Today in Old West History
June
June 1
1859- the mules pulling the Leavenworth and Pikes Peak stagecoach are frightened by friendly Indians, overturning the coach. On board is Horace Greeley.
1866- fares are reduced 25% for ministers on the Holladay Overland Mail stage.
1867- Fort Hayes, Kansas- Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer takes 350 troops to "hunt out & chastise the Cheyenne, and that portion of the Sioux who are their allies, between the Smoky Hill & the Platte."
1867- the British North America Act took effect, creating the Dominion of Canada out of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Upper Canada became Ontario and Lower Canada became Quebec. John A. MacDonald was sworn in as the first prime minister. Although independent of Britain, Canada was still not allowed to deal directly with other states, control immigration or command Canadian armed forces except through British officers.
1869- Kansas- thirteen settlers on the Solomon River are killed by Indians.
1871- Abilene, Kansas- a group of cowboys, including John Wesley Hardin arrives in town. Ben Thompson tries to get Hardin to gun down the town's marshal, Wild Bill Hickok.
1873- Willow Creek, California- Captain Jack and six other Modoc Indians are captured by Captain David Perry.
1875- Thunder Bay Ontario - first sod turned at Fort William to start construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway west to Winnipeg; on the left bank of the Kamistiquia about 6 km. upriver from Lake Superior.
1877- U.S. troops are authorized to pursue bandits into Mexico.
1878- Texas- two herders are killed by Indians near Camp Wood.
1884- Arizona Territory- the Black Canyon stage is robbed again.
1888- Arizona Territory- “Politics” is the unofficial reason given for the death of Joe Phy who was killed at a Florence watering hole by Pete Gabriele on May 3rd.
June 2
1860- Nevada Territory- Colonel Hayes and his troops engage Paiutes near Pyramid Lake. Fort Churchill will be built on the Carson River.
1865- Galveston, Texas- Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith surrenders the Trans-Mississippi Department to Union forces.
1875- Fort Sill, Indian Territory- Comanche Chief Quanah Parker led his people onto the reservation. He later became a respected and well to do rancher and businessman.
1875- Black Hills, Dakota Territory- snow falls after 67 consecutive days of rain.
1876- California- Black Bart robs the Roseburg, Oregon and Yreka, California stage nine miles from Yreka.
1884- Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory- Lilly Langtry plays a return engagement at the Opera House.
1889- Dakota Territory- thirty-four Sioux surrender on the Missouri River to Captain Sprole.
1899- Wilcox, Wyoming- the Wild Bunch robs the train at Wilcox. The gang consisted of Cassidy, George "Flatnose" Curry, Elzy Lay, Harvey Logan, Lonny Logan, Ben Kilpatrick, the Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh or Longabaugh), and Ben Beeson. The bandits stopped the Union Pacific's Overland Flyer on a small trestle which was barricaded. When the train came to a halt, Cassidy ordered the engineer, W.R. Jones, to uncouple the express car. He refused and Harvey Logan pistol-whipped the engineer. He still refused and Lay took the controls in the engine's cab and forced the train forward. Just as it crossed the trestle the small bridge blew up. Cassidy and his men had forgotten a small charge of dynamite they had placed there. Once the train was some distance from the smashed trestle, the gang stood outside the express car and called out to the guard inside, a man who identified himself as Woodcock. He was ordered to open the express car door and come out. "Come in and get me!" the defiant guard shouted to the bandits. A charge of dynamite was placed next to the door and the fuse lighted. The bandits dove into a nearby ditch and the resulting explosion tore the express car in half, sending Woodcock hurling outward. He was injured but alive. Harvey Logan ran up to the stubborn guard, pulling his six-gun and putting this next to the man's head. "This damned fellow is going to hell!" Logan shouted. Cassidy ran up to him and brushed his gun aside, saying: "Now, Harvey, a man with that kind of nerve deserves not to be shot." Meanwhile the rest of the bandits ran about wildly, picking up more than $30,000 in bank notes and securities which had been blown every which way.
1924- The United States grants full citizenship to American Indians.
June 3
1860- the Great Comanche Tornado, named for a town that it completely destroyed in Iowa, on the Mississippi River, killed more than 175 people between Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lake Michigan.
1871 - Corydon, Iowa - the Obocock Bank was relieved of the sum of $15,000 to $45,000 in gold and bills by 24-year-old Jesse James and his gang of outlaws.
1873-Delano, Kansas- gunman Edward T. Beard, aka Red Beard, opened a notorious dance hall in nearby Delano, a hangout for soldiers stationed nearby. On this date, a drunken soldier argued with a prostitute named Emma Stanley over her price for the night, and fired a bullet into her leg. Beard leaped over the bar and ran toward the group of soldiers, blindly firing his six-gun. He shot one soldier in the throat and another in the leg, neither being the culprit who escaped out a back door and deserted the army that night. Two nights later, thirty troopers sought revenge by invading Beard's dance hall and shooting up the place, wounding a gambler named Charles Leshhart, shooting Emma Stanley in the other leg, and wounding another dance hall girl. Before retreating, the soldiers torched the dance hall and then watched from the street, cheering as it burned to the ground.
1874- Wichita, Kansas- Bessie and Sallie Earp are arrested for allegedly setting up a "bawdy house."
1885- Steele Narrows Saskatchewan - Samuel Benfield Steele (1849-1919) leads the Northwest Mounted Police detachment against Big Bear, but the Cree leader again escapes; last military engagement fought on Canadian soil.
1936- Wichita Falls, Texas- Larry McMurtry was born. He is the author of Lonesome Dove and other westerns.
June 4
1868- Kansas- Cheyenne's attack Kansa Indians.
1870- Abilene, Kansas- Wild Bill Hickok is sworn in as marshal.
1889- Topeka, Kansas- Nat Oliphant is lynched by a mob. Nat murdered Alonzo Rodgers when he came home and caught Nat burglarizing his home. Nat had also “harmed” Mrs. Rodgers.
