You know the names, but admit it, do you really know why they're famous
From Jesse James to Annie Oakley, these are the things no one ever brings up about these
legendary figures of the Wild West. Billy the Kid is one of the most notorious Wild West outlaws in history
That's extra impressive when you consider that he died at just 21 years old
Historians know very little about the outlaws' early years. According to the book Billy the Kid, A Short and Violent Life, his mother Catherine was
an Irish immigrant to New York City. That's where Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, was born in 1859
No one knows the exact month or day for sure. It's also unknown if his parents were married or if his father was ever in the picture
Billy probably spent the first six years of his life in the Irish slums of Manhattan or Brooklyn
The conditions would have been horrific. In the 1860s, when Billy was growing up there, almost 300,000 people lived in one square mile
The Irish were only allowed to rent the worst of the worst tenements, and Billy easily could
have lived in a 12 by 12 room with 20 other people. Disease was rampant in the slums
and the mortality rate for Irish children was 25%. The fact that Billy made it to 21 could
almost be seen as a miracle considering his origins. While his later life would have been
characterized by Wild West violence, his childhood would have been marked by the poverty and
brutality of New York's ghettos. By the time the Civil War ended, Billy and his mother moved to
Indianapolis. She was single by this point and started a relationship with a man named William
Antrim. In 1870, the whole group relocated to Wichita, Kansas. It was there that Billy's life
took a positive turn. His mother, Catherine, ran her own laundry business, which must have been
successful because she was able to purchase land outside of town. Her boyfriend, William
built a cabin and a storm cellar, probably with the help of Billy and his younger brother, Joe
There was every indication that Catherine had put down roots and that Billy would grow up living a
happy, secure life surrounded by family. Wonderful. But that didn't happen. Unfortunately, Billy was soon dealt a devastating blow
In 1871, Catherine was diagnosed with tuberculosis. At the time, many doctors thought the drier climates could cure a person of TB, so the
family packed up their belongings and moved to the New Mexico Territory. Billy was only 14 when his mother died of TB
While William officially became their stepfather, he wasn't interested in raising the two boys
He found separate foster homes for the brothers, then abandoned them. At this point, it seems Billy was still a good law-abiding kid
He found honest work at a hotel, where he washed dishes and waited tables. Despite earning a living, he also managed to go to school
But something soon changed in Billy. History Net reports that he first stole some food
Then, a few months later, he was involved in a prank with a friend who stole a bundle of clothes
However, someone turned Billy in for the crime. The sheriff didn't want to do anything more than scare the boy straight when he put Billy in a cell for a couple of days
but Billy took it very seriously. He managed to climb up the chimney and escape
Now he had no family, and in his mind at least, he was a fugitive from the law
Billy was now a teenager living alone in a very dangerous part of the country
Regardless of his age, there were a million ways to die in the West. Outlaws, angry drunk people, scorned hookers, hungry animals, diseases, major and minor injuries
Indians, the weather. You can get killed just going to the bathroom. According to Legends of America, two years after escaping jail
Billy met a blacksmith named Frank Wendy Cahill, who liked to pick on the kid
One day, the insults went too far. On August 17, 1877, history reports Cahill called Billy a pimp
Billy responded by calling Cahill a son of a b****. The blacksmith jumped Billy, threw the teenager to the ground, and pinned him
Panicking, Billy pulled out a gun and shot Cahill. He died the next day
One witness said Billy had no choice but to use self-defense. The kid didn't stick around to make his case
Now he really was a fugitive. Billy joined various gangs and made most of his money through cattle rustling
But one day he stole some horses and was thrown in jail. The horse's owner, an Englishman named John Tunstall, came to see Billy in a cell
After they talked, Tunstall dropped the charges and gave him a job. It was like the family Billy had been missing for so long
Tunstall may have been the closest thing to a father Billy ever had. But Tunstall was involved in an escalating feud over territory
On February 18, 1878, a posse shot and killed Tunstall in cold blood in front of Billy
The story of a kid swearing vengeance over his father figure's grave is a myth, but Billy
was now part of a blood feud known as the Lincoln County War
Over the next five months, both sides would participate in various shootouts and revenge killings
Billy is credited with a higher body count than he actually had, although he definitely
killed at least a few people, including a sheriff. By the end of the war, which his side lost, Billy was known as one of the best gunmen
in the West. According to Legends of America, in 1879, New Mexico Territory Governor Lew Wallace heard
Billy would be willing to surrender and testify against other outlaws if his charges were dropped
The two eventually met to discuss the situation, and Governor Wallace offered Billy a seemingly
straightforward deal. "- You testify against everyone involved in this damn war, and I'll pardon you.
