Johnson County War
Johnson County War | |||
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Part of the Fort D.A. Russell near Cheyenne, Wyoming, May 1892 | |||
Date | July 20, 1889 - May 24, 1893[1][2][3] | ||
Location | Powder River Country, Johnson County, Wyoming, United States | ||
Caused by | Stock, grazing and water rights disputes | ||
Resulted in | Homesteader victory[4][5] | ||
Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
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Number | |||
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Casualties and losses | |||
20-40 killed (including those who were lynched)[1] | |||
Location of the conflict in Wyoming |
The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River and the Wyoming Range War, was a
The events have since become a highly mythologized and symbolic story of the
Background
Conflict over land was a common occurrence in the development of the
In the early days of
To protect whatever livestock that survived, the cattle barons reacted with a catch-all allegation of rustling against their competition.[10] Hostilities worsened when the Wyoming legislature passed the Maverick Act, which stated that all unbranded cattle in the open range automatically belonged to the large ranchers.[13] The cattle barons also held a firm grip on Wyoming's stock interests by limiting the number of small ranchers and grangers who could participate, including the annual round-ups. They also forbade their employees from owning cattle for fear of additional competition, and threatened anyone they suspected to be rustlers.[9] Although at a financial disadvantage, the homesteaders outnumbered the cattle barons significantly, and they tried to use this to win court cases by participating in the jury.[14] However, records showed that they were still not successful.[15]
Wyoming Stock Growers Association
Many of the large ranching outfits in Wyoming were organized as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (the WSGA) and gathered socially at the Cheyenne Club in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Comprising some of the state's wealthiest and most influential residents, the organization held a great deal of political sway in the state and region. The WSGA organized the cattle industry by scheduling roundups and cattle shipments.[16] The WSGA also employed an agency of detectives to investigate cases of cattle theft from its members' holdings. Grangers and rustlers often intermixed with one another in the community, making it more difficult for the detectives to differentiate the criminals and the innocent homesteaders.[16]
Rustling in the local area was likely increasing due to the harsh grazing conditions, and the illegal exploits of organized groups of rustlers were becoming well publicized in the late 1880s.[17] Well-armed outfits of horse and cattle rustlers roamed across various portions of Wyoming and Montana, with Montana vigilantes such as the infamous Stuart's Stranglers declaring "War on the Rustlers" in 1884.[17][18] Bandits taking refuge in the infamous hideout known as the Hole-in-the-Wall were also preying upon the herds.[10] Frank M. Canton, Sheriff of Johnson County in the early 1880s and better known as a detective for the WSGA, was a prominent figure in eliminating these supposed criminals from Wyoming. Before the events in Johnson County, Canton had already developed a reputation as a lethal gunman. At a young age he had worked as a cowboy in Texas, and in 1871 started a career in robbery and cattle rustling, as well as killing a Buffalo Soldier on October 10, 1874. Historian Harry Sinclair Drago described Canton as a "merciless, congenital, emotionless killer. For pay, he murdered eight—very likely ten—men."[19]
War
Early killings
On July 20, 1889, a range detective from the WSGA named George Henderson accused Ella Watson (better known as Cattle Kate) a local rancher, of stealing cattle from a fellow rancher by the name of Albert John Bothwell. The cattlemen sent riders to seize Watson before capturing her husband Jim Averell as well. Both of them were subsequently lynched. This gruesome act was one of the rare cases in the Old West in which a woman was lynched, an event that appalled many of the local residents[13] and paved the way for future events in the war.[20] County Sheriff Frank Hadsell arrested six men for the lynching and a trial date was set. However, before the trial, threats were sent to the witnesses who were to testify against the aggressors.[21] One of those witnesses was young Gene Crowder, who mysteriously disappeared under unknown circumstances before the trial.[22] Another, Averell's nephew and foreman Frank Buchanan, disappeared from the county as well after a shootout with unknown suspects, and was presumed to be hiding or murdered.[23] Ralph Cole, another nephew of Averell's, died on the day of the trial from poisoning.[21]
Enemies of the WSGA soon fought back. Henderson, the range detective who had accused Watson, was murdered near Sweetwater Creek in October 1890. The cattle barons soon tightened their control and hunted down those who tried to oppose them. The double lynching of the Averells was followed by the lynching of Tom Waggoner, a horse trader from Newcastle, Wyoming, in June 1891.[10] A friend of Waggoner named Jimmy the Butcher, who was once arrested for rustling cattle belonging to the Standard Cattle Company, was also murdered.[24][25] Range detective Tom Smith killed a suspected rustler, and when he was indicted for murder, political connections to the WSGA secured his release.[26] These killings precipitated more hostilities and violence in the years to come.[27]
After the lynchings of their prominent competitors, the WSGA's control over the range was undisputed, until a group of smaller ranchers formed the Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers' Association (NWFSGA) to compete with the WSGA, led by a local cowboy named Nate Champion. Upon hearing this, the WSGA immediately viewed the new association as a threat to their hold on the stock interests. The WSGA then blacklisted members of the NWFSGA from the round-ups in order to stop their operations. However, the NWFSGA refused the orders to disband and instead publicly announced their plans to hold their own round-up in the spring of 1892.[28]
Soon, the prominent cattlemen sent out an assassination squad to kill Champion on the morning of November 1, 1891.[29] Champion and another man, named Ross Gilbertson, were sleeping in a cabin near the Middle Fork of the Powder River when a group of armed men went inside.[10] Only two were able to fit into the small cabin while four others stood by outside. Champion was immediately awakened by the intrusion, and as the gunmen pointed their weapons at him, Champion reached for his own pistol hidden under a pillow and a shootout commenced. Champion successfully shot two of the gunmen, mortally wounding and killing assassin Billy Lykins.[30] The rest of the assassination squad subsequently fled. Champion was left uninjured except for some facial burns from gunpowder. In a subsequent investigation of the attack, the names of those involved were leaked to two ranchers: John A. Tisdale and Orley "Ranger" Jones. However, both men were ambushed and murdered while they were riding, which outraged many of the small ranchers and farmers in the county.[10]
Invaders
The WSGA, led by
In March 1892, the cattlemen sent agents to Texas from Cheyenne and Idaho to recruit gunmen and finally carry out their plans for exterminating the homesteaders.[34] This group became known as the "Invaders".[10] The cattle barons had always used hired guns from Texas to take out suspected rustlers and scare away the nesters in Wyoming. One particular act of violence perpetrated by the Texans was recounted by cowboy John J. Baker, where the Texans ambushed and killed nine trappers whom they mistook for rustlers in Big Dry Creek, Wyoming.[24] They received a $450 bonus for the slaughter.
Soon, 23 gunmen from
John Clay, a prominent Wyoming businessman, was suspected of playing a major role in planning the Johnson County invasion. Clay denied this, saying that in 1891 he advised Wolcott against the scheme and was out of the country when it was undertaken. He later helped the "Invaders" avoid punishment after their surrender.[39] The group organized in Cheyenne and proceeded by train to Casper, Wyoming, and then toward Johnson County on horseback, cutting the telegraph lines north of Douglas, Wyoming, in order to prevent an alarm.[40] While on horseback, Canton and the gunmen traveled ahead while the party of WSGA officials led by Wolcott followed a safe distance behind.
Gunfight at the KC Ranch
The first target of the WSGA was Nate Champion, who was at the KC Ranch at that time. They were tasked to perform the assassination that others had failed to carry out five months before. The group traveled to the ranch late Friday, April 8, 1892, quietly surrounded the buildings, and waited for daybreak.[41] Three men besides Champion were at the KC. Two men who were evidently going to spend the night on their way through were captured as they emerged from the cabin early that morning to collect water at the nearby Powder River, while the third, Nick Ray, was shot while standing inside the doorway of the cabin.[41] As the gunmen opened fire on the cabin, Champion dragged the mortally wounded Ray back to the cabin. Ray died hours later, and Champion was left besieged inside the log cabin alone.
Champion held out for several hours, wounding three of the vigilantes, and was said to have killed four others.[19] Another settler by the name of Jack Flagg passed by Champion's ranch on his wagon together with his stepson and witnessed the siege. The Invaders recognized Flagg as one of the men on the list and they started shooting at him. Flagg then rode away and, as the Invaders gave chase, he grabbed his rifle and beat them back. During the siege, Champion kept a poignant journal which contained a number of notes he wrote to friends while taking cover inside the cabin. "Boys, I feel pretty lonesome just now. I wish there was someone here with me so we could watch all sides at once," he wrote. The last journal entry read: "Well, they have just got through shelling the house like hail. I heard them splitting wood. I guess they are going to fire the house tonight. I think I will make a break when night comes, if alive. Shooting again. It's not night yet. The house is all fired. Goodbye, boys, if I never see you again."[19][42]
The Invaders continued to shoot at the cabin while others set it on fire using a wagon they managed to steal from Flagg. Champion signed his journal entry and put it in his pocket before running from the back door with a six-shooter in one hand and either a knife or a rifle in the other.
Siege of the TA Ranch
The WSGA group then headed north on Sunday toward Buffalo to continue its show of force. By early morning of the 11th however, news quickly came of a large hostile force heading towards them. They quickly rode and took refuge in the TA Ranch in Crazy Woman Creek. During their flight, one of the Texans by the name of Jim Dudley accidentally shot himself when his horse bucked and his rifle fell to the ground, discharging and hitting his knee. He was later escorted by two others to Fort McKinney to seek treatment, but died in the fort one or two days later from gangrene.[44]
The sheriff's posse finally reached the remaining Invaders holed up in a log barn at the TA Ranch, but the latter managed to hold them back, resulting in a siege that would last for three days. The posse surrounded the whole ranch, building pits on the ground for cover and killing the Invaders' horses to prevent them from escaping. The
Fortunately for the Invaders, one of their members, Mike Shonsey, managed to slip from the barn and was able to contact Governor Barber the next day. Frantic efforts to save the WSGA group ensued, and two days into the siege, late on the night of April 12, 1892, Governor Barber telegraphed
Arrest and legal action
The WSGA group was taken to Cheyenne to be held at the barracks of
The Johnson County attorney began to gather evidence for the case and the details of the WSGA's plan emerged. Canton's gripsack was found to contain a list of seventy alleged rustlers who were to be shot or hanged, a list of ranch houses the Invaders had burned, and a contract to pay each Texan five dollars a day plus a bonus of $50 for each person killed.[37] The Invader's plans reportedly included the eventual murder of people as far away as Casper and Douglas. The Times reported on April 23 that "the evidence is said to implicate more than twenty prominent stockmen of Cheyenne whose names have not been mentioned heretofore, also several wealthy stockmen of Omaha, as well as to compromise men high in authority in the State of Wyoming. They will all be charged with aiding and abetting the invasion, and warrants will be issued for the arrest of all of them."[37]
The Invaders, however, were protected by a friendly judicial system, and they took advantage of the cattle barons' corruption.[10] Charges against the men "high in authority" in Wyoming were never filed. Eventually they were released on bail and were told to return to Wyoming for the trial. Many fled to Texas and were never seen again. In the end, the WSGA group went free after the charges were dropped on the excuse that Johnson County refused to pay for the costs of the long prosecution. The costs of housing the men at Fort D.A. Russell were said to exceed $18,000 and the sparsely populated Johnson County was unable to pay for them[36][50]
Final killings
Tensions in Johnson County remained high. On May 10, U.S. Marshall George Wellman was ambushed and killed by locals en route to the Town of Buffalo. The incident received national attention, with Wellman being the only marshal to die in the war.[51] Wellman had been one of the hired guns who joined the Invaders, and his death was grieved by a large crowd. The Sixth Cavalry, sent to relieve the county of its violence, was said to be influenced by intense local political and social pressure, and they were unable to keep the peace. One infamous event occurred when a group of men set fire to the post exchange and planted a homemade bomb in the cavalry's barracks. Noted officer Charles B. Gatewood was seriously injured by the bomb blast in the barracks, shattering his left arm and ending his cavalry career.[52]
The Ninth Cavalry of "
In the fall of 1892, as the aftershock of the stand-off was still being felt throughout the county, two alleged horse rustlers were gunned down by range detectives east of the
Aftermath
Emotions ran high for many years afterward. Some considered the large and wealthy ranchers as heroes who had sought what they regarded as justice by using violence to defend what they regarded as their rights to range land and water rights, while others saw the WSGA as heavy-handed outlaw vigilantes running roughshod over the law.
Political effects
Although many of the leaders of the WSGA's hired force, such as
Economic analysis
Historian Daniel Belgrad argues that in the 1880s centralized range management was emerging as the solution to the overgrazing that had depleted open ranges. Moreover, cattle prices at the time were low. Larger ranchers also were hurt by mavericking (taking lost, unbranded calves from other ranchers' herds), and responded by organizing cooperative roundups, blacklisting, and lobbying for stricter anti-maverick laws. These ranchers formed the WSGA and hired gunmen to hunt down rustlers, but local farmers resented the ranchers' collective political power. The farmers moved toward decentralization and the use of private winter pastures.[6] Randy McFerrin and Douglas Wills argue that the confrontation represented opposing property rights systems. The result was the end of the open-range system and the dominance of large-scale stock ranching and farming. The popular image of the war, however, remains that of vigilantism by aggressive landed interests against small individual settlers defending their rights.[63]
By 1893, the WSGA was opened to the other small ranchers and farmers, finally ending their monopoly and control over Wyoming business interests.[10] Previous practices of the WSGA, such as vigilantism and confiscation of cattle, were finally stopped. Many prominent leaders of the association such as Frank Wolcott, Frank M. Canton and Tom Smith later left the area.
Legacy
The Johnson County War, with its overtones of
The Virginian, a seminal 1902 western novel by Owen Wister, took the side of the wealthy ranchers, creating a myth of the Johnson County War, but bore little resemblance to a factual account of the actual characters and events.[67][68] Jack Schaefer's popular 1949 novel Shane treated themes associated with the Johnson County War and took the side of the settlers.[69] The 1953 film The Redhead from Wyoming, starring Maureen O'Hara, dealt with similar themes; in one scene O'Hara's character is told, "It won't be long before they're calling you Cattle Kate." In the 1968 novel True Grit by Charles Portis, the main character, Rooster Cogburn, was involved in the Johnson County War. In the early 1890s Cogburn had gone north to Wyoming where he was "hired by stock owners to terrorize thieves and people called nesters and grangers... . I fear that Rooster did himself no credit in what they called the Johnson County War."[70]
Films such as
The story of the Johnson County War from the point of view of the small ranchers was chronicled by Kaycee resident Chris LeDoux in his song "Johnson County War" on the 1989 album Powder River. The song included references to the burning of the KC Ranch, the capture of the WSGA men, the intervention of the U.S. Cavalry and the release of the cattlemen and hired guns.[75] The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum in Buffalo featured dioramas and exhibits about the Johnson County War, as well as a 7-foot (2.1 m) bronze statue of Nate Champion.[38] Kaycee, Wyoming, the old site of the KC Ranch, also erected the Hoofprints in the Past Museum to commemorate the war.
See also
- List of feuds in the United States
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d Nelson, Mathias (27 May 2022). "Johnson County War: An American Insurrection". Forgotten Wars. March 27, 2022
- ^ Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 24, 2022)
- ^ a b Trimble, Marshall. "I cowboyed with a man named John Tisdale in Wyoming in my youth. Didn't a man by that name get killed in the Johnson County War?". True West. October 2015
- ^ "Spell of the West: Johnson County War". JCS Group. Archived from the original on 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
- ISBN 978-0486421612
- ^ a b c d Daniel Belgrad, "'Power's Larger Meaning': The Johnson County War as Political Violence in an Environmental Context," Western Historical Quarterly (2002) 33#2 pp. 159-177 in JSTOR
- ^ a b c Woods, Glenn (27 May 2022). "The Battle of Suggs Wyoming: Homesteaders Vs Buffalo Soldiers". Wake Up Wyoming. July 29, 2022, 2022
- ^ Oxford University Press No Duty to Retreat: Violence and Values in American History and Society by Richard Maxwell Brown. Product Description Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine 1992
- ^ a b c "Wyoming Legends: Johnson County War". Legends of America. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Davis, John W. "The Johnson County War: 1892 Invasion of Northern Wyoming". Wyoming History. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Burt, Nathaniel 1991 Wyoming Compass American Guides, Inc p.156
- ^ Mattison, Ray H. (October 1951). "The Hard Winter and the Range Cattle Business". The Montana Magazine of History. 1 (4): 5–21.
- ^ ISBN 978-0786468881
- ^ "The Johnson County War, Part One: The Causes". Sheridan Media. Retrieved February 13, 2024. August 16, 2022
- ^ Shulman, Robert. (2009). The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains (Oxford World's Classics) Introduction. Oxford University Press; 1st edition, pp. xviii. ISBN 978-0199554102
- ^ a b Burt, Nathaniel 1991 Wyoming Compass American Guides, Inc p.157
- ^ a b "Wyoming Cattlemen on a Campaign against Thieves". The New York Times. April 1, 1892.
- ^ DeArment, R.K. (7 June 2007). "Gang Crackdown: When Stuart's Stranglers Raided". Wild West Magazine. June 7, 2007
- ^ a b c d "Wyoming's Wild Past". Occidental Wyoming. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Davis (2010) pp. 73-74
- ^ a b Davis (2010) p.76
- ^ "Jim Averill & Ella Watson (Cattle Kate)". The Spell of the West. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ^ Simkin, Jim (1997). "Albert Bothwell". Spartan Educational. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ^ a b c Dolson, G. B. "Johnson County War" Wyoming Tales and Trails Archived 2014-01-08 at the Wayback Machine January 6, 2004.
- ^ Albright, Syd. "SMALL, LARGE RANCHERS WAGED JOHNSON COUNTY WAR IN WYOMING". CDA Press. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017. August 07, 2016
- ^ "Johnson County War". JCS Group. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ^ David Lavender, American Heritage History of the Great West, New Word City, Inc. (2014). Section V. ASIN B00PJOI4MS
- ^ a b Burt, Nathaniel 1991 Wyoming Compass American Guides, Inc p.159
- ^ Davis (2010) p.101-102
- ^ Boardman, Mark. "Wave of Violence". True West Magazine. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
- ^ Cushing Memorial Library"
- ^ "The Johnson County War (Wyoming) 1892". BBC. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ "William "Red" Angus – Fighting in the Johnson County War". Legends of America. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
- ^ Davis (2010) p.129
- ^ a b c The New York Times "Troops Came Just In Time". April 15, 1892
- ^ a b c d Wyoming Tails and Trails Johnson County War. January 6th, 2004
- ^ a b c The New York Times "To Kill Seventy Rustlers". April 23, 1892
- ^ a b c Myers, Sue (9 April 2007). "Commemorating the 'Johnson County War'". Casper Star Tribune. Retrieved February 2, 2014. April 09, 2007
- ISBN 0-7884-3804-2.
- ^ Herring, Hal. "The Johnson County War: How Wyoming Settlers Battled an Illegal Death Squad". Field and Stream. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c The New York Times "The Trouble In Wyoming". April 14, 1982.
- ^ a b Trachtman, Paul. The Gunfighters Time-Life Books 1974 p. 212. ASIN B001AATBV8
- ^ Meyers, Sue "Commemorating the 'Johnson County War'". Casper Star-Tribune April 9, 2007
- ISBN 978-0803251885
- ^ "Lieutenant Charles Gatewood and the Johnson County War". True West Magazine. Retrieved June 29, 2017. October 2018
- ^ "The Johnson County War: 1892 Invasion of Northern Wyoming | WyoHistory.org". www.wyohistory.org. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
- ^ "The Johnson County War: 1892 Invasion of Northern Wyoming | WyoHistory.org". www.wyohistory.org. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
- ^ a b The New York Times "No Title" April 14, 1892
- ^ Brooke, John R. "No Title", The New York Times, April 15, 1892.
- ^ Burt, Nathaniel 1991 Wyoming Compass American Guides, Inc p.160
- ^ Petrimoutlx, Jim. "U.S. Marshal George A. Wellman (1858-1892)". Bay Journal. Archived from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2130-5.
- ^ a b Linse, Tamara. "Range and Race". Star Tribune. February 24, 2005
- The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1 (January 1973), pp. 57-68
- ^ Rea, Tom, Buffalo Soldiers in Wyoming and the West, Wyoming History. January 30, 2015
- ^ a b Posey, John (July 5, 2022). "Buffalo Soldiers Battle Homesteaders at Suggs, WY". YouTube.
- ^ a b c Davis (2010) p. 270
- ^ Davis (2010) p. 103
- ^ Davis (2010) pp. 272-273
- ^ Davis (2010) p. 128
- ^ a b Dolson, G. B. "Johnson County War" Wyoming Tales and Trails January 6, 2004.
- ^ "Presidential election of 1896 - Map by counties". Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
- ^ Randy McFerrin and Douglas Wills, "High Noon on the Western Range: A Property Rights Analysis of the Johnson County War," Journal of Economic History (2007) 67#1 pp. 69-92
- ^ a b "History: The Range Wars Of The Old American West". Feral Jundi. February 6, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ISBN 978-1563085048
- The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 33, No. 2. (September 1946), pp. 281.
- ^ ISBN 978-0803282841
- ISBN 0-19-283226-3.
- ^ Shane Re-envisioned
- ^ McMurtry, Larry. "Talking About 'True Grit'". New York Books. Retrieved February 2, 2014. February 8, 2011
- ^ Tom Wiener (2015). "Johnson County War (2002)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ West, James (May 16, 2011). "Jean Parker: Movie Star". www.IndianaMilitary.org. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
- ^ Jim Davis' Stories of the Century, Vintage Magazine (May 5, 1964). Issue #9
- ^ "Blood Feuds Episode Guide". TV Guide.
- ^ "Parole Johnson County War Chris LeDoux". Great Song. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
Further reading
- ISBN 0803810873.
- Smith, Helena Huntington (1967). The War on Powder River. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803251882.
- ISBN 1-57168-876-5.
- Davis, John W. (2010). Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-4106-0.