being fed at the home of a Confederate sympathizer. Union troops surrounded the house and when Bud attempted to escape, he was shot and killed.

After the Civil War

Following the war, the Reed family also moved to Scyene and she married Jim Reed in 1866, after having had an earlier crush on him as a teen. Two years later, she gave birth to her first child, Rosie Lee (nicknamed Pearl). Belle always harbored a strong sense of style, which would feed into her later legend. A crack shot, she used to ride sidesaddle while dressed in a black velvet riding habit, a plumed hat and carrying two pistols, with cartridge belts across her hips. Jim turned to crime and was wanted for murder in Arkansas, which caused the family to move to California, where their second child, James Edwin (Eddie) was born in 1871. Later returning to Texas, Jim Reed was involved with several criminal gangs. In April 1874, despite a lack of any evidence, a warrant was issued for her arrest for a stage coach robbery by her husband and others. Jim Reed was killed in Paris, Texas, in August of that year, while she settled down with his family in Missouri.

Marriage to Sam Starr

Allegedly, Belle was briefly married for three weeks to Bruce Younger in 1878, but this is not substantiated by any evidence. In 1880 she did marry a Cherokee Indian named Sam Starr and settled with the Starr family in the Indian Territory. In 1883, Belle and Sam were charged with horse theft and tried before "The Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker's Federal District Court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was found guilty and served nine months at the Detroit House of Corrections in Detroit, Michigan. In 1886, she escaped conviction on another theft charge, but on December 17, Sam Starr was involved in a gunfight with Officer Frank West. Both men were killed, while her life as an outlaw queen abruptly ended with her husband's death, in what had been the happiest relationship of her life.

Belle Starr's unsolved murder

For the last two plus years of her life, she took on a series of lovers with colorful names, including Jack Spaniard, Jim French and Blue Duck, then to keep her residence on Indian land, she married a relative of Sam Starr, Jim July Starr, who was some 15 years her junior. On February 3, 1889, two days before her 41st brithday, the outlaw queen met her own tragic end. She was riding home from a neighbor's house, when she was ambushed while eating a piece of cornbread. After she fell off her horse, she was shot again to make sure she was dead. Her death resulted from shotgun wounds to the back and neck and in the shoulder and face. There were no witnesses and no one was ever convicted of the deadly crime. Suspects with apparent motive included her new husband and both of her children, as well as Edgar J. Watson, one of her sharecroppers because he was afraid she was going to turn him into the authorities as an escaped murderer from Florida with a price on his head . Watson, who was killed in 1910, was tried for her murder, but was acquitted, and the ambush has entered Western lore as "unsolved".

One source suggests her son, whom she had allegedly beaten for mistreating her horse, may have been her killer.

Belle Starr's story becomes popularized

Although an obscure figure throughout most of her life, Belle's story was picked up by the dime novel and National Police Gazette publisher, Richard K. Fox. Fox made her name famous with his novel Bella Starr, the Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James, published in 1889 (the year of her murder). This novel is still often cited as a historical reference. It was the first of many popular stories that used her name.

Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid (1860 – 1881).

William H. Bonney

Working as a cowhand , this teenager turned to cattle rustling. By the age of 18 he had been charged with 12 murders. After the gang he led killed a sheriff and a deputy, he was captured and sentenced to hang. Escaped from jail, killing two guards

Kit Carson

Christopher 'Kit' Carson (1809-1868), American explorer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman.

Early life

Born in Madison County, Kentucky near the city of Richmond, Carson was raised in the country near Franklin, Missouri, where his family moved in 1811 when he was about one year old. Carson's father, Lindsey Carson, was a farmer of Scots-Irish descent, who had fought in the Revolutionary War under General Wade Hampton. There were a total of 15 Carson children: five by Lindsey Carson's first wife, and ten by Kit's mother, Rebecca Robinson. Kit was the eleventh child in the family. The Carson family settled on a tract of land owned by the sons of Daniel Boone, who had purchased the land from the Spanish prior to the Louisiana Purchase. The Boone and Carson families became good friends, working, socializing, and intermarrying.

Carson was eight when his father was killed by a falling tree while clearing land. Lindsey Carson's death reduced the Carson family to a desperate poverty, forcing young Kit to drop out of school to work on the family farm, as well as engage in hunting. At age 14, Kit was apprenticed to a saddlemaker (Workman's Saddleshop) in the settlement of Franklin, Missouri. Franklin was situated at the eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail, which had opened two years earlier. Many of the clientele at the saddleshop were trappers and traders, from whom Kit would hear their stirring tales of the Far West. Carson is reported to have found work in the saddle shop suffocating: he once stated "the business did not suit me, and I concluded to leave".

At sixteen, Carson secretly signed on with a large merchant caravan heading to Santa Fe; his job was to tend the horses, mules, and oxen. During the winter of 1826-1827 he stayed with Matthew Kinkead, a trapper and explorer, in Taos, New Mexico, then known as the capital of the fur trade in the Southwest. Kinkead had been a friend of Carson's father in Missouri, and he taught Carson the skills of a trapper. Carson also began learning the necessary languages and became fluent in Spanish, Navajo, Apache, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Paiute, Shoshone, and Ute.

The trapper years (1829-40)

After gaining experience along the Santa Fe Trail and in Mexico, Carson signed on with a trapping party of forty men, led by Ewing Young in the Spring of 1829; this was Carson's first official expedition as a trapper. The journey took the band into unexplored Apache country along the Gila River. Ewing's group was approached and attacked by Apache Indians. It was during this encounter that Carson shot and killed one of the attacking Indians, the first time he killed a man.

At the age of 25, in the summer of 1835, Carson attended an annual mountain man rendezvous, which was held along the Green River in southwestern Wyoming. He became interested in an Arapaho woman whose name, Waa-Nibe, is approximated in English as "Singing Grass" Her tribe was camped nearby the rendezvous. Singing Grass is said to have been popular at the rendezvous and also to have caught the attention of a French-Canadian trapper, Joseph Chouinard. When Singing Grass chose Carson over Chouinard, the rejected suitor became belligerent. Chouinard is reported to have disrupted the camp, so that Carson could no longer tolerate the situation. Words were exchanged, and Carson and Chouinard charged each other on horses, brandishing their weapons. Carson blew off the thumb of his opponent with his pistol, while Chouinard's rifle shot barely missed, grazing Carson below his left ear and scorching his eye and hair. Carson stated that had his opponent's horse not shied as he fired, Chouinard might have finished him off, as he was a splendid shot.

Controversy regarding Chouinard's fate continues, with no certainty achieved. The duel with Chouinard is said to have made Carson famous among the mountain men but was also considered uncharacteristic of him.