The kid agreed to testify. According to their arrangement, Billy would be arrested for show, then spend time in jail
until the trial dates. Billy's evidence was enough to convict at least one major bad guy, but the district
attorney refused to follow Wallace's orders that he be released afterward. So without a pardon, Billy had no choice but to escape jail once again and continue living
on the run. Billy the Kid, A Short and Violent Life, says that the pardon might have meant a chance at
legitimate prosperity. Billy was hardly the worst person in the West, but according to the book, the law singled
him out for special treatment. Billy should have been a free man at that point. Instead
with outstanding warrants, he returned to what he knew best, a life of crime. He formed his own
gang of outlaws and started rustling cattle again. For a year, he lived around Fort Sumner
There, he became friends with a local bartender named Pat Garrett. HistoryNet even reports that
it's more than possible Garrett joined Billy and his gang on some of their cattle raids
But the West was often one big gray area when it came to who was a good guy and who was a bad guy
So it wasn't that shocking when Garrett was elected Lincoln County Sheriff
Suddenly, Garrett was in charge of actively tracking down his old friend. It was a complicated pursuit, and numerous people were shot and killed, but not Billy
The sheriff set up many traps and ambushes in an attempt to apprehend Billy
but the kid seemed to have an animal instinct that warned him of danger. That instinct didn't last long
On December 23, just days after Governor Wallace put a $500 reward on Billy's head
Garrett and his posse captured the kid alive. Billy took it in stride, telling a reporter from his jail cell
By this time, Billy the Kid had become a folk hero to some and an evil outlaw to others
In addition to endless newspaper articles written about him, there were plenty of people on street corners and bar stools sharing tall tales about the kid
I'll shoot you and kill your people. And your sheriffs, maybe. Billy spent months in a Santa Fe jail before his trial began in April 1881
While he'd committed plenty of crimes by then, the charges were for killing Sheriff William Brady during the Lincoln County War
The jury deliberated for exactly one day before finding Billy guilty. The sentence was death by hanging, and the execution date was set for May 13th
He had no intention of sticking around for that Billy was in irons and under constant surveillance by two guards James Bell and Robert Olinger on the second floor of the courthouse Garrett who knew the kid reputation for successful escape attempts was taking no chances But somehow Billy got his
hands on a gun. Historians have no solid proof, but it's thought either one of his old gang members
hit a pistol in a toilet, or he took it off of Bell himself. The kid took out Bell first
then grabbed a shotgun and waited at a window for Olinger, who headed toward the courthouse
when he heard the shots. Billy called out, Hello, Bob, and blasted him
Billy then stole a horse and raced out of town. Against all odds, he escaped custody yet again
but it would be his last time. The next time, Pat Garrett wouldn't take Billy the kid alive
Garrett later wrote that people were upset he didn't seem to be very concerned about recapturing the kid
but the sheriff said he was, quote, quietly at work, maturing his plans of action
It's almost unbelievable that with his head start and ability to go almost anywhere
Billy never left New Mexico territory. Instead, he returned to Fort Sumner and didn't bother to keep a low profile
Within three months, Garrett was on to him. On the night of July 14, 1881, the sheriff and his posse went to rancher Peter Maxwell's house
to ask if he knew where the kid was. Maxwell absolutely did. Billy was on his way over with some beef for dinner
Garrett was in Maxwell's dark bedroom talking to him when Billy showed up at the door
Sensing someone else in the room but unable to see his old acquaintance turned adversary
Billy pulled his gun and asked, Who's that in Spanish? Garrett later wrote about that moment
It was the first time during all Billy's life apparel that he ever lost his presence of mind
or failed to shoot first and hesitate afterwards. It would be the mistake that killed him
Garrett let off two shots. One of the bullets hit Billy right in the heart. After years of escaping one dangerous situation after the next
Billy the Kid was dead at the age of 21. Billy the Kid barely spent two decades on Earth
and he was only famous for a brief period of time. But that didn't stop people from taking his name and image
and turning it into whatever they wanted it to be. According to Billy the Kid, The Endless Ride, within a year of his death
dozens of novels and nonfiction accounts very light on facts were published
Even Pat Garrett wrote a biography of Billy. Each subsequent generation used Billy to represent something different
In the 1920s, with the Wild West officially in the past, books presented him as the Robin Hood of a lost pastoral world
Other decades cast him as a frontier superhero, homicidal maniac, or a martyred symbol of freedom
There have been more than a dozen movies and even a ballet devoted to him
Plus, he still makes millions for the tourism industry in New Mexico. However, some people truly refuse to let Billy die because they claim to actually be the outlaw
Vintage News says that one person, Brushy Bill, was taken somewhat seriously
Living in Texas in the 1940s, he managed to convince the locals, some of the kid's contemporaries
and a lawyer that he was in fact the outlaw. Brushy Bill petitioned the governor of New Mexico for a pardon, but the governor was not convinced
Brushy Bill stuck to the story until he died in 1950, and even requested that his tombstone
include the line, aka Billy the Kid. More than 160 years after Billy the Kid was born, his legend is still going strong, and
it shows no signs of slowing down, even if that legend is based on both fact and fiction
It doesn't matter what's true. It matters the story they tell when you're gone
Annie Oakley was much more than just America's shooting sweetheart. Her life has been dramatized in TV shows and musicals like Annie Gets Your Gun, but this
is the real-life story of Annie Oakley. On August 13, 1860, Phoebe Annie Mosey was born to a poor family in a rundown cabin near
Greenville, Ohio. When she was only five years old, her father, Jacob, died when he was caught in a blizzard
on a trip to town. A few years later, Annie's family was close to losing their farm
Thankfully, Annie had learned to hunt, and she was able to feed her family
As her shooting skills improved dramatically, she began learning the types of trick shots
she'd later become famous for. Annie's hard work paid off. Her skills not only supplied
her family with food, but she also earned an income by selling wild game to Greenville
merchants. Within three years, at the age of 15, she'd made enough money to pay off
the family farm. On an 1875 visit to Cincinnati to see her sister, Annie competed in a local shooting
match against a professional entertainment and trick shooter, Frank E. Butler. The amused
butler actually chuckled at the sight of the little lady who came up against him and offered
to take all bets, with a purse of $100. But Annie had the last laugh, hitting all 25 clay pigeons
as they sailed into the air. Butler hit only 24. Butler was impressed, to say the least. He was also
smitten, meeting his match and Annie. He made it his mission to get to know the girl better and
wormed his way into her heart. He succeeded, and the couple is believed to have married in Cincinnati
on August 23, 1876. The couple began traveling around the West, and Annie Butler adopted a stage
name after a Cincinnati neighborhood. As Annie Oakley, she demonstrated her abilities to shoot
dimes from a man's hand and cigarettes from his lips, hit the flame on a moving candle
and shoot the middle of the ace of spades over her shoulder using a mirror. She could also shoot
