Today in Old West History
February
February 1
1859- Denver, Colorado Territory- the Eldorado is the first hotel to open.
1861- Texas state convention votes to secede from the Union. Sam Houston's refuses to swear allegiance to the Confederacy.
1864- Nevada Territory- Horse thieves led by John Daly kill William Johnson for killing Jim Sears, also a horse thief.
1870- Arapahoe, Colorado Territory- the Kansas Pacific's tracks reach the town.
1876- the US Secretary of the Interior reports that Sitting Bull and his followers have failed to report to their reservation and turns over the responsibility for them to the War Department.
1895- Cape Elizabeth, Maine- John Ford is born Sean O'Feeney. Some of his westerns include Stagecoach, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Searchers.
1920- the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into existence. (Founding of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, comprising the Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP), formed in the 1870's to administer the NWT, and the Dominion Police, that had guarded government buildings and enforced federal statutes since 1868; headquarters moved to Ottawa while
training stays in Regina; size of force set at 2,500).
February 2
1836- San Antonio, Texas- Colonel William Travis arrived with a small cavalry company, bringing the total number of Alamo defenders to about 130.
1848- Mexico- representatives from the U.S. and Mexico sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, formally ending the Mexican War. Mexico agreed to recognize Texas as part of the United States, and ceded over 500,000 square miles of territory to the U.S., including all of the future states of California, Nevada, and Utah, almost all of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In return the U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15,000,000 and to assume all the claims of American citizens against Mexico, amounting to $3,250,000. The Mexican-American War began with a dispute over the U.S. government's 1845 annexation of Texas. In January of 1846, President James K. Polk, a strong advocate of westward expansion, ordered General Zachary Taylor to occupy disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande
1863- Sacramento, California- Leland Stanford strikes the ceremonial first spike that officially started the construction of the transcontinental railroad. In 1869 Leland Stanford will strike the last spike.
1865- Julesburg, Colorado Territory- George and Charles Bent led a raid of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers against the trading post, partly in retaliation for the Sand Creek massacre.
1869- James Oliver patents a plow that can handle the difficult western sod.
1876- Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory- the first stage departs for the Black Hills. There are about 1,000 men prospecting in the Black Hills already.
1880- Tucson, Arizona Territory- John Clum sells the Tucson Weekly Citizen and arranges to have a press and other printing materiel carried 75 miles across the desert to Tombstone.
1881- Arizona Territory- Cochise County was formed from Pima County, with Tombstone as county seat.
1886- Kansas- some people resort to burning corn due to coal shortage.
1887- the court marshal trial of Major Frederick Benteen, found drunk on duty the year before at Fort Du Chesne, Utah, begins.
1901- Mexican government troops are badly beaten by Yaqui Indians.
February 3
1864- Gallatin Valley, Montana Territory- Bill Hunter is the last of the “Innocents” to be hanged by vigilantes.
1879- Manhattan, Kansas- P.W. Peak is shot dead by S.W. Baits in church.
1889- the Bandit Queen, Belle Starr, was killed near her home with a double shotgun blast.
1942- Pawnee Oklahoma - Gordon Lillie (1860-1942), AKA Pawnee Bill died.At an early age Pawnee Bill had an aptitude for Indian languages becoming fluent in Pawnee and other Indian tongues. He served as an interpreter for the U.S. Government and was made an honorary Pawnee Chief. He served as a cowhand in Oklahoma in the early 1880s. Prior to 1888 Pawnee Bill supplied genuine red Indians to the Buffalo Bill shows. He eventually started his own wild west shows and in 1910 bailed out the Buffalo Bill show which was in financial difficulties and the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and Pawnee Bill Far East Show went on the road in 1911.
February 4
1858- Langley, British Columbia- gold is discovered along the Fraser River; leads to a gold rush there.
1861- New Mexico Territory- Cochise, the Chiricahua Apache leader, meets Second Lieutenant George Bascom under a white flag. Bascom tries to detain Cochise who cut his way through the tent and escaped.
