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Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch
Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend (Paperback)
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Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait (Paperback)
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Alledged photo of Billy the Kid (standing) and Joe Antrim.
Lakota Sioux
The Crystal Palace Saloon in Tombstone
Cheyenne Indians
William Barclay "Bat" Masterson
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THE OLD WEST:
An Unforgetable Era
For all its glamour and glory, the era in American history known as the Old West lasted, in reality, for only about 30 years... roughly, from about the end of the Civil War in 1865,
until about 1895. By that time, the Indians were all on reservations, the great cattle ranges had all been fenced, the notorious outlaws of the Old West were all either behind bars or
dead, and the great lawmen who put them there were writing books about their brave and daring exploits. In so many ways, the end of an era in American history had come to pass. But
it had been no ordinary era. Its phenomenal influence affects us even today.
 
A Chronological History of the Old West
1837
May 27, 1837 - Wild Bill Hickok born.
James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok is born in Homer, Illinois (what is now Troy Grove). His birthplace is now the Wild Bill Hickok Memorial, a listed historic site under the supervision
of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
1839
November 16, 1839 - John Selman born.
Selman was born in Madison County, Arkansas to an English father and an American mother. The family moved to Grayson County, Texas in 1858. After his father's death on December 16,
1861, Selman joined the 22nd Texas Cavalry and served in the Civil War. He deserted in April 1863. John Selman is best known as the man who murdered outlaw John Wesley Hardin in the
Acme Saloon in El Paso, Texas in 1895.
1845
December 29, 1845 - Texas admitted to the Union.
Texas is admitted to the United States as the 28th state of the Union. It was an independent republic before statehood.
1848
January 24, 1848 - Gold discovered in California.
California's most famous gold rush dates to the morning of January 24, 1848, when James Marshall made his customary inspection of the sawmill he was building for John Sutter. During
the previous night, Marshall had diverted water through the mill's tailrace to wash away loose dirt and gravel, and on that fateful day, he noticed some shining flecks of metal left
behind by the running water. He picked them up and showed them to his crew, but while he was pretty sure that it was gold, the full significance of his discovery was truly impossible
to imagine. He was still concerned about getting the mill finished.
March 19, 1848 - Wyatt Earp Born.
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp is born in Monmouth, Illinois. He is the fourth son of Nicholas Porter and Virginia Cooksey Earp and was named after Nicholas' old army captain, Berry Stapp,
whom he served under during the Mexican War. He was born in the Pike-Sheldon House which was built in 1841 by Samuel Pike, who built the original two-story section ca. 1841, and
Wilson Sheldon, who built the one-story wing addition ca. 1865, which doubled the square footage of the original home. It’s one of Monmouth’s earliest homes and is a good example of
early pioneer, Greek Revival construction, especially popular in the Midwestern states in the 1840’s. This home is at 406 South 3rd Street and is now a Historic House Museum open to
the public.
April 3, 1848 - First American public school opened in San Francisco.
Thomas Douglas, a Yale graduate, became the first teacher with a salary of $1000. Trustees of the new district, however, soon abandoned it when they ran off to the gold fields.
July 11, 1848 - Governor of California visits gold fields.
Governor of California, Gen. Richard Barnes Mason, visited gold fields to gather information for a report to the U.S. Government. He was accompanied by his aide, Capt. William T.
Sherman.
December 5, 1848 - President Polk confirms discovery of gold in California.
In a message to Congress, President Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in California. His message was based on reports from Gen. Mason, the Governor of California. The President
wrote, “The accounts of abundance of gold are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the
public service.”
1850
September 9, 1851 - California is admitted to the Union.
California is admitted to the United States as the 31st state of the Union. Ceded by Mexico by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, concluded Feb. 2, 1848, and proclaimed July 4, 1848.
From then until statehood, California had a military government until Dec. 20, 1849, and then a local civil government. It never had a territorial form of government.
1851
August 14, 1851 - Doc Holliday Born.
John Henry "Doc" Holliday is born in Griffin, Georgia in the family home on Tinsley Street. He was the second child born to Henry Burroughs and Alice Jane Holliday. Their first
child, Martha Eleanora Holliday, had died in infancy on June 12, 1850, possibly due to diphtheria. The exact date of Doc Holliday's birth, for many years a mystery, was taken from a
family bible.
1853
May 26, 1853 - John Wesley Hardin Born.
In terms of the total number of men killed, John Wesley Hardin was considered by many to be the Old West's most deadly killer. He was born in Bonham, Texas into a well respected
family. His father was a Methodist preacher, schoolteacher, and lawyer. His grandfather had served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas, other forebears had signed the Texas
Declaration of Independence and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto. Nobody expected his life to turn out the way that it did.