Carson considered his years as a trapper to be "the happiest days of my life." Accompanied by Singing Grass, he worked with the Hudson's Bay Company, as well as the renowned frontiersman Jim Bridger, trapping beaver along the Yellowstone, Powder, and Big Horn Rivers, and was found throughout what is now Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Carson's first child, a daughter named Adeline, was born in 1837. Singing Grass gave birth to a second daughter and developed a fever shortly after the child's birth, and died sometime between 1838-40.

At this time, the nation was undergoing a severe depression. The fur industry was undermined by changing fashion styles: a new demand for silk hats replaced the demand for beaver fur. Also, the trapping industry had devastated the beaver population; this combination of facts ended the need for trappers. Carson stated, "Beaver was getting scarce, it became necessary to try our hand at something else."

He attended the last mountain man rendezvous, held in the summer of 1840 (again at Ft. Bridger near the Green River) and moved on to Bent's Fort, finding employment as a hunter. Carson married a Cheyenne woman, Making-Our-Road, in 1841 but Making-Our-Road left him only a short time later to follow her tribe's migration. By 1842 he met and became engaged to the daughter of a prominent Taos family: Josefa Jaramillo. After receiving instruction from Padre Antonio José Martínez, he was baptized into the Catholic Church in 1842. When he was 34, he married 14-year-old Josefa, his third wife, on February 6, 1843. They raised eight children, the descendants of whom remain in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado.

Guide with Frémont (1842-1846)

Carson decided early in 1842 to return east to bring his daughter Adeline to live with relatives near Carson's former home of Franklin, for the purpose of providing her with an education. That summer he met John C. Frémont on a Missouri River steamboat in Missouri. Frémont was preparing to lead his first expedition and was looking for a guide to take him to South Pass. The two men made acquaintance, and Carson offered his services, as he had spent much time in the area. The five month journey, made with 25 men, was a success, and Fremont's report was published by Congress. His report "touched off a wave of wagon caravans filled with hopeful emigrants" heading West.

Frémont's success in the first expedition lead to his second expedition, undertaken in the summer of 1843, which proposed to map and describe the second half of the Oregon Trail, from South Pass to the Columbia River. Due to his proven skill as a guide in the first expedition, Carson's services were again requested. This journey took them along the Great Salt Lake into Oregon, establishing all the land in the Great Basin to be land-locked, which contributed greatly to the understanding of North American geography at the time. Their trip brought them into sight of Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Hood.

One purpose of this expedition had been to locate the Buenaventura, a major east-west river that was believed to connect the Great Lakes with the Pacific Ocean. Though its existence was accepted as scientific fact at the time, it was not to be found. Frémont's second expedition established that this mystical river was a fable.

The second expedition became snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas that winter, and was in danger of mass starvation. Carson's wilderness expertise pulled them through, in spite of being half-starved. Food was scarce enough that their mules "ate one another's tails and the leather of the pack saddles."

The expedition moved south into the Mojave Desert, enduring attacks by Natives, which killed one man. Also, when the expedition had crossed into California, they had officially invaded Mexico. The threat of military intervention by that country sent Fremont's expedition further southeast, into Nevada, at a watering hole known as Las Vegas. The party traveled on to Bent's Fort, and by August, 1844 returned to Washington, over a year after their departure. Another Congressional report on Fremont's expedition was published. By the time of the second report in 1845, Frémont and Carson were becoming nationally famous.

Somewhere along this route, Frémont and party came across a Mexican man and a boy who were survivors of an ambush by a band of Natives, who had killed two men, staked two women to the ground and mutilated them, and stolen 30 horses. Carson and fellow mountain man Alex Godey took pity on the two survivors. They tracked the Native band for 2 days, and upon locating them, rushed into their encampment. They killed two Native Americans, scattered the rest, and returned with the horses.

"More than any other single factor or incident, from Frémont's second expedition report is where the Kit Carson legend was born….."

On June 1, 1845 John Frémont and 55 men left St. Louis, with Carson as guide, on the third expedition. The stated goal was to "map the source of the Arkansas River", on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. But upon reaching the Arkansas, Frémont suddenly made a hasty trail straight to California, without explanation. Arriving in the Sacramento Valley in early winter 1846, he promptly sought to stir up patriotic enthusiasm among the American settlers there. He promised that if war with Mexico started, his military force would "be there to protect them." Frémont nearly provoked a battle with General José Castro near Monterey, which would have likely resulted in the annihilation of Frémont's group, due to the superior numbers of the Mexican troops. Frémont then fled Mexican-controlled California, and went north to Oregon, finding camp at Klamath Lake.

On the night of May 9, 1846 Frémont received a courier, Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie, who brought him messages from President James Polk. Frémont stayed up late reviewing these messages and neglected to post a watchman for the camp, as was customary for security measures. The neglect of this action is said to have been troubling to Carson, yet he had "apprehended no danger". Later that night Carson was awakened by the sound of a thump. Jumping up, he saw his friend and fellow trapper Basil Lajeunesse sprawled in blood. He called an alarm and immediately everyone else came to: they were under attack by Native Americans estimated to be several dozen in number. By the time the assailants were beaten off, two other members of Frémonts group were dead. The one dead warrior was judged to be a Klamath Lake Native. Frémont's group fell into "an angry gloom." Carson was beside himself, and Frémont reports he smashed away at the dead warrior's face until it was pulp.

To avenge the deaths of his expedition members, Frémont chose to attack a Klamath Tribe fishing village named Dokdokwas, at the junction of the Williamson River and Klamath Lake, which took place May 10, 1846. Accounts by scholars vary as to what happened but it is certain that the action completely destroyed the village. Carson was nearly killed by a Klamath warrior later that day: his gun misfired, and the warrior drew to shoot a poison arrow; but Frémont, seeing Carson's predicament, trampled the warrior with his horse. Carson stated he felt that he owed Frémont his life due to this incident.

"The tragedy of Dokdokwas is deepened by the fact that most scholars now agree that Frémont and Carson, in their blind vindictiveness, probably chose the wrong tribe to lash out against: In all likelihood the band of Indians that had killed [Frémont's three men] were from the neighboring Modocs….The Klamaths were culturally related to the Modocs, but the two tribes were bitter enemies."

Turning south from Klamath Lake, Frémont led his expedition back down the Sacramento Valley, and slyly promoted an insurrection of American settlers, which he then took charge of once circumstances had adequately developed, known as the Bear Flag Revolt. Events escalated when a group of Mexicans murdered two American rebels. Frémont then intercepted three Mexican men on June 28, 1846, crossing the San Francisco Bay, who landed near San Quentin. Frémont ordered Carson to execute these three men in revenge for the deaths of the two Americans.

Mexican American War service

Frémont's California Battalion next moved south to the provincial capital of Monterey, California, and met Commodore Robert Stockton there in mid-July 1846. Stockton had sailed into harbor with two American warships and taken claim to Monterey for the United States. Learning that the war with Mexico was underway, Stockton made plans to capture Los Angeles and San Diego and proceed on to Mexico City. He joined forces with Frémont, and made Carson a lieutenant, thus initiating Carson's military career.

