The Wild West Chronology

Lieutenant Zebulon Pike pays $2,000 to buy from the Sioux a 9-square-mile tract at the mouth of the Minnesota River that will be used to establish a military post, Fort Snelling.

Ref: 2

1813

Aug 30

Creek Indians under Red Eagle massacre 500 settlers at Fort Mims, Alabama in the Creek Indian War.

Ref: 2

1814

Aug 09

Andrew Jackson and the Creek Indians sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving the whites 23 million acres of Creek territory.

Ref: 2

1817

Nov 27

US soldiers attack Florida Indian village, beginning Seminole War.

Ref: 5

1821

Sep 01

William Becknell leads a group of traders from Independence, Mo., toward Santa Fe on what would become the Santa Fe Trail.

Ref: 2

1828

Feb 21

The Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper, is published in English and in both the newly invented Cherokee alphabet in New Echota, GA. (XDG, p 4A, 2/21/2000)

Ref: 83

1832

Mar 26

Famed western artist George Catlin begins his voyage up the Missouri River aboard the American Fur Company steamship Yellowstone.

Ref: 2

Aug 02

Troops under General Henry Atkinson massacre Sauk Indian men, women and children who are followers of Black Hawk at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin. Black Hawk himself finally surrenders three weeks later, bringing the Black Hawk War to an end.

Ref: 2

1835

Nov 24

The Texas Rangers, mounted police force authorized by Texas Prov Govt. ("Who Was Who In America 1607-1896")

1836

Sep 01

Protestant missionary Dr. Marcus Whitman leads a party to Oregon. His wife, Narcissa, is one of the first white women to travel the Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail emigrants who chose to follow Stephen Meek thought his shortcut would save weeks of hard travel. Instead, it brought them even greater misery.

Ref: 2

1837

Oct 21

Under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops siege the Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida.

Ref: 2

1838

Jan 30

Chief Osceola, Seminole leader, dies in prison.

Ref: 68

1841

May 01

First emigrant wagon train leaves Independence MO for California.

Ref: 5

Nov 04

The first wagon train reaches California.

Ref: 62

1843

Jan 10

Frank James, outlaw, is born in Clay County, MO

Ref: 68

May 22

First wagon train, 1000+ departs Independence MO for Oregon.

Ref: 5

1845

Mar 11

Seven hundred Maoris led by their chief, Hone-Heke, burn the small town of Kororareka in protest at the settlement of Maoriland by Europeans, in breach with the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

Ref: 2

1846

Feb 26

"Buffalo Bill" Cody, a former frontier army scout and world-famous showman, is born in Davenport IA.

Ref: 24

1847

Jan 19

New Mexico Governor Charles Bent is slain by Pueblo Indians in Taos.

Ref: 2

Sep 05

Outlaw Jesse James is born in Clay County, MO.

Ref: 5

Nov 29

Indians kill Marcus & Narcissa Whitman, 11 settle in Walla Walla Ore.

Ref: 5

1848

Oct 19

John "The Pathfinder" Fremont moves out from near Westport, Missouri, on his fourth Western expedition--a failed attempt to open a trail across the Rocky Mountains along the 38th parallel.

Ref: 2

1849

Dec 04

Crazy Horse, American Indian Chief, is born.

Ref: 70

1851

Aug 08

Calvin Page of Boston, Massachusetts is returned his two daughters, who had been held hostage by the Pai Ute Indians in the Dakotas for twelve years.

Aug 14

John Henry "Doc" Holliday is born in Griffin, SpaldingCo, GA. Ref

1853

Nov 24

Bat Masterson gambler, saloon keeper, lawman, journalist; subject of TV series in the 1960s; is born.

Ref: 4

1855

Sep 03

General William Harney defeats Little Thunder's Brule Sioux at the Battle of Blue Water, in Nebraska.

Ref: 2

1856

Jan 25

Battle of Seattle; skirmish between settlers & Indians.

Ref: 5

Apr 28

Yokut Indians repel an attack on their land by 100 would-be Indian fighters in CA.

Ref: 2

Apr 29

Yokut Indians repel a second attack by the 'Petticoat Rangers,' a band of civilian Indian fighters at Four Creeks, CA.

Ref: 2

May 06

US Army troops from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller prepare to ride out to protect Keyesville CA, from Yokut Indian attacks.

Ref: 2

Jun 05

US Army troops in the Four creeks region of CA, head back to quarters, officially ending the Tule River War. Fighting, however, will continue for a few more years.

Ref: 2

Aug 11

A band of rampaging settlers in California kill four Yokut Indians. The settlers had heard unproven rumors of Yokut atrocities.