targets while standing on the back of a galloping steed. In 1885, William Buffalo Bill Cody offered
the butlers a three-day trial run with his Buffalo Bills Wild West show. Cody was super impressed and
immediately hired the couple. He called Oakley Lil' Miss and scheduled her as one of his first
acts to get the crowd used to the sound of gunfire. Chief Sitting Bull, a legend immortalized in TV
and movies himself, was so impressed with her that he sent her $65 for an autographed photo
Oakley returned the money with the requested photo. Sitting Bull Christianed her with Tanya
Cecilla, which others translated to mean Little Sure Shot. Chief Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bill's
show soon after. Her shooting talents aside, something else made Annie Oakley unique in 19th
century America. Knee-length costumes and her chestnut hair flowed down her back, two no-nos
for feminine dress of the day. In a thesis entitled Embodying the West, author Julie E
Williams theorized that Oakley got away with her wardrobe because she maintained the lifestyle of
quote, a feminine, domestic, and virtuous woman. Unlike others working for Buffalo Bill
who enjoyed a good party, Oakley preferred the comfort of her tent between shows, reading
her Bible and sewing. Annie Oakley's career also encouraged more women to participate in
sports, a pastime normally dominated by men. In 1898, she brazenly penned a letter to President
William McKinley as the Spanish-American War loomed on the horizon. In it, Oakley volunteered
her services by offering to personally organize and train 50 female sharpshooters to serve
should America officially go to war. Her request was denied, largely because at that time
women were not permitted to serve in the military. By 1901, Annie Oakley was at the top of her game
The Wild West show was famous across America, traveling from town to town and giving well-attended performances
But the show came to a stop in North Carolina with a horrific train wreck on the early morning
of October 29, 1901. Oakley, who was sleeping when the accident occurred, was violently thrown from her bunk
and remained in a coma for 17 hours. When she awoke, her left side was paralyzed
It was only after five surgeries, months of recovery, and two years that she would walk again
In the aftermath, souvenir hunters would report finding items from the wreck for weeks
Annie Oakley's time with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show was done. Needing a less strenuous career, she began giving shooting lessons for exclusive gun clubs
Frank Butler, meanwhile, took a job with the Union Metallic Cartridge Company
The position required giving demonstrations, allowing the couple to continue giving shooting
exhibitions to illustrate how great the products were. When World War I broke out Oakley again tried her luck at offering to give shooting lessons to the troops She was again denied The book Women of the American Circus reveals that Oakley took matters into her own hands and traveled across America giving shooting lessons and demonstrations for the National War Council
of the Young Men's Christian Association and the War Camp Community Service
When Annie Oakley died in 1926 at the age of 66, Americans lost their heroine
Fans would never forget the little lady who aimed to please them. Fortunately, two films survive in which the famed shooting champion demonstrated her skills
In the years after Oakley's death, movies, songs, and a television show fictionalized her life
The first film of her life, aptly titled Annie Oakley, came out in 1935 and starred Barbara
Stanwyck. A 1946 stage musical, Annie Get Your Gun, was made into a 1950 movie starring Betty
Hutton and remade in 1957 for TV. Between 1954 and 1957, a television show, also titled Annie
Annie Oakley, ran in syndication. But the show was pure fiction, with Oakley and her brother
keeping order in the town of Diablo. One thing is for sure, Oakley was a woman who was not afraid
to show off her hard-earned skills. We have ways of taking care of men like him
She blossomed as a modest symbol of the American female spirit in a time when most women were
relegated to careers as housewives and domestic workers. Most importantly, Annie Oakley's endurance
and strength in the face of tragedy remains something to be admired, even today
David Crockett is finally remembered as the king of the wild frontier, a principled politician
and the last defender of the Alamo. But the truth about this frontiersman is a lot more complicated
than that. David Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, near the town of Limestone. A state park
commemorates the spot, which is now part of Tennessee. The volunteer state claims Crockett
is a native son and hero, and indeed, he served in the Tennessee General Assembly before representing
one of its congressional districts. And the theme song to the Disney series even began with the
phrase, born on a mountaintop in Tennessee. There's two things we need to address. The crock at home
while relatively remote, wasn't actually on a mountaintop. And at the time he was born
it wasn't part of Tennessee. The Scots-Irish settlers who populated the region aimed to
organize it into a new state named Franklin. In 1784, when Franklin narrowly lost the vote
necessary to receive statehood from Congress, its constituents broke away from North Carolina
and became an independent republic. This story is pretty complicated. Just to sort of wrap it up
North Carolina then reabsorbed the republic in 1789, ceded that land plus some west of there
back to the U.S. government, and that's how we ended up with the state of Tennessee
Back to our main story. No, not born on a mountaintop, not in Tennessee
That being said, born in a remote section of the state of Franklin during its separation
from North Carolina and prior to becoming the state of Tennessee doesn't exactly roll off the tongue
so it's really okay they lied. I saw him there. The first episode of Disney's Davy Crockett series
was entitled Davy Crockett Indian Fighter. It was loosely based around the Creek War
a clash between the Red Stick faction of the Creek Indians in the United States between 1813
and 1814. Disney presented Crockett as an active combatant who personally fought and bested the
Red Stick leader before convincing him to make peace. And then there's the 1960 film The Alamo
starring John Wayne as Crockett, who says that fighting against Native Americans was the only
soldiering he ever did before coming to Texas. The real David Crockett was a proud veteran of
the Creek War who used his service to his advantage when on the political campaign trail
later in life. But Crockett wasn't actually an Indian fighter in the Creek War or any other
conflict between white settlers and Native Americans. He was a first-rate hunter and scouts
and his service as a volunteer was largely spent in those roles, hunting and scouting
By his own admission, he didn't believe that he was suited to warfare, and contemporary and historical assessments of his character paint a picture of a man too friendly to be a fierce combatant
So he didn't exactly fib about his service. David Crockett don't lie
Texas Monthly once described David Crockett as perhaps the first American to make a living portraying his own fanciful image
Imagine a world where people are famous for being famous. I think it has, like, served me well
Though essentially an honest man, he loved to entertain with boasts about his hunting expeditions
Once he became involved in politics, he turned his natural charm to his advantage. You could certainly make the case that he was an early example of a famous person becoming a politician
Outgunned financially by his opponents, he told stories, cracked jokes, and on one occasion
took the wind out of another candidate's sails by memorizing his stump speech and delivering it before he could
Crockett's celebrity really exploded nationwide by the time he reached the Capitol
His image as a buckskin-clad, semi-literate outdoorsman was lauded and lambasted in equal
measure. The tippy-top of his fame happened when he was fictionalized as Nimrod Wildfire in The