1911- Indian Creek, Alaska Territory- gold is discovered.
June 5
1850- Alabama- Pat Garrett (1850-1908), famed lawman for killing Billy the Kid, was born in Chambers County.
1856- California- U.S. Army troops in the Four Creeks region head back to quarters, officially ending the Tule River War. Fighting, however, will continue for a few more years.
1865- Utah Territory- Colonel O.H. Irish negotiated a treaty with Indians.
1867- Kansas- the first recorded Indian attack at Henshaw Station, when the Indians killed four men and stampeded the horses. At the time the station was guarded by only ten soldiers and two stock traders, so pursuit of the Indians was out of the question. By the time a force arrived from Fort Wallace, the Indians had dispersed.
1873- Ford County, Kansas- Charles Bassett became the first sheriff of Ford County and Dodge City, Kansas and later served for many years as the town marshal.
1878- San Juan del Rio, Mexico- Doroteo Arango, AKA Rancho Villa is born. He later becomes a guerrilla leader and executes 16 Americans during a raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916.
1880- Wild woman of the west Myra Maybelle Shirley, later known as Belle Starr, marries Sam Starr even though records show she was already married to Bruce Younger.
1885- General William T. Sherman writes regarding if he'd run for president: “If nominated, I will not accept. If elected, I will not serve.”
1895- Cambridge, Ohio- William Boyd was born. Boyd is better known to moviegoers and TV audiences throughout the world as Hopalong Cassidy. He first played the role of the cowboy hero in the 1935 movie, Hop-a-long Cassidy. Boyd was Hopalong Cassidy in 66 films through 1948 (he bought the rights to the character in 1945), and then he starred as Hopalong in the successful TV series in the 1950s. For over twenty years, children and adults, alike, thrilled to the adventures of Hopalong Cassidy, his horse Topper, and his sidekick played by George 'Gabby' Hayes, and later, by Andy Clyde.
June 6
1861-Colorado Territory- once part of Kansas Territory, the illegal Jefferson Territory is declared null and void with the formation of Colorado Territory.
1863- Highland, Kansas- the citizens hanged two outlaws- James Melvine and William Cannon.
1865- Louisville, Kentucky- William Quantrill died in a military prison from wounds he received on May 10th when his band of guerrillas had a brush with federal troops.
1866- Charles Goodnight & Oliver Loving with a 2,000 head mixed herd and an outfit of 18 armed men to blaze the trail that went down large into history as the Goodnight-Loving trail. They earned $12,000.
1881- New Mexico Territory- Bill Leonard and Harry Head, who were implicated in the March 15th stage robbery near Tombstone, Arizona Territory, were shot and killed in the Hachita Mountains by the two Hazlett brothers. Jim Crane organized a party to go after the Hazlett brother. Before the Hazlett brothers were killed they managed to kill two and wound three of the Crane posse.
1881- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- Virgil Earp becomes the interim city marshal in the absence of Ben Sippy.
1886- Rawlins County, Kansas- the former county attorney convicted of the murder of five homesteaders, Patrick Fleming, is lynched by an angry mob. I guess you could they say they took him out for lynch!
1938- Wyoming- Donald Ellsworth earns the first academic degree in dude ranching at the University of Wyoming's School of Agriculture.
June 7
1863- Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1866- Fort Madison Reservation, near present day Bremerton, Washington, Chief Seattle dies at age 78.
1867- Fort Hayes, Kansas- due to torrential rains causing Big Creek to overflow its banks, flooding the fort, the commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, moved the residents, including his wife, to higher ground before leaving on a mission. Despite moving seven men still drowned within earshot of the residents.
1869- Texas- Colonel Ranald Mackenzie reports two Indians and one enlisted man are killed on the Pecos River.
1876- Missouri- James-Younger Gang get their biggest haul as they take $100,000 from a Missouri-Pacific express car near Ottersville.
1879- Round Rock, Texas- Jim Murphy who lived a nightmare existence committed suicide after having turned Sam Bass in to the Texas Rangers. The 200-pound Murphy, who wore a red mustache and chin beard and whose small blue eyes seemed watery and darted everywhere at once, lived in mortal fear that Frank Jackson or some other friend of Sam Bass would seek him out and kill him. He claimed to have received word that Jackson was looking for him. Murphy spent most of his time holed up in a small room, writing lengthy letters to Major Jones, begging him to protect him against possible killers, phantom outlaws that so plagued Murphy that he asked to sleep in the small jail, being locked inside a cell at night with two six-guns next to his sleeping form. Finally, on this day, Murphy could no longer bear the strain. He swallowed poison and died.
1881- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- the Tombstone Epitaph praised Interim Marshal Virgil Earp for preventing gunfire between Ike Clanton and Dennu McCane the day before.
1888- Cochise County, Arizona Territory- sheriff John Slaughter and his deputy, Burt Alvord, and two Mexicans track another gang of robbers into the Whetstone Mountains. Slaughter and his men appear at the camp at dawn and order the bandits to surrender as they open fire. One outlaw escaped.
June 8
1867- Chalk Bluffs, Kansas- Indians and the 7th Cavalry fight.
1874- Arizona Territory- Chiricahua Apache chief Cochise died of natural causes on a reservation at age 62.
1878- New Mexico Territory- William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, signs an affidavit against the Seven Rivers gang in the murder of Frank McNab.
1878- Dodge City, Kansas- (could be 1879) the Dodge City Times runs advertisement: “DENTISTRY. J.H. Holliday, Dentist, very respectfully offers his professional services to the citizens of Dodge City and surrounding county for the summer. Office at room No. 24, Dodge House. Where satisfaction is not given money weill be refunded.”
1885- Sonora, Mexico- in Guadeloupe Canyon three guards protecting a supply train are killed by Indians.
1890- New Salem, North Dakota- outlaws stop a Northern Pacific train only to find the safe is empty.