Frémont's unit arrived in San Diego on one of Stockton's ships on July 29, 1846, and took over the town without resistance. Stockton, traveling on a separate warship, claimed Santa Barbara a few days later. (See Mission Santa Barbara and Presidio of Santa Barbara). Meeting up and joining forces in San Diego, they marched to Los Angeles and claimed this town without any challenge, and Stockton declared California to be United States territory on August 17, 1846. The following day, August 18, Stephen W. Kearny rode into Santa Fe, New Mexico with his Army of the West and declared the New Mexican territory conquered.

Stockton and Frémont were eager to announce the conquest of California to President Polk, and wished for Carson to carry their correspondence overland to the President. Carson accepted the mission, and pledged to cross the continent within 60 days. He left Los Angeles with 15 men and 6 Delaware Indians on September 5.

Service with Kearny

Thirty one days later on October 6, Carson chanced to meet Kearny and his 300 dragoons at the deserted village of Valverde.[18] Kearny was under orders from the Polk Administration to subdue both New Mexico and California, and set up governments there. Learning that California was already conquered, he sent 200 of his men back to Santa Fe, and ordered Carson to guide him back to California so he could stabilize the situation there. Kearny sent the mail on to Washington by another courier.

For the next six weeks, Lt. Carson guided Kearny and the 100 dragoons west along the Gila River over very rugged terrain, arriving at the Colorado River on November 25. On some parts of the trail mules died at a rate of almost 12 a day. By December 5, three months after leaving Los Angeles, Carson had brought Kearny's men to within 25 miles (40 km) of their destination, San Diego.

A Mexican courier was captured en route to Sonora Mexico carrying letters to General Jose Castro that reported a Mexican revolt which had recaptured California from Commodore Stockton: all the coastal cities now were back under Mexican control, except for San Diego, where the Mexicans had Stockton pinned down and under siege. Kearny was himself in perilous danger, as his force was reduced both in numbers and in a state of physical exhaustion: they had to come out of the Gila River trail and confront the Mexican forces, or risk perishing in the desert.

The Battle of San Pasqual

While approaching San Diego, Kearny sent a rancher ahead to notify Commodore Stockton of his presence. The rancher, Edward Stokes, returned with 39 American troops and information that several hundred Mexican dragoons under Capt Andres Pico were camped at the Indian village of San Pasqual, lying on the route between him and Stockton. Kearny decided to raid Pico in order to capture fresh horses, and sent out a scouting party on the night of December 5-6.

The scouting party encountered a barking dog in San Pasqual, and Captain Pico's troops were aroused from their sleep. Having been detected, Kearny decided to attack, and organized his troops to advance on San Pasqual. A complex battle evolved, where twenty-one Americans were killed and many more wounded: many from the long lances of the Mexican caballeros, who also displayed expert horsemanship. By the end of the second day, December 7, the Americans were nearly out of food and water, low on ammunition and weak from the journey along the Gila River. They faced starvation and possible annilation by the Mexican troops who vastly outnumbered them, and Kearny ordered his men to dig in on top of a small hill.

Kearny then sent Carson and two other men to slip through the siege and get reinforcements. Carson, Edward Beale, and an Indian left on the night of December 8 for San Diego which was 25 miles (40 km) away. Because their canteens made too much noise, they were left along the path. Because their boots also made too much noise, Carson and Beale removed these and tucked them under their belts. These they lost, and Carson and Beale traveled the distance to San Diego barefoot through desert, rock, and cactus.

By December 10, Kearny had decided all hope was gone, and planned to attempt a breakout the next morning: but that night, 200 American troops on fresh horses arrived, the Mexican army dispersed with the new show of strength. Kearny was able to arrive in San Diego by December 12. This action contributed to the prompt reconquest of California by the American forces.

Civil War and Indian campaigns

Following the recapture of Los Angeles in 1846, Frémont was appointed Governor of California by Commodore Stockton. Frémont sent Carson to carry messages back to Washington City. He stopped in St. Louis and met with Senator Thomas Benton, who was a prominent supporter of the settling of the West and a proponent of Manifest Destiny, and had been prominent in getting Frémont's expedition reports published by Congress. Once in Washington, Carson delivered his messages to Secretary of State James Buchanan, as well as had meetings with Secretary of War William Marcy and President James Polk.

Having completed this mission, Carson received orders to do it all again: return to California with messages, receive further messages there, and bring those back yet again to Washington. By the end of the Frémont expeditions and these courier missions, Carson felt he wanted to settle down with Joséfa, and decided in 1849 to go into farming in Taos.

Carson's public image as an action hero had been sealed by the Frémont expedition reports of 1845. In 1849, the first of many Carson action novels appeared. The first, written by Charles Averill, bore the name Kit Carson: The Prince of the Gold Hunters. This type of western pulp fiction was known as "blood and thunders." In Averill's novel, Carson finds a kidnapped girl and rescues her, after having vowed to her distraught parents in Boston that he would scour the American West until she was found.

This book was among the possessions Carson and Major William Grier found when they recovered the body of Mrs. Ann White in November, 1849. Mrs. White and her daughter had been taken captive by Jicarilla Apaches several weeks earlier. She had been traveling with her husband James White, a trader, to Santa Fe, when a group of Indians approached them as they camped along the Santa Fe trail. Mr. White tried to disperse the Indians with his rifle, but they attacked, killing everyone except Mrs. White, her daughter, and a servant.

Carson and Grier tracked the Indians for twelve days to their camp on the Canadian River. Carson wanted an immediate attack, while Grier wanted to parlay with the Jicarillas. The disagreement in tactics caused delay, which gave the Indians time to disperse from camp and escape. In the process, Mrs. White appears to have attempted to flee and was killed by an arrow through the heart.

While picking through the belongings that the Jicarillas had left in their camp, one of Major Grier's soldiers came across a book that the White family had carried with them from Missouri: the paperback novel starring Kit Carson. This book must have been shown to him, for he was to comment on it later. This was the first time that the real Kit Carson came in contact with his own myth.

The episode of the White massacre haunted Carson's memory for many years. He once stated, "I have often thought that, as Mrs. White read the book, she prayed for my appearance, knowing that I lived nearby." His fear was that the book had given her a false hope. He wrote later, "I have much regretted the failure to save the life of so esteemed a lady." He was troubled by the implications and false image that developed around his celebrity status.

When the American Civil War began in April 1861, Kit Carson resigned his post as federal Indian agent for northern New Mexico and joined the New Mexico volunteer infantry which was being organized by Ceran St. Vrain. Although New Mexico Territory officially allowed slavery, geography and economics made the institution so impractical that there were only a handful of slaves within its boundaries. The territorial government and the leaders of opinion all threw their support to the Union.