Lion of the West, a successful play that celebrated the frontiersman portrayal in heavily caricatured
fashion. Crockett attended the play's Washington Benefit performance in 1831 or so, and he continued
to trade on his frontier image. But he was ambivalent and at times resentful about how
much this caricature drove his reputation. He wanted to be accepted as a gentleman
and he took care to dress and speak well when keeping company in Washington. Imagine the disappointment when visitors met Crockett there clad in a suit
no buckskin clothing, and wait till you hear about his hat. The line of the West did much to amplify popular legends about Crockett
The illustration that graced the playbill and the cover that appeared on Davy Crockett's
Almanac fixed his image in the public mind of a half-wild frontiersman wearing a fur cap and
dressed head-to-toe in buckskins. The initial illustrations featured a hat made of a wildcat
pelt, but over time the coon skin became fixed as the one and only Crockett cap. Hunting raccoons
was part of Crockett's public persona. Speaking of, if you know the song, you're probably wondering
about the other thing he hunted. We can't speak to any incident at the age of three, but yes
Davy Crockett killed bears. Lots of bears. Lots and lots of bears. Let's just leave it at that
Well, that's just great. Bears, now you're putting the whole station in jeopardy
His political opponents castigated him as an unserious coon killer, while he himself told
tales of getting raccoons out of trees just by grinning. But there's no record of him ever having
worn a fur hat of any kind before Nimrod Wildfire came along. When he arranged for a portrait of
himself in frontier garb, he posed not with a coonskin cap, but with a popular felt hat with
the wide brim. Accounts of Crockett setting out for Texas or lying dead in the Alamo feature him
wearing the coonskin, or at least a distinctive hat, but these stories emerged well after his
death. Assuming that these accounts weren't colored by Crockett's popular image, they indicate that he
only started wearing his trademark headgear at the very end of his life. You think I'm going to dress like any self-respecting congressman? No. I got to go in there like the
king of the wild frontier, Franks, do you? In the second episode of the Disney series
As Davy Crockett goes to Congress, Crockett loses his congressional seat and he hopes for
higher office when he opposes Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Bill. This opposition is historically accurate, and it was also principled
Crockett was against the lack of congressional oversight to the funds that were granted to Jackson
In fact, he once introduced a bill to eliminate West Point because he thought it was basically a money laundering system for rich folks' kids
But with the Indian Removal Bill, he sympathized with the native tribes who would be displaced
it would lead to a miserable fate to the tribes. Spoiler, he was right
But this vote didn really represent either the high or low point of Crockett time in politics While he did lose his seat in the 1830 referendum he was also re two years later A bill like this would never live long enough to even get on our desk
let alone come to a vote. Re-election didn't bring any changes to Crockett's notoriously empty list of legislative
accomplishments, but it did temporarily endear him to the leaders of the Whig Party
who courted Crockett as a potential presidential candidate for the 1836 election
How seriously Crockett took a possible White House run isn't clear, but he was ultimately
too independent-minded for the Whigs or any political party. Abandoned by his Whig allies
after losing his congressional seat again and hounded by supporters of Andrew Jackson
Crockett's political career seemed finished. As for his personal life, he was estranged from his
wife and her family. Texas, which was at the time still a territory of Mexico open to American
settlers, offered a fresh start. Old friends like Sam Houston had relocated there, and opportunities
for hunting and leisure abounded. By the time that Crockett set out for Texas, tensions between
the Texians and the Central Authority in Mexico were inflamed and well-known to Americans
But contrary to the 1960 Alamo film and other fictionalized accounts, Crockett didn't go there
with a mind for battle. When he arrived in January 1836, it appeared to many Texians that the fighting
was over, or at least a far-off prospect. Crockett wrote back home that he was sure that he'd be
elected to help with the state constitution. It was only after he arrived and caught the whiff
of adventure in the air that he began claiming he meant to fight. Popular accounts about the siege of the Alamo are full of myths, half-truths, and outright lies
But one thing they generally get right is that command of the garrison was shared by
William Barrett Travis and Jim Bowie, or at least until the latter fell sick
But in many popular accounts, David Crockett is presented as a de facto third commander
present for all major decisions and deep in Travis' and Bowie's confidence
But Crockett was no officer, only a private, and he may not even have been the leader of
the so-called Tennessee Mounted Volunteers. He originally came to Texas with three companions
According to the Three Roads to the Alamo, when he enlisted with the militia and made
off for San Antonio, he became the informal leader of a slightly larger group
But William B. Harrison was the party's commander. Either way, Crockett was certainly famous and celebrated, but third in command, he was not
A counter-myth, which was presented in the 2004 film The Alamo, portrays Crockett as
insecure and lost within the fortress walls. But letters from Travis and survivor accounts shared by historians on the DVD's behind-the-scenes
features paint him as an energetic cheerleader and entertainer to the men, helping them to
stay brave and dutiful. There are two popular myths regarding how David Crockett died during the Battle of the
Alamo on March 6, 1836. One, which was popularized heavily in the mid-20th century, is that he went down fighting
The Disney miniseries ended with him as literally the last defender left at the Alamo, swinging
his rifle like a club against an onslaught of Mexican soldiers. 1960s Alamo movie, meanwhile, shows him being mortally wounded before destroying the garrison's
supply of gunpowder, thus denying it to the enemy. This story has some support in the historical record, as various survivors reportedly said
that they saw Crockett dead but surrounded by the men that he had slain. But according to Three Roads to the Alamo, these accounts were recorded from secondhand
sources and were told well after the fact. And the report that Crockett went down swinging has
competition from an alternative telling in which he was instead executed after being captured
According to several sources, including the diary of Mexican soldier Jose Enrique de la Peña
this account claims that Crockett and other soldiers were taken prisoner by a general who
asked that they receive clemency, but instead Antonio López de Santa Ana had them killed
There's a report in a letter from a George M. Dolson that echoes the captured-slash-shot
version, and about three weeks after the Alamo, a New Orleans newspaper carried that same story
The authenticity of the diary is reportedly solid, but that doesn't mean it's accurate
There's some dispute to if Crockett was indeed one of the men executed after the battle
Ultimately, the only certainty about Crockett's death is that he died at the Alamo
Everybody's heard of the legendary outlaw Jesse James thanks to the many movies and
TV shows dramatizing his life. But how much of the legend is true and how much is nonsense
This is the life and tragic death of Jesse James. The man who had become a fearsome outlaw started out like everyone else
first and foremost, as a baby. He was born Jesse Woodson James to the Reverend Robert James
a Baptist minister and successful farmer, and Zarelda Cole James in Kearney, Missouri on
September 5, 1847. According to History, Robert died in the fall or winter of 1850, on a trip to
