Wyatt Earp’s Epic Battle Against the West’s Biggest Outlaw Gang
The story of how a young Wyatt Earp and his brothers defeated the Old West’s biggest outlaw gang, by the New York Times–bestselling author of Texas Ranger. Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full. The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers. Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were fifty times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone. Praise for Ride the Devil’s Herd A Pim County Public Library Southwest Books of the Year 2021 A True West Reader’s Choice for Best 2020 Western Nonfiction Winner of the Best Book Award by the Wild West History Association “A marvelous book. By means of meticulous research and splendid writing John Boessenecker has managed to do something never before attempted or accomplished, tying together the many violent clashes between lawmen and outlaws in the American southwest of the 1870-1890 period and showing how depredations by loosely organized gangs of outlaws actually threatened “Manifest Destiny” and the successful taming of the Wild West.” —Robert K. DeArment, author and historian “A ripsnortin’ ramble across the bloodstained Arizona desert with Wyatt Earp and company. . . . Boessenecker displays a fine eye for period detail. . . . A pleasure for thoughtful fans of Old West history, revisionist without being iconoclastic.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Seldom-told tales of the ‘lively and unusual cast of historic figures’ who helped shape the Florida Keys from the 1820s through the 1960s.”—Keys News
The Florida Keys have witnessed all kinds of historical events, from the dramatic and the outrageous to the tragic and the comic. In the nineteenth century, uncompromising individuals fought duels and plotted political upsets. During the Civil War, a company of “Key West Avengers” escaped their Union-occupied city to join the Confederacy by sailing through the Bahamas. In the early twentieth century, black Bahamians founded a town of their own, while railway engineers went up against the U.S. Navy in a bid to complete the Overseas Railroad. When Prohibition came to the Keys, one defiant woman established a rum-running empire that dominated South Florida.
Join Laura Albritton and Jerry Wilkinson as they delve into tales of treasure hunters, developers, exotic dancers, determined preservationists and more, from the colorful history of these islands. Includes photos
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Hidden History on the Florida Keys,” a new volume penned by Laura Albritton and Upper Keys historian Jerry Wilkinson, reveals seldom-told tales of the “lively and unusual cast of historic figures” who helped shape the Florida Keys from the 1820s through the 1960s.” Keys News
About the Author
Fifth-generation Floridian Laura Albritton is a writer, book reviewer, and writing teacher. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Miami Herald, Sculpture magazine, Harvard Review and the Florida Keys Weekly, while her award-winning short fiction has been published in many literary journals. She wrote the travel book Miami for Families (University Press of Florida) and co-authored Marathon: The Middle Keys and Key West’s Duval Street (Arcadia Publishing) with Jerry Wilkinson. Laura holds a degree in comparative literature from Columbia and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Miami.
Fourth-generation Floridian Jerry Wilkinson arrived in Key West in 1947. He served in the U.S Air Force for twenty-four years before operating his own business. For decades, Jerry has researched and documented Florida Keys history, particularly that of the Upper Keys. He has contributed to books, films and television programs and created an extensive Keys history website (www.keyshistory.org). Jerry is president of the Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys and serves on the boards of the Historic Florida Keys Foundation and the Florida Keys History and Discovery Center. Jerry’s previous books include Key Largo and Islamorada, co-authored with Brad Bertelli.
“[The] definitive history of the U.S. Navy SEALs and their forefathers” (Master Chief Bill Bruhmuller (USN, Ret.), founding member of SEAL Team two). Written with the unprecedented cooperation of the Naval Special Warfare community, this vivid and definitive history of the U.S. Navy SEALs reveals the inside story behind the greatest combat operations of America’s most celebrated warriors. New York Times–bestselling authors Dick Couch—a former SEAL—and William Doyle chart the SEALs’ story, from their origins in the daring Naval Combat Demolition Teams, Underwater Demolition Teams, Scouts and Raiders commando units, and OSS Operational Swimmers of World War II to their coming of age in Vietnam and rise to glory in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. Illustrated with forty pages of photographs and based on exclusive interviews with more than 100 U.S. frogmen (including multiple Medal of Honor recipients), here is “the first comprehensive history of the special operations force” (Military.com).
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
Written with the unprecedented cooperation of the Naval Special Warfare community, here is the definitive history of the U.S. Navy SEALs, a thrilling chronicle that reveals the inside story behind the greatest combat operations of our nation’s most celebrated warriors. New York Times bestselling authors Dick Couch—former SEAL, Vietnam veteran, and highly respected military writer—and award-winning author William Doyle draw on exclusive interviews with more than 100 special operators (including multiple Medal of Honor recipients), as well as thousands of pages of declassified documents to create a vivid, unparalleled portrait of the SEALs in action.
Navy SEALs: Their Untold Story charts the dramatic evolution of the frogmen from their origins in World War II, when the daring Naval Combat Demolition Teams, Underwater Demolition Teams, Scouts and Raiders commando units, and OSS Operational Swimmers proved instrumental at D-Day, Okinawa, and many other critical campaigns. In the Korean War, the Navy UDTs cleared mines and scouted landing sites ahead of the main American forces. After their official founding in 1962 by order of President John F. Kennedy and early covert operations in Cuba, the SEALs came of age in the jungles of Vietnam, where they specialized in executing the most daring missions. Couch and Doyle trace their transformation in the 1980s and 1990s—when America’s special operations teams were centralized under the U.S. Special Operations Command—including untold accounts from Panama, Grenada, Somalia, and the first Gulf War. Finally, we follow their rise to preeminence in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.