November 26, 1853 - William Barclay "Bat" Masterson born.
William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was born at Henryville in Quebec and baptised as Bartholomew Masterson, but he later used the name "William Barclay Masterson". He was a figure of the
American Old West known 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.
1858
March 22, 1858 - Wild Bill Hickok elected as constable.
On this date James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was elected as one of the first four constables of Monticello Township, Kansas.
1859
February 14, 1859 - Oregon admitted to the Union.
Oregon is admitted to the United States as the 33rd state of the Union.
October 2, 1859 - George Scarborough born.
George Scarborough was born in Louisiana. His family moved to Texas, where for a while he worked as a cowboy. In 1885, he was appointed sheriff for Jones County. He would later work as
a Deputy US Marshal in and around El Paso, Texas. He is probably best known as the man who shot and killed John Selman, the man who killed John Wesley Hardin.
1861
June 25, 1861 - Kansas is admitted to the Union.
Kansas is admitted to the United States as the 34th state of the Union.
1865
July 21, 1865 - First "Wild West" style face off.
On this date in the town square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok killed Davis Tutt, Jr. in a "quick draw" duel. Fiction later typified this kind of gunfight, but Hickok's is
in fact the first one on record that fits the portrayal.
October 31, 1864 - Nevada admitted to the Union.
Nevada is admitted to the United States as the 36th state of the Union.
1869
May 10, 1869 - First Transcontinental Railroad completed at Promontory Summit, Utah.
On 10 May 1869 from Promontory Summit northwest of Ogden, Utah, a single telegraphed word, "done," signaled to the nation the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.
Railroad crews of the Union Pacific, 8,000 to 10,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, had pushed west from Omaha, Nebraska. At Promontory they met crews of the Central Pacific,
which had included over 10,000 Chinese laborers, who had built the line east from Sacramento, California.
1874
June 27, 1874 - The Second Battle of Adobe Walls.
The Second Battle of Adobe Walls was fought on June 27, 1874 between Comanche forces and a group of twenty-eight U.S. bison hunters defending the settlement of Adobe Walls in what is
now Hutchinson County, Texas.
Adobe Walls was the name of a trading post in the Texas Panhandle, just north of the Canadian River. In 1845, an Adobe fort was built there to house the post, but it was blown up by
the traders three years later after repeated Indian attacks. In June 1874 (ten years after the first battle), a group of enterprising businessmen had set up two stores near the ruins
of the old trading post in an effort to rekindle the town of Adobe Walls. The complex quickly grew to include two stores, a corral, a restaurant, and a blacksmith shop, all of which
served the population of 200-300 buffalo hunters in the area. By late June there had been talk of imminent Indian problems and, in recent weeks, hunters had actually been killed. Some
28 or 29 persons were present at Adobe Walls, including James Hanrahan the saloon owner, a 20-year old Bat Masterson, William "Billy" Dixon (whose famous long-distance rifle shot
effectively ended the siege), and others. Billy Dixon would later go on to win the Medal of Honor for for heroism fighting Kiowas in The Buffalo Wallow Fight.
1876
June 25, 1876 - Battle of the Little Big Horn.
George Armstrong Custer and approximately 200 men of the U.S. 7th Cavalry are annihilated at the Little Big Horn in Montana by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors under the leadership of
Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
August 2, 1876 - Wild Bill Hickok Shot Dead!
James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok is killed in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. He was shot in the back of the head by a man named Jack McCall while playing cards in Saloon No. 10 of this
Black Hills mining town. The hand he was holding was a pair of aces and a pair of eights, forever after known as the "Dead Man's Hand."
September 7, 1876 - The James-Younger Gang's fateful Northfield raid.
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.
To carry out the robbery, the gang divided into two groups. Three men entered the bank, two guarded the door outside, and three remained near a bridge across an adjacent square. The
robbers inside the bank were thwarted when acting cashier Joseph Lee Heywood refused to open the safe, falsely claiming that it was secured by a time lock even as they held a bowie
knife to his throat and cracked his skull with a pistol butt. Assistant cashier Alonzo Enos Bunker was wounded in the shoulder as he fled out the back door of the bank. Meanwhile, the
citizens of Northfield grew suspicious of the men guarding the door and raised the alarm. The five bandits outside fired in the air to clear the streets, which drove the townspeople to
take cover and fire back from protected positions. Two bandits were shot dead and the rest were wounded in the barrage. Inside, the outlaws turned to flee. As they left, one shot the
unarmed cashier Heywood in the head. Historians have speculated about the identity of the shooter but have not reached consensus on his identity.
