The Mormons slaughter immigrants headed to California. September 11, 1857. Mormon militia and a few Paiute Indians killed about 120 immigrants in...
The Massacre in the Mountains
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True West Blog
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....
A Woman’s Work
Life on the frontier was hard. Life on the frontier was especially hard on women. The men spent their days working in the fields or hunting and the...
Death of a Legend
Crazy Horse’s tragic end. September 5, 1877. The noted Oglala warrior Crazy Horse is killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Crazy Horse and his band are...
Listen to Your Elders
A James-Younger Gang holdup has a weird ending. August 30, 1874. Frank and Jesse James and one of the Youngers rob a stage outside North Lexington,...
A Sad Farewell to Jana Bommersbach
Our wonderful historian, columnist, and friend, Jana Bommersbach, who wrote our Old West Saviors column has died at age 78 after battling a long...
The Battle of Ingalls
Bill Doolin and company vs. U.S. marshals. September 1, 1893. Bill Doolin and several members of his gang are in the outlaw hangout of Ingalls (in...
Booze and the Baptist Minister
Bass Reeves makes the collar—of his own pastor. A fascinating story in The Arkansas Van Buren Press of August 24, 1907. “Rev. Wilson Hobson, a Negro...
Bill Doolin Checks Out
A posse kills the outlaw chieftain. August 24-25, 1896. Outlaw leader Bill Doolin is gunned down by Deputy US Marshal Heck Thomas' (photo) posse at...
A Wild Bunch Stickup
The Tipton train robbery of 1900. August 29, 1900. Kid Curry (photo) leads Bill Cruzan, Ben Kilpatrick and another unidentified man in holding up a...
The Romance of the Stage Line?
Riding a coach was a challenge. Rafael Pumpelly was a travel writer who hitched a ride on the Butterfield Overland Mail Line traveling cross country...