1892- South Creede, Colorado- Robert Ford, after having run out of the reward money for killing Jesse James ten years before, met actress Nellie Waterson and moved to the Colorado mining camp called South Creede, where they opened a rowdy resort in a tent opposite the Foretone Hotel. Deputy Sheriff Edward Kelly (or O'Kelly), who had served as marshal of Batchelor, Colo., took issue with the way Ford ran the resort, and the two men became enemies. On June 8 Robert Ford, the dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard (AKA Jesse James) was killed by 2 shotgun blasts in his own tent saloon by Kelly. Arrested immediately, Kelly was turned over to Sheriff Gardner, and charged with murder. Convicted, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and served eight years before gaining his freedom in 1900. Following his release Kelly moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory, where on June 13, 1904, officer Joseph Burnett attempted to arrest him and was attacked and overpowered by Kelly. Burnett drew his revolver and killed the one-time deputy sheriff.
June 9
1872- Newton, Kansas- marshal William Brooks is wounded three times while trying to arrest Texas cowboys.
1898- Coleman, Texas- Texas cowboy Pierce Keaton fell in with Bud Newman and Bill and Jeff Taylor, who had been robbing banks and trains in Texas. Keaton participated in several robberies, and on this date he, the Taylor brothers, and Newman stopped a train outside of Coleman, Texas. Lawmen who were on the train, as well as armed crewmembers, put up a fierce fight; Newman was wounded in the arm and Keaton in the leg. Keaton fired a wild shot when he was struck by a bullet; this wounded fireman Lee Johnson, who died a few hours later. The outlaws fled on horseback, but a posse tracked them down four hours later, capturing all but Jeff Taylor. Bud Newman and Bill Taylor were given lengthy prison terms. Keaton was convicted of killing Johnson and sent to prison for life. Pierce Keaton was paroled in 1915, and he later settled in Bisbee, Ariz., where he died in 1931.
1902-Oregon- Outlaws Harry Tracy and David Merrill had been terrorizing the citizenry with a series of robberies and holdups. Merrill was arrested on Feb. 6, 1899, and Tracy was arrested the following day. Both men were found Guilty of robbery and were sentenced to the Salem prison Oregon on Mar. 22, Tracy for twenty years and Merrill for fifteen. On June 9, 1902, after having a rifle smuggled in to them, Tracy and Merrill broke out of prison. Tracy and Merrill soon had a falling out and Tracy either shot Merrill in the back or as Merrill was asleep. Tracy remained at large until Aug. 6, 1902, when a posse surprised him on a ranch near Creston, Wash. Tracy managed to dash into an adjoining wheat field. The posse fired volleys of shots into the field but heard Tracy fire only one shot in return. The following morning, Sheriff Gardner of Lincoln County and his posse searched the field, where they found Tracy dead, a suicide. One of his legs had been shattered by two of the rifle balls fired by the posse. He had attempted to stop the flow of blood with a bandage, but when it became obvious he could not escape, Tracy apparently decided to make good on his promise that he would never be caught alive, and shot himself in the head. His body was returned to Salem prison for identification and was displayed to the inmates as an object lesson in the rewards of a life of crime.
1911- Leavenworth, Kansas- Carry Nation died at age 64 on the eve of national prohibition.
June 10
1856- Llano County, Texas- Frank Jackson, a Sam Bass gang member, was born.
1857- Pitt River Canyon, California- First Lieutenant George Crook was wounded by an arrow as he led the 4th Infantry against Indians.
1858- present day Wyoming- the Army takes control of Fort Bridger.
1859- Utah Territory- the Comstock Load is discovered in present day Nevada. Over $300 million in silver and gold is taken over the next 20 years.
1865- Helena, Montana Territory- John Keene is the first person by be hanged on the "Hanging Tree".
1877- Texas- John Good, a large, intimidating cattle rancher in the hill country was accused of being a horse thief by a man named Robinson, but Robinson's revolver got tangled in his clothing as he attempted to shoot Good. The rancher killed Robinson with four shots.
1878- Victoria British Columbia - Fort Rod Hill built to protect Esquimalt in the event of a war with Russia.
1881- Riverton, Iowa- The James-Younger gang robbed the Davis and Sexton Bank netting $5,000.
1884- Montana Terrritory - Louis Riel leaves his teaching post to return to Canada to lead what was to become the Northwest Rebellion.
1885- Salina, Kansas- 1,500 people celebrate as the Missouri-Pacific's tracks reach town.
June 11
1865- Austin, Texas- outlaws fail in their attempt to rob the state treasury.
1865- Idaho Territory- 2,000 Sioux are forced to march from near Fort Laramie, Idaho Territory to Fort Kearney, Nebraska.
1867- Big Timbers, Kansas- Indians kill member of a detachment of the 7th Cavalry escorting the mail.
1899- New Mexico Territory- Tom Ketchum, AKA Black Jack, and two men attempted to rob in the region of Twin Mountains, but this time were unable to shake the posse that was after them. Tom was caught and later hung in on April 26, 1901 at Clayton, New Mexico Territory. The length of rope required was misjudged and his head popped off.
1911- Atlanta, Georgia- Former Wild Bunch member Ben Kilpatrick, AKA The Tall Texan, was released from prison. While serving time, Kilpatrick struck a fast friendship with his cellmate, Ole Beck, also known as Howard Benson. Both men resolved that when they were released they would again follow the outlaw trail made famous by the Tall Texan and his Wild Bunch friends. Beck was released a short time later and both men rode to Texas. On this trip, Kilpatrick soon came to realize that the Old West he had known and roamed was no more. Automobiles were everywhere and he and Beck found it difficult to ride their horses down the streets of any sizable city without getting run over. Telephone poles dotted the western landscape and police drove about in large black wagons. But that didn't stop them…
1971- California- Federal marshals recapture Alcatraz Island from Indians who held it for 19 months.
1979- Los Angeles, California- Marion Michael Morrison, AKA John Wayne AKA the Duke (1907-1979), died of cancer.