The gang barely escaped Northfield, leaving two dead companions behind. They killed two innocent victims (Heywood and Nicholas Gustafson, a Swedish immigrant from the Millersburg
community west of Northfield.) A massive manhunt ensued. The James brothers eventually split from the others and escaped to Missouri. The militia soon discovered the Youngers and one
other bandit, Charlie Pitts. In a gunfight, Pitts died and the Youngers were taken prisoner. Except for Frank and Jesse James, the James-Younger Gang was destroyed.
Later in 1876, Jesse and Frank James surfaced in the Nashville, Tennessee area, where they went by the names of Thomas Howard and B. J. Woodson, respectively. Frank seemed to settle
down, but Jesse remained restless. He recruited a new gang in 1879 and returned to crime, holding up a train at Glendale, Missouri (now part of Independence, Missouri), on October 8,
1879. The robbery was the first of a spree of crimes, including the holdup of the federal paymaster of a canal project in Killen, Alabama, and two more train robberies. But the new
gang did not consist of battle-hardened guerrillas; they soon turned against each other or were captured, while James grew paranoid, killing one gang member and frightening away
another.
With authorities' growing suspicious, by 1881 the brothers returned to Missouri where they felt more safe. In December, Jesse rented a house in Saint Joseph, Missouri, not far from
where he had been born and raised. Frank, however, decided to move to safer territory, heading east to Virginia.
1881
April 28, 1881 - Billy the Kid's Daring Escape.
In what is now considered the boldest escape in western history, Billy the Kid regains his freedom by killing deputies Bob Bell and Bob Olinger. The Kid was being held in the Lincoln
County Courthouse in Lincoln, New Mexico pending his hanging which had been scheduled in the following month. It is suspected that he accomplished this daring by having someone slip
him a revolver by hiding it in the outhouse in back of the courthouse. No one is really sure just how he got the weapon, but the fact is very well established that he did get it, and
that he used it to good advantage in effecting his escape. He killed Bob Bell with this revolver. Deputy Bob Olinger was just finishing breakfast in the hotel's diner at the time
and, when he heard the shots that killed Bell, came running across the street to investigate. He was almost across when he stopped to look up at a second story window to see Billy the
Kid sitting in it with Olinger's own shotgun, aimed right at him. It was the last thing on this earth that Olinger ever saw. The Kid let go with both barrels, riddling Olinger with
more than two dozen buckshot. He was dead when he hit the ground and Billy the Kid was once again a free man.
July14, 1881 - Billy the Kid Killed.
The story of the death of Billy the Kid is one of the most famous stories of the Old West. In July of 1881, 3 months after his harrowing escape from prison (and two months after he was
supposed to have been hanged), Sheriff Pat Garrett and his deputies were searching for the Kid. According to sources the Kid was still in the area of Fort Sumner, and it was Garrett’s
intention to find him.
On the night of July 14th, 1881, Garrett went to the home of ailing Pedro Maxwell, a friend of Billy the Kid’s. According to reports, while sitting in the darkened room with Maxwell
Billy the Kid entered the room. Not recognizing Garrett in the darkness the Kid asked “¿Quien es? ¿Quien es?” (“Who is it? Who is it?”) . Garret recognized the voice as belonging to
the Kid, drew his pistol and shot him in the chest.
The body was then quickly examined on the floor of Maxwell’s room. Shortly after it was moved to a carpenter’s bench on the Maxwell property for a more thorough investigation. A
coroner’s jury was called, who determined that it was in fact Billy the Kid. The body was carried away by the people of the town who loved Billy the Kid and was buried not long after.
John William Poe, one of the two deputies with Garrett when he killed Billy the Kid.
October 26, 1881 - Gunfight "Near" the OK Corral.
In what is now known as the Gunfight "Near" the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, the three "fighting" Earps (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan) and
Doc Holliday shoot it out with the cowboy faction in this Old West silver camp in what is now regarded as the West's most celebrated gunfight. Outcome: three cowboys dead, two Earps
wounded. Doc Holliday was nicked by a shot. The Earps and Holliday are exonerated of the killings in a subsequent trial, but are forced to leave Arizona Territory because of the
vengeance of the cowboy faction.
1887
November 8, 1887 - Doc Holliday Dies Peacefully.
At about ten o'clock in the morning, John Henry "Doc" Holliday dies at the Hotel Glenwood in Glenwood Springs, Colorado of miliary tuberculosis. He was buried near Palmer Avenue and
Twelfth Street in the Linwood Cemetery that afternoon at four o'clock, at a service attended by many friends. Big Nose Kate arranged for the eulogy to be delivered by the Reverend W.
S. Rudolph of the Presbyterian Church.
1890
December 29, 1890 - The Wounded Knee Massacre.
