In the middle and late part of the nineteenth century, the West was a harsh and dangerous place to live. Bar fights and murders were being committed in every town. This was acceptable behavior however in those days. Men settled their problems face-to-face, and normally, the slower man ended up dead. Gunfighting in the West was started and carried on by a group of men known as the Clanton Gang. Old Man Clanton was the leader and founder of gunfighting, his sons carried some of his fights and continued with their own fights, and his last surviving son parted with gunfighting and started his own successful business.
Gunfights were common and took place regularly. The earliest gunfighters, or gunslingers, were born in the early 1800’s, and most men got recognition as slingers in the 1850’s. The founder of gunfighting was “Old Man Clanton”, or N. H. Clanton. In 1816, Newman Haynes "Old Man" Clanton was born in Davidson County, Tennessee. On January 5, 1840 Newman Clanton married Mariah Sexton Kelso in Callaway County, Missouri and together they had five boys and two daughters. John Wesley, Joseph Isaac, Phineas Fay, William Harrison, Alonzo Peter, Mary Elise and Ester Ann made up the Clanton Gang. He did not participate in many gunfights though he instigated many of them. Old Man Clanton took care of business swiftly. If he did not like somebody, he would simply point them out, and one of his sons would provoke an argument and shoot the man down in “self defense”. Old Man Clanton had formed a “cowboy party” which consisted of some of the deadliest men in the West. Curley Bill, John Ringo, Tim and Frank McLaury, Joe Hill, Pony Deal, Jim Hughes, Frank Stillwell and many other lieutenants, who had over four hundred frontier outcast under them, formed this group. He stole over $100,000 from ranchers in the south, and anyone who opposed was quickly exterminated. Old Man Clanton’s final days ended with a stolen-cattle drive. While he was passing through Guadeloupe Canyon, he and six other men were ambushed and shot dead out of their saddles. "Old Man" Clanton was buried where he fell in Guadalupe Canyon, New Mexico.
Although the leader of the Clanton Gang was dead, the family carried on. Billy and Ike Clanton were two of the participants in the most famous gunfight of all. The ...
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...oseph G. and Collins, Richard.
The Taming of the West: Age of the Gunfighter: Men and Weapons of the Frontier 1840-1900.
London, England: Salamander Books Ltd, 1993.
2. William C. Davis, Joseph G. Rosa.
The West: From Lewis and Clark and Wounded Knee: The Turbulent Story of the Settling of Frontier America.
London, England: Salamander Books Ltd, 1994.
3. “Phin Clanton Family History”.
(The Notorious Clanton Gang). 1996-1997. February 20, 2002.
<http://clantongang.com/oldwest/gangphin.html>
4. “Billy Clanton Family History”.
(The Notorious Clanton Gang). 1996-1997. February 20, 2002.
<http://clantongang.com/oldwest/gangbill.html>
5. “Ike Clanton Family History”.
(The Notorious Clanton Gang). 1996-1997. February 20, 2002.
<http://clantongang.com/oldwest/gangike.html>
6. “O.K. Corral Gun Fight”.
(American Western History Museums). 1999. February 20, 2002.
<http://www.linecamp.com/museums/americanwest/western_places/ok_corral_gun_fight/ok_corral_gun_fight.html>
The West is a very big part of American culture, and while the myth of the West is much more enticing than the reality of the west, it is no doubt a very big part of America. We’re constantly growing up playing games surrounded by the West such as cowboys and Indians and we’re watching movies that depict the cowboy to be a romanticized hero who constantly saves dames in saloons and rides off into the sunset. However, the characters of the West weren’t the only things that helped the development of America; many inventions were a part of the development of the West and helped it flourish into a thriving community. Barbed wire, the McCormick reaper and railroads—for example—were a large part of the development in the West—from helping to define claimed land boundaries, agricultural development and competition, and even growth of the West.
Ellsworth was mean, and it was ugly. The stench of the its streets fell second to the odor of the unbathed saddle tramps who had just delivered 150,000 cattle from San Antonio to its freight yards. Adding to these smells were the blends of whisky, tanning leather, kerosene and carved carcasses, a revolting combination. Gunfights were spontaneous, either over a woman or a card game. When Wyatt crossed the Smoky Hill River into Ellsworth in 1873, he may have remembered the "rules of the gunman," but had no intention of employing them. The two main “rules of a gunman” were to take his time and always be armed. Although many people had warned him that it would be naive to go westward without being properly armed, Wyatt didn’t own a gun. All he hoped for was to find a peaceable job. But, only hours after hitching his horse in town he began to wonder if perhaps everyone was right. The most boisterous spot in town was Brennan’s Saloon, off Ellsworth Square; its faro and poker tables buzzed 24 hours, bartenders tapped beer and ...
McMurtry, Larry. 2005. Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West: 1846-1890. 10th Ed. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
The Frontier Thesis has been very influential in people’s understanding of American values, government and culture until fairly recently. Frederick Jackson Turner outlines the frontier thesis in his essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. He argues that expansion of society at the frontier is what explains America’s individuality and ruggedness. Furthermore, he argues that the communitarian values experienced on the frontier carry over to America’s unique perspective on democracy. This idea has been pervasive in studies of American History until fairly recently when it has come under scrutiny for numerous reasons. In his essay “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature”, William Cronon argues that many scholars, Turner included, fall victim to the false notion that a pristine, untouched wilderness existed before European intervention. Turner’s argument does indeed rely on the idea of pristine wilderness, especially because he fails to notice the serious impact that Native Americans had on the landscape of the Americas before Europeans set foot in America.
Frontier in American History is divided in two major parts each with an introduction. The first part claims that the gradual settlement of the west is what forms American History. In the following four paragraphs the frontier is explained in details. The frontier is viewed as a moving belts
Bonnie and Clyde Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker burst upon the American Southwest in the Great Depression year of 1932. At the time of Clyde&#8217;s first involvement in a murder, people paid little attention to the event. He was just another violent hoodlum in a nation with a growing list of brutal criminals, which included Al Capone, John Dillenger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barker Gang. Not until Bonnie and Clyde joined forces did the public become intrigued. The phrase &#8220;Bonnie and Clyde'; took on an electrifying and exotic meaning that has abated little in the past sixty years.
“Quantie’s weak body shuddered from a blast of cold wind. Still, the proud wife of the Cherokee chief John Ross wrapped a woolen blanket around her shoulders and grabbed the reins.” Leading the final group of Cherokee Indians from their home lands, Chief John Ross thought of an old story that was told by the chiefs before him, of a place where the earth and sky met in the west, this was the place where death awaits. He could not help but fear that this place of death was where his beloved people were being taken after years of persecution and injustice at the hands of white Americans, the proud Indian people were being forced to vacate their lands, leaving behind their homes, businesses and almost everything they owned while traveling to an unknown place and an uncertain future. The Cherokee Indians suffered terrible indignities, sickness and death while being removed to the Indian territories west of the Mississippi, even though they maintained their culture and traditions, rebuilt their numbers and improved their living conditions by developing their own government, economy and social structure, they were never able to return to their previous greatness or escape the injustices of the American people.
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
Prison gangs are originally formed by inmates as a way of protecting themselves from the other inmates. These gangs have turned out to be violent and thus posing a threat to security. This paper will have a look at the different gangs in prisons, their history, beliefs and missions, and the differences and similarities in these gangs.
Many of the gang's fights were not detailed as they were obviously illegal and frowned upon by the public. Though it is noted that the two gangs had over 200 fights in 10 years beginning in 1834. Their biggest altercation being the Dead Rabbits Riot which began as a small street fight between the two gangs and turned into a gang war across the city spanning 2 days in length on July 4th and 5th
To understand Jackson’s book and why it was written, however, one must first fully comprehend the context of the time period it was published in and understand what was being done to and about Native Americans in the 19th century. From the Native American point of view, the frontier, which settlers viewed as an economic opportunity, was nothin...
Which was the new site of the gold rush. But one night Henry and Jack were drinking at the Bannack Saloon and Jack began to ramble on about Plummers illegal activities and Henry was not gonna take his crap and pulled out his gun and shot him. Killing Cleveland, and making his mark in the new town of Bannack. In the middle of 1863 Bannack was booming with miners and they needed protection for their gold that they had worked hard to get and highwaymen would just steal it the next day. The town held the election for Sheriff and Plummer did run for the position but lost it too the town's butcher who was very popular in the town. Plummers anger flared up and went after the newly elected sheriff with a shotgun but a local warned him and the butcher shot Henry in the right arm. His shooting arm. He began to practice shooting with his left and began to become very accurate with it. When the sheriff heard of this he became scared and turned in his
Ralph, P.H.(1997). From Self Preservation to Organized Crime: The Evolution of Inmate Gangs. In J.W. Marquart, & J.R. Sorensen (Eds.). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles: Roxbury
Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, New York, Bantam Press,1970
Few Hollywood film makers have captured America’s Wild West history as depicted in the movies, Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Most Western movies had fairly simple but very similar plots, including personal conflicts, land rights, crimes and of course, failed romances that typically led to drinking more alcoholic beverages than could respectfully be consumed by any one person, as they attempted to drown their sorrows away. The 1958 Rio Bravo and 1967 El Dorado Western movies directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne have a similar theme and plot. They tell the story of a sheriff and three of his deputies, as they stand alone against adversity in the name of the law. Western movies like these two have forever left a memorable and lasting impressions in the memory of every viewer, with its gunfighters, action filled saloons and sardonic showdowns all in the name of masculinity, revenge and unlawful aggressive behavior. Featuring some of the most famous backdrops in the world ranging from the rustic Red Rock Mountains of Monument Valley in Utah, to the jagged snow capped Mountain tops of the Teton Range in Wyoming, gun-slinging cowboys out in search of mischief and most often at their own misfortune traveled far and wide, seeking one dangerous encounter after another, and unfortunately, ending in their own demise.