Ref: 2

1860

Apr 30

Navaho Indians attack Fort Defiance (Canby).

Ref: 5

Jun 07

First US "dime novel" published: "Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter," by Mrs Ann Stevens.

Ref: 5

Jun 15

First White settlement in Idaho (Franklin).

Ref: 5

Nov 21

Lawman/Outlaw Tom Horn is born Ref

1861

Feb 04

25 year American Indian Wars known as the Apache Wars begin as Apache Chief Cochise arrested.

Ref: 10

Feb 13

Colonel Bernard Irwin attacks & defeats hostile Chiricahua Indians.

Ref: 5

Feb 21

Navaho Indians elect Herrero Grande as chief.

Ref: 5

1862

Mar 26

Battle of La Glorieta Pass New Mexico Territory (Apache Canyon, Pigeon's Ranch)

Ref: 2

Nov 27

George Armstrong Custer meets his future bride, Elizabeth Bacon, at a Thanksgiving party. Tom Custer Died Alongside Brother George

Ref: 2

Dec 26

38 Sioux Indians "murderers" hanged from one gallows outside Mankato, Minn. by William J. Duly.

Ref: 10

1863

Dec 07

Outlaw George Ives, an alleged member of an outlaw gang known as the "Innocents," robs and then kills Nick Thiebalt in the Ruby Valley of what would become Montana.

Ref: 2

1864

Feb 09

George A. Custer and Elizabeth C. Bacon wed at the Presbyterian Church in Monroe, Mi. Link

Nov 24

Kit Carson and his 1st Cavalry, New Mexico Volunteers, attack a camp of Kiowa Indians in the First Battle of Adobe Walls.

Ref: 2

Nov 29

Colonel John M. Chivington's 3rd Colorado Volunteers massacre Black Kettles' camp of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek, Colo.

Ref: 2

1865

Jan 07

Cheyenne and Sioux warriors attack the Cavalry of Iowa Volunteers at Julesburg, CO, in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre.

Ref: 2

Jul 21

Wild Bill Hickok kills gunman Dave Tutt in Springfield, Illinois, in the first formal quick-draw duel.

Ref: 2

1866

Feb 13

Frank and Jesse James, Cole Younger and others rob the Clay County Savings Bank of $60,000 in the first organized bank robbery.

Ref: 52

Apr 13

Butch Cassidy (born Robert Leroy Parker) is born in Beaver UT. Ref

Apr 16

Nitroglycerine at Wells Fargo & Co office explodes.

Ref: 5

Nov 01

Wild woman of the west Myra Maybelle Shirley marries James C. Reed in Collins County, TX.

Ref: 2

Dec 21

U.S. Army Captain William J. Fetterman once boasted, "Give me 80 men and I'll march through the whole Sioux nation!" On December 21, 1866, when Lakota warriors under the overall leadership of Chief Red Cloud gathered around Fort Phil Kearny (in what is now Wyoming), Fetterman got command of his 80 men. Disobeying the orders of his commander, Colonel Henry B Carrington, not to proceed beyond the Lodge Trail Ridge, Fetterman pursued a band of retreating Indians--and rode right into a waiting trap, allegedly laid by the Oglala warrior Crazy Horse. Fetterman, his executive officer and 78 troopers are wiped out.

Ref: 2

1867

Aug 02

3,000 Sioux Indians attack 32 U.S. troops at the Wagon Box Fight, but fail to defeat them.

Sep 05

The first shipment of cattle leaves Abilene, Kansas, on a Union Pacific train headed to Chicago.

Ref: 2

Oct 21

Many leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache sign a peace treaty at Medicine Lodge, Kan. Comanche Chief Quanah Parker refused to accept the treaty terms.

Ref: 2

1868

May 22

The "Great Train Robbery" takes place as seven members of the Reno Gang (brothers) make off with $98,000 in cash from a train's safe in IN.

Ref: 2

Sep 17

The Battle of Beecher's Island begins, in which Major George "Sandy" Forsyth and 50 volunteers hold off 500 Sioux and Cheyenne in eastern Colorado.

Ref: 2

Nov 27

Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry kills Chief Blackkettle and about 100 Cheyenne (mostly women and children) on the Washita River. Lakota Noon at the Greasy Grass.

Ref: 2

Dec 11

Vigilantees hunt down and hang the Reno Brothers.

Ref: 52

1869

Sep 27

Wild Bill Hickok, sheriff of Hays City, Kan., shoots down Samuel Strawhim, a drunken teamster causing trouble.

Ref: 2

Nov 02

Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok loses his reelection bid in Ellis County, KS.