1862- Bannack, Montana Territory- Bill Fairweather, and his friends, depart in search of gold in the Yellowstone River.
1877- Arizona Territory- Apaches kill 4 settlers near Sopori.
1878- Beartooth Mountain, Montana Territory- an earthquake is reported.
1880- Lucan Ontario - James Donnelly, his wife Johannah, niece Bridget and sons Thomas and John are slain by night riders in Biddulph Township; six men will be acquitted in the 'Black Donnelly' murder case, after two trials. Members of the 'White Boys' faction likely carried out the crime, carrying into Canada an old religious feud originating in County Tipperary, Ireland.
1886- Prescott, Arizona Territory- Dennis Dilda is hung for murdering a Yavapai County deputy sheriff. His is the last “legal public hanging”. His last meal was a breakfast of spring chicken in cream sauce, tenderloin steak smothered in mushrooms, fried oysters, lamb chops, potatoes, green peas, pancakes, bread jelly, and coffee.
1887-Leavenworth, Kansas- has 200 saloons, one for every 30 families.
1889- Sundance, Wyoming Territory- Harry Longabaugh is released from the Sundance Prison , thereby acquiring the famous nickname, "the Sundance Kid."
February 5
1848- Arkansas- Myra Belle Shirley, AKA Belle Starr, AKA the Bandit Queen of Indian Territory was born. She was brought up with a good education learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and excelled in mathematics. Once courted by Cole Younger she married outlaw James Reed who had ridden with Tom Starr.
1864- Montana Territory- since December 20, 1863, vigilantes have lynched 24.
1878- New Mexico Territory- John Tunstall is threatened at Shedd's ranch by a group including J.J. Dolan, and Jesse Evans. Tunstall had accused the Dolan cattle company of tax fraud.
1879- New Mexico Territory- Captain Carrol begins a 20-day search for John Tunstall's cattle in the Pecos River region of Pope's crossing, West of Lincoln County.
February 6
1891- Alila, California- The Dalton Gang commits their first crime, a train robbery (Southern Pacific #17). Wearing masks, Bob and Grat leaped into the engine's cab and forced engineer George Radcliff to bring the train to a halt. Bill Dalton, using a rifle, then began firing above the heads of the passengers to keep them crouching in their seats, while Grat and Bob forced Radcliff to accompany them to the express car. When Radcliff tried to slip away in the darkness, one of the brothers wheeled about and sent a bullet into his stomach, killing him. Unfortunately for them they couldn't break into the safe.
1897- Texas- a posse captures the remainder of the Dalton Gang, killing two and capturing one.
1899- The Spanish-American War ends.
1911- Tampico, Illinois- Western actor Ronald Wilson Reagan was born. Reagan was the 40th President [1981-1989] of the United States and Governor of California [1967-1975].
1911 - Prescott, Arizona -The first old-age home for pioneers opened.
February 7
1855- Texas-Charles Siringo was born. Charles was a noted cowboy, Texas Ranger, Pinkerton Agent and author. He died October 19, 1928.
1861- The Choctaw Nation allies itself with the Confederacy.
1865- Montana Territory- Virginia City is named territorial capital.
1867- Wisconsin- Laura Ingalls is born near Pepin. She becomes the author Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie series.
1872- Wyoming Territory- snow has blocked the Union Pacific's trains from entering Denver from Cheyenne since December 20th.
1979- Chicago, Illinois- the court of inquiry exonerates Major Reno of any wrong doing in the Little Bighorn battle in 1876.
1891- Great Blizzard of 1891 begins.
February 8
1864- Aurora, Nevada Territory- Jim Daly and three members of his gang we hanged for the murder of William Johnson. On the 1st of February Daly and his gang killed Johnson for killing gang member Jim Sears.
1876- General Crook receives orders from general Sheridan to begin a military operation against the hostile plains Indians.
1886- Topeka, Kansas- William F. Cody and Buck Taylor appear in the Prairie Wolf at the Grand Opera Hotel.
