The American cowboy owes so much to the master horsemen—Mexican vaqueros—who were rounding up cattle on horseback several hundreds of years before...
The Irish at the Alamo
The Alamo’s Forgotten Defenders—The Remarkable Story of the Irish During the Texas Revolution by Phillip Thomas Tucker (Savas Beatie LLC, $29.95)...
Tombstone’s Schieffelin Hall
It was June 1881 when Al Schieffelin—brother of Tombstone founder Ed Schieffelin—opened the theater and opera house that carried their last name....
Western Events for July 2016
Western roundup of events where you can experience the Old West! ART SHOW Imaging the American West: Selections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art...
Kit Carson Dime Novel Hero
It was a fortuitous chance meeting for Kit Carson and John C. Fremont. Had there been no John C. Fremont there might never have been a Kit Carson...
Named By Their Enemies
The Spanish asked the Zunis who those renegades were who were running off with all their horses and a Zuni said, “Enemies,” which sounded to the...
In Mary Doria Russell’s Doc, the dentist treats Wyatt Earp who is missing two front teeth. Is that true?
Steve Barringer Phoenix, Arizona Back then, nearly everyone had rotten teeth. Many cowboys had teeth stained by tobacco and coffee. That’s why...
Crown Jewel of the Big Horns
John Loucks fought the Sioux during their 1862 uprising in the Dakotas. Twenty years later, he platted out his vision for a town on a piece of...
Card Player No. 2
Sam Elliott has become one of the most iconic Westerns actor of the last half-century, with his wiry frame, bushy mustache and rumbling drawl. None...
The Buffalo Soldiers
John P. Langellier explores the challenges and opportunities provided African-Americans following the Civil War Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo...
Deaf Smith and the Grass Fight
Texian Patriot Erastus “Deaf” Smith was the eyes and ears of Sam Houston’s army during the revolution even though he was deaf and almost blind....
Wells Fargo Agent Relieved of Cash And His Prize Pistols
At the end of 1881 and early 1882, a flurry of stagecoach robberies in Cochise County brings Wells Fargo Agent James Hume from San Francisco to...