June 12
1838- Iowa Territory was organized.
1858-Fort Bent- Kansas Territory- in present day Colorado 19 Georgians accompanied by 46 Cheyenne arrive at the fort.
1863- Fort Bridger, Idaho Territory (present day Wyoming)- the first newspaper is published.
1867- Fort Laramie, Idaho Territory (present day Wyoming)- peace talks with Old Man Afraid, AKA Man Afraid of His Horses, who was representing 200 Ogallala Sioux lodges, break down when the chief requests ammunition.
1867- Fort Phil Kearny, Idaho Territory (present day Wyoming)- a member of the 2nd Cavalry is killed by Indians near the fort.
1867- Fort Dodge, Kansas- a soldier is wounded as Indians attack the 7th Cavalry near the fort.
1878- Wise County, Texas- John Huckson, AKA Arkansas Johnson, a member of Sam Bass's gang, was killed by Texas Rangers while resisting arrest.
1947 - ON KING! ON YOU HUSKIES!! People gathered around the radio to listen to Sergeant Preston of The Yukon for the first time. The show, with the Canadian Mountie and his trusty dog, King, continued on the radio until 1955 (and on TV from 1955-1958). Sgt. Preston was created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, who also created The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet.
June 13
1865- Idaho Territory- Crazy Horse sneaks into the Sioux camp being relocated to Fort Kearney, Nebraska to plan an escape.
1877-Nez Perce Chief Joseph decides to take his 250 warriors, 450 women and children, and 2,000 horses and attempt to make it to Canada after talks break down when a band of his younger warriors kill eleven settlers.
1878-Texas- a posse led by Texas Ranger captain June Peak and Sheriff W.F. Eagan cornered the Bass gang near Salt Creek in Wise County. A terrific gun battle ensued in which Arkansas Johnson was killed and others were wounded. Bass, Barnes, and others managed to escape on foot after the posse captured their horses. They slipped by the posse during the night, reached a nearby farm where they stole some horses, and then escaped.
1886- Vancouver BC - Fire wipes out much of Vancouver, destroying nearly 1,000 buildings; 50 people killed, and only 4 houses left standing; rebuilding will begin within days, helped by the recent arrival in the city of the CPR.
1887- Wyoming- the tracks of the St. Paul & Manitoba Railroad cross the eastern boundary of Wyoming.
1898- the Yukon Territory of Canada was organized. Yukon separated from Northwest Territories and given separate territorial status, two years after the Klondike gold discovery, capital placed at Dawson City, the largest community north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg, with about 30,000 people.
1904- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory- officer Joseph Burnett attempted to arrest Edward Kelly and was attacked and overpowered by Kelly. Burnett drew his revolver and killed the one-time deputy sheriff. Kelly had killed Robert Ford in his tent saloon in 1892 and was released from prison in 1900. Robert Ford was the notorious killer of Jesse James.
1918- Foreaker, Oklahoma- future western actor Ben Johnson is born.
1979- the U.S. Court of Claims awards the Sioux $105 million for the federal government's seizure of the Black Hills in 1877.
June 14
1846- Sonoma, California- a group of U.S. settlers declare Mexico's California to be a republic.
1865- Idaho Territory- Crazy Horse leads an escape of mostly Sioux Indians, being relocated to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, from the U.S. Cavalry.
1872- Dakota Territory- Fort McKeen is established, south of present day Bismarck, North Dakota.
1875- Texas- Jefferson Davis declines offer to become the first president of Texas A&M.
1877- Lampasas, Texas- a big shootout erupts on the street as friends and brothers of Clint Barkley run into rival ranchers. Frank Mitchell is killed.
1882- California- outlaw poet Black Bart robs the Little Lake-Ukiah stage.
1882- Arizona Territory- outlaw John Ringo's body was found sitting under a tree by passing teamster John Yoas, at the western end of Turkey Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains. A .45 slug entered his right temple and exited his left temple. Ringo's .45 had one spent cartridge in the pistol clutched in his right hand. Despite the lack of powder burns the coroner ruled it a suicide. Ringo had a college education and could speak Greek and Latin.
1884- Pasadena, California- snow and hail are reported.
1914- Lassen Peak, Colorado- a dormant volcano erupts.
1917 - Lash LaRue was born on this day. Actor: Pair of Aces, The Back Lash, Thundering Trail, Law of the Lash, Return of the Lash; passed away May 21, 1996.
1918- Sanderson, Texas- outlaw, who rode with Billy the Kid, turned lawman David Anderson AKA: Billy Wilson AKA Buffalo Billy died on this date when he was asked to go to the train station in Sanderson, Texas to quell a disturbance. At the depot he found a drunken cowboy named Ed Valentine whom he knew. Anderson felt he could reason with the rowdy who had been drunkenly brandishing his pistol. But when Anderson arrived the young cowboy ran to a shed and refused to come out. Sheriff Anderson stepped in front of the opened door and called into the darkness for Valentine to come out. A single shot came out of the gloom and pierced Anderson's chest. He fell mortally wounded, dying within an hour. So incensed were local residents by this senseless killing that Valentine was lynched an hour later.
1919-New York City, New York- actor Gene Barry was born. He later played “Bat Masterson” on TV.
June 15
1836- Arkansas is admitted into the Union as the 25th state.
1846- Great Britain and the United States agree on a joint occupation of Oregon Territory.
1867- Big Timbers, Kansas- Indians and the 3rd Infantry fight.
1873- Cypress Hills Saskatchewan - Renegade American whisky/fur traders massacre Assiniboine Indians in their camp; leads to formation of the North-West Mounted Police.
1877- John Day's Creek, Idaho Territory-General Howard reports four civilians are killed by Nez Perces.
1878- Lincoln, New Mexico Territory- a military escort takes Jesse Evans from Lincoln to Mesilla to stand trial for the murder of John Tunstall.