Ref: 2

1870

Jan 23

173 Blackfoot Indians (140 women & children) killed in Montana by US Army.

Ref: 5

1871

Apr 15

'Wild Bill' Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas.

Ref: 2

Apr 30

Apaches in Arizona surrender to white & Mexican adventurers; 144 die.

Ref: 5

May 17

Indian fighter General Sherman escapes in ambulance vs Comanches.

Ref: 5

1872

Oct 12

Apache leader Cochise signs a peace treaty with General O.O. Howard in Arizona Territory.

Ref: 2

Nov 28

The Modoc War of 1872-73 begins in northern CA when fighting breaks out between Modoc Chief Captain Jack and a cavalry detail led by Captain James Jackson.

Ref: 2

Dec 28

A U.S. Army force defeats a group of Apache warriors at Salt River Canyon, Arizona Territory, with 57 Indians killed but only one soldier.

Ref: 2

1874

Jun 08

Cochise, Apache chief, died

Ref: 62

Sep 28

Colonel Ronald Mackenzie raids a war camp of Comanche and Kiowa at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, slaughtering 2,000 of their horses.

Ref: 2

Oct 04

Kiowa leader Satanta, known as "the Orator of the Plains," surrenders in Darlington, Texas. He is later sent to the state penitentiary, where he commits suicide October 11, 1878.

Ref: 2

Dec 08

Jesse James gang takes train at Muncie KS.

Ref: 5

1875

Feb 25

Kiowa Indians under Lone Wolf (Guipago) surrender at Ft Sill.

Ref: 5

1876

Jan 31

All Sioux Indians ordered onto reservations, commencing the Sioux Indian War.

Ref: 10

Mar 17

General Crook destroy Cheyennes & Oglala-Sioux Indian camps.

Ref: 5

May 17

7th US Cavalry under Custer leaves Fort Lincoln.

Ref: 5

Jun 17

General George Crook's command is attacked and bested on the Rosebud River by 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Crazy Horse.

Ref: 2

Jun 22

General Alfred Terry sends Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and Little Bighorn rivers to search for Indian villages.

Ref: 2

Jun 25

Indian Chief Crazy Horse won the two-hour Battle of Little Bighorn, Montana, wiping out the army of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. Custer, who led the battle against the Sioux Indian encampment, was among the 200+ casualties. Ironically, the only survivor of Custer�s forces was a horse, Comanche.

Ref: 4

Aug 02

Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok, 39, U.S. Marshall, frontiersman, army scout, gambler, legendary marksman, is shot dead (from behind) by Jack McCall while playing poker. He held two pair, aces and eights, forever known as "the dead man's hand".

Ref: 52

Nov 25

Colonel Ronald MacKenzie destroys Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife's village, in the Bighorn Mountains near the Red Fork of the Powder River, during the so-called Great Sioux War.

Ref: 2

Dec 06

Jack McCall is convicted for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok and sentenced to hang.

Ref: 2

1877

May 06

Chief Crazy Horse surrenders to U.S. troops in Nebraska. Crazy Horse brought General Custer to his end.

Ref: 2

May 07

Indian chief Sitting Bull enters Canada with a trail of Indians after the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Ref: 2

Aug 23

Texas outlaw Wes Hardin is captured near Pensacola, FL.

Sep 18

Sam Bass and others rob a Union Pacific train of $60,000 in gold near Big Springs NE.

Ref: 52

Oct 05

�From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.� With those words, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the U.S. Cavalry. The surrender took place at Bear�s Paw, Chinook, Montana.

Ref: 5

Oct 10

Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer is buried at West Point in NY.

Ref: 2

Oct 11

Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.

Ref: 2

Oct 17

Brigadier General Alfred Terry meets with Sitting Bull in Canada to discuss the Indians' return to the United States. After the Little Bighorn and other 1876 confrontations with the U.S. Army, the great Hunkpapa Sioux Leader took his people north into Canada.

Ref: 2

1878

Sep 05

Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Bill Tilghman and Clay Allison, four of the West's most famous gunmen, meet in Dodge City, Kansas.

Ref: 2

1879

Jan 09

Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson.

Ref: 5

Feb 09

Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson.

Ref: 5

Apr 18

Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on Indians citizen rights begins.

Ref: 5

Sep 10

(White River Massacre) Indian agent Nathan Meeker wrote to the governor of Colorado that a group of Ute Indians had shot one of their fellow Indians who was plowing a field (and thus seen as cooperating with the white man) and had assaulted the Indian agent himself. Meeker beseeched the governor to send troops for protection.