1887- Congress passes the Dawes Act, which gives citizenship to Indians living apart from their tribe.
1887- Fort Worth, Texas- Luke Short, accompanied by Bat Masterson, confronts gunfighter Longhaired Jim Courtwright who had made threats against Short. Courtright went for his gun when he thought Short was reaching for his and the hammer on Courtright's gun caught on Luke Short's watch chain giving Short an edge. Short shoots Courtright five times and is later exonerated for having acted in self -defense. According to Bat Masterson Jim was “a bully of a man”.
2001- California- the Queen of the Cowgirls, Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers died.
February 9
1836- Texas- David Crockett and the 14 other Tennessee Mounted Volunteers (only three were actually from Tennessee) rode into San Antonio.
1859- Texas- Texas Ranger Major John S. Ford engaged the Mexican guerilla Cortina in a brief skirmish that claimed the life of a Texas Ranger named Woodruff. The Mexicans fired on the Rangers' steamboat the Ranchero, sending a bullet through the flag on the masthead. At this critical point, Ford made the decision to cross over the border into Mexico to go after his elusive quarry. Using the steamer as a landing vehicle, a force of thirty-five men and another ten belonging to the discredited Major Tobin moved upstream until they approached the stockade where Cortina was holed up. Ford later recalled the fierce gun battle that followed: "They rushed upon the Mexicans, six-shooters in hand, drove them, rolled them up on the center, and routed them. The fleeing Mexicans were pursued by Texans." Cortina commanded an army of 200 to 400 heavily armed men, including cavalry. Yet they proved hopelessly ineffective before the small band of onrushing Texas Rangers. With his troops scattered and put to flight, Cortina turned on the Rangers with his guns blazing. The Texas Rangers returned the fire without effect. Cortina was able to make his escape under cover of darkness on horseback. Ford continued to patrol the border and made a number of independent raids into Mexico, but Cortina had long since retreated to the safety of the Burgos Mountains. To avoid an international incident, the U.S. Secretary of War sent an emissary to Texas to confer with Ford about the necessity of ceasing his forays into the interior of Mexico. The emissary was the new commander of the Department of Texas--Colonel Robert E. Lee.
1864- Monroe, Michigan- Union General George Armstrong Custer married Elizabeth Bacon.
1867- Nebraska becomes 37th US state.
1874- Colorado Territory- Ute Chief Ouray tries to dissuade the gold seekers led by Alferd Packer from continuing the journey in the ongoing blizzard. He warned them that they had too few provisions and told them their journey “would end in death”.
1877- Lincoln, New Mexico Territory- A.A. McSween buys the Murphy store building to convert it into a house for his wife.
1878- Colorado- Pioneer rancher John Wesley Iliff died at age 46. He left behind 35,000 head of cattle on the open range.
1902- St. Joseph, Missouri- Fred Harman, creator of the comic strip “Red Ryder” is born.
February 10
1869- Tennessee- 15 year old Nat Love heads west after giving his mother $50 of $100 that he won in a raffle. Outside of present day Dodge City, Kansas, he hitched on with the Duval cattle outfit from Texas, after riding a mean bronco named “Good Eye”.
1871- Helena, Montana Territory- D.D. Carpenter files the first homestead application.
1876- General Terry is ordered to take military action against the Sioux and Cheyenne who remain off their reservations in the Dakota Territory.
1890- Around 11 million acres, ceded to US by Sioux Indians opens for settlement.
February 11
1869- Ottawa Ontario - Patrick James Whelan (1840-1869) hanged in a snowstorm before a crowd of 5,000 people for the murder of Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Whelan denies he did it. This was the second last public execution in Canada.
1880- Montana Territory- Wickes becomes the first town in the territory to get a church before getting a saloon.
February 12
1836- Mexican General Santa Anna crosses the Rio Grande en route to the Alamo.
1876- Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory- the editor of the Wyoming Weekly Leader wrote: “A fresh invoice of Denver gamblers and sneaks arrived yesterday. That dying town seems to be 'taking a puke' as it were, of this class of citizen.” Doc Holliday was there under the name Tom McKey.
1877- Arizona Territory- The Secretary of War promises 500 rifles and bayonets and 25,000 ball cartridges to Governor Safford.
1881- Redwater, Montana Territory- 185 Sioux surrender to Major Guido Ilges.
1888- Texas-outlaw Brack Cornett was killed by Sheriff A. Allee at a shootout at a ranch near Pearsalls.
1891- Silver screen cowboy Max Terhune was born.
1915- Ottawa Ontario - Lorne Greene (1915-1987) broadcaster, actor, was born. Best known for his role as Ben Cartwright on Bonanza
1919- Silver screen cowboy Forrest Tucker was born.
1929- Lilly Langtry known as the Jersey Lilly died in her English home. Judge Roy Bean was smitten by her even though he never met her and named Langtry, Texas in her honor.
February 13
1862- Hellgate, Montana Territory- Jeff Pelkey becomes the first white person born in the territory.
1866- Liberty, Missouri- Frank James, and Cole, Bob, and Jim Younger and possibly Jesse James hold up their 1st bank, $60,000 was taken. The Liberty raid was the first daylight bank robbery in the U.S. by an organized band of robbers. (The first U.S. bank robbery was committed by lone postal employee Edward W. Green, who held up a bank in Malden, Mass., on Dec. 15, 1863.).
1879- New Mexico Territory- the first passenger train arrives in the territory.
February 14
1854- Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson receive patent on their repeating revolver, The Volcanic.
1859- Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state of the Union.
1862- New Mexico and Arizona Territories are admitted into the Confederacy as territories.
1882- Samuel Cummings, AKA: Doc, association with Texas gunslinger Dallas Stoudenmire ultimately cost him his life. Beginning in 1870 when Cummings' sister married Stoudenmire, the two men became partners. Stoudenmire, who was unpopular with the local gunslingers, served as marshal of El Paso in 1881. On the night of Apr. 17, Cummings was riding with his brother -in-law through town when a hired assassin named Bill Johnson shot at the two men. When Johnson missed, Stoudenmire and Cummings killed him with their six -guns. Marshal Stoudenmire believed the attack was instigated by the Manning brothers of El Paso. Tensions between the two factions continued for the next several months until Cummings ran into Jim Manning at the Coliseum Variety Theatre on Feb. 14, 1882. Cummings had been drinking heavily, and challenged Manning to a fight. Although Cummings drew first, Manning and the bartender David Kling outdrew him. Cummings staggered out of the saloon and died.
1884- Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother both die within a few hours of each other.
1902- Silver screen cowboy Ray 'Crash' Corrigan was born.
1904- Kansas- the "Missouri Kid" is captured.
1912 Arizona became the 48th state of the Union.
February 15
1864- Virginia- “Texas Jack” Omohundro enlists as a private in the 5th Virginia Cavalry. A few years later he would be a great friend of Buffalo Bill Cody.
1875- Mason County, Texas- a man named Adam Brayford was traveling between Llano and Mason and saw a body lying beside the road. Brayford got out of his wagon and found a dead man with a note pinned to his back, saying "Here lies a noted cow thief". The young cowboy was Allen Bolt and as far as can be determined he was the first victim of the Mason County "Hoodoo" War.
1887- Montana Territory- 60% of the territory's cattle are reported frozen to death.
1890- Arizona Territory- the outlaw Three Fingers Jack is killed by a wounded express messenger when he and four others attempt to hold up a Southern Pacific train near Fairbanks.
1898- The U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana Harbor, killing 268 sailors and bringing hordes of Western cowboys and gunfighters rushing to enlist in the Spanish-American war.
1900- Fairbanks, Arizona Territory- Jack Dunlap and his cohorts--among them Louis Owens and Owens' brother George, Bravo Juan Yoas, and Bob Brown--tried to stick up an approaching train. They fired on the express messenger, Jeff Milton, but managed only to clip him in the arm. Milton recovered his wits and fired some buckshot into Dunlap's side. Badly wounded, the outlaw was rescued by his companions and removed to safety.