1881- Winston, Missouri- the James-Younger gang rob the Chicago and Rock Island train, only gaining $1,000.
1883- Helena, Montana Territory- the first eastbound Northern Pacific train comes to town.
June 16
1867- Gallinas Mountains, New Mexico Territory- Indians and the 3rd Cavalry fight.
1868- Arizona Territory- four members of the 1st Cavalry on mail escort at Toddy Mountains are reported killed by Indians.
1871- El Dorado, Kansas- a huge tornado does significant amount of damage to the town.
1894- Edmonton, Alberta - the Edmonton Bulletin reports presence of oil in what is now Alberta.
1897- the Alaska gold rush began.
1898- Dawson Yukon - the first issue of the Klondike Nugget is published at 50¢ an issue.
1906- Indian Territory & Oklahoma Territory- an act of congress is signed by Theodore Roosevelt, which combined Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory into a single state. Congress overruled the citizens who wanted to name the new state “Sequoyah”, after the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet.
June 17
1859- Santa Barbara, California- the temperature is reported at 133 o, due to the Santa Ana Wind.
1872- Dodge City, Kansas- George M. Hoover begins selling whiskey. Dodge City up to this time had been dry.
1876- Montana Territory- General George Crook's command is bested on the Rosebud River by 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Crazy Horse.
1876- Plum Creek, Nebraska- a man named Hallowell shoots and killed Omaha Deputy Sheriff Mace. Howell was apprehended immediately and at midnight a mob took him from his cell and lynched him.
1877- Idaho Territory- After young warriors killed some settlers in Idaho Territory, General O.O. Howard ordered Captain David Perry at Fort Lapwai to go get them. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce attacked Captain David Perry who had 90 men. Perry was forced to retreat leaving a third of his command dead in White Bird Canyon. Perry, however, had neither the U.S. Army's finest horsemen nor top skirmishers; many were troopers who passed the day doing odd jobs or construction work at Fort Lapwai in northern Idaho Territory. The Nez Perce warriors were expert riders, and their hunting skills made them superior adversaries.
1878- Mesilla, New Mexico Territory- Samuel Perry names Jesse Evans, William Morton, and Tom hill as the murderers of John Tunstall.
1881 - Missouri- frontiersman Jim Bridger died: Jim Bridger was one of the most able and influential mountain men. The words on his large headstone summarize his life: “Celebrated as a hunter, trapper, fur trader and guide. Discovered the Great Salt Lake 1824, The South Pass 1827, visited Yellowstone Park and geysers 1830, founded Fort Bridger 1838, opened Overland Route by Bridger's Pass to Great Salt Lake. Was Guide for U.S. exploring expeditions, Albert Sidney Johnston's army in 1857 and G. M Dodge in Union Pacific survey's and Indian campaigns 1853 - 1865.” Later Jim purchased a farm near Westport, Missouri, but soon became ill and blind. Jim was born 17 March 1804. Jim Bridger is buried in the Mount Washington Cemetery in Independence, Missouri.
June 18
1864- Colorado Territory- Cheyenne and Arapahos are believed to have massacred an entire family 25 miles west of Denver.
1877- Palo Duro Canyon, Texas- John George Adair partners with Charles Goodnight in a cattle business.
1878- Lincoln, New Mexico Territory- as part of the ongoing Lincoln County War McSween and his men head for the hills of San Patrico as Sheriff Peppin and soldiers arrive too late to catch him.
1879 Phoenix, Arizona Territory- Arizona's first ice plant opens.
1880- Pennsylvania- John Sutter, on whose property gold was first found in California died penniless at the age of 77.
1899- Lethbridge Alberta - Opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) line through Crows Nest Pass to Kootenay Landing; the effort was subsidized by the 1897 Crows Nest Pass Agreement, which also set fixed freight rates on Prairie grain traffic.
1934- the Indian Reorganization Act granted more control over internal affairs to tribes. This updated the Dawes Act of 1887 and reversed the policy of forced assimilation.
1961 - Gunsmoke was broadcast for the last time on CBS radio. The show had been on for nine years. It was called the first adult Western. The star of Gunsmoke was William Conrad, who would become a major TV star (Cannon, Jake and the Fatman), as well. When Gunsmoke moved to TV, James Arness filled Conrad's boots.
1973- Fredrak Fraske, the last official veteran of the Indian wars, died at the age of 101. Fredrak served with the 17th Infantry in 1894 when it was sent to Idaho to quell a disturbance, there was no fighting.
June 19
1865- Galveston, Texas- Union forces retakes the city.
1867- Mexican Emperor Maximilian is executed.
1867- Fort Ellsworth, Kansas- the Kansas Pacific Railroad reaches the fort from Kansas City, Missouri.
1874- Pembina Manitoba - 200 new NWMP recruits arrive at Fort Dufferin.
1876- Montana Territory- Rosebud Creek- Washakie and 200 Eastern Shoshone warriors arrive too late to aid General Crook.
1876- Virginia City, Nevada- fire destroys twenty-five buildings including a hotel.
1880- Caldwell, Kansas- J. Frank Hunt was the deputy marshal of this frontier boomtown. On this date, George Flatt, a drunken former lawman was shot to death as he neared a Caldwell restaurant. A man identified as Hunt was seen fleeing the murder scene. Flatt's death was avenged on Oct. 11, 1880, when an unidentified gunman fatally wounded Hunt as he sat near a window at the Red Light saloon and dance hall.
1881- Texas- Texas Ranger John B. Jones was born in South Carolina on Dec. 22, 1834, and was four when his family resettled in Travis County, Texas. After serving in the Confederate Army in the Civil War, Jones was elected to the Texas legislature in 1868. He was later commissioned a major in the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers and he became one of the leading law enforcement administrators in Texas, commanding six companies of Rangers and sending them across thousands of miles to battle outlaws and Indians. Jones was involved with a number of gun battles with outlaw bands and he was responsible for bringing the bloody Horrell-Higgins Feud to an end. Jones died in Austin, Texas, on this date.
