There are two theories on how African-American troops stationed in nineteenth century Arizona became known as “Buffalo Soldiers.” Native Americans...
The Origins of “Buffalo Soldier”
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Bob Boze Bell
The Reservation Trading Post Era
Trading posts began appearing on Arizona Indian reservations in the early 1870s. These isolated stores provided food and other goods in exchange for...
The Legend of La Tules
She was beautiful, or, she was a toothless hag. She had coal-black hair, or, she had a shock of red hair. She was from Sonora, Mexico, or France....
Galeyville Outlaw Eating Etiquette
Legendary outlaw Curly Bill Brocius had a perverse sense of humor. He once broke into a dance on the San Pedro and at gunpoint forced everyone to...
¡Ay Chihuahua!
Most of us are familiar with the saying, “Ay Chihuahua!” which is the Spanish equivalent of “Yikes!” The entire saying is, “Ay Chihuahua, cuantos...
A Legendary Horseback Duel
In 1835, a large, obnoxious, French-Canadian trapper named Joseph Chouinard went looking for Americans to bully at the annual trapper’s rendezvous...
Mickey Free S.O.B.
When he was just a boy he started the longest war in U.S. history. Felix Ward’s abduction by Apaches when he was about 13, led to the infamous...
Stinking Badges!
One of the most well-known lines from a Western is widely misquoted: “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!” Actually, in the 1948 classic “The...
Loser Mountain
During the Civil War, Gen. Irvin McDowell lost the First Battle of Bull Run and then, defying all odds, lost the second Bull Run (although he was...
A Long Shot
June 27, 1874 The Comanches and their Kiowa and Southern Cheyenne allies are hell bent on driving buffalo hunters off their land. The hunters have...
Bean Belly Egged On
In 1879, Ross Woods got the last breakfast eggs at the Stratford Hotel restaurant in Shakespeare, New Mexico. This didn’t sit well with Bean Belly...
The Legend of Red Ghost
One of the enduring, outrageous legends in Arizona is that a demonic, rogue camel with a skeleton on its back, killed and terrorized the country...