In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army had a problem. Most of its West Point cadets lacked the experience and discipline to develop riding skills....
Call in the Buffalo Soldiers! Black troopers became teachers at West Point
read more
Mark Boardman
An Expedition Gone Wrong
Henry Crabb and his troops wanted Mexican land—and got something else. Henry Crabb wanted new opportunities in 1857. The former California...
Resisting Arrest Nicholas Aragon proved deadly to two Lincoln County lawmen.
Lincoln County (NM) lawmen had no idea what they were getting themselves into when they chased after rustler Nicholas Aragon in the fall of 1894. He...
Just Around the Corner An Oklahoma saloon served up liquor and death.
The Corner Saloon was located just outside of Ada, Oklahoma in the 1890s. Owned by Joe Allen and Jesse West, it was a bad place. There were claims...
A Rare Find Researchers discover a document related to Pat Garrett’s death.
Four years ago, in 2017, Dona Ana County (NM) researchers found a remarkable document in a box of old records. It was a coroner’s jury report from...
A New Leaf A Billy the Kid pal who went straight…
Billy Wilson rode with Billy the Kid—was arrested with him by Pat Garrett at Stinking Springs in December 1880. He later went straight, in Texas,...
A Slogan for the Ages The story behind “20 Mule Team Borax.”
Frank Smith (photo) was in his 20s when he discovered large deposits of borax in Nevada. He soon became a millionaire, with operations moving...
The Man with the Plan Bennett Young set the standard for bank robberies.
Lt. Bennett Young drew the blueprint for Old West bank robberies—far from the West. In October 1864, he and 20 Confederate soldiers snuck into St....
Massacre of the Wiyots The California tribe ran afoul of white settlers.
On February 26, 1860 a large group of white settlers attacked Wiyot Indian camps in Humboldt County, California. Hundreds of the Indians were...
The Legends of Dirty Dave Rudabaugh received a lot of myth-making over time.
There are a lot of legends surrounding bad man Dave Rudabaugh. First, there’s no evidence that he was called “Dirty Dave” during his lifetime—or...
A Panhandle Pioneer Mooar found success and more in Texas.
J. Wright Mooar was something of a pioneer in the 1870s. He started the decade working as a woodcutter in Kansas, but soon switched to buffalo...
The Brutal End of Mangas Coloradas Tortured, killed—and worst of all, decapitated.
January 18, 1863--US troops torture and murder Apache war chief Mangas Coloradas in southwest New Mexico. He had come to them under a flag of truce,...