June 20
1867- Black Hills, Dakota Territory- Major Frank North led a company of Pawnee scouts against the Sioux.
1876- Montana Territory-. George A. Custer and the 7th Cavalry begin marching toward the Little Bighorn River, after being reviewed by General Alfred Terry, as the band played “Garry Owen.” Scouts informed Custer that 2,000 to 4,000 warriors were camped on the Little Bighorn.
1876- Goose Creek, Montana Territory- General Crooks command is joined by Crow and Snake Indians as they begin marching, hoping to find Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull within four days. Crow scouts report a large Sioux village on the Tongue River.
1887- London, England- Buffalo Bill's Wild West performs for Queen Victoria.
1910- Congress passes the act that allowed separate statehood for Arizona and New Mexico.
1924 - Audie Murphy was born. American hero: most decorated GI of WWII [27 US decorations including Medal of Honor plus 5 decorations from France and Belgium]; actor: The Red Badge of Courage, The Unforgiven, Arizona Raiders, To Hell and Back; killed in plane crash May 28, 1971.
June 21
1844- Saint-Boniface Manitoba - Four Sisters of Charity, Sisters Valade, Lagrave, Lafrance and Coutlée arrive at Red River, after 59 days of canoeing and portaging through wilderness from Lake Superior. Invited by Bishop Joseph-Norbert Provencher, the Grey Nuns are part of the first religious community to settle in the Canadian West; they start teaching in makeshift schools until their convent, the Provincial House, is completed in 1847. They also provide medical care for the settlers, and vaccinate over 3,000 people when smallpox breaks out in 1870; in 1871, they open the four-bed Saint-Boniface General Hospital; the first in the West.
1867- Fort Wallace, Kansas- two soldiers are killed in fight with Indians near the fort.
1876- Montana Territory- aboard the steamship Far West Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer meets with General Alfred Terry to discuss strategy against the Indians.
1878- California- Black Bart robs the LaPorte-Oroville stage three miles from Forbestown.
1887- Leavenworth, Kansas- a fire does $200,000 worth of damage.
June 22
1857- Red River Manitoba - Company of Royal Canadian Rifles sent to Red River to police trade, train local militia and counter American influence.
1857- James Birch wins a government contract to carry the mail and passengers between San Antonio and San Diego. This service became known as the "Jackass Mail" because the passengers had to ride mules from Fort Yuma to California.
1867- Goose Creek Station, Colorado Territory- two enlisted men of the 37th Infantry are wounded in a fight with Indians.
1867- Fort Wallace, Kansas- a detachment of the 7th Cavalry reports a skirmish with Indians near the fort.
1869- Northwest Territories, Canada, an act was passed providing for the government of the Northwest Territories, which then included much of the Prairies.
1876- Montana Territory- General Alfred Terry sends Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and Little Bighorn rivers to search for Indian villages.
1877- Missouri- Jesse James disguises himself to serve as a pallbearer for his friend John Sallee, Jr.
1878- Lincoln, New Mexico Territory- John Kenny and eleven of his gang arrive in town.
1880- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- Buckskin Frank Leslie escorted Mary Killen to a dance and afterwards sat with her on the porch of a hotel. At this time her husband Mike appeared from the shadows, firing a pistol and yelling, “Take that you son of a bitch!” Two shots grazed Frank's head. As Mike pistol-whips Frank, Frank pulled a pocket pistol and puts two bullets into Mary's husband. Mike dies five days later.
1881- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- much of the towns business district, including sixty-six buildings, was destroyed when someone got too close of a barrel of bad whiskey, with a match or cigar, that the proprietor of the Arcade Saloon had set outside to return it to the supplier. The barrel exploded in flames. It was already 100 degrees.
1887- Fort Scott, Kansas- the Missouri Pacific's tracks reach town.
June 23
1865- Doakesville, Choctaw Nation- in present day Oklahoma Cherokee chief and Confederate General Stand Watie surrenders the last sizable Confederate army at an abandoned Fort Towson.
1876- Montana Territory- George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry march 30 miles over rugged terrain.
1877- Mesilla, New Mexico Territory- Jesse Evans, a member of the Murphy-Dolan gang in the Lincoln County War, is acquitted in the murder of Quirrono Fletcher.
1878- Fort Griffin, Texas - John M. Larn (1849-78) a lawman turned-outlaw was killed by the Fort Griffin vigilantes. When the vigilantes arrived at the jail at midnight to lynch Larn they were not able to release him from his shackles, so they formed a firing squad and killed him in his cell. He was lynched for cattle rustling. In April 1876, Larn was elected county sheriff. During his tenure, Larn frequently deputized his old friend, gunfighter John Selman, who also helped in a cattle rustling scheme Larn devised. Larn had signed a contract to deliver three steers a day to the military garrison and was rustling them from his neighbors' herds. As their herds dwindled and Larn's did not, his neighbors discovered the rustling scheme and forced Larn to resign as sheriff on Mar. 7, 1877. In June 1878, Larn wounded a local rancher named Treadwell, who may have been the man who uncovered the rustling. On June 22, 1878, Larn was arrested by his successor, Sheriff William Cruger.
1883- California- Black Bart robs the Jackson-Ione stage four miles from Jackson.
1898 The first battle of the Spanish-American War was fought at Las Guasimas. The 10th Cavalry, along with two other white regiments, saw action in this engagement. The units were commanded by Major General Joseph Wheeler, the only Confederate general to be reinstated in the U.S. Army after the Civil War.
1946- Los Angeles, California- cowboy actor William S. Hart died at age 75.
June 24
1864- Colorado Territory- all friendly Indians are moved to the reservation at Sand Creek due to recent hostilities.
1865- Virginia City, Nevada- US Speaker of the House Schuler Cofax arrives bring a message of encouragement from the late President Lincoln to the miners, as well as bring a headstone and footstone for the grave of Hosea Grosch, the discover of the Comstock Load.
1867- Kansas- Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer reports a fight between Indians and five companies of the 7th Cavalry on the north fork of the Republican River.
1867- Colorado Territory- grasshoppers are reported moving into the territory.
1874- Petrie, Indian Territory- Bill Tilghman and a group of buffalo hunters retrieve the body of another hunter, Pat Congers. Congers had been killed in a saloon by Blue Throat.
1876- Montana Territory- George A. Custer and his men make camp on the upper reaches of the Rosebud after marching 28 miles. At 9 p.m. Crow scouts inform the commanding officer that the Indians they have been trailing had turned west across the divide between the Rosebud and the valley of the Little Bighorn. Custer decides to disobey orders and follow the Indians westward, and tells his men to be ready to march at 11 p.m. Three hours later the head of the column stops in a wooded ravine.
1876- Arizona Territory- the Downieville stage is robbed by two masked men who are run off when a messenger produces a shotgun.
1882- St. Johns, Arizona Territory- Nat Greer leads cowboys as they start a fight with Mexicans in which two people are killed.
1889- Telluride, Colorado- Butch Cassidy and the McCarty's robbed the town bank, taking $10,500. Like the bank robbery in Denver, the gang never fired a shot. They merely trained guns on the bank employee, emptied the tellers' cages and looted the opened vault, then rode quietly out of town. Lawmen, however, formed huge posses and conducted wide and long searches for the bandits cuasing Cassidy and the others to go into hiding. Cassidy decided to follow the straight and narrow path and he took several jobs with ranches as a cowboy. He even worked as a butcher in Rock Springs, Wyoming which is where he earned hisalias "Butch."
1904- London England - King Edward VII confers the right to use the prefix 'Royal' on the North-West Mounted Police, in recognition of 30 years of loyal service.
June 25
1857- San Antonio, Texas- Edward Beal led an expedition to include the 1st Army Camel Corps to California. The first leg of the convoy went from San Antonio to El Paso and through Albuquerque. The convoy included troops, mules, horses, civilians, 75 camels, and their drivers.
1876- Fort Russell, present day Wyoming- Calamity Jane reaches the fort "so blind drunk she couldn't see." and drives past to Chugwater, 50 miles north of the Little Bighorn.
1876- Montana Territory- Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry (over 260 men) are massacred by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Chief Sitting Bull & Chief Crazy Horse in a two-hour in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
1876- Dakota Territory- Nat Love recorded that on this day he was on a cattle drive with 2,000 longhorns en route to Deadwood, sixty miles from the Little Bighorn. He later wrote, "We did not know at the time or we would have gone to Custer's assistance."
1877- Dakota Territory- A stage near the Hat Creek ranch was robbed for the third time in three weeks. Two days later it was robbed again. Then it was robbed again on July 4th.
1879- Arizona Territory- Indian scouts kill six Indians and capture one in the Tonto Basin.
1975- Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota- two FBI agents are killed in a shootout with American Indian Movement members.
June 26
1867- Kansas- a detachment of the 38th Infantry battle Indians near Wilson's Creek.
1867- Kansas- a detachment of the 7th cavalry fight with Indians on the south fork of the Republican River. Members of the 7th also battle Indians near Fort Wallace.
1868- Huntsville, Texas- Ben Thompson begins a two-year sentence in the penitentiary after being found guilty of "intent to kill".
1872- Tucson, Arizona Territory- the village is established.
1876- Montana Territory- Lt. Bradley and his Crow scouts are the first to learn of Custer's Massacre from smoke signals sent by Custer's Crows, Harry Moccasin, Goes Ahead, and White Man Runs Him. The scouts had been dismissed before the battle and were now on the other side of the river.
1876- Montana Territory- Major Reno and his portion of the 7th Cavalry are still under attack. The Indians end their attack at sunset.
1919 - Jay Silverheels (Harold J. Smith) was born. Actor: The Lone Ranger, Broken Arrow, Man Who Loved Cat Dancing; passed away Mar 5, 1980.
1925- Charlie Chaplin's classic comedy, ``The Gold Rush,'' premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
June 27
1857- New Mexico Territory- Major battle between Apaches and the Gila Expedition, consisting of dragoons, riflemen, and infantry.
1867-Montana Territory- Fort Shaw is established.
1874- Adobe Walls, Texas- the second Battle of Adobe Walls takes place as 28 buffalo hunters (including Bat Masterson and Billy Dixon) & freighters withstood the assault of 700 Kiowa & Comanche Indians lead by Comanche chief Quanah Parker.
1876- Little Bighorn, Montana Territory- General Alfred Terry find the mutilated bodies of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and his men. Custer's Crow scout, Curly, reports the first news of Custer's battle to the crew of the steamboat the Far West, a half-mile from the mouth of the Little Bighorn.
1876- Little Bighorn, Montana Territory- Comanche, Captain Miles Keogh's horse, the only survivor on the Army's side, is found with seven wounds drinking water from the Little Bighorn. All the other mounts were killed or taken. But Captain Keogh died holding the reins with one hand and firing with the other as reported by the Indian Little Soldier. He said “no Indian would take that horse when a dead man was holding the reigns. Comanche died in 1891 and is currently on display at the University of Kansas.
1881- Tucson, Arizona Territory- 30,000 pounds of gunpowder explodes at a powder magazine damaging many buildings in town.
1889- Telluride, Colorado- The Rocky Mountain News that that a local bank is robbed. It was believed that Butch Cassidy and his gang were the culprits.
1897- Deadwood, Dakota Territory- Henry Logan, along with the Sundance Kid and two other Wild Bunch members was arrested and housed in the jail at Deadwood after an attempted bank robbery at Belle Fourche but didn't serve much time as a result.
1897- Cassidy and Lay left the ranch they were working on in early June, rode back to Hole-in-the-Wall and gathered more men, Harvey Logan, Walt Putney, Tom "Peep" O'Day, and Indian Billy Roberts. These men then rode to Belle Fourche, S.D., on this date, and robbed the bank there, taking about $5,000.