Overall command of Union forces in the Department of New Mexico fell to Colonel Edward R. S. Canby of the Regular Army's 19th Infantry, headquartered at Ft. Marcy in Santa Fe. Carson, with the rank of Colonel of Volunteers, commanded the third of five columns in Canby's force. Carson's command was divided into two battalions each made up of four companies of the First New Mexico Volunteers, in all some 500 men.

Early in 1862, Confederate forces in Texas under General Henry Hopkins Sibley undertook an invasion of New Mexico Territory. The goal of this expedition was to conquer the rich Colorado gold fields and redirect this valuable resource from the North to the South.

Advancing up the Rio Grande, Sibley's command clashed with Canby's Union force at Valverde on February 21, 1862. The day-long Battle of Valverde ended when the Confederates captured a Union battery of six guns and forced the rest of Canby's troops back across the river with losses of 68 killed and 160 wounded. Colonel Carson's column spent the morning on the west side of the river out of the action, but at 1 p.m., Canby ordered them to cross, and Carson's battalions fought until ordered to retreat. Carson lost one man killed and one wounded.

Colonel Canby had little or no confidence in the hastily recruited, untrained New Mexico volunteers, "who would not obey orders or obeyed them too late to be of any service." In his battle report, however, he did commend Carson, among other volunteer officers, for his "zeal and energy."

After the battle at Valverde, Colonel Canby and most of the regular troops were ordered to the eastern front, but Carson and his New Mexico Volunteers were fully occupied by "Indian troubles."

Prelude to Navajo campaign

Contact between the Navajo and the U.S. Army was prompted by a Navajo raid on Socorro, New Mexico near the end of September, 1846. General Kearny, passing nearby on his way to California after his recent conquest of Santa Fe, learned of the raid and sent a note to Col. William Doniphan, his second in command in Santa Fe. He asked Doniphan to send a regiment of soldiers into Navajo country and secure a peace treaty with them.

A detachment of 30 men made contact with the Navajo and spoke to the Navajo Chief Narbona in mid-October, about the same time that Carson met Gen. Kearny on the trail to California. A second meeting with Chief Narbona and Col. Doniphan occurred several weeks later. Doniphan informed the Navajo that all their land now belonged to the United States, and the Navajo and New Mexicans were now the "children of the United States." In spite of this, the Navajo signed a treaty, known as the Bear Spring treaty, on Nov. 21, 1846. The treaty forbade the Navajo to raid or make war on the New Mexicans, but allowed the New Mexicans the privilege of making war on the Navajo if they saw fit.

Despite the treaty, raiding continued in New Mexico by the Navajo, as well as the Jicarilla Apache, Mescalero Apache, Ute, Comanche, and Kiowa. On August 16, 1849 the U.S. Army began an expedition into the heart of Navajo country on an organized reconnaissance for the purpose of impressing the Navajo with the might of the U.S. military, and to map the terrain for further operations and to plan forts. The expedition was led by Col. John Washington, the military governor of New Mexico at the time. The expedition included nearly a thousand infantry (U.S. and New Mexican volunteers), hundreds of horses and mules, a supply train, 55 Pueblo Indian scouts, and four artillery guns.

On August 29-30, 1849, Washington's expedition was in need of water, and began pillaging Navajo cornfields. It became clear the Navajo intended to resist further pillaging, with mounted warriors darting back and forth around Washington's troops. It is further documented that Washington's reasoning was that the pillaging of Navajo crops was justified because the Navajo would have to reimburse the U.S. government for the cost of the expedition.

In this setting, Washington was still able to communicate to the Navajo that in spite of the hostile situation, they and the whites could "still be friends if the Navajo came with their chiefs the next day and signed a treaty." This is in fact exactly what the Navajo did.

The next day Chief Narbona came once again to "talk peace," along with several other headmen. An accord was reached on nearly every matter. When a New Mexican thought he saw his stolen horse and the Navajo protested its return, a scuffle broke out. (The Navajo position was that the horse had passed through several owners by this time, and now rightfully belonged to its Navajo owner). Col. Washington sided with the New Mexican. Since the Navajo owner now took his horse and fled the scene, Washington told the New Mexican to go pick out any Navajo horse he wanted. The rest of the Navajo present figured out what has happening, and turned and fled. At this, Col. Washington ordered his soldiers to fire.

Seven Navajo were killed in the volleys; the rest ran and could not be caught. One of the dying was Chief Narbona, who was scalped as he lay dying by a New Mexican souvenir hunter. This massacre prompted the warlike Navajo leaders such as Manuelito to gain influence over those who were advocates of peace.

Carson's Navajo campaign

Raiding by Amerindians had been rather constant up through 1862, and New Mexicans were becoming more outspoken in their demand that something be done. Col. Canby devised a plan for the removal of the Navajo to a distant reservation and sent his plans to his superiors in Washington D.C. But that year, Canby was promoted to general and recalled back east for other duties. His replacement as commander of the Federal District of New Mexico was Brigadier General James H. Carleton.

Carleton believed that the Navajo conflict was the reason for New Mexico's "depressing backwardness." He naturally turned to Kit Carson to help him fulfill his plans of upgrading New Mexico and his own career: Carson was nationally known and had helped boost the careers of a series of military commanders who had employed him.

Carleton saw a way to harness the anxieties that had been stirred up [in New Mexico] by the Confederate invasion and the still-hovering fear that the Texans might return. If the territory was already on a war footing, the whole society alert and inflamed, then why not direct all this ramped up energy toward something useful? Carleton immediately declared a state of martial law, with curfews and mandatory passports for travel, and then brought all his newly streamlined authority to bear on cleaning up the Navajo mess. With a focus that bordered on obsession, he was determined finally to make good on Kearny's old promise that the United States would "correct all this."

Furthermore, Carleton believed there was gold in the Navajo's country, and felt they should be driven out in order to allow the development of this possibility. The immediate prelude to Carleton's Navajo campaign was to force the Mescalero Apache to Bosque Redondo. Carleton ordered Carson to kill all the men of that tribe, and say that he (Carson) had been sent to "punish them for their treachery and crimes."

Carson was appalled by this brutal attitude and refused to obey it. He accepted the surrender of more than a hundred Mescalero warriors who sought refuge with him. Nonetheless, he completed his campaign in a month.

When Carson learned that Carleton intended for him to pursue the Navajo he sent Carleton a letter of resignation dated February 3, 1863. Carleton refused to accept this and used the force of his personality to maintain Carson's cooperation. In language that was similar to his description of the Mescalero Apache, Carleton ordered Carson to lead an expedition against the Navajo, and to say to them, "You have deceived us too often, and robbed and murdered our people too long, to trust you again at large in your own country. This war shall be pursued against you if it takes years, now that we have begun, until you cease to exist or move. There can be no other talk on the subject."

