William Roberts used remarkable skills and guts to even the odds. It’s called the Battle of Blazer’s Mill, one of the most remarkable gunfights...
Eight Against One
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True West Blog
Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here
The true story behind the movie. “The Last Great Manhunt” involved a Southern Paiute called Willie Boy. He was courting his cousin Carlota in...
Fort Concho in San Angelo, TX Sponsored by San Angelo
In 1868, the first black troops reported for duty at Fort Concho in San Angelo, TX. The nickname “buffalo soldier” was given by Native Americans...
The Bear Facts on the History of Christopher Creek
I’ll never forget sitting next to my mother at my father’s funeral. Dad was a carefree cowboy when he met my mother, a sixteen-year-old Irish girl...
The Big Score
The Reno Gang’s last robbery is their largest. May 28, 1868. Just two months after breaking jail, the Reno Gang makes its biggest score. Some 12...
April Fools
The joke is on Iowa lawmen. April 1, 1868. Officers check the cells at the Council Bluffs, IA jail--and find that four members of the Reno Gang have...
The Reno Gang: Arrested
Most wanted outlaws go to jail…for a time. March 28, 1868. Four members of the Reno Gang—led by Frank Reno (photo)--are arrested and jailed...
A Legend is Born
The legend of Wild Bill Hickok was born in 1867, when George Ward Nichols' article in "Harpers Weekly," made Wild Bill Hickok the Old West's first...
The James Younger Gang: The Early Years
For many of the guerilla fighters, the Civil War didn't end at Appomattox. Some, like the James and Younger brothers used the skills learned in the...
The Raid at Columbus, New Mexico
A bright orange glow spread across the eastern New Mexico horizon on the morning of March 9, 1916. The sleepy border town of Columbus was slowly...
Horrells vs. Hispanics
A bloody affair in Lincoln County. The Horrell family made quite a name for themselves in Lampasas, Texas in the early 1870s. And not a good name;...
A Botched Arrest
The Horrell brothers weren’t going to go without a fight. On March 19, 1873, several members of the Texas State Police attempted to arrest members...