preach in the gold fields of California. A widow at the age of 28 with three children to feed
Zerelda knew that finding another husband was key to her survival. She married Benjamin Sims in 1852
and after he died just two years later, Zerelda married Reuben Samuel in 1855
The world of the James children was rocked by their father's death, their mother's poverty
and her subsequent marriages. Things only got more complicated when, in 1863, a group of Union
militiamen converged on the family farm. They were looking for Jesse's brother Frank, who was a
member of a Confederate guerrilla gang commonly known as Bushwhackers, which engaged in attacking
Union sympathizers as the Civil War raged. Young Jesse was ambushed and whipped by militia soldiers
and Reuben Samuel was hanged from a tree and tortured. Samuel survived, but Jesse became
determined to join his brother and fight for the South. Soon after the attack on the family farm, Jesse James joined the war
The National Park Service's documentation of the Civil War confirms Jesse signed up for
the Confederate 4th Regiment of the Missouri Infantry. Within a year, he had joined his brother Frank, whose guerrilla gang was headed by William
Bloody Bill Anderson. In September of 1864, the notorious group robbed a Union congressman, James S. Collins, before
raiding a Union passenger train. On board were 22 furloughed soldiers who had surrendered
according to history. Anderson's gang ordered the men from the train and mercilessly murdered
each of them. The Union's 39th Missouri Volunteer Infantry set out in pursuit of Anderson's gang
but was ambushed at Centralia, Missouri by the guerrillas. Anderson's men killed over 100 soldiers
The bodies of the dead were mutilated, while survivors were brutally tortured. The battle
in which both Frank and Jesse participated, was later called the Centralia Massacre
Jesse was only 16 years old. In May of 1865, Jesse was outside of Lexington, Missouri when
he was shot in the chest. His cousin, Zerelda Mim, nursed him back to health, but the atrocities
Jesse and Frank committed during the war were considered so terrible, the family had to leave
Clay County. James' experiences during the Civil War would result in some post-traumatic stress
disorder of the worst kind. Unable to return to a normal life, the young man turned to a life of
crime instead. According to history, James' first widely publicized bank robbery occurred in 1869
and went terribly wrong. The robbery took place in Gallatin, Missouri, where James thought he
recognized the cashier as Samuel Cox, the man who had managed to kill James' army buddy
Bloody Bill Anderson, in 1864. So James shot him to death. But the cashier was not Cox
rendering his killing even more senseless and brutal. Worse yet, the bounty James snatched up on his way out the door turned out to be a portfolio
Bank stationery, not money. As news of James' activities went public, pro-Confederate newspaper
editor John Newman Edwards decided to spice up his own paper with the sensational stories about
the murderer and would-be bank robber. Edwards published stories portraying Jesse James as a
hero who had used his ill-gotten gains to help the poor, while James himself penned letters to
the editor defending himself. Readers got their dime novel fodder, while Edwards used the stories
to inspire his fellow Confederates to regain political power. America bought the story
although no evidence has ever been uncovered to substantiate Edwards' claims that James was a
19th century Robin Hood. Jesse James would commit more robberies over time. According to PBS
by June of 1871 he had hooked up with the notorious Younger Brothers gang and robbed
another bank in Coridan, Iowa. James discovered that most of the locals were attending a speech by
orator Henry Clay Dean at the Methodist Church. After swiping $6,000 from the bank, the gang busted into the church and angrily taunted
the crowd with the money. James also started robbing trains and leaving his own press releases at the crime scenes
Many of James' robberies turned violent. At another bank holdup in Kentucky during 1872, the unarmed cashier was shot but refused
to open the vault even as he was dying. A more successful robbery, a train at Gadshill, Missouri, took place in 1874
In between rampages, three months after the Gadshill robbery, Jesse married Zerelda Z
Mims, the cousin who took care of him after he was shot in 1865
After the train robbery, Pinkerton's National Detective Agency was brought in. According to history, the agents snuck up to Zerelda and Ruben Samuels' farm in the
dead of night on January 25, 1875, and tossed a bomb into the house
In the resulting explosion, James' eight-year-old half-brother was killed, and his mother lost her arm. Worse yet, the James boys were nowhere near the farm
In March of 1875, a sympathetic group of citizens rallied for an amnesty bill to release the James
brothers from all guilt. The bill made it to the General Assembly, but failed to meet the
two-thirds majority necessary for the bill to pass. James, who had fled with his family to Tennessee
continued pushing for amnesty. He was likely inspired by the impending birth of his first
child, Jesse Edwards James. Just before the baby was born, James wrote a letter to the New York
Times which was reprinted by other newspapers, including the August 5th issue of the Leavenworth
Weekly Times in Kansas. In his letter, James claimed that he was a gentleman and that what
really incensed him, he said, was that he was being, "...persecuted for the sake of the Confederacy, reproached with horse-stealing and burglary by
Democratic and Southern newspapers." But the Times came to their own conclusion and disagreed. James had no choice but to
remain an outlaw and set about acting like it. A year after his plea for amnesty, Jesse's wife
gave birth to a second child, identified by the census records as Ethel Louise James
According to history, just a month later, on September 7, 1876, the James Younger Gang
consisting of Frank and Jesse James, Cole, Jim, and Robert Younger, and three other gang members
waltzed up to the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. The men had heard that Union
general and Republican governor of Reconstruction-era Mississippi, Adalbert Ames, had just recently
deposited $75,000 with the bank. According to the Grange Advanced newspaper in Red Wing, Minnesota
three men went inside and told the cashier to open the safe, which he refused to do
so they killed him. The others remained outside as a lookout, but word quickly got out of the
holdup. Angry townsfolk took up arms and approached the robbers in the street
In the ensuing gunfight, two members of the gang were killed, while the others fled without
any money, but with a few gunshot wounds. The younger brothers were captured two weeks later
near Medelia, Minnesota, and were later sentenced to life in prison. The failed robbery was a lesson
to Frank and Jesse, who decided to remain in Tennessee under assumed names to avoid capture
After two years of living peacefully, however, James decided to resume his life of crime
By the summer of 1879, Frank James had decided to leave his lawless life behind
For Jesse James, however, going straight was not so easy. Riding back to Missouri
he began looking around for a new set of gang members. HistoryNet reports one of them was Ed
Miller, Clell Miller's brother. Ed decided to introduce Jesse to the Ford family outside of
Richmond. Jesse felt at ease with the Fords, especially Bob and Charlie, who were fellow
guerrillas from the Civil War days. The new gang committed at least one robbery in 1879
an express train on the Chicago and Alton Road in October. Soon, however, Jesse was shocked to
learned that America was under the impression he had been killed by one George Shepard
An incensed Jesse wrote a letter to the Clipper, Harold and Hannibal, from Brownwood, the hardest
town in Texas. The letter read, in part, "...your reporter and George Shepard have the most brilliant imaginations in America
I read your reporter's yarn, and myself and my wife laughed heartily over it.