Under Carleton's direction, Carson instituted a scorched earth policy, burning Navajo fields, orchards and homes, and confiscating or killing their livestock. He was aided by other Indian tribes with long-standing enmity toward the Navajos, chiefly the Utes. Carson was pleased with the work the Utes did for him, but they went home early in the campaign when told they could not confiscate Navajo booty.

Carson also had difficulty with his New Mexico volunteers. Troopers deserted and officers resigned. Carson urged Carleton to accept two resignations he was forwarding, "as I do not wish to have any officer in my command who is not contented or willing to put up with as much inconvenience and privations for the success of the expedition as I undergo myself."

There were no pitched battles and only a few skirmishes in the Navajo campaign. Carson rounded up and took prisoner every Navajo he could find. In January 1864, Carson sent a company into Canyon de Chelly to attack the last Navajo stronghold under the leadership of Manuelito. The Navajo were forced to surrender because of the destruction of their livestock and food supplies. In the spring of 1864, 8,000 Navajo men, women and children were forced to march or ride in wagons 300 miles (480 km) to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Navajos call this "The Long Walk." Although Carson had ridden home before the march began, he was held responsible by the Navaho for breaking his word that those who surrendered would not be harmed. As many as 300 died along the way,[citation needed] and many more during the next four years of imprisonment. In 1868, after signing a treaty with the U.S. government, remaining Navajos were allowed to return to a reduced area of their homeland, where the Navajo Reservation exists today. Thousands of other Navajo who had been living in the wilderness returned to the Navajo homeland centered around Canyon de Chelly.

Southern Plains campaign

In November 1864, Carson was sent by General Carleton to deal with the Natives in western Texas. Carson and his troopers met a combined force of Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne numbering over 1,500 at the ruins of Adobe Walls. In what is known as the Battle of Adobe Walls, the Native force led by Dohäsan made several assaults on Carson's forces which were supported by two mountain howitzers. Carson inflicted heavy losses on the attacking warriors before burning the Indians' camp and lodges and returning to Fort Bascom.

A few days later, Colonel John M. Chivington led U.S. troops in a massacre at Sand Creek. Chivington boasted that he had surpassed Carson and would soon be known as the great Indian killer. Carson was outraged at the massacre and openly denounced Chivington's actions.

The Southern Plains campaign led the Comanches to sign the Little Rock Treaty of 1865. In October 1865, General Carleton recommended that Carson be awarded the brevet rank of brigadier-general, "for gallantry in the battle of Valverde, and for distinguished conduct and gallantry in the wars against the Mescalero Apaches and against the Navajo Indians of New Mexico."

Colorado

When the Civil War ended, and with the Indian campaigns successfully concluded, Carson left the army and took up ranching, finally settling in Boggsville, Colorado (near the current Las Animas on the Purgatory River).

Carson died at age 58 from an aortic aneurysm in the surgeon's quarters in Fort Lyon, Colorado, located east of Las Animas. He is buried in Taos, New Mexico, alongside his wife, Josefa ("Josephine"), who died a month earlier of complications following child birth. His headstone inscription reads: "Kit Carson / Died May 23 1868 / Aged 59 Years."

Billy Clanton

Ike Clanton

Charles Bolles (Black Bart)

Charles E. Bolles, also known as Black Bart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Earl Bolles (1829–Disappeared 1888), alias Black Bart, was an American Old West outlaw noted for his poetic messages left after each robbery. He was also known as Charles E. Boles, C.E. Bolton, Charles E. Bowles, and "Black Bart the Po8." A gentleman bandit, Black Bart was one of the more notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s. The fame he received for his numerous daring thefts is rivaled only by his reputation for style and sophistication.

Early life

Participation in California Gold Rush

It is believed that Black Bart was born in Norfolk, England. When he was two years old, his parents emigrated to Jefferson County, New York, where his father purchased a farm. In late 1849 Bolles and a cousin took part in the California Gold Rush. They began mining in the North Fork of the American River in California. His brother Robert joined them in 1852, but died in San Francisco. Bolles then returned east and married Mary Elizabeth Johnson in 1854. By 1860, the couple had made their home in Decatur, Illinois. In 1862, however, Bolles decided to go to war.

Civil War veteran

The Civil War was then in progress, and Bolles enlisted at Decatur as a private in Company B, 116th Illinois Regiment on August 13, 1862. He proved to be a good soldier, rising to the rank of first sergeant within a year. He took part in numerous battles and campaigns, including Vicksburg (where he was seriously wounded) and Sherman's March to the Sea. On June 7, 1865 he was discharged at Washington, D.C., and returned home to Illinois. He had received brevet (honorary) commissions as both 2nd Lieutenant and 1st Lieutenant.

Criminal career

After the long years of war, a quiet life of farming held little appeal to Bolles, and he yearned for adventure. By 1867, he was prospecting again in Idaho and Montana. Little is known of him during this time, but in an August 1871 letter to his wife he mentioned an unpleasant incident with some Wells, Fargo & Company employees and vowed to pay them back. He then stopped writing, and after a time his wife assumed he was dead.

Whatever it was that happened in Montana, it clearly changed Bolles' outlook on life. He re-emerged in official documents in July 1875, when he robbed his first stagecoach in Calaveras County. What made the crime unusual was the politeness and good manners of the outlaw. He spoke with a deep and resonant tone, and told the stage driver, "Please throw down the box." Bolles was always courteous and used no foul language. He covered his body in sacks and linen to hide his clothing and appearance. These distinguishing features became his trademarks.

The "Black Bart" fictional character

Bolles, like many of his contemporaries, read "dime novel"–style serial adventure stories which appeared in local newspapers. In the early 1870s, the Sacramento Union ran such a serial called The Case of Summerfield, by Caxton (a pseudonym of William Henry Rhodes). In the story, the villain dressed in black, had long unruly black hair, a large black beard and wild grey eyes. The villain would rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches and brought great fear into those who were unlucky enough to cross him. The character's name was Black Bart, and Bolles decided to adopt this individual's identity.

Bolles, as Black Bart, robbed numerous Wells Fargo stagecoaches across northern California between 1875 and 1883, including a number of robberies along the historic Siskiyou Trail between California and Oregon. He eventually began to leave poems at the sites of his crimes as his signature. Black Bart was very successful and made off with thousands of dollars a year. During his last robbery in 1883, Black Bart was shot and forced to flee the scene. He left behind several personal items, including a pair of eyeglasses, food, and a handkerchief with a laundry mark.

The last stagecoach robbery

The last holdup took place at the site, fittingly enough, of his first holdup, on Funk Hill, just southeast of the present town of Copperopolis. The stage had crossed the Reynolds Ferry on the old stage road from Sonora to Milton. The stage driver was Reason McConnell. At the ferry crossing, the driver picked up Jimmy Rolleri, the 19-year-old son of the ferry owner.

