Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and the Range Wars

Test yourself

Famous Criminals - Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp

Lots of towns and regions in America were effectively lawless.

Billy the Kid

Henry McCarty was known as Billy the Kid. He died aged 21, shot dead by an American sheriff.
Billy the Kid's parents died when he was 14. He then began stealing to survive and ended up in a life of crime.
He created a raiding gang of nomads who could ride around New Mexico stealing and living as outlaws.
There was a war between the cattle rancher John Chisum and Billy the Kid's gang in 1878. This is known as the Lincoln County War.
Sheriff Pat Garrett hunted Billy down. He was locked up in a Lincoln jail. But then escaped. Garrett caught him again and shot him in 1881. McCarty was 21.
Garrett was rewarded with a $500 bounty for killing Billy the Kid.

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp lived in a town in the state of Arizona called Tombstone.
Earp was hired as the deputy sheriff to adjudicate (oversee) a battle between 2 groups of ranchers (the McLaury family and the Clanton family).
People in the town believed that Wyatt Earp was doing stagecoach robberies instead of stopping robberies.
On the 26th of October 1881, a shootout at OK Corral between the 2 groups of ranchers killed 3 people.
Earp used extreme violence and killed 2 more men later that year.
After this case, America seemed lawless, with violent sheriffs fighting against violent outlaws.

The Johnson County War, 1892

The Johnson County War in 1892 was a 'range war'. Range wars were battles between large cattle ranchers and small cattle ranchers & homesteaders.

Large ranches vs small ranches in Wyoming

In the 1880s, most of Wyoming was public land.
The large cattle ranchers in the area united as part of an organisation called the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA).
The brutal winter of 1886-7 killed up to 15% of these ranchers' cattle.
As you know, small ranches were better for keeping cattle alive in extreme temperatures. So small ranches had more cattle by the summer of 1887. But, large ranches suspected there had been cow-rustling (cow stealing).

Homesteaders

More homesteaders had migrated to Wyoming to set up their farms.
Two homesteaders called Ella Watson and Jim Averell were killed in 1889 and hung from a tree. They had been in a dispute with a member of the WSGA, Mr Bothwell, who had previously used their homestead as land for grazing his cattle.

The 'invaders'

Frank Wolcott, who led the WSGA, hired 23 Texan hitmen from a town called Paris in Texas to kill cattle thieves (known as 'rustlers').
Their first target was a man at the KC Ranch called Nate Champion. The sheriff of the region, Sheriff Angus intervened, raised a posse of 200 locals and arrested the invaders.

The end of the Johnson County War

The US President, Benjamin Harrison, had to get involved. He sent US troops to Johnson County and the affair was printed on the front page of the New York Times.
The powerful cattle barons who were members of the WSGA got away with their plotted assassinations. They used their money to try to free the invaders too, many of whom escaped. Lots of the local government and law enforcement supported the WSGA.
The WSGA had collected $100,000 from its members to hire lawyers and stop the process of prosecution in Johnson County.

1The Early Settlement of the West, c1835-c1862

1.1The Plains Indians: Beliefs & Way of Life

1.1.1The Plains Indians - Social Structure

1.1.2The Plains Indians - Way of Life

1.1.3End of Topic Test - Social & Tribal Structures

1.1.4Grade 9 - The Plains Indians

1.2Migration & Early Settlement

1.2.1The Oregon Trail & Gold Rush

1.2.2Manifest Destiny

1.2.3Major Migrations - Donner, Mormon & Farmer

1.2.4End of Topic Test - Migration and Early Settlement

1.2.5Grade 9 - The Early Settlement of the West

1.3Conflict & Tension

1.3.1Fort Laramie Treaty & Indian Appropriations Act

1.3.2Lawless Towns

1.3.3End of Topic Test - Conflict & Tension

2Development of the Plains, c.1862–c.1876

2.1The Development of Settlement in the West

2.1.1Causes of the American Civil War

2.1.2The American Civil War

2.1.3Homesteading & Railroads 1862-1876

2.1.4Continuing Law & Order Problems 1862-1876

2.1.5Ranching, Cattle & Cowboys 1862-1876

2.1.6End of Topic Test - Development of the Plains

2.2Changes in the Way of Life of the Plains Indians

2.2.1Impact of Railroads & Settlers 1862-1876

2.2.2Impact of the Peace Policy & Reservations

2.2.3The Indian Wars (1862-1868)

2.2.4End of Topic Test - Changes in the Way of Life

2.2.5Grade 9 - Development of the Plains

3Conflicts & Conquest, c.1876–c.1895

3.1Changes in Farming & Settlement

3.1.1Farming & the Cattle Industry 1876-1895

3.1.2The Exoduster Movement & Oklahoma Land Rush

3.1.3End of Topic Test - Exodusters, Land Rush & Cattle

3.2Conflict & Tension

3.2.1Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and the Range Wars

3.2.2Little Big Horn, the Ghost Dance & Wounded Knee

3.2.3Destroying the Indian Way of Life

3.2.4End of Topic Test - Conflict and Tension

3.2.5Grade 9 - Conflicts & Tension

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