The outlaw even teased that he was now living in Brownwood under an assumed name
Tell your reporter to set him up to the boys around and send the bill to me," he wrote
He even enclosed a photograph of himself for all to see, although the paper didn't publish it
HistoryNet says James also remained appreciative of Ed Miller for introducing him to the Fords
at least until the summer of 1880, when Miller announced he wanted to leave the gang
Jesse immediately suspected Miller of betraying him and shot him to death
James next appeared at the Ford house with Miller's horse, which he left there with the
explanation that Ol' Ed was on the mend in Hot Springs, Arkansas from some ailment
A member of the Ford family, Jim Cummins grew suspicious. After looking for Miller for a while
Cummins visited James in Nashville during the winter of 1880-81. As with Miller, James became
suspicious of Cummins when he asked too many questions Cummins took off in the night fearful that he might too become one of James victims As Jesse went after those who he felt might betray him a whole new set of troubles
appeared on his horizon. In 1880, Joseph A. Daukas published a book titled Life and Adventures of
Frank and Jesse James. The book sold like hotcakes, 21,000 copies in four months. The book
might have spurred both Jesse and Frank to resume their lives of crime with a vengeance
There were more robberies, more killings. But when Jesse again took up his hunt for Jim Cummins
and roughed up a 15-year-old member of the Ford family, the Fords had had enough, according to
HistoryNet. In the fall of 1881, a meeting was arranged between Bob Ford and Governor Thomas
Crittenden, during which Ford agreed to capture Jesse James. Ford would later claim he had agreed
to get Jesse dead or alive. In early March of 1882, Jesse and the Fords began planning several
bank robberies in Kansas. Charlie and Bob had moved into the James home, where they awaited
their chance to take the outlaw. On the morning of April 3, Z was in the kitchen as the men chatted
in another room. Jesse had taken off his pistol belt, and he hopped on a chair to dust some
pictures on the wall. Behind him, Bob and Charlie quietly drew their guns. Jesse heard a noise
behind them and was turning to look around when Bob shot him in the back of the head
Z rushed into the room to see her husband lying on his back
James was not quite gone, trying to say something to Z as she cradled his head and attempted
to wipe off the fast-flowing blood, but unable to get out any haunting last words
Within seconds, he was dead. And that's how I killed Jesse James
Charlie then explained that the gun went off accidentally. In a 2006 issue of Wild West magazine, Ted Yeatman, long considered the foremost authority
on Jesse, wrote that the grieving Zee replied, Yes, I guess it went off on purpose
Jesse James was buried at the family farm as America revered his death
His widow Zee was forced to sell everything, including the family dog, to stay afloat
Several historians discovered that in the coming years, Zee, her landlord Henrietta
Saltzman, James' mother, and even his brother Frank kept the James home as a tourist attraction
and charged admission. Because he killed Jesse James rather than apprehending him as a greed
Bob Ford was denied any reward money and even arrested for murder. He was later pardoned and
began roaming the country and selling his story, although his actions caused many to believe he was
a common coward for shooting James from behind. By 1889, Ford was in Colorado
dealing cards in Old Colorado City and opening a bar in Creed in 1891. Notably, he was turned away
from the city limits of Cripple Creek by the sheriff himself in 1891. Despite circulating
rumors to the contrary, Ford remained alive until 1894, when one of his enemies, Red Kelly
waltzed into Ford's Creed Saloon. Kelly called out, "'Hello, Bob!' before firing a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun a mere five feet from Ford's
throat." Today, the story of Jesse James remains as one of the best-known and most-debated tales
of the West. However you feel about James and Ford, though, one thing is certain
there are no happy endings for anyone in this story. You know Wyatt Earp, gambling gunslinger
lawless lawman, and the hero of the OK Corral. But much of his biography was embellished
largely by Earp himself. That means Earp's life story is literally the stuff of Wild West legend
This is the story of his incredible life. Born on March 19, 1848, Wyatt Earp seemed to have 50
different fathers all rolled into one. As author Alan Barra laid out, Wyatt's father, Nick, worked
as a farmer, storekeeper, constable, judge, justice of the peace, and law-breaking bootlegger
He also recruited and drilled Union soldiers during the Civil War. A 19th century nomad
Nick dragged the family from city to city for various reasons. By the mid to late 1850s
Wyatt and his brothers James and Virgil had lived in seven different homes
A 13-year-old Wyatt would attempt his own journey after the Civil War broke out
He detested family work and ran away from home in hopes of fighting like his two oldest brothers
and half-brother. Wyatt apparently ran into his father at the recruiting office
ending his not-so-great escape from the doldrums of hoeing corn. In late 1869, a 21-year-old Wyatt Earp met Eurylla Sutherland. Just after Earp turned 22
they exchanged wedding vows with Earp's father officiating the ceremony. As detailed in the biography Inventing Wyatt Earp, by 1870, Eurilla was pregnant and Earp
was constable of Lamar, Missouri, a place that had no jail and where his father worked
as a justice of the peace. Whatever hopes Wyatt had for their future died with his wife and child, possibly during labor
It was at that time that Earp embraced his inner outlaw. In 1871, he, John Schoen, and Edward Kennedy allegedly stole two horses
However, Shone's wife claimed that Earp and Kennedy got shown drunk to recruit him for the horse
heist. She further alleged that they threatened to kill Shone if he incriminated them in court
Guilty or not, Earp escaped and never faced justice after his arrest
Earp started his law career in Kansas as an accused criminal. After the horse thievery charge
he absconded to Wichita, where his brother James lived. There, Wyatt provided security for saloons
and later got hired as a policeman. An intimidating figure, he excelled at pistol-whipping criminals
and whipping them in fistfights. His cop buddy, Bat Masterson, remarked that
"...there were few men in the West who could whip Earp in a rough-and-tumble fight." "...you gonna do something or just stand there and bleed?
