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Gunfighter
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslinger" is more or less used to denote someone who is quick on the draw with a handgun, but this can also refer to those armed with rifles and shotguns. The gunfighter is also one of the most popular characters in the Western genre and has appeared in associated films, television shows, video games, and literature. A gunfighter could be a lawman, outlaw, cowboy, or shooting exhibitionist, but the professional gunfighter was a mercenary "hired gun" () who made a living with his weapons in the Old West, selling his services to the highest bidder. Origin of the term The term "gunslinger" was used in the Western film ''Drag Harlan'' (1920). The word was soon adopted by other Western writers, such as Zane Grey, and became common usage. In hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bat Masterson
Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the late 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to a working-class Irish family in Quebec, but he moved to the Western frontier as a young man and quickly distinguished himself as a buffalo hunter, civilian scout, and Indian fighter on the Great Plains. He later earned fame as a gunfighter and sheriff in Dodge City, Kansas, during which time he was involved in several notable shootouts. By the mid-1880s, Masterson had moved to Denver, Colorado and established himself as a "sporting man" or gambler. He took an interest in prizefighting and became a leading authority on the sport, attending almost every important match and title fight in the United States from the 1880s until his death in 1921. He moved to New York City in 1902 and spent the rest of his life there as a reporter and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Frontier
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Culture of the United States, culture associated with the forward wave of United States territorial acquisitions, American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonization of the Americas, European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the Expansionism, expansionist attitude known as "manifest destiny" and historians' "Frontier Thesis". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier, known as the frontier myth, have embedded themselves into United S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fast Draw
Fast draw, also known as quick draw, is the ability to quickly draw a handgun and accurately fire it upon a target in the process. This skill was made popular by romanticized depictions of gunslingers in the Western genre, which in turn were inspired by famous historical gunfights in the American Old West. In modern times, fast draw can be seen both in sports and in military practices. The World Fast Draw Association (WFDA) is the international sanctioning body of the sport of fast draw. Unlike cowboy action shooting, fast draw is shot with special blanks or wax bullets. While some competitions are strictly against the clock, with the fastest time winning, many are set up as head-to-head single- or double-elimination matches. History The object of fast draw as a combative sport is to quickly draw one's pistol and fire with the most accuracy. The sport has been inspired by accounts of duels and gunfights which incorporated it during the Wild West, such as the Hickok–Tutt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cochise County Cowboys
The Cochise County Cowboys is the modern name for a loosely associated group of outlaws living in Pima and Cochise Counties in Arizona in the late 19th century. The term "cowboy", as opposed to " cowhand," had only begun to come into wider use during the 1870s. In that place and time, "cowboy" was synonymous with " cattle rustler". Such thieves frequently rode across the border into Mexico and stole cattle from Mexican ranches that they then drove back across the border to sell in the United States. Some modern writers consider them to be an early form of organized crime in America. In response, the Mexican government eventually lowered tariffs and added forts along the border, making cross-border rustling and smuggling less attractive. The Cowboys then began to steal cattle and horses from neighboring American ranches, reselling them to unscrupulous butchers. They held up stagecoaches, stole the strongboxes, and strong-armed passengers for their valuables. In some instances ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clay Allison
Robert A. Clay Allison, also known as Clay Allison (September 2, 1841 – July 1, 1887) was a cattle rancher, cattle broker, and sometimes gunfighter of the American Old West. He fought for the Confederate States of America, Confederacy in the American Civil War, Civil War. Allison had a reputation for violence, having survived several one-on-one knife and gunfights (some with lawmen), as well as being implicated in a number of vigilante jail break-ins and lynchings. A drunken Allison once rode his horse through town nearly naked—wearing only his gunbelt. Later most reports stated that he was dangerous not only to others but to himself, accidentally shooting himself in the foot. Early life Allison was born on September 2, 1841. He was the fourth of the nine children of Jeremiah Scotland Allison and his wife, Mariah Ruth (née Brown) Allison. His father was a Presbyterianism, Presbyterian minister who raised cattle and sheep to support the family. Allison helped on the family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman in the American West, including Dodge City, Kansas, Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, and Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone. Earp was involved in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which he and some other lawmen killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys.Ward, Derrick S.; Wishart, David S. (editor)"Earp, Wyatt (1848-1929),"''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains,'' retrieved April 3, 2023 While Wyatt is often depicted as the key figure in the shootout, his brother Virgil Earp, Virgil was both Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone City Marshal that day and had considerably more experience in law enforcement as a sheriff, constable, and marshal than did Wyatt. Virgil made the decision to enforce a Cochise County Cowboys#Weapon ordinance, city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town and to disarm the Cowboys. Wyatt was only a temporary assistant marshal to his brother. In 1874, Earp arrived in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of fiction typically Setting (narrative), set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with Americana (culture), folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. The frontier is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys, Outlaw (stock character), outlaws, sheriffs, and numerous other Stock character, stock Gunfighter, gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice, freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny, and the national history and identity of the United States. Native Americans in the United States, Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or Savage ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Garrett
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett (June 5, 1850February 29, 1908) was an American Old West lawman, bartender and U.S. Customs, customs agent known for killing Billy the Kid. He was the Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, as well as Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Stories about him, especially his involvement with Billy the Kid, are part of the legends of the American Old West. Early years Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was born on June 5, 1850, in Chambers County, Alabama, Chambers County, Alabama. He was the second of five children born to John Lumpkin Garrett and his wife Elizabeth Ann Jarvis. Garrett's four siblings were Margaret, Elizabeth, John, and Alfred. Garrett was of English-American, English ancestry, and his ancestors migrated to America from the English counties of Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire and Buckinghamshire. When Pat was three years old his father purchased the John Greer plantation in Claiborne Parish, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend.Malone, J., p. 1. A subtype, called a Wrangler (profession), wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world work at identical tasks and have obtained considerable respect for their achievements. Cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, perform work similar to the cowboy. The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest European Settlement of the Americas, settlers of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zane Grey
Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontier. '' Riders of the Purple Sage'' (1912) was his best-selling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, his books have second lives and continuing influence adapted for films and television. His novels and short stories were adapted into 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, '' Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre''.Hulse 2007, pp. vii–x. Biography Early life Pearl Zane Grey was born January 31, 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. His birth name may have originated from newspaper descriptions of Queen Victoria's mourning clothes as "pearl grey". He was the fourth of five children born to Alice "Allie" Josephine Zane, whose English Quaker immigrant ancestor Robert Zane came to the American colonies in 1673, and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy The Kid
Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders: four for which he was solely responsible, and five in which he may have played a role alongside others. He is also noted for his involvement in New Mexico's Lincoln County War. McCarty was orphaned at the age of 15. His first arrest was for stealing food at the age of 16 in 1875. Ten days later, he robbed a Chinese laundry and was arrested again but escaped shortly afterwards. He fled from New Mexico Territory into neighboring Arizona Territory, making himself both an outlaw and a federal fugitive. In 1877, he began to call himself "William H. Bonney". After killing a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. He became well known in the region when he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and Louis L'Amour from the mid-20th century. The genre peaked around the early 1960s, largely due to the popularity of televised Westerns such as ''Bonanza''. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside a few west American states, only carry a small number of Western fiction books. History Pre-1850s The predecessor of the Western in American literature emerged early with tales of the frontier. The most famous of the early 19th-century frontier novels were James Fenimore Cooper's five novels comprising the '' Leatherstocking Tales''. Cooper's novels were largely set in what was at the time the American frontier: the Appalachian Mountains and areas west of there. As did ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
