What’s the story behind Wild Bill Hickok’s gunfight with a couple of soldiers in Hays City, Kansas?

What’s the story behind Wild Bill Hickok’s gunfight with a couple of soldiers in Hays City, Kansas? Michael Wharton Cottonwood, Arizona On the night of July 17, 1870, two drunken 7th Cavalry troopers from Fort Hays—Jerry Lonergan and John Kile—attacked Deputy U.S. Marshal James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok in Paddy Welch’s saloon (some accounts state Thomas Drum’s saloon). The motive is unclear. Hickok biographer Joe Rosa said Kile, a Medal of Honor recipient and deserter