Missourians weren’t exactly welcoming to an influx of Mormons.
Battle for the Promised Land
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Investigating History
The Militancy of the Miners
Mining was vital to the growth of the Old West—perhaps more so than even the cattle industry. It also led to violent class struggles between mine...
The Bullet, Not the Ballot Box
In 1840, it wasn’t politics as usual in Bellevue, Iowa Territory. Two well-armed sides decided that the ballot box wasn’t enough to finalize who...
The Big Fight
It takes something for an Old West shootout to be called “The Big Fight.” That’s the handle they stuck on a free-for-all in Tascosa, Texas, in the...
The Death of the Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James
Ed O’Kelley has his claim to fame. On June 8, 1892, he walked into a tent saloon in Creede, Colorado, and emptied two shotgun barrels into the neck...
A Thirst for Destruction
Carrie Amelia Moore, born in Kentucky on November 25, 1846, grew into a crusader who chopped her way to legend as Carrie Nation. In 1867, Carrie...
“…Kill or Hang All Warriors…”
If one winner came out of the Battle of the Washita, his name was Custer. In 1868, Southern Cheyennes and other tribes were camped along the Washita...
The Father of Montana
Granville Stuart, who died 100 years ago this October, is one of the most remarkable men in the history of the West. Born in what’s now West...
Upping the Ante
The Cow-boy and Earp factions were already at loggerheads in the fall of 1881. A stagecoach robbery took things to another level. On the night of...
Black Hills and Gold Dust
The Sioux considered the Black Hills to be sacred, the center of the earth and a place to speak to the Great Spirit. They had controlled the area...
The Road to and from China
Anson Burlingame is a name mostly forgotten today. But over a 22-year period, from the early 1860s through mid-1880s, he was well known in two...
The Dodge City Lawdog
Charlie Bassett’s story has been eclipsed—by the legends of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Yet for much of the 1870s, Bassett was the law in Dodge...