February 16
1857- Iowa- Fort Des Moines officially becomes Des Moines.
1878 - Silver dollar became US legal tender.
1881- New Mexico Territory- Dave Rudabaugh is sentenced to 99 years for stealing the U.S. Mail after pleading guilty.
1928 - Eddie Foy, Sr. died. Actor, comic, dancer: entertained on the musical stage and in vaudeville for four decades; father of The Seven Little Foys. Eddie performed in Tombstone, Arizona Territory and other places out west.
February 17
1851-England- Alice Ivers (1851-1930), AKA Poker Alice, was born. Her father eventually settled in Fort Mead, Colorado Territory. She married a mining engineer, who introduced her to gambling. Ivers admired the cardsharps and gamblers that traveled the cow towns and soon she developed her own card playing skills. In her teens, Ivers went to Deadwood, Dakota Territory, where she became a dealer and soon earned her alias "Poker Alice." After her husband died, she became a well-known and successful gambler in cow towns from Deadwood to Tombstone. Poker Alice did not tolerate cheating. She carried a gun in her purse and one in a pocket of her dress. On occasion, she would shoot the knobs off the frames of pictures hanging in bars to warn gambler gunmen that she was capable of defending herself. Wild Bill Hickok reportedly asked Poker Alice to sit in with him and others during a game of poker in Saloon Number 10 in Deadwood on the day he was murdered; she declined, saying that she had already agreed to play with another group down the street in Mann's Saloon. When hearing that Wild Bill had been shot in the back, Ivers rushed to Saloon No. 10 and saw Hickok dead on the floor and McCall fleeing out the back door. "Poor Wild Bill," she said of Hickok, peering down at his corpse, "he was sitting where I would have been if I had played with him." She later claimed that she had refused to play with Wild Bill on that fateful day because she "had a queer feeling that all would not be right that day." Alice Ivers later married Frank Tubbs, a gambler who did not possess half her playing talents and who took to drinking. Poker Alice was always getting Tubbs out of trouble. Tubbs was knifed one night by a disgruntled player, and Poker Alice stormed into the bar and shot the man in the stomach, wounding him from a distance of thirty feet. She and Tubbs moved on to Silver City, Nevada, where she broke the bank in the biggest saloon, winning an estimated $150,000. She and Tubbs then bought a Colorado ranch, which Poker Alice later lost. Following her husband's death, Poker Alice moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, where she ran a small poker club. She died there on Feb. 27, 1930.
1859- West Point, New York- Cadet George A. Custer receives 3 demerits for throwing snowballs.
1878- Kansas- Roving bands of Cheyenne's attack cattle camps near Fort Dodge, killing many civilians. Fort Supply sends troops.
1889- Canada- Gabriel Dumont was pardoned for his role in the North-West Rebellion. Gabriel Dumont, Metis leader, was born in the Red River Settlement in December 1837. As a young man he became an expert horseman, accurate with both bow and rifle. In the summer of 1863 he was elected permanent chief of the annual Metis buffalo hunt, and led his people until the virtual extermination of the buffalo in 1881. When the buffalo disappeared and white settlers began to settle the prairies, Dumont recognised that the Metis way of life was changing. He led the campaign for recognition of Metis rights in the Northwest and, when it became evident that the campaign would be unsuccessful, called upon Louis Riel to assist the Metis in their fight. During the North-West Rebellion, Dumont was admired and feared for his abilities as a guerrilla leader of the Metis and native forces. After Riel's surrender, Dumont fled to the United States and joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as a marksman. He died of heart failure in 1906.
1894- Texas- the governor pardons John Wesley Hardin after spending 16 years at hard labor.
1907- Silver screen cowboy Larry 'Buster' Crabbe was born.
1909- Fort Sill, Oklahoma Apache chief Geronimo died of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity. After the turn of the century Geronimo toured the country with the Pawnee Bill Wild West Shows. He also did well selling photographs of himself at $2 a whack.
