The 'Wild West', or American Frontier as it is also known,
developed in the years following the American Civil War. However,
this period of myth-making cowboys, infamous gunslingers, not
always law-abiding lawmen, and saloon madams, is as much the
product of fiction writers and film makers as reality. The outlaw
came into his, or indeed her, own in the mid to late 19th century.
Some of these individuals, men such as Billy the Kid, William
Clarke Quantrill, Butch Cassidy or Harry Longabaugh, better known
as the Sundance Kid, became household names. Many of those who
roamed America's West in the period between 1850 and 1900 often
appear as colourful, romanticised, legendary characters. This
includes the likes of Frank and Jesse James, who had stepped
outside the law due to the harshness of life after the Civil War or
under circumstances beyond their control. The majority of outlaws,
though, were anonymous common criminals. In 1877, for example, the
State Adjutant General of Texas, published 'wanted posters' for
some 5,000 outlaws and bandits in the Rio Grande district alone,
almost all of whom have since vanished into the mists of time. When
it comes to the Wild West, it is important to separate fact from
fiction. Of the known recorded killings by the various outlaws and
gunfighters, Billy the Kid killed four men, not the twenty that
some writers attributed to him. A notorious gunslinger, John Wesley
Hardin was said to have killed twenty-seven men, but was only
charged with one murder. Wild Bill Hickok killed three men, two of
them in Abilene whilst he was City Marshal, and one in Springfield,
Missouri, for which he was tried and found not guilty. Clay
Allison, however, was thought to have killed at least fifteen men
in his time as a gunfighter, whilst some of the outlaw gangs, such
as the Rufus Buck Gang and the Evans Gang, were particularly
violent and ruthless. The days of the outlaws of the Wild West
gradually came to an end at the turn of the nineteenth into the
twentieth century. The legends, however, live on.
General
Imprint: |
Frontline Books
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
March 2021 |
Authors: |
Terry C. Treadwell
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156 x 29mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
248 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-5267-8237-3 |
Categories: |
Books
Promotions
|
LSN: |
1-5267-8237-5 |
Barcode: |
9781526782373 |
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