The stage had to travel up a steep road on the east side of Funk Hill. Jimmy Rolleri had brought his rifle and got off at the bottom of the hill. He intended to hunt along the creek at the southern base of the hill and then meet the stage at the bottom of the western grade. However, on arriving at the western side of the hill he found that the stage was not there. He began walking up the stage road. On nearing the summit, he encountered the stage driver and his team of horses.

Rolleri learned that as the stage had approached the summit, Black Bart had stepped out from behind a rock with his shotgun. He made McConnell unhitch the team and return with them over the crest again to the west side of the hill, where Rolleri encountered him. Bart then tried to remove the strongbox from the stage. Wells Fargo had bolted the strongbox to the floor inside the stage (which had no passengers that day). It took Bart some time to remove the box.

McConnell informed Rolleri that a holdup was in progress, and Rolleri came up to where McConnel and the horses were standing. He saw Bolles backing out of the stage with the box. McConnell took Rolleri's rifle and fired at Bolles but missed. Rolleri then took his rifle and fired one or two shots. Bolles stumbled, dropped the items he had taken from the box, and fled. If he was actually wounded, it must have been very minor.

The robbery investigation

Wells Fargo Detective James B. Hume (who allegedly looked enough like Bolles to be a twin brother, moustache included) found several personal items at the scene, including one of Bart's handkerchiefs bearing the laundry mark F.X.O.7.

Wells Fargo detectives James Hume and Henry Nicholson Morse contacted every laundry in San Francisco, seeking the one that used the mark. After visiting nearly 90 laundry operators, they finally traced the mark to Ferguson & Bigg's California Laundry on Bush Street. They were able to identify the handkerchief as belonging to Bolles, who lived in a modest boarding house. Bolles described himself as a "mining engineer" and made frequent "business trips" that happened to coincide with the Wells Fargo robberies. After initially denying he was Black Bart, Bolles eventually admitted that he had robbed several Wells Fargo stages but confessed only to the crimes committed before 1879. It is widely believed that Bolles mistakenly believed that the statute of limitations had expired on these robberies. When booked, he gave his name as T. Z. Spalding. When the police examined his possessions they found a Bible, a gift from his wife, inscribed with his real name.

The police report following his arrest stated that Black Bart was "a person of great endurance. Exhibited genuine wit under most trying circumstances, and was extremely proper and polite in behavior. Eschews profanity."

Charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced

Wells Fargo pressed charges only on the final robbery. Bolles was convicted and sentenced to six years in San Quentin Prison, but his stay was shortened to four years for good behavior. When he was released in January 1888, his health had clearly deteriorated due to his time in prison. He had visibly aged, his eyesight was failing, and he had gone deaf in one ear. Reporters swarmed around him when he was released. They asked if he was going to rob any more stagecoaches. "No, gentlemen," he smilingly replied; "I'm through with crime." Another reporter asked if he would write more poetry. He laughed, "Now, didn't you hear me say that I am through with crime?"

Disappearance

Black Bart's end is more in keeping with the way the romantics of his day would have had it. He disappeared without a trace shortly after his release from prison. His San Francisco boarding-house room was found vacated in February 1888, and the outlaw was never seen again.

Buffalo Bill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the American state of Iowa), near Le Claire. He was one of the most colorful figures of the Old West, and mostly famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872.

Bob Younger

Bob Younger after 1876 capture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Ewing Younger (October 29, 1853 - September 16, 1889) was an American criminal and outlaw, the younger brother of Cole, Jim and John Younger , he was a member of the James-Younger gang.

Born in Missouri on October 29, 1853, Robert was the thirteenth of fourteen children born to Henry Washington Younger and Bersheba Leighton Fristoe. During the Civil War his brothers Cole and Jim rode with Quantrill's Raiders. Bob was only 8 when the war broke out in 1861. He saw his father killed by Union soldiers and his home burned to the ground.

After the war, his brothers formed the James-Younger gang with Frank and Jesse James. For ten years the gang robbed banks, trains, and stage coaches across Missouri, Kansas, and other nearby states. Bob Younger is believed to have first joined the gang in 1873.

In September of 1876 the gang robbed a bank in Minnesota and killed a clerk. The townspeople decided to fight back, and in the ensuing shootout all three of the Younger brothers were captured. Bob was wounded in the elbow and later in the chest.

Bob Younger was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died of tuberculosis in prison at Stillwater, Minnesota on September 16, 1889 aged 35 years. His body lies buried in the Lee's Summit Historical Cemetery in Lee's Summit, Missouri.

Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane at age 43. Photo by H.R. Locke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martha Jane Cannary-Burke, better known as Calamity Jane (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), was a frontierswoman and professional scout best known for her claim of being a close friend of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans.

Butch Cassidy

Butch Cassidy poses in the Wild Bunch group photo, Fort Worth, Texas, 1901

George Cassidy

One of the most adroit robbers in the history of the West, yet never acquired a record as a killer and was never accused of murder. Established the infamous outlaw retreat "Robbers Roost."

George Armstrong Custer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. At the start of the Civil War, Custer was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and his class's graduation was accelerated so that they could enter the war. Custer graduated last in his class and served at the First Battle of Bull Run as a staff officer for Major General George B. McClellan in the Army of the Potomac's 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Early in the Gettysburg Campaign, Custer's association with cavalry commander Major General Alfred Pleasonton earned him promotion from First Lieutenant to Brigadier General of United States Volunteers at the age of 23.

Custer established a reputation as an aggressive cavalry brigade commander willing to take personal risks by leading his Michigan Brigade into battle, such as the mounted charges at Hunterstown and East Cavalry Field at the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1864, with the Cavalry Corps under the command of Major General Philip Sheridan, Custer led his "Wolverines", and later a division, through the Overland Campaign, including the Battle of Trevilian Station, where Custer was humiliated by having his division trains overrun and his personal baggage captured by the Confederates. Custer and Sheridan defeated the Confederate army of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early in the Valley Campaigns of 1864. In 1865, Custer played a key role in the Appomattox Campaign, with his division blocking General Robert E. Lee's retreat on its final day.

At the end of the Civil War (April 15, 1865), Custer was promoted to Major General of United States Volunteers. In 1866, he was appointed to the Regular U.S. Army rank of Lieutenant Colonel, leading the 7th U.S. Cavalry and served in the Indian Wars. His distinguished war record, which started with riding dispatches for General Scott, has been overshadowed in history by his role and fate in the Indian Wars. Custer was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, against a coalition of Native American tribes composed almost exclusively of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors, and led by the Sioux warrior Crazy Horse and the Sioux chiefs Gall and Sitting Bull. This confrontation has come to be popularly known in American history as Custer's Last Stand.

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp at about age 39, photo in San Diego about 1887

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848–January 13, 1929) was an American farmer, teamster, sometime buffalo hunter, officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner, and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his brothers, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp. He is also noted for the Earp Vendetta.

Wyatt Earp has become an iconic figure in American folk history. He is the major subject of various movies, TV shows, biographies and works of fiction.

