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The Wild West 1865-1889 While the Eastern United States was beginning to experience the Second Industrial Revolution (which started around 1871), the frontier was beginning to fill up. In the early days of the wild west, a great deal of the land was in the public domain, open both to livestock raising as open range and to homesteading. Throughout much of the Old West during this time, there was little to no local law enforcement and the military had only concentrated presence in the area at specific locations. Buffalo hunters, railroad workers, drifters and soldiers scrapped and fought, leading to the shootings where men died "with their boots on." In the cities, business houses, dance halls and saloons catered to the Texas cattle drive trade. The historic Chisholm Trail was used for cattle drives. The trail ran for 800 miles from South Texas to Abilene, Kansas and was used from 1867 to 1887 to drive cattle northward to the railhead of the Kansas Pacific Railway, where they were shipped eastward. The trail was named after Jesse Chisholm who had built a number of trading posts. Cattle rustling was a sometimes serious offense and was always a hazard for the expeditions. It could result in the rustler's lynching by vigilantes (but most stories of this type are fictional). Mexican rustlers were a major issue during the American Civil War, with the Mexican government being accused of supporting the habit. Texans likewise stole cattle from Mexico, swimming them across the Rio Grande. Dodge City Fort Dodge, Kansas, was established in 1859 and opened in 1865 on the Santa Fe Trail near the present site of Dodge City, Kansas (which was established in June 1872). The fort offered some protection to wagon trains and the U.S. mail service, and served as a supply base for troops engaged in the Indian Wars. At the end of 1872, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad was crossing Kansas. During this time, Dodge City acquired its infamous stamp of lawlessness and gun-slinging and its infamous burial place — Boot Hill Cemetery. It was used until 1878. Dodge City was the buffalo capital until mass slaughter destroyed the huge herds and left the prairie littered with decaying carcasses. Law and order came riding into Dodge City with such respectable law officers as W. B. 'Bat' Masterson, Ed Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Bill Tilghman, H. B. 'Ham' Bell and Charlie Bassett. The city passed an ordinance that guns could not be worn or carried north of the "deadline" which was the railroad tracks. The south side where "anything went" was wide open. Fort Dodge was closed in 1882 and due to a January 1886 blizzard, the cattle drives ended. Wild Bill and Calamity Jane After the American Civil War, Wild Bill Hickok became an army scout and a professional gambler. Hickok's killing of Whistler the Peacemaker with a long range rifle shot had influence in preventing the Sioux from uniting to resist the settler incursions into the Black Hills. In 1876, Calamity Jane settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the Black Hills region where she was close friends with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter, all having traveled in Utter's wagon train. Jane later claimed to have been married to Hickok, and that Hickok was the father of her child; however, this story is viewed with skepticism. On August 2, 1876, while playing poker in Deadwood (then part of the Dakota Territory but on Indian land), Hickok could not find an empty seat in the corner, where he always sat in order to protect himself against sneak attacks from behind, and instead sat with his back to the door; unfortunately, his previous caution proved wise, as he was shot in the back of the head with a double-action .45 caliber revolver by Jack McCall. The motive for the killing is still debated. It is claimed that, at the time of his death, Hickok held a pair of aces and a pair of eights, with all cards black, and a queen of hearts — this has since been called a "dead man's hand". In 1876, Jane nursed the victims of a smallpox epidemic in the Deadwood area. She married Clinton Burke in 1891 after the couple had been living together several years. Lincoln County War The Lincoln County War (1877) was a conflict between two entrenched factions in the Old West. The "war" was between a faction led by wealthy ranchers and another faction led by the wealthy owners of the monopolistic general store in Lincoln County, New Mexico. A notable combatant on the side of the ranchers was Billy the Kid, the infamous 19th century American frontier outlaw and murderer. The Kid is reputed to have killed 21 men, one for each year of his life, but the figure is probably closer to nine (four on his own and five with the help of others). The James gang The criminal Jesse James was infamous for his activities in the Old West, though he was often cast by the sensationalist media of the time as a contemporary Robin Hood. James and his compatriots robbed their way across the Western frontier targeting banks, trains, stagecoaches, and stores from Iowa to Texas. Eluding even the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, the gang took thousands of dollars. James is believed to have carried out the first daylight bank robbery in peacetime, stealing $60,000 from a bank in Liberty, Missouri. While James did harass railroad executives who unjustly seized private land for the railways, modern biographers note that he did so for personal gain — his humanitarian acts were more fiction than fact. Western Indian Wars The Apache and Navajo Wars (1861 – 1886) had Col. Christopher "Kit" Carson fighting the Apache around the reservations in 1862. Skirmishes between the U.S. and Apaches continue until 1886, when Geronimo surrenders to U.S. forces. Kit Carson used a scorched earth policy in the Navajo campaign, burning Navajo fields and homes, and stealing or killing their livestock. He was aided by other Indian tribes with long-standing enmity toward the Navajos, chiefly the Utes. He later fought a combined force of Kiowa, Comanche and Cheyenne to a draw at the First Battle of Adobe Walls, but managed to destroy the Indian village and winter supplies. On June 27 1874 'Bat' Masterson and a small group of buffalo hunters fought much larger Indian force at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. Red Cloud's War (1866 – 1868) was lead by the Lakota chief Makhpyia luta (Red Cloud) and was the most successful war against the U.S. during the Indian Wars. By