Ref: 70

Sep 29

(White River Massacre) In response to a letter from Indian agent Nathan Meeker earlier in the month, an army contingent dispatched by the Colorado governor, led by Major Thomas Thornburgh, was ambushed by several hundred Ute Indians, who killed Thornburgh, ten enlisted men and a wagon-master, and wounded twenty others, including the new commander, Captain Payne. Meeker had been ordered to arrest some disorderly Utes.

Ref: 70

Oct 03

(White River Massacre) A cavalry company of 45 black soldiers exchanged fire with Ute Indians.

Ref: 70

Oct 06

(White River Massacre) A reinforcement of 550 soldiers, under the command of General Wesley Merritt, for the Ute Indians to retreat after a brief skirmish.

Ref: 70

Oct 11

(White River Massacre) General Wesley Merritt reaches the federal Indian agency and finds all but one of the buildings burned, the women and children missing, and the naked, beaten, dead bodies of Indian agent Nathan Meeker and the ten male members of his staff. In January, the women and children were freed by negotiation.

Ref: 70

Nov 10

Little Bighorn participant Major Marcus Reno is caught window-peeping at the daughter of his commanding officer--an offense for which he will be court-martialed.

Ref: 2

1880

Jun 05

Wild woman of the west Myra Maybelle Shirley marries Sam Starr even though records show she was already married to Bruce Younger.

Ref: 2

Oct 15

Victorio, feared leader of the Minbreno Apache, is killed by Mexican troops in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico.

Ref: 2

1881

Jul 20

Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, surrendered to federal troops.

Ref: 70

Oct 26

The Shootout At OK Corral. Morgan, Virgil and Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday vs. Ike and Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, Billy Claiborne, and Wes Fuller. The O. K. Corral Gun fightlasted 30 seconds, Frank McLaury was dead from a bullet wound to the stomach fired by Wyatt Earp's gun, Tom McLaury dead from Doc Holliday's shotgun, and Billy Clanton dying from chest wounds.
Wes Fuller wasn't present for the O. K. Corral Gun fight. Ike Clanton retreated into a shop the second the bullets started flying followed close behind by Billy Claiborne. Morgan Earp fell with a shoulder wound, Virgil with a leg wound, and Doc Holliday with a grazed left hip. Wyatt Earp remained unscathed by the gun fight.

Ref: 4

Nov 07

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, two participants in Tombstone, Arizona's, famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, are jailed as the hearings on what happened in the fight grow near.

Ref: 2

Dec 01

Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp are exonerated in court for their action in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, AZ.

Ref: 2

1882

Apr 03

Jesse James, 34, shot dead in St Joseph MO by his cousin and member of his gang, Robert Ford.

Ref: 5

Jul 29

Belle and Sam Starr are charged with horse stealing in the Indian territory.

Ref: 2

Jul 31

Belle and Sam Starr are charged with horse stealing in the Indian territory.

Ref: 2

Oct 05

Outlaw Frank James surrenders in Missouri six months after brother Jesse's assassination.

Ref: 2

Nov 14

Billy Clairborne, a survivor of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, loses his life in a shoot-out with Buckskin Frank Leslie.

Ref: 2

1883

Jul 04

Buffalo Bill Cody presents his first wild west show in North Platte, NE.

Ref: 39

1886

Dec 17

At a Christmas party, Sam Belle shoots his old enemy Frank West, but is fatally wounded himself.

Ref: 2

1887

Sep 11

Kiowa leader Satanta, known as "the Orator of the Plains," commits suicide while in prison in Huntsville, TX.

Ref: 68

Nov 03

Butch Cassidy and the McCarty Brothers rob the Denver and Rio Grande express near Grand Junction CO. Ref

Nov 27

U.S. Deputy Marshall Frank Dalton, brother of the three famous outlaws, is killed in the line of duty near Fort Smith, Ark.

Ref: 2

1889

Feb 04

Harry Longabaugh is released from Sundance Prison in Wyoming, thereby acquiring the famous nickname, "the Sundance Kid."

Ref: 2

Mar 30

Butch Cassidy and the McCarty Brothers rob the First National Bank of Denver of $20,000. Ref

1890

Feb 10

Around 11 million acres, ceded to US by Sioux Indians opens for settlement.

Ref: 5

Dec 15

During the Ghost Dance craze, the Indian agent at the Standing Rock Agency, James McLaughlin, was concerned Sitting Bull might attempt to lead some of the younger warriors into another war with the whites. McLaughlin sent the Indian police to arrest Sitting Bull. In the ensuing fight, Sitting Bull, his teenage son, six loyal followers and six policemen were killed. Lt Bullhead is credited with killing Sitting Bull.

Ref: 2

1891

Feb 06

First great train robbery by Dalton Gang (Southern Pacific #17), in Alila, Calif.