Earp got fired for winning one such fight with William Smith, a candidate for marshal who made
the grave mistake of insulting the incumbent, aka Earp's boss. The once more unemployed Earp
relocated to Dodge City. Per the Dodge City Daily Globe, he worked seasonally as an assistant
marshal or deputy for several years where he maintained order but seemed less concerned about upholding the law He allowed illegal drinking and prostitution imposing fines to profit off
the crime instead of stopping it outright. Author Lawrence Yadun noted that detractors
referred to Wyatt and Bat Masterson as the fighting pimps because of, quote
their affinity for prostitutes and other women of questionable morality. Roger Jay observed that
in 1872, Wyatt Earp resided at a brothel in Peoria, Illinois. He and his brother Morgan would
be arrested there during a February raid. Three months later, they were arrested at a different
brothel, this time at the antiseptic-sounding McClellan Institute. A court might have found
Wyatt guilty of pimping because he and Morgan each received hefty fines of $44.55. Later that same
year, Wyatt was arrested again, this time on a gunboat said to be occupied by pimps and prostitutes
And, once again, he got slapped with a pimp-sized fine. You f***ed damn pimp
Doc Holliday may have been the greatest poster child for those living with tuberculosis
Wyatt Earp said of Holliday, "...although he sometimes drank three quarts of whiskey a day, he was still the most skillful
gambler and the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever saw.
Don't mind if I do. kinder words have probably never been said about a dentist, but tales of Holliday's lethal aim were
massive exaggerations invented to protect him from robbers and ruffians. He was a thin, sickly
man who lost his mother to TB at 15. When he was later diagnosed with the disease himself
the development torpedoed his life as a professional mouth mangler. Instead, he mouthed off at people as a gambler traveling out west in hopes that the climate would keep his
TB at Bay. Regardless, the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains claims that Holliday was, quote
not a bluff. The Georgia-born gentleman engaged in duels to protect his honor
and his fighting spirit would lead him to Earp. Sources differ on where the legendary friends
first crossed paths. Some say that Holliday became acquainted with Earp in Dodge City
Kansas, while dodging murder charges. Others, like author Chuck Hornung, have asserted that
they met in Texas. According to that account, Holliday had beaten a gambler named Henry Kahn
with a cane, and Kahn shot him. Looking to recover, he traveled about encountering Earp in Fort Griffin
In 1879, Wyatt Earp and his brothers Virgil and James arrived in the boomtown of Tombstone
Arizona, later followed by their older brother Morgan and Doc Holliday. Professor Douglas Linder
described Tombstone as being, quote, wild even by the standards of the Wild West. It was dubbed
the town too tough to die, and according to History.net, it, quote, had no law except that
of the gun and knife. Or, as author Frederick Bechdolt put it, Tombstone had a man for breakfast
every morning. And there were mornings when the number ran as high as half a dozen
When you think about famous Wild West rivalries, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday clashing with
the Clantons and McClory's, in Tombstone probably tops the list. But Wyatt Earp was a multitasker
where feuds were concerned. In addition to outlaws, he also fought the law, and one lawman
in particular. Johnny Behan had two things that Earp wanted badly. Behan was sheriff
and Behan had lived with a woman named Josephine, and Earp wanted both. Earp wooed Josephine
and they would spend the better part of five decades together. His bid for sheriff didn't
go nearly as well. Some of history's most famous bullets flew during the 1881 gunfight at the OK
Corral when brothers Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holliday, battled cowboys
Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McClory in an empty lot. Two other Cowboys, Ike Clanton and Billy
Claiborne, reportedly ran when the shooting began. There were multiple sources of animosity between
the groups. For instance, the Cowboys allegedly viewed Virgil, who was a marshal in Tombstone
as an illegitimate lawman because of the dubious way he enforced the law
But the gunfight was also steeped in deep-seated hostility over the Civil War
The OK Corral claimed the lives of the McClory brothers and Billy Clanton
Holliday and the Earps stood trial for murder but were acquitted. However
the bad blood between the Cowboys and the Earps was far from over. Dodge City author Tom Calvin described Wyatt Earps' love life as being pretty complicated
Four different women identified themselves as his wife over the course of his life
and apparently he never divorced any of them. Then again, writer Roger Jay has pointed out that
there's no solid proof that he ever actually married most of them either. After his first
love Urella, next came Sally Heckle, though some evidence suggests her name was Sally Haspel
Regardless, she was a prostitute who got busted alongside Earp on a gunboat
She further complicated things when she identified herself to authorities as Sarah Earp. Wyatt could
have actually been her pimp or protector, but whatever the case, they were close enough that
Sally likely followed him to Dodge City. Unfortunately for her, Earp fell in love with
Maddie Blaylock. As Legends of America detailed, Maddie was a prostitute who became Earp's common
law wife. Sally moved on, and Earp went on to break Maddie's heart by abandoning her for his
fourth wife, Josephine, a.k.a. Johnny Behan's former fiancée. In 1882, Wyatt Earp, his brother
Morgan, and Doc Holliday were shooting pool when a different kind of shooting interrupted them
Per HistoryNet, two bullets were fired. One narrowly missed Wyatt, the other didn't miss
Morgan. Believing the Cowboys killed Morgan in retaliation for the OK Corral, Wyatt led a
vendetta ride and started executing Cowboys. Now a wanted man, he left Arizona and traveled
throughout the West, eventually settling in California, where he established himself in
West Coast boxing circles. A longtime boxing fan, Earp received training from a pro fighter as a
teenager and later refereed fights. In 1896, he was chosen to referee the heavyweight championship
