Fighting wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The enthusiasm to be civilian Indian militia usually evaporated about the same time as the whiskey they...
A Tale of the Tucson Rangers
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True West Blog
The Big Haul
An outlaw gang strikes it rich…for the moment. September 18, 1877. Six members of the Joel Collins Gang board a Union Pacific train at a water stop...
A Self-Made Man
Frank Canton rode on both sides of the law. September 15, 1849. Josiah Horner is born near Richmond, Indiana. He heads to Texas when he's 15--and...
Breaking Away
An Old West outlaw changes his stripes. September 13, 1875. Four men escape from a jail in Jacksboro, TX. One of them, Joe Horner, has been awaiting...
What’s In a Name?
Paladin. Just Paladin. His name was Paladin, and the show was “Have Gun, Will Travel.” Just Paladin. The show’s creators preferred to have their...
War Horses
Equines suffered the consequences in battle. Sadly, horses suffered huge casualties during the 19th Century, whether it was the Civil War, the...
Old West Gunfights
The movies got it wrong. Street fighting in the Old West was about as rare as horseflies in December. It’s more of a Hollywood creation. In towns...
Father Unto Death
A fill-in cashier derails a James-Younger Gang robbery. Joseph Lee Heywood was treasurer at Carleton College in Northfield, MN—but on September 7,...
The Great Northfield Raid
Citizens defeat some of the toughest outlaws in America. September 7, 1876. The James-Younger Gang tries to rob the First National Bank in...
The Massacre in the Mountains
The Mormons slaughter immigrants headed to California. September 11, 1857. Mormon militia and a few Paiute Indians killed about 120 immigrants in...
The King of the Cowboys
Buck Taylor became a heroic figure—courtesy of Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill Cody decided to upgrade the image of the cowboy (the term was often used...
A Poor Start
The first holdup by the Sundance Kid didn’t go so well. Harry Longabaugh’s (the Sundance Kid) career as a train robber began less than gloriously....