February 18
1861- Kansas- the Treaty of Fort Wise is signed. Cheyenne and Arapaho gave up much of present Colorado between the North Platte and Arkansas Rivers. The tribes relocate to a reservation between the Arkansas River and Sand Creek.
1871- Fort Dodge, Kansas- Indians attack a government train near the fort, killing three.
1875- Mason County Texas- Vigilantes called the “HooDoos” lynched 2 of 5 recently caught cattle rustlers. The Hoodoo Wars will claim 18 people in 18 months.
1878- New Mexico Territory- John Tunstall is murdered and the Lincoln County War commences.
1879-Lincoln, New Mexico Territory- Houston Chapman, former attorney for A.A. McSween, is killed by J.J. Dolan, Bill Campbell and possibly Jesse Evans.
1882- New Mexico Territory- Pat Garrett finally collects the $500 reward for killing Billy the Kid.
1882- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- a posse made up of Wyatt and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday sets out after stage robber Pony Deal.
1906- DeLand, Florida- John B. Stetson, maker of hats, died at age 75.
1919- Silver screen cowboy Jack Palance was born.
February 19
1847- the first rescuers from Sutter's Fort, California reach the surviving remnants of the ill-fated Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where many resorted to cannibalism to survive. As the rescue parties struggled to lead the survivors back to Sutter's Fort, they too began to succumb to the harsh winter conditions. Many among the main body of pioneers were also forced to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. The last survivors would not reach safety until late April.
1864- Kansas- William F. Cody enlists in the 7th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry.
1877- Montana Territory- Fort Missoula is established.
1886- Dave Rudabaugh was killed by the villagers in Parral, in the Mexican Province of Chihuahua, who were fed up with him and his banditos.
1907- Arizona Territory- Al Sieber, noted scout for the US Cavalry and friend of Tom Horn, died while serving as a foreman working on the Roosevelt Dam. He was crushed to death by a fall of rocks that was the result of a faulty blasting operation.
1915- Kearney, Missouri - outlaw Frank James died at the old Samuels home.
February 20
1878- New Mexico Territory- William Bonney and Fred Waite, by order of Constable Martinez, attempt to serve warrants for the murder of John Tunstall on J.J. Dolan and his men at the Dolan store. Bonney and Waite are arrested by Sheriff Brady for disturbing the peace.
1929 - Actress Amanda Blake (Beverly Louise Neill), AKA Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke, was born. She died Aug 16, 1989.
February 21
1862- New Mexico Territory- the Texas Rangers win a Confederate victory in the Battle of Val Verde.
1896- Texas- Judge Roy Bean hosts the Maher-Fitzsimmons heavyweight boxing championship fight on an island in the Rio Grande.
1900- Uncle Sam gave a full military funeral to chief Washakie, one of the few Indian chiefs who never warred against white settlers. He was born in 1798 of a Chinook father and a Shoshone mother. Chief Washakie frequently warred with the Crow and Blackfoot tribes. When white settlers moved in he gave orders that they were not to be molested and his Shoshones frequently protected settlers on the Oregon Trail. In 1868 the U.S. Govt. showed its appreciation by reserving the Wind River region of west-central Wyoming for Washakie and his Shoshones.
1916- Lee's Summit, Missouri - outlaw Cole Younger died. After he was released from prison in 1901, he and Frank James organized the Cole Younger-Frank James Wild West Show.
1925- Sam Peckinpah was born on this day. Movie director: Broken Arrow [TV: 1956], Zane Grey Theater, The Rifleman, Major Dundee, The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
1921- Harrison, Arkansas- outlaw Henry Starr (1873-1921) attempted to rob the bank at Harrison, but was hit with a shotgun blast and died the next day.
February 22
1847 two-day Battle of Buena Vista begins: US troops beat Mexican army.
1876- Montana Territory- Major Brisbin is ordered to leave Fort Ellis to reinforce Fort Pease, which is besieged by Sitting Bull.
1878- New Mexico Territory- William Bonney and Fred Waite are released from jail following Tunstall's funeral.
1878- Allen Station, Texas - Outlaw Sam Bass and gang rob the Houston & Texas Central Express train.
1884- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- John Heath was lynched for his part in the infamous Bisbee massacre on Dec 8, 1883.
1889- President Cleveland signed a bill to admit the Dakotas, Montana and Washington State to the Union.
1921- Harrison, Arkansas- Outlaw Henry Starr (1873-1921) died from wounds received the previous day while attempting to rob the bank at Harrison. Henry had robbed many banks over the years in and around Oklahoma and did many stints in prison. He also appeared in several movies around 1919/1920.
February 23
1836- the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio.
1836- Texas- William Fishbaugh (Fishback), an Alamo defender, was a resident of Gonzales. He was mustered into the Gonzales Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers by Byrd Lockhart on this date. He rode to the Alamo with this unit and arrived on March 1, 1836. Fishbaugh died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
1847- Mexico- U.S. troops under General Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican General Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista.
1859- Texas- Governor Hardin Runnels tells Texans to avoid hostilities against Indians.
1864- Bloody Tanks, Arizona Territory- Tonto Apaches are lured to an Arizona peace conference by pioneer King Woolsey who claimed to be the personal representative of President Lincoln. The Indians are fed pinole loaded with strychnine and then fired upon. Estimates of Indian deaths vary between 20 and 200. Just by coincidence gold had just been discovered at nearby Prescott.
1879- William Elliott was a much-feared gunman who was wanted for murder in four states. On Feb. 23, he claimed his fifth victim: David J. "Cooke" Brown, who was passing through the Choctaw Nation. Elliott was apprehended for this crime and was sentenced to death on May 28, 1879, at Fort Smith by Judge Isaac Parker. In commenting on the charges brought against Elliott, the local newspaper Elevator dryly noted that: "He will hardly be wanted by any other state after they get through with him here." The prophecy was correct for the desperado was hanged on Aug. 29, 1879.
February 24
1821- Mexico declared its independence from Spain.
1836- Alarmed by the Mexican army on the outskirts of town, Travis vigorously renewed his pleas for help. His letter said "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World.... I shall never surrender or retreat.... Victory or Death!"
1836- Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo, with its 182 Texan defenders, lasts 13 days.
1863- Arizona was organized as a territory, comprising half of New Mexico Territory.
1878- Texas- Sam Bass and his gang robbed the Houston and Texas Central at Allen station.
1884- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- John Heath, mastermind of a robbery resulting in the Bisbee massacre on December 8th 1883, was arrested in his Clifton saloon on suspicion and taken to Bisbee, where he was convicted of second-degree murder in a quick trial on Feb. 21, 1884, after witnesses identified him as one of the killers in the store robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison but he served only one day of this term. Housed in the Tombstone jail, Heath was dragged from his cell by an incensed group of miners the day after his conviction and taken to a telegraph pole where a rope was looped over a crossbeam and the other end around his neck. Heath claimed to be innocent of the crime for which he was convicted, but when he realized the determination of the miners to see justice done, he became philosophical in his last moments, saying: "I have faced death too many times to be disturbed when it actually comes." As the miners began to yank him skyward, Heath cried out: "Don't mutilate my body or shoot me full of holes!" He died seconds later as he dangled from the telegraph pole.
February 25
1836- Samuel Colt patents Paterson Colt 5 shot revolver. The trigger folded into the frame when the gun was uncocked and no trigger guard and it had an octagonal barrel. Various barrel lengths and ranging in caliber from .28 to .40. Manufactured 1836-1843.
1873- Firebaugh, California- Tiburcio Vasquez and four members of his gang rob Hoffman's store and the customers, and then take the Wells Fargo strong box when the stage pulls into town.
1875- Kiowa Indians under Lone Wolf (Guipago) surrender at Ft Sill.