The SEALs and their forefathers have shaped the tides of history; from fighting Hitler to eliminating Osama bin Laden, the frogmen of the U.S. Navy are the spearhead of American military might: the toughest, most highly trained, best equipped—and most invisible—band of warriors. Now many of these quiet professionals, speaking for the first time, reveal what it’s like to be the men living on the knife’s edge. Navy SEALs: Their Untold Story gives these legendary warriors the epic chronicle they deserve.
The renowned historian’s classic study of the Texas Ranger Division, presented with its original illustrations and a foreword by Lyndon B. Johnson.
Texas Rangers tells the story of this unique law enforcement agency from its origin in 1823, when it was formed by “Father of Texas” Stephen F. Austin, to the 1930s, when legendary lawman Frank Hamer tracked down the infamous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. Both colorful and authoritative, it presents the evolution and exploits of the Texas Rangers through Comanche raids, the Mexican War, annexation, secession, and on into the 20th century.
Written in 1935 by Walter Prescott Webb, the pioneering historian of the American West, Texas Rangers is a true classic of Texas history.
Sea Dog (retired) 4.0 out of 5 stars Law and Order In a Tumultous Era Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2013 Format: KindleVerified Purchase An excellent history of Texas Rangers, who were basically a quasi-military state police (3-4 companies, at most 300 men) which dated from the days of the Texas Republic (1836-45) until the present, although today it is more of a traditional state police force. Webb (whose edition has a foreward written by Lyndon B. Johnson) addresses primarily the first century of the Rangers, with the subtitle "A Century of Frontier Defense."
Operating within the borders of what is still the largest of the lower 48 states -- someone once remarked "you can drive across Texas all day and STILL be inside it" -- at a time of limited communication and mobility, the Texas Rangers were a group of men who were dednicated to enforcing the laws of their state and dealing harshly with those who violated them. At the time the Rabgers were formed, there were still remnants of Indian tribes and the border with Mexico was easily crossed, with resultant cross border cattle stealing at a time when cattle raising was the a major part of Texas commerce.
The difficultly of bring law and order to such a vast region with so little men cannot be imagined. However, operating singly or in regional companies, the Rangers slowly did so. They often stalked known lawbreakers when they were sleeping or otherwise unaware, and in many instances when the found them the lawbreakers were shot on the spot and were not brought back alive (imagine the difficulties a single Ranger would have bring multiple prisioers to a county seat court). That said, the vast majority of Texas citizens at the time clearly believed the Rangers were neceaasry and needed to enforce the laws of their state, and in fact the behavior of the Rangers over time has given them an enviable repuration as fearless, frugal and fair.
One example from the book may make the point about their effective methods. A company of Rangers under Captain McNelly was chasing a group of Mexicans who had entered Texas and stolen 250 cattle and taken them across the Rio Grande into Mexico near Brownsville. With the aid of Casuse, an older Ranger of Hispanic descent, they tracked the stolen herd. As they came across suspicious Mexicans who might be spys for the rustlers, "Casuse would talk to the Mexican a little, and then tell our interpreter what the Mexican was. If the Mexican proved to be a citizen (of Texas) we let him go at once; if he proved to be a bandit spy we took charge of him until we saw a suitable tree.... (where) Casuse would put therope over the bandit's neck, throw it over a limb, pull him up and let him down on the ground until he would consent to tell us all he knew. As far was we knew this treatment always brought out the truth." After determining that they had all information, the spy would be turned over to Casuse, who then put him on a horse, tied a "regular hangman's knot," and hung the man: "We caught several spies on that scout before we caught up with the bandits and the cattle, and Cause dealt with them all alike, showing no partiality -- he always made them a present of six feet of rope."
McNelly eventually entered Mexico, killed many of the bandits, recovered the cattle, and returned to Texas. Much later, US Army General Ord -- whose troops had remained in the US while the Rangers crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico -- later testified before Congress that "The officer of the State troops (Ranges) had learned of the whereabout of this raiding party by means which I could not legally resort to, but which were the only means of getting at the actual facts. He had caught one of the members and hung him up until he was made to confess where the rest of the raiders were."
The next and last sentence in the chapter was a final summary: "Affairs on the border cannot be judged by the standards that hold elsewhere." All prospective readers would do well to keep that summary in mind. The earlier Ranger methods may have been harsh by today's standards, but they were fair and highly effective.
This is in honor of my husband, Craig, who passed away in May of this year. He was a grandson of the Cherokee Chief in Arkansas.
The Cherokee are one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States, with more than three hundred thousand people across the country claiming tribal membership and nearly one million people internationally professing to have at least one Cherokee Indian ancestor. In this revealing history of Cherokee migration and resettlement, Gregory Smithers uncovers the origins of the Cherokee diaspora and explores how communities and individuals have negotiated their Cherokee identities, even when geographically removed from the Cherokee Nation headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the author transports the reader back in time to tell the poignant story of the Cherokee people migrating throughout North America, including their forced exile along the infamous Trail of Tears (1838–39). Smithers tells a remarkable story of courage, cultural innovation, and resilience, exploring the importance of migration and removal, land and tradition, culture and language in defining what it has meant to be Cherokee for a widely scattered people.
Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree 