John Horton Slaughter
John Horton Slaughter | |
---|---|
Birth name | John Horton Slaughter |
Nickname(s) | Texas John Slaughter |
Born | October 2, 1841 Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States |
Died | February 16, 1922 Douglas, Arizona, US | (aged 80)
Battles/wars | American Civil War American Indian Wars |
Spouse(s) | Eliza Adeline Harris Slaughter (married 1871–1877, her death) Cora Viola Howell Slaughter (married 1879–1922, his death) |
Relations | From first marriage: Addie Slaughter United States Marshal |
John Horton Slaughter (October 2, 1841 – February 16, 1922), also known as Texas John Slaughter, was an American lawman, cowboy, poker player and rancher in the Southwestern United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After serving in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, Slaughter earned a reputation fighting hostile Indians and Mexican and American outlaws in the Arizona and New Mexico territories. In the latter half of his life, he lived at the San Bernardino Ranch, which is today a well-preserved National Historic Landmark in Cochise County in far southeastern Arizona. In 1964, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.[2]
Biography
Early life
Slaughter was born in 1841 on a horse
In the early 1860s, Slaughter defended American settlers against hostile
Career
In 1874, he, along with his brother, became a cattle driver in
In the late 1870s, Slaughter left Texas for New Mexico, where he traded cattle and planned to start a ranch.
In 1886, Slaughter was elected sheriff of
He also became a prominent
Slaughter claimed the pot but Bryan fled. Slaughter tracked down Gallagher all the way to New Mexico at Chisum's ranch and shot him down.Personal life
Slaughter married Eliza Adeline Harris on August 4, 1871.[3][5] Of their four children, only two, Addie and Willie, survived until adulthood.[3] Eliza died in 1877 of smallpox in Tucson.[3][4]
On April 16, 1879, Slaughter, at the age of thirty-seven, married eighteen-year-old
Years later, when he became ill, the Slaughters moved to an apartment on Twelfth Street in Douglas, Arizona.[5][8]
Previously believed to be Slaughter's former slave, John Swain (Slaughter), an experienced cowboy, settled in Tombstone and became one of its oldest and longstanding residents, dying at the age of nearly 100 in 1945. However, John Slaughter hired Swain on as an employee in Texas in 1879 [11] prior to moving to Arizona. Swain was employed by Slaughter for a brief period before leaving the San Bernardino ranch and moving to Tombstone where he remained until his death. [12] John Horton Slaughter never owned a slave.
Death
Slaughter was found on the morning of February 16, 1922, in his Douglas apartment, having died sometime during the previous night.[3][8] He was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Douglas.
References
- ^ "100 Best Historical Photos of the American West". True West Magazine. December 9, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016.
- ^ "Hall of Great Westerners". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Amanda Oren, "Slaughter, John Horton (1841–1922)" Handbook of Texas Online. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- ^ a b c d "John Slaughter". Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "John Slaughter Dies in Douglas". Tombstone Epitaph. February 19, 1922. p. 7 – via Chronicling America.
- ^ a b c d Clifford R. Caldwell, John Simpson Chisum: Cattle King of the Pecos Revisited, Santa Fe, New Mexico: Sunstone Press, 2010, pp. 77–78 [1]
- ^ Kelley, J. (1988, Spring) Up the Trail in '76: The Journal of Lewis Warren Neatherlin, Chronicles of Oklahoma, 66(1), pp. 22–51. Published by the Oklahoma Historical Society
- ^ a b c d "J. H. Slaughter Dies at Douglas". The Copper Era and Morenci Leader. Clifton, Arizona. February 17, 1922. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g Alton Pryor, The Lawmen, Roseville, California: Stagecoach Publishing, 2006, pp. 95–97 [2]
- ^ Wilson, Britt W. (June 12, 2006). "Soldiers vs. Apaches: One Last Time at Guadalupe Canyon". HistoryNet. World History Group. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- ^ Arizona Republic October 1, 1964, Page 22.
- ^ The Cochise Quarterly, Volume 15, No. 4, 1985
General
- Baird, Clayton. "I Knew John Slaughter." Real West, September 1972.
- DeMattos, Jack. "Gunfighters of the Real West: John Slaughter." Real West, March 1982.
- Erwin, Allen A. The Southwest of John Horton Slaughter 1841–1922, Pioneer Cattleman and Trail-driver of Texas, the Pecos, and Arizona and Sheriff of Tombstone. Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clarke Company, 1965.
- Farfan, G.B. "Patchy Slaughter." Frontier Times, September 1963.