the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), the U.S. granted a large reservation to the Lakota, without military presence or oversight, no settlements, and no reserved road building rights. The reservation included the entire Black Hills. Captain Jack, was a chief of the Native American Modoc tribe of California and Oregon, and was their leader during the Modoc War (1872 – 1873). With 53 Modoc warriors, under Captain Jack held off 1000 men of the U.S. Army for 7 months. Captain Jack killed Edward Canby, who was the only general killed during the Indian Wars (contrary to the occasional impression that Custer ranked higher than lieutenant colonel). The Black Hills War (1876 – 1877) was conducted by the Lakota under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The conflict began after repeated violations of the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868). One of its famous battles was the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876) – in which combined Sioux and Cheyenne forces defeated the 7th Cavalry, led by George Armstrong Custer. The end of the Indian Wars came at the Massacre of Wounded Knee (December 28, 1890) where Tatanka Iyotake's half-brother, Big Foot, and some 200 Sioux are killed by the U.S. 7th Cavalry. (Only thirteen days before, Tatanka Iyotake had been killed with his son Crow Foot in a gun battle with a group of Indian police that had been sent by the American government to arrest him.) Gunfight at the O.K. Corral The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was an event of legendary proportion in the Wild West. 'Bat' Masterson visited Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, Arizona, leaving shortly before the famous event. The gunfight occurred on Wednesday afternoon, October 26, 1881, in a vacant lot, known as lot 2, in block 17, behind the corral, in Tombstone, Arizona. Thirty shots were fired in thirty seconds. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp fought against Billy Claiborne, Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Billy Clanton, and Ike Clanton. Both McLaurys were killed, as was Billy Clanton. Buffalo Bill Wild West Show The frontiersman and showman, Buffalo Bill (William Cody), toured the United States starring in plays based loosely on his Western adventures. His part typically included an 1876 incident at the Warbonnet Creek where he scalped a Cheyenne warrior, purportedly in revenge for the death of George Armstrong Custer. In Omaha, Nebraska in 1883, Cody founded the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show," a circus-like attraction that toured annually: Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull both appeared in the show. In 1887 he performed in London in celebration of the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, and toured Europe in 1889. The Frisco Shootout Elfego Baca became a legendary lawman in the closing days of the American wild west. On December 1, 1884, in the town of Frisco (now Reserve), Baca arrested one of a group of cowboys who had been shooting up the town and had taken pot shots at Baca. After threats from the cowboy's friends, Baca took refuge in the house of Geronimo Armijo. A standoff with the cowboys ensued and a gang of 80 cowhands attacked the house. The story has it that the cowboys fired more than 4,000 rounds into the house until the house looked like Swiss cheese. Incrediby, not one of the rounds hit Baca. During the siege Baca killed four of the attackers and wounded eight others. After 36 hours, the attack ended when the cowboys ran out of ammunition. Baca walked out of the house unharmed. In May 1885 Baca was charged with the murder of one of the cowboys who had attacked the cabin and he was jailed until his trial for murder. In August 1885 he was acquitted after the door of Armijo’s house was entered as evidence. It had over 400 bullet holes in it. Closing of the frontier The eleventh U.S. Census was taken in 1890 and the Superintendent announced that there was no longer a clear line of settlement; Frederick Jackson Turner concluded the frontier was over. His highly influential Frontier Thesis dealt with a much earlier period. With the discovery of gold in the Klondike in 1896, a new frontier was opened up in this vast northern territory. Alaska became known as "the last frontier." Cross-border raids Pancho Villa, after leaving his father's employ, took up the life of a banditry and outlawishness in Durango and later in the state of Chihuahua, whence he immigrated. He was caught several times for crimes ranging from banditry to horse thievery and cattle rustling but, through influential connections, was always able to secure his release. Villa later would become a controversial revolutionary folk hero, leading a band of Mexican raiders in attacks against various regimes and was sought after by the U.S. government. War of Incorporation The Johnson County War was a range war which took place in Johnson County, Wyoming, in the Powder River Country, in April, 1892. The dramatic events of 1892 took place against a background of violent conflict over land use that stretched from 1889 to 1909. Historian Richard Maxwell Brown refers to the events in Wyoming as part of a wider "Western Civil War of Incorporation". The large ranches were organized as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (the WSGA) and hired killers from Texas; an expedition of 50 men was organized, which proceeded by train from Cheyenne to Casper, Wyoming, then toward Johnson County, intending to eliminate alleged rustlers and also, apparently, to replace the government in Johnson County. After initial hostilities, the sheriff of Johnson County raised a posse of 200 men and set out for the ruffians' location. The posse led by the sheriff besieged the invading force at the TA Ranch on Crazy Woman Creek. After two days, one of the invaders escaped and was able to contact the acting Governor of Wyoming. Frantic efforts to save the besieged invaders ensued, and telegraphs to Washington resulted in intervention by the President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison. The Sixth Cavalry from Fort McKinney was ordered to proceed to the TA ranch and take custody of the invaders and save them from the posse. In the end the invaders went free after the court venue was changed and the charges dropped. Fiction and non-fiction The Old West has had a lasting impression on the American psyche and the fiction concerning the Old West has been a popular genre, featuring authors such as Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Movies such as those featuring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, radio dramas, television, pulp novels and comic books all had popular Old West themes. In German culture the genre was so popular that it spawned another, the Kraut-Western, which is alive and well even one century after its debut. Karl May is the best-selling German writer of all time, due to his classic Wild West adventure novels featuring the unforgettable protagonists Old Shatterhand and Winnetou. Non-western genre television and movies use the Old West as a setting occasionally as well, such as the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Enterprise. As of today, an online and realistic role playing game named Frontier 1859 is currently in development and will take place in American Old west during the pre-secession war era. The old west has comic book representation too: Jonah Hex is a very popular Western hero. Loveless is another popular comic that still runs today. Older Wetsern comics include Tex Willer and the Two-Gun Kid. There is a nonfiction side of the American West, too, as in, for example, Robert Laxalt's memoir Sweet Promised Land, in which Dominique Laxalt, his father, a Basque sheepherder, revisits the old country. The book ends with Laxalt's desire to return to his home in Nevada: "... and he saw the mountains of the West rise up ...". Nevertheless, the untamable mystique of the Wild West lives on with fascination with a simpler world of salt of the Earth values. Of note, Cowboy Action Shooting is one of the fastest growing American sports today, combining marksmanship with the theatricality of a historical reenacting of the gunslinging Wild West days. Locations and characters Other famous locations and characters originate in fiction such as the television shows Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and Western movies and fiction. For example, while Dodge City, Kansas, the setting of Gunsmoke, was briefly a wide-open town and Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were lawmen there, Marshall Matt Dillon and the other regular characters of Gunsmoke are fictional characters. Likewise, while Virginia City, Nevada was a significant mining boomtown, the Ponderosa Ranch and the Cartwright family of Bonanza are fictional. Considerable poetic license has been taken with a number of the actual events and characters such as Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid as they have been portrayed in ways which reflect contemporary concerns more than the historical record. Certain books and movies such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Shane, High Noon, and the novel The Virginian stand out. The American Old West has recently experienced a renaissance period in entertainment via the television series Deadwood and the video games Red Dead Revolver (PS2, Xbox) and GUN (GCN, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox and Xbox 360). Western movies
Western literature Cowboy poetry is a form of poetry that focuses on the culture, features and lifestyle of the West, both the Old West and its modern equivalents. It is not defined by any particular scheme or structure, but by subject matter. Western novels, or cowboy novels, portrayed the west as both a barren landscape and a romanticized idealistic way of living. Semi-Western Certain fictional works, while certainly not Westerns in of themselves, have undeniable influences of the romanticized old west. These include television series Firefly and its movie sequel Serenity, along with the role-playing game Deadlands, the Dark Tower fiction series by Stephen King, and the video game series Wild ARMS.. However, because the definition of a "Western" is somewhat ambiguous, it can be difficult to define what does and does not include western elements. Some works, such as anime television series Cowboy Bebop, and role-playing game Deadlands have been noted by fans as having elements similar to those in Westerns, though such claims have generally not been substantiated by their creators. It is a common misconception that Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo was influenced by certain spaghetti westerns, though quite the reverse is true. A Fistful of Dollars, starring Clint Eastwood, was a remake of Yojimbo in a western setting, as was Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, which became The Magnificent Seven. In a mix of Western and modern societies, the 1950s radio and television series Sky King covered the exploits of "America's favorite flying cowboy." Skyler King, who owned the Flying Crown Ranch, his niece Penny, nephew Clipper, and various townspeople of Grover City, Arizona, lived in the post-World War II transitional period of the American West, and dressed in the appropriate Western garb of the time. In some episodes, Sky was shown using his airplane, Songbird, to perform some ranch chore. Sky generally did not wear a pistol, but kept one in his plane, and when needed would take a long gun from the rack near the door to his home. The series plots were generally some form of the classis Western theme of "making the wrong things right." Some "Westerns" are not set in the West at all (such as most of those involving riverboats, which were rare west of the Missouri River), or even in North America. The 1990 film Quigley Down Under is the tale of a cowboy who goes to Australia. Though not set in the American West, MGM includes this in their "Western Legends" line of videos. Bibliography See also General museum and art gallery, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, housing one of the largest collections in the world of Western, American cowboy, American rodeo, and American Indian art, artifacts, and archival materials. an activity in which participants recreate some aspects of a historical event or period. a traditional folk North American sport. a poster, popular in mythic scenes of the west, put up to let the public know of a criminal whom authorities wish to apprehend. figures in Western style motion pictures and/or television series, some of whom have been voted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. best selling German writer of all time, noted chiefly for wild west books set in the American West. American-Indian hero of several novels written by Karl May. an alternate history western horror roleplaying game. a western roleplaying game modeled after Clint Eastwood films and similar darker Westerns. | |||||||||||
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