Virgil Earp

Virgil Earp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virgil Walter Earp (July 18, 1843–October 19, 1905) was one of the men involved in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory of the United States. He spent his life in law enforcement, although ironically it is his younger brother Wyatt Earp, who spent most of his life as a gambler, who is better known in popular history as a western lawman.

Cattle Kate

Ella Watson. Taken in the 1880s or earlier. Date and Artist Unknown.

Ella Watson

The daughter of a wealthy farmer , Ella Kate was lured to Rawlins Wyoming by James Averill, whom she loved, and whose recent election as justice of the peace led him to believe he could defy the ruthless cattle barons led by Albert Brothwell. Ella poses here alongside the pens holding herds of allegedly "stolen" maverick cattle, for which she and Averill were hanged by vigilantes. The bloody Johnson County War was largely precipitated by these gruesome deaths, as other Wyoming ranchers and homesteaders were inspired to stand up to the Wyoming Stock Grower's Association

Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James, aka Thomas Howard

One of the most famous outlaws in the West; a veteran of the Civil War who enlisted at age 15 after a brutal whipping from Federal militiamen. Eluded the law over 16 years. Shot in the back of the head and killed by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang who sought to collect a "dead or alive" $10,000 reward.

Pearl Hart

Unlike Belle Starr and Cattle Kate Watson,Hart was not bred into Wild West crime.

Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. His nickname of Wild Bill has inspired similar nicknames for men named William (even though that was not Hickok's name) who were known for their daring in various fields. Hickok's horse was called Black Nell, and he owned two Colt 1851 Navy Revolvers.

Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach driver, then became a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, and professional gambler. Between his law-enforcement duties and gambling, which easily overlapped, Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts, and was ultimately killed while playing poker in a Dakota Territory saloon.

Doc Holliday

Supposed photo of Holliday in Tombstone, AZ. 1882.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Henry "Doc" Holliday (August 14, 1852 – November 8, 1887) was an American dentist, gambler, and gunfighter of the American Old West frontier who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Nat Love

Nat Love a.k.a. Deadwood Dick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nat Love (1854 - 1921) was an African American cowboy during the time of the claim to that moniker. In 1907, Love wrote his autobiography, "Life and Adventures of Nat Love."

Love was born a slave in Davidson County, Tennessee, in 1854. Despite slavery era statutes that outlawed black literacy he learned to read and write as a child with the help of his father. He later went west to Dodge City, Kansas, and became a cowboy. He entered a rodeo on the 4th of July in 1876. He won the rope, throw, tie, bridle, saddle and bronco riding contests. His fans called him by the nickname "Deadwood Dick."

In October 1877, he was captured by a band of Akimel O'odham (Pima) while rounding up stray cattle near the Gila River in Arizona. Love reported that his life was spared because the Indians respected his fighting ability. Thirty days after being captured, Love stole a pony and managed to escape into West Texas.

Love spent the latter part of his life working as a Pullman porter. He died in Los Angeles at age 67 in 1921.

Mangas Coloradas

An image of Mangas, son of Mangas Coloradas. There is no known photo of Mangas Coloradas.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mangas Coloradas or Dasoda-hae (known as Red Sleeves) (c.1793 - January 18, 1863) was an Apache tribal chief and a member of the Eastern Chiricahua nation, whose homeland stretched west from the Rio Grande to include most of what is present-day southwestern New Mexico. He is regarded by many historians to be one of the most important Native American and Apache leaders of the 19th century due to his fighting achievements against White intruders from the United States.

Geronimo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geronimo (Chiricahua: Goyaalé, "one who yawns"; often spelled Goyathlay or Goyahkla in English) (June 16, 1829–February 17, 1909) was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States and their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades.

Biography

Goyaalé (Geronimo) was born to the Bedonkohe band of the Apache, near Turkey Creek[2], a tributary of the Gila River in the modern-day state of Arizona,[3] then part of Mexico, but which his family considered Bedonkohe land. He had three brothers and four sisters.

Geronimo's father, Tablishim, and mother, Juana, educated him according to Apache traditions. He married a woman from the Chiricahua band of Apache when he was 17; they had three children. On March 5, 1851, a company of 400 Mexican soldiers from Sonora led by Colonel José María Carrasco attacked Geronimo's camp outside Janos while the men were in town trading. Among those killed were Geronimo's wife, Alope, his children, and his mother. His chief, Mangas Coloradas, sent him to Cochise's band for help in revenge against the Mexicans. It was the Mexicans who named him Geronimo. This appellation stemmed from a battle in which he repeatedly attacked Mexican soldiers with a knife, ignoring a deadly hail of bullets, in reference to the Mexicans' plea to Saint Jerome ("Jeronimo!"). The name stuck.

The first Apache raids on Sonora appear to have taken place during the late 17th century. To counter the early Apache raids on Spanish settlements, presidios were established at Janos (1685) in Chihuahua and at Fronteras (1690) in northern Opata country. In 1835, Mexico had placed a bounty on Apache scalps. Two years later Mangas Coloradas or Dasoda-hae (Red Sleeves) became principal chief and war leader and began a series of retaliatory raids against the Mexicans. Apache raids on Mexican villages were so numerous and brutal that no area was safe.

While Geronimo said he was never a chief, he was a military leader. As a Chiricahua Apache, this meant he was also a spiritual leader. He consistently urged raids and war upon many Mexican and later U.S. groups.

He married Chee-hash-kish and had two children, Chappo and Dohn-say. Then he took another wife, Nana-tha-thtith, with whom he had one child. He later had a wife named Zi-yeh at the same time as another wife, She-gha, one named Shtsha-she and later a wife named Ih-tedda. Some of his wives were captured, such as the young Ih-tedda. Wives came and went, overlapping each other, being captured and added to the family, lost, or even given up, as Geronimo did with Ih-tedda when he and his band surrendered. At that time he kept his wife She-gha but abandoned the younger wife, Ih-tedda. Geronimo's last wife was Azul.

Though outnumbered, Geronimo fought against both Mexican and United States troops and became famous for his daring exploits and numerous escapes from capture from 1858 to 1886. One such escape, as legend has it, took place in the Robledo Mountains of southwest New Mexico. The legend states Geronimo and his followers entered a cave, and the U.S. Soldiers waited outside the cave entrance for him, but he never came out. Later it was heard that Geronimo was spotted in a nearby area. The second entrance to the cave has yet to be found and the cave is still called Geronimo's Cave. At the end of his military career, he led a small band of 36 men, women, and children. They evaded 5,000 U.S. troops and many units of the Mexican army for a year. His band was one of the last major forces of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the United States Government in the American West.

In 1886, General Nelson A. Miles selected Captain Henry Lawton, in command of B Troop, 4th Cavalry, at Ft. Huachuca to lead the expedition that captured Geronimo. Numerous stories abound as to who actually captured Geronimo, or to whom he surrendered. For Lawton's part, he was given orders to head up actions south of the U.S.–Mexico boundary where it was thought Geronimo and a small band of his followers would take refuge from U.S. authorities. Lawton was to pursue, subdue, and return Geronimo to the U.S., dead or alive.