Ref: 5

Sep 18

Harriet Maxwell Converse (her Indian name was Ga-is-wa-noh: the Watcher) became the first white woman to be named chief of an Indian tribe. Converse became chief of the Six Nations tribe at Tonawanda reservation in NY. She had been adopted by the Seneca tribe 7 years earlier because of her efforts on behalf of the tribe.

Ref: 4

Nov 06

Comanche, the only 7th Cavalry horse to survive George Armstrong Custer's "Last Stand" at the Little Bighorn, dies at Fort Riley, KS. Was there a cover-up of the real events surrounding the legendary battle at Little Bighhorn?

Ref: 2

1892

Oct 05

The Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kan.

Ref: 70

Oct 15

The U.S. government convinced the Crow Indians to give up 1.8 million acres of their reservation for 50� per acre. On this day, by presidential proclamation, the land in the mountainous area of western Montana was opened to settlers.

Ref: 4

Oct 15

An attempt to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kan., ends in disaster for the Dalton gang as four of the five outlaws are killed and Emmet Dalton is seriously wounded.

Ref: 2

Nov 02

Lawmen surround outlaws Ned Christie and Arch Wolf near Tahlequah, Indian Country (present-day Oklahoma). It will take dynamite and a cannon to dislodge the two from their cabin.

Ref: 2

1893

May 04

Cowboy Bob Pickett invents bulldogging.

Ref: 5

Sep 16

Hundreds of thousands of settlers swarmed onto a section of land in Oklahoma known as the "Cherokee Strip."

Ref: 70

1894

Aug 16

The chiefs of the Sioux and Onondaga tribes in America hold a meeting to urge their people to cast aside Christianity and return to the faith of their fathers.

1897

Sep 23

First frontier days rodeo celebration (Cheyene Wyoming).

Ref: 5

1901

Jul 03

The Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy, commits its last American robbery near Wagner, Montana, taking $65,000 from a Great Northern train.

Ref: 2

Jul 18

Lawman/Outlaw Tom Horn allegedly kills 14-year old Willie Nickell. Horn will later be tried and hanged for the boy's murder Ref

1903

Nov 20

Lawman/Outlaw Tom Horn is hanged for the murder of 14-year old Willie Nickell who he had likely mistaken for his father. Ref

1904

Feb 14

The "Missouri Kid" is captured in Kansas.

Ref: 2

Sep 21

Exiled Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies of a "broken heart".

Ref: 2

1911

Feb 06

The first old-age home for pioneers opened in Prescott, Arizona.

Ref: 4

1915

Feb 18

Reformed outlaw Frank James dies in Kearney, MO

Ref: 68

1916

Apr 12

American cavalrymen and Mexican bandit troops clash at Parrel, Mexico.

Ref: 2

1917

Jan 10

William (Frederic) Cody (Buffalo Bill), a former frontier army scout and world-famous showman, dies in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 70.

Ref: 3

1921

Oct 25

Bat Masterson gambler, saloon keeper, lawman, journalist; subject of TV series in the 1960s; dies.

Ref: 4

1924

Nov 01

Legendary Oklahoma marshal Bill Tilghman, 71, is gunned down by a drunk in Cromwell, Oklahoma.

Ref: 2

1926

Feb 02

Annie Oakley (aka Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee) is dies in Greenville, OH.

Ref: 68

Nov 03

Annie Oakley (Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee) (sharpshooter, performer: Buffalo Bill�s Wild West Show) dies.

Ref: 4

1928

Jan 13

Wyatt Earp frontiersman, lawman, gunfighter: gunfight at O.K. Corral; dies.

Ref: 68

1933

Apr 04

Elizabeth Bacon Custer dies and is buried beside George at West Point. Ref

1936

Nov 01

The Rodeo Cowboy's Association is founded.

Ref: 2

1943

Nov 21

Larry Mahan Oregon, rodeo champ (1967-70), is born.

Ref: 5

1973

Feb 27

Members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), together with a number of local and traditional Native Americans began a 72-day occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. The AIM goal was to protest injustices against their tribes, violations of the many treaties, and abuses and repression of their people. The U.S. responded with a military-style assault against the protesters.

Ref: 4

Feb 28

Indians take ten hostages at Wounded Knee Sioux Reservation, SD; protest U.S. treatment of Indians.

Ref: 10

Mar 02

Federal forces surround Wounded Knee, South Dakota, which is occupied by members of the militant American Indian Movement who are holding at least 10 hostages.

Ref: 2

Mar 11

An FBI agent is shot at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.

Ref: 2

May 08

Militant American Indians who'd held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for ten weeks surrendered.

Ref: 5

1979