Langford M. Peel (1829/1831 – July 21, 1867), also known as Farmer Peel was a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

, gunman, and gambler in the

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. Convis alleges that Peel's middle name was "Farner" but this contradicts U.S. Army enlistment records which have "Langford M. Peel". According to his grave marker, Langford was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England. At age 12 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with the approval and help of his mother and stepfather. At the age of 17, he enlisted as a bugler in "B' Company of the 1st US Dragoons under Captain

Edwin Vose Sumner Edwin Vose Sumner (January 30, 1797March 21, 1863) was a career United States Army officer who became a Union Army general and the oldest field commander of any Army Corps on either side during the American Civil War. His nicknames "Bull" or "Bul ...

; Peel, still under 20 years of age,Lowe (1965) p. 90 when he killed his first three Indians at the Battle of Coon Creek in 1846. In 1850 he killed two more near

Fort Kearney Fort Kearny was a historic outpost of the United States Army founded in 1848 in the western U.S. during the middle and late 19th century. The fort was named after Col. and later General Stephen Watts Kearny. The outpost was located along the Ore ...

Kansas and a sixth later. Peel "was the best specimen of 160 pounds, five feet, nine inches, naturally bright, clear headed and helpful always." Sgt. Percivel Lowe would go on to say that a "full set of such noncommissioned officers under a good commander would make a troop or companyinvincible against any reasonable odds." At the time of his First Sergeant's (Percival Lowe) honorable discharge from the army in 1854, Langford was married and had a two year old son living on the fort, named after his 1st Sgt: Percival Lowe Peel. He traveled to

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...

;

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

;

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

; and eventually to

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would ...

. One evening while walking down the sidewalk in Helena, arm in arm, with his girlfriend, a former associate of his,

John Bull John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...

, sprang from a black alley and shot Peel once in the upper chest. Peel's girlfriend gripped his gun arm so hard from fear, that Peel had to use extra force to free his shooting arm from her, but it was too late, those precious 2 seconds brought him another bullet from Bull, and as Peel lay on the ground dying, Bull finished him off. The defendant was acquitted August 24, 1867. Bull was later involved in the stabbing of a railroad baggageman and also in 1874 was indicted in Omaha Nebraska for involvement with others on a robbery charge ne of the defendants escaped and the rest were freed In 1879, he had a faro game at the Sacramento State Fair; Bull was killed in Denver, Colorado on January 9, 1882 by a fellow gambler Jim Bush. Alleged by some sources to have been Harvard educated,However he is not listed as having graduated from Harvard Harvard University Catalogue
/ref> Peel was known for always giving any opponent a chance in a gunfight. Mark Twain, in his book ''

Roughing It ''Roughing It'' is a book of semi-autobiographical travel literature by Mark Twain. It was written in 1870–71 and published in 1872, as a prequel to his first travel book ''The Innocents Abroad'' (1869). ''Roughing It'' is dedicated to Twa ...

'', refers (perhaps as an

inside joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...

) to Peel as "Farmer Pease".

References

*Lowe, Percival G. (1965). ''Five Years A Dragoon,('49 to '54) And Other Adventures on the Great Plains. University of Oklahoma Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peel, Langford 1831 births 1867 deaths Military personnel from Liverpool English emigrants to the United States Gunslingers of the American Old West Deaths by firearm in Montana American duellists