Bannack: First Capital of Montana.
Source: Distinctly Montana

One of my biggest fascinations with the Old West is with what life in a Rocky Mountain mining town in nineteenth century would have been like. It would have been a life full of filth, rough characters and hard work combined with drinking, fighting and gambling as pastimes. Of course these are stereotypes of any old Wild West town, but were they really true? What was it that these brave, tough and rough souls did when they weren't working in the mines?

These and other questions will be answered in a new series I am beginning here at History Rhymes. I will be exploring several different mining towns throughout the Rocky Mountains in the coming weeks. Some are still active towns, but many are nothing but ghost towns now. I will explore how people lived, what life was generally like in the towns and I will also give a brief history of how each town came to be and, in the case of some of them, came to pass.

This will be a multi-part series. You will be able to see all of the entries in this series in the Rocky Mountain Mining Towns category which can also be found in the sidebar or by visiting the Rocky Mountain Mining Towns project page.

Roughing It by Mark Twain

I have a new featured book for you this week. This one is an American classic called Roughing It by Mark Twain. It is one of Mark Twain's travel books which made him famous as an author. In this book he writes about his travels throughout the Old American West, his adventures with mining, newspaper editing and with the rough folk of the Old West. Of course, he fictionalizes it quite a bit, but that adds to the entertainment value.

What I find most interesting about this book is the way in which Twain portrays the Old West. He was a contemporary who actually did spend several years in the Old 'Wild' West and, although his account is fictionalized to some degree, it still shows us how people who lived during that era saw the west or at least wanted to see the west as compared to today's highly romanticized image of it.

TA Ranch Stable - Where the final shootout took place.
Source: Wikipedia

The Johnson County War has gone down in history as one of many Wild West legends about range wars. Some accounts claim various famous gun slingers like Jesse James were involved, however, this was certainly not the case. The real range war occurred in April 1892 and was the result of tensions, brewing between small and large ranchers in Wyoming, finally reaching a critical point.

In the western territories and states of the late nineteenth century, conflicts over land and cattle were not an uncommon occurrence. In Wyoming, the biggest concern of many large ranching operations was the issue of cattle rustling. To prevent this, they took several different preventative measures. Some of the commons ones included forbidding employees from owning their own cattle and harsh punishment of suspected cattle rustlers -- many of whom were small ranchers.

Although already bitter, relations between the large ranchers and small ranchers took a turn for the worst after the harsh winter of 1887-1888. Many cattle died with temperatures of -40 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit common during that season. This harsh winter was preceded by a very hot and dry summer. The larger ranchers took action in their own interests and began to control water flow and forcefully remove small ranchers from their properties.

In retaliation, the small ranchers formed an association to counter the Wyoming Stock Growers' Association (WSGA), which was an organization comprising many different large ranchers and which had quite a bit of political sway in the state. This new association formed by the small ranchers was called the Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers' Association (NWFSGA).

In 1892, the WSGA took extreme action against the smaller ranchers and their association. They hired a group of twenty-three gunmen from Paris, Texas led by Frank Wolcott and four cattle detectives from the WSGA. This group of men was supposed to serve a dual purpose: killing suspected cattle rustlers and eliminating the NWFSGA. Others associated with the WSGA also joined, eventually making a total 50 men who were to perform these tasks. They were led by Frank Canton, a former sheriff of Johnson County.

The group of men who invaded Johnson County.
Source: Wikipedia

The first target by the gunmen was a small rancher by the name of Nate Champion who was very active in the organization of an association of small ranchers to compete with the WSGA. His ranch, the KC Ranch, became the first battleground of the Johnson County War. On the night of April 8, 1982, the group traveled to Nate's ranch and waited until daybreak. Two travelers who were staying overnight at the KC Ranch were the first victims when emerged from the house to get water. They were promptly shot. A third traveler, Nick Ray, was shot while standing in the door of the cabin and he died a few hours later.

Nate Champion remained inside the cabin for some time, all the while keeping a detailed journal. Eventually the group set fire to the cabin, forcing Nate out. They immediately gunned him down, pinning a note to him which said "Cattle Thieves Beware." Two passer-byers noticed the commotion and a local rancher, Jack Flagg, rode to Buffalo, Wyoming to report it. There the sheriff and a posse of 200 men were gathered set out the next day on the trail of the WSGA group.

TA Ranch -- Where the final standoff took place.
Source: Wikipedia

The sheriff and his posse finally caught up to the WSGA group at the TA Ranch on April 11, 1982 -- two days after Nate Champion was murdered. The WSGA group took shelter in a stable (see image at the top). Three of the WSGA men were killed when trying to escape while another was successful and contacted the acting Governor of Wyoming the next day. After attempts to save the WSGA group, the acting Governor telegraphed President Benjamin Harrison for help on April 12, 1892. The telegraph, which was published in The New York Times on April 14th, read as follows:

About sixty-one owners of live stock are reported to have made an armed expedition into Johnson County for the purpose of protecting their live stock and preventing unlawful roundups by rustlers. They are at ‘T.A.’ Ranch, thirteen miles from Fort McKinney, and are besieged by Sheriff and posse and by rustlers from that section of the country, said to be two or three hundred in number. The wagons of stockmen were captured and taken away from them and it is reported a battle took place yesterday, during which a number of men were killed. Great excitement prevails. Both parties are very determined and it is feared that if successful will show no mercy to the persons captured. The civil authorities are unable to prevent violence. The situation is serious and immediate assistance will probably prevent great loss of life.

President Harrison responded by ordering the United States Secretary of War Stephen B. Elkins to address the situation. Elkins sent out the Sixth Calvary who were stated at Fort McKinney, a short distance from Buffalo, to intervene. The Sixth Calvary reached the TA Ranch on April 13th and both the sheriff's posse and the WSGA group surrendered to the calvary detachment.

Although the situation was resolved, tensions continued to run high for many years. A good description of some of the chaos which ensued can be read in this New York Times article which was published on April 23, 1892. The WSGA group was imprisoned after the standoff at TA Ranch, but the members were never tried and all of them were released shortly after their arrest.

Marker at Battle of the Washita

Last Friday I gave a talk about the Battle of the Washita to a group of undergraduate students and because of that I thought I would create a post here about this particularly interesting battle.

The Battle of the Washita was a battle that took place in the morning of November 27, 1868. The Seventh Division of the US Calvary under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer surrounded a Cheyenne village in the night and at the first sign of day light, attacked the village. Men, women and children were killed in the chaos, however, most of the women and children were taken prisoner to later be used as a bargaining chip to try to convince the Cheyenne to settle their reservations.

Despite losing some of their own officers and other prominent men in the Seventh Division, Custer and his command were successful. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, they had control of the village, they had taken most of the village's women and children prisoner and they had control of the village livestock -- most of which were killed to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy again.

The Battle of the Washita

The Battle of the Washita was the first battle of a winter campaign designed by General Sheridan to bring the Cheyenne, Kiowa and Arapaho tribes into their reservations with the intention of stopping the raids performed by these tribes on settlers and frontier towns. Winter was chosen as the time of year because the tribes were at their weakest due to poor grazing for their war ponies who spent most of the winter barely surviving. They also did not expect a military campaign to be directed against them in the heart of winter.

By the end of the winter campaign in the spring of 1869, Custer and his command had successfully convinced the majority of the Kiowa, Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes to settle their reservations in the interest of peace.

I know this post is a bit short, but unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of time to write more at the moment. Future posts will be longer and more informative.

George Armstrong Custer

It is really quite amazing to read through some of the theories produced during the 19th century about the origin of the Native Americans. As I talked about in my last post, I am currently reading the memoirs of George Custer about his life on the plains and his personal experiences with the Indians.

The second chapter in the book Custer uses to paint a picture of some of the various theories of his time on the origins of the Native Americans. He briefly mentions the most widely accepted theory today: they were migratory groups that followed the game into North America from eastern Asia over a land bridge between modern day Russia and Alaska. A couple of other theories he briefly mentions is that they came directly from Africa and that they are simply autochthonous.

Although he briefly mentions these, he spends most of the chapter discussing and giving proofs for a theory in which the Indians are directly descended from the Hebrews. He argues that scientists during his time period had gathered enough behavioral evidence from the Indians to prove that this theory is the most probable. One such proof was that a scientist studying the origins of the Native Americans "once heard an Indian apply the following expression to a culprit: 'Tschi kaksit canaba' -- 'Thou art like unto a Canaanite sinner.'"¹

I find this theory to be quite ridiculous. All of the evidence Custer provides is merely circumstantial and behavioral. I have no way of proving whether or not the translation of the above quote in the Indian language is accurate or not, but I am very skeptical. One hundred and thirty years from now they may be laughing at our theories as well, but I think they are based on much more solid ground that those of one hundred and thirty years ago.

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1. George Armstrong Custer, My Life on the Plains: Personal Experiences with the Indians (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc, 2009), 19.

My Life on the Plains by George A. Custer

Now that I've treated myself to some good ol' ghost stories, it's time to get back to business. This time I've chosen to read My Life on the Plains: Personal Experiences with Indians by George Armstrong Custer of Little Bighorn fame. As of now, I've read the introduction which give a little bit of background information about Custer and about his memoirs.

Ghost Stories of the Old West edited by Dan Asfar

So I decided to take a break from reading non-fiction and treat myself to a book full of short ghost stories of the old west. The book I found is appropriately titled Ghost Stories of the Old West and is by Dan Asfar. I really haven't gotten very far into it at all; only a few pages, but so far I am really enjoying it. If you're up for some ghost stories with a Western theme, then you might want to give this book a try.

View from the Ray House

As you've already read from the last post, I recently returned from a trip to Missouri. I saw the houses of the James brothers and I also took a day trip down to Springfield, MO and visited the Wilson's Creek battlefield where one of the first large battles of the Civil War took place.

The grounds where the battle took place are now preserved as a national park. There is a visitor's center at the entrance to the park and there is a short movie which introduces what happened at this particular location. I will try to give a brief overview of what the film discussed.

Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon

The battle that took place at Wilson's Creek was one of the first major battles of the Civil War. It took place in August, 1861 in the fields a short distance from Springfield, Missouri. The fields belongs to John Ray and his family. John Ray was a local farmer who raised corn, cattle and horses. Most of the battle would take place on his property.

Benjamin McCulloch

The battle began when Nathaniel Lyon -- a Union staunch Brigadier General who worked until his death in battle to keep Missouri in the Union -- led his troops to a Confederate camp in Wilson's Creek. The Confederate forces were headed by Benjamin McCulloch. Lyon was fatally shot in the battle and became the first General killed in the war. When Lyon's body was found, it was brought back to the Ray house and placed in a bed there. The battle ended with a Confederate victory after the Union retreated, but McCulloch's forces were unable to take advantage of their victory because they had lost too many men in the battle.

Cannons from the Wilson's Creek Battlefield

When the battle began, John Ray's sons were out tending to their horses. A messenger rode past and warned the boys to get home because something bloody and horrible was going to happen soon. They rushed home and consequently the whole family along with their black maid and her children hid in the cellar until the battle was over. The Ray house was used as a hospital during and after the battle.

At the battlefield today, there is not a whole lot to see. It is mostly just fields you can look at with plaques explaining what happened there. The origina Ray family farm house is still there however and is open to the public. Below are some photos I took of it both inside and out.

The Ray House from the front

The bed where General Lyon's body was lain inside the Ray house.

A spindle inside the Ray House.

A desk in the Ray House.

The kitchen in the Ray House.

The cellar into which the Ray family fled during the battle.

The website for the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield is http://www.nps.gov/wicr. If you are ever in or near Springfield, MO, it is definitely worth a visit.