Lawton's official report dated September 9, 1886 sums up the actions of his unit and gives credit to a number of his troopers for their efforts. Geronimo gave credit to Lawton's tenacity for wearing the Apaches down with constant pursuit. Geronimo and his followers had little or no time to rest or stay in one place. Completely worn out, the little band of Apaches returned to the U.S. with Lawton and officially surrendered to General Miles on September 4, 1886 at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. While the debate over who Geronimo surrendered to goes on, it should be remembered that Native Americans rarely 'surrendered' to junior officers.

Geronimo and other warriors were sent as prisoners to Fort Pickens, Florida, and his family was sent to Fort Marion. They were reunited in May 1887, when they were transferred to Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama for five years. In 1894, they were moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In his old age, Geronimo became a celebrity. He appeared at fairs, including the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, and sold souvenirs and photographs of himself. However, he was not allowed to return to the land of his birth. He also rode in President Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 inaugural parade.

In 1905, Geronimo agreed to tell his story to S.M. Barrett, Superintendent of Education in Lawton, Oklahoma. Barrett had to appeal to President Roosevelt to gain permission to publish the book. Geronimo came to each interview knowing exactly what he wanted to say. He refused to answer questions or alter his narrative. Barrett did not seem to take many liberties with Geronimo's story as translated by Asa Daklugie. Frederick Turner re-edited this autobiography by removing some of Barrett's footnotes and writing an introduction for the non-Apache readers. Turner notes the book is in the style of an Apache reciting part of his oral history.

Geronimo died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and was buried at the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery there.

Harry Longabaugh

Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid) and Etta Place, just before they headed to South America.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (1867 - c. November 1908?), sometimes spelled Longbaugh, born in Mont Clare, Pennsylvania, also known as The Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild bunch, in the American Old West.

Bat Masterson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a figure of the American Old West. His adventurous life included stints as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, U.S. Marshal, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph. He was the brother of lawmen James Masterson and Ed Masterson, and, although his marriage was childless, there are claims that he was the great-grandfather of Robert Ballard, the marine scientist who discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985.

Johnny Ringo

The only known photograph of John Peters Ringo.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Peters Ringo (May 3, 1850–July 13, 1882), better known as Johnny Ringo, was a cowboy who became a legend of the American Old West because, among other things, of his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona. That group of outlaws was known commonly as "the cow-boys" around Tombstone, and Ringo himself was called "the King of the Cowboys". However, short of verbal confrontations, he took no part in those events. Ringo was occasionally erroneously referred to as "Ringgold" by the newspapers of the day, but this was not his name, and there is no evidence that he ever deliberately used it.

Ironically, despite his fame and notoriety, there are no records that he ever actually had a single classic gunfight, shooting unarmed men not counting. Even his violent death may have been at his own hand. By comparison, companions such as former Texas Ranger turned outlaw Scott Cooley, who is little known today, better fit the title of "gunfighter" than did Ringo.

Louis L'Amour wrote that he had found nothing in Old West history to commend John Ringo as a particularly noteworthy "badman". According to L'Amour, Ringo was merely a common, surly, bad-tempered man who was worse when he was drinking, and that his main claim to fame was shooting an unarmed man named Louis Hancock in an Arizona territory saloon in 1879 for ordering beer after Ringo told him to order whiskey. L'Amour wrote that he did not understand how Ringo earned such a strong reputation as a "bad man" in legend. Other authors have concluded that perhaps Ringo's memorable name, coupled with his confrontations with the canonically "good" Earp brothers contributed to his latter-day reputation.

Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (c. 1831-1890). Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man, famous for his 1876 victory over Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He also participated in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show (Photograph by D. F. Barry, 1885).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sitting Bull (or Ta-Tanka I-Yotank, also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; ca. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man, born near the Grand River in South Dakota and killed by reservation police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him and prevent him from supporting the Ghost Dance movement.

He is notable in American and Native American history for his role in the major victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment on June 25, 1876, where Sitting Bull's premonition of defeating the cavalry became reality. In the months after the battle, Sitting Bull fled the United States to Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, Canada, where he remained until 1881, at which time he surrendered to American forces. A small remnant of his band under Chief Wambligi decided to stay at Wood Mountain. After his return to the United States, he briefly toured as a performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

After working as a performer, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in South Dakota. Because of fears that he would use his influence to support the Ghost Dance movement, Indian Affairs authorities ordered his arrest. During an ensuing struggle between Sitting Bull's followers and the police, Sitting Bull was shot in the side and head by American police after they were fired upon by his supporters. His body was taken to nearby Fort Yates for burial, but in 1953, his remains possibly were exhumed and reburied near Mobridge, South Dakota by Sioux who wanted his body to be nearer to his birthplace. However, some Sioux and historians dispute this claim and believe that any remains that were moved were not those of Sitting Bull.

Victorio

Victorio.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victorio (Bidu-ya, Beduiat; c. 1825 – October 14, 1880) was a warrior and chief of the Chihenne band of the Chiricahua Apaches in what is now the U.S. state of New Mexico.

Biography

He grew up in the Chihenne band (sometimes called Eastern Chiricahua). There have been persistent rumors by non-Apaches that Victorio was part Mexican, but there is no actual evidence or reputable oral history to support this claim. There was also some speculation by non-Apaches that he or his band had Navajo kinship ties and was known by them as "he who checks his horse". Victorio's sister was the famous woman warrior Lozen ("Dextrous Horse Thief").

In 1853 he was considered a chief or sub chief by the U.S. Army and signed a document. In his twenties, he began to ride with Geronimo and other Apache leaders. As was the custom, he became the leader of a band of Chiricahuas (sometimes also called Warm Springs or Mimbres) and Mescaleros and fought against the Army. From 1870 to 1886, Victorio and/or his band were moved to and/or left at least three different reservations, some more than once. His main request was to live on his traditional land. The Ojo Caliente reservation was located in their traditional territory. Victorio and his band were moved to San Carlos Reservation in Arizona Territory in 1877. He and his followers immediately bolted along with other Apache bands. Victorio was fairly successful at raiding and evading capture by the military.

Victorio was credited with leading the "Alma massacre" involving a raid on United States settlers' homes around Alma, New Mexico, in April 1880. During the event several settlers were killed, and Victorio's warriors were fended off by the arrival of U.S. Army soldiers from Fort Bayard.

In October 1880 while moving along the Rio Grande in northern Mexico, Victorio and his band were surrounded and wiped out by soldiers of the Mexican Army at Tres Castillos, in the municipality of Coyame del Sotol in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Only some women and children escaped with their lives and ended up being sent with Geronimo to Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma.

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