In February, 1848 the United States secured its “Manifest Destiny” with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican War....
Americas First “Astronauts”
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Articles
This is Where Cole Younger Dies
Tracking the Jamesless-Younger Gang, September 21, 1876 During the two weeks since the botched bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, the surviving...
Don’t Look Back
It’s part of Wild Bill Hickok’s legend. The acting Ellis County (KS) sheriff was trying to corral Bill Mulvey, who was shooting up Hays City....
Bodie, California
Gold was discovered in what became Bodie by a party of prospectors in 1859. The discovery coincided with another at nearby Aurora, Nevada and the...
Fort Smith, Arkansas: Where the Old West Begins
Isaac C. Parker did a lot to make the frontier settlement of Fort Smith famous, and all these years later, the so-called hanging judge might as well...
Don’t Take a Beer Mug to a Gunfight
Sam Strawhun and his pals had been wreaking havoc on John Bitter’s Saloon in Hays City, KS, early in the morning of September 27, 1869. Ellis...
Building Your Western Library: Doug Hocking
Historian Doug Hocking’s experiences growing up in Northern New Mexico on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation—and his lifelong ties to the Rio...
A Not So Heroic End
John Kile was a hero who came to a bad end. As a corporal in the 5th Cavalry, Kile won the Congressional Medal of Honor. In July 1869, he and two...
Cole Younger, American Outlaw
Cole Younger has to be the toughest outlaw who ever lived. In addition to having 11 slugs in his body, Cole had to guide his horse with his knees...
A Voice That Is His Own Derision
“Father and mother he does not resemble, sons and daughters he will never have; vindictive and patient (it is a known fact that he will labor ten...
A Bad Bad Man
Scott Martin has been cautiously optimistic about the future of Western films: “Until this resurgence, there hasn’t been the appetite for them. But...
The Gunfighter: Cool Under Fire
It took more than just the ability to shoot fast and straight to make a real gunfighter. Anyone who practiced long and often enough could learn to...