bout between Tom Sharkey and Bob Fitzsimmons in San Francisco Rumors circulated that Earp agreed to hand Sharkey the victory The fight started bizarrely when Earp entered the ring with a gun under his coat that
had to be confiscated. Fitzsimmons bested Sharky throughout the bout and floored him in the eighth
round with a wicked gut punch, but Earp declared it a low blow and disqualified Fitzsimmons
Earp was branded a dirty referee, but again dodged a legal bullet. Because boxing was illegal in San
Francisco, he couldn't be tried for fight-fixing. Wyatt Earp spent the end of the 19th century
trying to strike gold. He ran a saloon in Alaska during its gold rush and then rushed to Nevada
in 1901 in search of more gold there. He eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he would have a
striking influence on the Golden Age of Hollywood. Earp became an unpaid technical advisor for
Hollywood westerns and befriended two of the silent era's biggest stars, William Hart and
Tom Mix. Per a Wyatt Earp anthology, Earp and Mix bonded over Shakespeare, and Wyatt compared his
life to Hamlet. To be or not to be, that is the question. But that's where the similarities ended
according to Earp. That feller Hamlet was a talkative man. He wouldn't have lasted long in
Kansas. Earp himself, no speaker of Elizabethan English, might have talked more like the Duke
John Wayne, or rather, John Wayne might have talked like Wyatt Earp. It's been reported that
Wayne modeled his on-screen persona after Earp, whom he allegedly got to know personally
The actor was quoted as saying, "'Earp was the man who had actually done the things in his life that I was trying to
do in a movie. I imitated his walk, I imitated his talk.'
However, the American cowboy disputed this narrative, arguing that Wayne instead got
his knowledge from director John Ford, who worked with Earp. "'We became quite friendly, and I didn't know anything about the OK Corral at the time.'
Golf culture often paints Wyatt Earp as a guy who talked sternly and carried a big gun
A very, very big gun. "...That's my bunt line you're wearing, isn't it?
"...I guess it is." Dubbed the Bunt Line Special, Earp's weapon was said to be one of five custom-made Colt
revolvers that writer Ned Buntline supposedly bestowed on five of the West's greatest gunslingers
all of them lawmen. The long firearms of the law reportedly had 12-inch barrels and the name Ned engraved
on their grips. It seems fitting that, as an icon of the Wild West, Earp would own the Conestoga of smoke wagons
But was Buntline blowing smoke when he boasted about handing Earp this specially made gun
In 1876, Colt rolled out a line of long revolvers, but no foot-long version existed until 1957
when Colt sought to profit off of Earp's posthumous popularity. Only 30 or so original revolvers existed, and there's no evidence that Ned Buntline ever
ordered one. To a great extent, what Wyatt Earp ate depended very much on where he lived
In towns, there was fresh food, baked goods, beef and lamb, as well as some preserved or
dried fruits. Bread was also a staple, whether sourdough or something more elegant
A supply packing list from the era written by Montana settler James Fergus illustrates
the day's material requirements. In addition to clothing, guns, and ammunition, some of the
foodstuffs listed were 600 pounds of flour, 300 pounds of meat, 300 pounds of bacon, and 200 pounds
of ham. Beans, dried fruit, coffee, tea, rice, salt, sugar, and specifically raisins were also
mentioned. Newly established towns, whether trading posts, mining boomtowns, or cattle hubs
were opportunities for a traveler to resupply. Though some towns thrived, others dried up when
the ore ran out, the buffalo were depleted, or a railroad went out of business. Cowboys on trail
drive saw their meals improve at the introduction of the chuck wagon with a full-time cook for the
trip. Life in some settlements was primitive, and Wyatt certainly knew this firsthand. He'd
driven wagons cross-country, and he'd worked as a buffalo hunter and army scout. Professional
hunters worked as quickly as possible, so fresh meat would have constituted a large part of his
diet. Era army patrols would carry basic food supplies along, bacon, coffee, and hardtack
a kind of dense cracker that traveled well and had practically no taste
What a person might find in town varied greatly. A boomtown might offer only basic food and
entertainment. Cattle towns like Dodge City, Kansas, where Wyatt served as a peace officer
had thriving business communities, with shopping and medical services catering to the needs of
incoming cowboys. Some of the towns prided themselves on mimicking their big city cousins
to the east. One early dining standout was Delmonico's, a steakhouse in New York City
Western eateries tried their best to impress by offering dishes like Eggs Benedict or Baked
Alaska. If you could go back to that time, you'd find restaurants all over the West carrying the
name Delmonico's, not because there was a chain, but because the New York establishment was
associated with sophisticated dining. One such knockoff was located in Tombstone, Arizona
territory. Wyatt Earp and his common-law wife, Maddie Blaylock, lived in Tombstone hotels for
at least part of their time in town. It's likely that Wyatt, a successful gambler
probably ate out for most of his meals. Tombstone prided itself on offering remarkably diverse fare
Cowboy Ike Clanton even dabbled in the restaurant business for a time, opening an eatery of his own in 1878 in nearby Tombstone Mills
Most of Tombstone's cafes and restaurants had sophisticated cuisine, often dismissing regional ethnic fare as peasant food, though it was usually still available
Tombstone's Grand Hotel, for instance, offered such delights as salmon, gumbo, and various
fruit pies for dessert. Wyatt could have enjoyed a fresh steak most any time, but Tombstone also offered up such
delicacies as oysters, shipped in from the coast. There was also Chinese, French, and Italian restaurants, and home cooking spots for simpler meals
There was also an abundance of saloons, of course, though Wyatt didn't drink
We do know for certain that he enjoyed one treat regularly, ice cream
Earp made frequent stops at Tombstone's ice cream parlor, the Ice Cream Saloon
In fact, the Earps and Doc Holliday would have passed it on their way to their legendary
gunfight near the OK Corral