1881- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- Luke Short, having just arrived from Dodge City with Bat Masterson, kills the drunken Charlie Storms in a street duel
1922- 'Texas Rose' Bascom (Flynt) National Cowgirl Hall of Famer: trick roper was born on this day.
February 26
1846- Leclaire, Iowa- William Frederick Cody, AKA Buffalo Bill was born.
1881- Fort Buford, Dakota Territory- 325 Sioux surrender to Major Brotherton.
1881- Arizona Territory- outlaws take $135 from a stage near Contention, leaving the passengers unharmed.
1882- Harper's Weekly publishes Frederic Remington's first nationally published illustrations.
1892- Colorado- N.C. Creede discovers silver.
1895- Ft. Smith, Arkansas- Cherokee Bill was tried for the murder of Melton by jury before Judge Isaac Parker. He was found guilty. Judge Parker sentenced him to hang on June 25, 1895. Cherokee Bill seemed unconcerned about the sentence, and joked that no one would ever put a noose around his neck. His lawyer, J. Warren Reed, managed to file several appeals that delayed the execution date.
1898- New Mexico- James Dolan died on his large ranch, the Flying H, on the site of John Tunstall's old ranch. During the Lincoln County War Dolan was the chief opponent of the Tunstall-McSween faction after Murphy died, using his vast funds to hire an army that eventually shot down all his adversaries. Dolan was later elected to the Territorial Council.
1919- Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
1929- President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.
1941- California- Cowboys' Amateur Association of America organized.
February 27
1865- Socorro, New Mexico Territory- Elfego Baga is born. He later becomes a gunfighter and a lawyer.
1875- Stone Calf's Cheyennes surrender and return Catherine and Sophie Germaine who were kidnapped from a wagon train in Kansas in 1874 and held hostage.
1896- Texas- a one-time Oklahoma cowboy, Foster Crawford, was reportedly a member of the Al Jennings gang before going to Texas where he teamed up with Elmer Lewis, better known as the Slaughter Kid, Kid Lewis, or The Mysterious Kid. Crawford, who had an abiding passion for French poetry and often quoted such poets as Francois Villon, decided with Lewis to rob the bank in Wichita Falls, Texas. He and Lewis rode into the town on Feb. 25, 1896, and walked into the City National Bank with guns drawn, demanding all the cash on hand. The cashier of this bank, Frank Dorsey, resisted opening the vault, and was killed. A clerk was also wounded by the outlaws before they fled the bank with about $2,000. A company of Texas Rangers, led by Captain W.J. McDonald, was soon in pursuit and captured the outlaws some hours later. The two were jailed in Wichita Falls. After the Rangers left town, on Feb. 27, 1896, a mob broke into the jail and dragged Crawford and Lewis out to a telephone pole and lynched both of them.
1907- Zane Grey moves to Arizona.
February 28
1847- California- Colonel Alexander Doniphan and his ragtag Missouri Mounted Volunteers ride to victory at the Battle of Sacramento, during the Mexican War.
1849- California- the ship California arrived at San Francisco, carrying the first of the gold-seekers. The SS California left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, via Cape Horn, making the trip in four months, 21 days.
1858- Dakota Territory- The first troops arrive at Fort Abercrombie in present day North Dakota.
1861- Territories of Nevada & Colorado are established. The Territory of Colorado was created out of the Territory of Jefferson, which was formed in 1859, unofficially breaking off from the Territory of Kansas.
1869- Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory- James Butler Hickok quits his job as an Army scout.
1900- Cripple Creek, Colorado- Bob Lee, a cousin of the notorious Harvey and Lonie Logan, was arrested on suspicion of robbing the Union Pacific train at Wilcox, Wyo., the previous year. Lee was later sent to prison to serve a short sentence and he disappeared upon his release.
February 29
1908- New Mexico Territory- Former sheriff Pat Garret (1850-1908), AKA Big Casino (he was 6 ft 4), was killed by Wayne Brazel who was later acquitted on a self defense verdict despite the fact that Garrett had been shot through the back of the head and in the chest.
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