The Wounded Knee Massacre or the Battle of Wounded Knee was the last armed conflict between the Great Sioux Nation and the United States of America and of the Indian Wars.
On December 29, 1890, 365 troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment, supported by four Hotchkiss guns, surrounded an encampment of Miniconjou (Lakota) and Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakota) near
Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. The Sioux had been cornered and agreed to turn themselves in at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. They were the very last of the Sioux to do so.
They were met by the 7th Cavalry, who intended to disarm them and ensure their compliance.
During the process of disarming the Sioux, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote could not hear the order to give up his rifle and was reluctant to do so. A scuffle over Black Coyote's
rifle escalated into an all-out battle, with those few Sioux warriors who still had weapons shooting at the 7th Cavalry, and the 7th Cavalry opening fire indiscriminately from all
sides, killing men, women, and children, as well as some of their own fellow troopers. The 7th Cavalry quickly suppressed the Sioux fire, and the surviving Sioux fled, but U.S.
cavalrymen pursued and killed many who were unarmed.
By the time it was over, about 146 men, women, and children of the Lakota Sioux had been killed. Twenty-five troopers also died, some believed to have been the victims of friendly fire
as the shooting took place at point blank range in chaotic conditions. Around 150 Lakota are believed to have fled the chaos. Despite the brevity and inequality of the fighting, the
U.S. Army awarded more Medals of Honor for action at Wounded Knee than for any other engagement in the history of the US Army.
The site has been designated a National Historic Landmark
Miniconjou Chief Big Foot lies dead in the snow at Wounded Knee.
1892
October 5, 1892 - The Dalton Gang Goes Down at Coffeeville.
The Dalton gang is wiped out by the citizenry of this small Kansas town when the gang attempts the simultaneous robbery of two of its banks. They had put on fake beards upon coming
into the town, but they were so well known in Coffeeville, a town they had grown up in, that someone recognized them through the disquises and shouted an alarm. Immediately, nearly
every able bodied man in town grabbed a rifle or revolver and commenced to firing on the Daltons. The gang was literally shot to rag dolls. The Daltons were one of the last of the
great outlaw gangs of the Old West, and their downfall marked the passing of an era in outlaw history. Never again would a horseback-mounted band of outlaws attempt such a bold and
brazen act of outlawry in the American West.
The Dalton Gang in death at Coffeyville, Kansas.
1893
September 1, 1893 - The Gunfight at Ingalls.
A large posse led by John Hixon and including such members as Jim Masterson, Dick Speed, Lafe Shadley, and Tom Houston attempt a surprise attack on the Doolin Gang in Ingalls, a shabby
and remote excuse for a town in Oklahoma Territory. The attempt to surprise the outlaws was foiled and what then insued has become one of the most celebrated shootouts in Old West
history, rivaling in notoriety the one in Tombstone at the OK Corral 12 years earlier. Outcome: three lawmen killed, two outlaws wounded. All the outlaws, except for "Arkansas" Tom
Daugherty, escaped. Arkansas Tom held officers at bay from a position of concealment in an attic of the town's "cat house" while his outlaw comrades made good their escape. He was
captured by the posse after ammunition for his Winchester and revolvers had given out.
1894
June 8, 1894 - Bill Dalton killed.
Bill Dalton is killed by Deputy Lawson (Loss) Hart near Ardmore, O.T. (now Oklahoma)
1895
May 4, 1895 - Doolin Gang Train Robbery.
The Bill Doolin gang robs a Rock Island train near Dover, Oklahoma Territory, taking several thousand dollars from the express car and passengers.
August 19, 1895 - John Wesley Hardin killed.
Shortly before midnight John Selman, Sr. walked into the Acme Saloon in El Paso, Texas where John Wesley Hardin was playing dice. Selman walked up behind Hardin and shot him in the
back of the head, killing him instantly. As Hardin's body lay on the floor, Selman fired three more shots into him.
1896
April 6, 1896 - John Selman Killed.
John Selman, the killer of John Wesley Hardin who perhaps killed 40 men in his lifetime, is shot and killed in an El Paso alley by George Scarborough.
Aug. 24, 1896 - Bill Doolin killed.
Bill Doolin is ambushed and killed by Deputy Marshal Heck Thomas's posse at Lawson, O.T.
1897
Nov. 7, 1897 - Dynamite Dick Clifton killed.
Dynamite Dick Clifton was killed by deputies near Chectoah.
1898
April 8, 1898 - Little Dick West killed.
Little Dick West was killed by Deputy Marshal Heck Thomas's posse.
1907
November 16, 1907 - Oklahoma admitted to Union.
Oklahoma is admitted to the United States as the 46th state of the Union.
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