1903- Less than a year into a 20-year prison sentence Henry Logan, escapes by overpowering his guards and taking possessions of a brace of revolvers.
June 28
1834- Rhode Island- Abel Head Pierce AKA Shanghai Pierce was born and later became one of Texas's pioneer cattlemen. He was called Shanghai because he was 6-5 and wore spurs with rowels the size of windmills and someone remarked that he looked like a Shanghai rooster. He worked on the Grimes cattle ranch and during the Civil War enlisted in the 1st Texas Cavalry serving as the regimental butcher. After the war he returned to Texas and went into the cattle business by rounding up strays. By 1900 his range stock were roaming over more than a million acres. He died on December 26, 1900.
1865- Avon, Montana Territory- Captain Burns and his troops are killed by Indians.
1866- an Act of Congress authorized the creation of six regiments of Black troops, two of cavalry and four of infantry. These troops went on to play a major role in the history of the West, as the "Buffalo Soldiers."
1880- Leadville, Colorado- Texas Jack Omohundro, a scout and show biz persona died of pneumonia at age 33.
1881- Tombstone, Arizona Territory- the city council approves Virgil Earp as the permanent police chief until the return of Ben Sippy.
1886- Montreal, Quebec - The Pacific Express, the Canadian Pacific Railway's first through passenger train to the Pacific coast, leaves Montreal for Port Moody, BC near Vancouver. It takes almost 6 days to make trip.
1892- Fort Smith, Arkansas- Thornton, a man of considerable girth, was hanged. It was a gruesome sight for the spectators who came to witness the hanging. The rope nearly severed Thornton's head from the torso; only the tendons in his neck saved him from decapitation. John Thornton was a profligate, drunken sadist, who had taken indecent liberties with his daughter. When the unfortunate girl finally attempted to put her life in order and married her sweetheart, the besotted father raced to where the young couple was staying and shot her with a pistol. He was arrested and convicted after a short trial.
June 29
1850- Nanaimo, British Columbia - Coal is discovered on Vancouver Island; which will prove valuable for refueling Royal navy ships and Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) trains.
1857- Kansas- at Solomon's Fork on the Kansas River Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart is wounded in a fight with Cheyenne Indians.
1863- Alder Gulch, Montana Territory- Deputy Dillingham is murdered by the outlaw gang known as the “Innocents”.
1878- New Mexico Territory- Justice Wilson issues an arrest warrant for A.A. McSween.
1879- Alkali Creek, Montana Territory- Crow scouts kill six Indians.
1883- Fort Smith, Arkansas- Tualisto was hanged after being convicted of murder. Tualisto was a member of the Creek Indian tribe, robbed and murdered Emanuel Cochran, who was passing through the Choctaw Nation on July 6, 1881. A deputy marshal named Beck quietly began assembling evidence against Tualisto, and was preparing to issue an arrest warrant when Tualisto was convicted within the tribal court on an unrelated charge of larceny. The court adjudged him Guilty and ordered that he be strapped to the whipping post and flogged. After enduring the punishment, Tualisto was released to Deputy Beck who led him away. Before he was dropped to eternity, he announced to the spectators that the four buttons sewn into his hat were taken from the four white men he had killed.
1893- Texas- Texas Ranger Frank Jones was killed by Mexican bandits on this date. Much earlier Jones became a Texas Ranger at seventeen. A year later, Jones killed two Mexican horse thieves and arrested another when they ambushed him. In 1880, Jones shot an outlaw and arrested two others, while searching for Scott Cooley, who sparked the 1875 Mason County War. Jones also killed a couple of rustlers in separate barroom incidents, including the notorious Tex Murietta. In October 1891, Jones and a seven-man posse chased four train robbers in Crockett County, Texas. During a shootout at Howard's Well the posse wounded three of the bandits, while the fourth, John Flint, committed suicide as he was about to be nabbed after an eight mile chase. Jones' last gunfight occurred on June 29, 1893, when he attempted to arrest a Mexican cattle thief, Jesus Maria Olguin and his son, Severio. He and his Ranger posse trailed them across the border to the settlement of Tres Jacales, Mexico, where they fired at the two men, wounding them. As the lawmen attempted to enter a building where the two men were hiding, Jones was shot to death by the bandits inside. The Olguins were never prosecuted because the incident occurred on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
1919- California- Louis Bert Lindley, AKA Slim Pickens, is born.
1949- TV show Hopalong Cassidy, starring William Boyd, premiered on NBC.
June 30
1858- Victoria British Columbia - the first Chinese colonists reach Victoria.
1863- at age 23 George A. Custer is made brigadier general of Union Army volunteers.
1864- California- on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas Yosemite, Valley Park becomes the first state park in the US. It was named after the Yosemite Indians.
1867- Fort Phil Kearny- the 18th Infantry and Indians fight near the fort.
1882- Fort Smith, Arkansas- Edward Fulsom, a hardened criminal and horse thief who fled to the Indian Territory to escape justice in February 1881, was hanged. Fulsom got into trouble again in a tough saloon near the Arkansas-Indian Territory line. In a barroom brawl Fulsom beat William Massingill to death with his pistol butt. Being slight of build, the drop did not snap Fulsom's neck and the outlaw's pulse continued for sixty-three minutes until the doctors pronounced him dead.
1893- Texas- Leading a detail of 4 Rangers Captain Frank Jones, a very tough Texas Ranger, was cut to pieces as the Rangers attempted to arrest Jesus Maria Olguin and his son for stock theft.
1891- Pikes Peak Mountain, Colorado- the first passenger train ascends the summit. Zebulon Pike, in 1806 it was thought that no one would ever succeed in climbing the mountain.
Return to main Today in Old West History Menu.
Return to main Lonesome Dove .
If you don't see a menu on the left click here for my main web page.
For western movies, books and music click here.