Ferd Patterson was a sporting man who plied his trade primarily in the Pacific Northwest
in the years around the Civil War. He also cultivated a reputation as a dangerous man,
with a couple of killings to his name. Juries found him innocent; lawmen were frustrated.
One of those officers was Hugh Donahue, who got into an argument with Patterson in
Walla Walla, WA on April 14, 1866. Donahue then tra

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus