August 27, 1861 The Ake-Wadsworth wagon train, en route from Tucson, Arizona, to Texas, leaves the abandoned Mimbres River Stage Station at first...
Cooke’s Canyon Ambush
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Bob Boze Bell
Six Classic Gunfights
When Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp utters his death-defying oath, “You tell ’em I’m coming, and Hell is coming with me, you hear!” with Biblical...
Wild Bill’s Last Fight
October 5, 1871 The summer cattle season is all but over, and Marshal Wild Bill Hickok has kept the peace in Abilene, Kansas—not an easy job. The...
A Dangerous and Bloody Citizen
March 10, 1864 Jack Slade, once the heroic peacekeeper of the Central Overland stagecoach line, is drunk and in an ugly mood on the main street of...
The Hat Rules
The right hat can make all the difference in a Western. Just think back to Robert Duvall’s pheasant-taking-over-his-head job he wore in 1972’s Joe...
The Blast at Steins Pass
December 7, 1897 Two cowboys, Dave Atkins and Ed Cullen, step inside the Steins Pass train depot in southwestern New Mexico a few minutes past 6...
Related to Outlaws
I loved to go to my grandmother’s house. She loved to cook, and she would sing and hum while she fried up the best potatoes and eggs you have ever...
Dalton Debacle
October 5, 1892 Five mounted men ride into Coffeyville, Kansas, from the west. It is around 9:30 a.m., and the streets are already filled with...
The Gang Slayer
December 19, 1854 Three American prospectors are traversing a miner’s trail in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains (see map below). As Capt....
Battle of the Plaza
April 16, 1881 Traveling mostly by rail, Bat Masterson has just covered 1,100 miles to come to the aid of his estranged brother Jim. Bat was just in...
10 Face-to-Face, Stand-Up Gunfights
I’m a member of the Historical Arms Society of Tucson, and our group is curious if the movies are correct about how many stand-up gunfights took...
The Fountain Murders
February 1, 1896 Albert Jennings Fountain is agitated. It’s cold and windy, and his young son is coming down with a cold. Fountain is anxious to get...