In the wake of the Civil War the American West offered perceived opportunities for nearly every element of society. So it came to be that some...
Black Warriors of the West
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Features & Gunfights
“Old Timer” and “Friend Dixon”
"Yes, I knew Charlie Russell—though not too well. I have always regretted that I did not know him better,” Maynard Dixon told an aspiring biographer...
Custer & the War Between the States
Montana artist Edgar S. Paxson’s painting Custer’s Last Stand is a gripping depiction of the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. Yet unknown to most...
Saving the Wrong Guys
Many classic Westerns feature the timeworn device of the last-minute cavalry rescue. The baddies are Indians, besieging a wagon train or surrounding...
Saving the Wrong Guys
Many classic Westerns feature the timeworn device of the last-minute cavalry rescue. The baddies are Indians, besieging a wagon train or surrounding...
The Lunacy of Billy the Kid
Two New Mexico lawmen receive death threats after digging up a body in Arizona. One of them later finds his daughter's horse so terribly...
The Lunacy of Billy the Kid
Two New Mexico lawmen receive death threats after digging up a body in Arizona. One of them later finds his daughter's horse so terribly...
What Would Billy Say?
With the convoluted and contested efforts during the past decade to dig up Billy the Kid, we wondered what a Billy the Kid expert might ask the...
Fighting for Geronimo’s Remains
“It is my land, my home, my fathers’ land, to which I now ask to be allowed to return. I want to spend my last days there, and be buried among those...
The Divorce Seekers
After gambling away my earnings from wrangling horses at the notorious Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming, I shipped my footlocker and saddle freight...
Things We Get Wrong About David Crockett
David Crockett (1786-1836), has a tremendous responsibility. He fills niches in American History, folklore and popular culture. Details of his life...
The Legendary Life & Tragic Death of Sonny Jim
About 1,000 people came to praise the old Indian cowboy, not bury him. They came from far and wide, from California to Oklahoma to Oregon and more,...