The American, Wild West (Old West) or American Frontier, was a period that began after the Civil War in 1865 and ended around 1895.
It was an iconic era of cowboys, Indians, pioneers, outlaws, saloon ladies, and legendary lawmen. Outlaws preyed on banks, trains, and stagecoaches and legendary figures like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley became larger than life. Famous Wild West Indians include Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Geronimo. And there were the famous prosperous cities like Dodge City, Tombstone, Deadwood, and Abilene.
The Louisiana Purchase
“Let the earth rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a song.”
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 is associated with President Thomas Jefferson, who wanted to gain control of the crucial port of New Orleans on the Mississippi River for the future protection, expansion, and prosperity of the United States.
France received $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, which doubled the size of the United States and provided opportunities for westward expansion.
It was the largest real estate deal in history because the US acquired nearly 828,000 square miles of land for just 400 acres. Another big US real estate deal was the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867.
President Thomas Jefferson encouraged mass migration and settlement after the Louisiana Purchase, which gave rise to the expansionist movement known as “Manifest Destiny.”
Manifest Destiny
American President James K. Polk (1845-1849) is the leader most associated with Manifest Destiny
The term was coined in 1845 by publisher John L. O’Sullivan, who wrote in favor of the US annexation of Texas and expansion to the Pacific Ocean, as it was good for trade and industry and for farmers and ranchers.
Manifest Destiny brought prosperity to the United States. It also caused the forcible removal of Native Americans from their lands and intensified slavery as new states were added to the Union, ultimately leading to the outbreak of the Civil War (from 1861 to 1865).
“Go West, Young Man”
“Go west, young man” became one of the most quoted sayings of the 19th century. People with pioneering spirits made their way through the wilderness of the Wild West, first by covered wagon and then by train to lay the foundation upon which the United States now stands.
There was opportunity for people willing to work hard to succeed. Some established ranches, farms, and town businesses, others engaged in trapping and fur trading, and some campaigned and held out in the mines of the new American frontier.
The Oregon Trail
Between 1841 and 1866, some 350,000 people used the famous 2,000-mile Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City to migrate west.
The dangerous road was made by wagon trains through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and finally into Oregon.
The caravans would travel an average of ten miles a day, and in good weather the journey would take about five months to reach their destination.
The Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was approximately 800 miles long and stretched from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Trail originally began in Franklin, Missouri, but was moved to Fort Osage and then, in 1827, to Independence. Along the route there were serious natural hazards, and travelers also encroached on land inhabited by the Kiowa, Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne tribes.
The Chisholm Trail
The Chisholm Trail was used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas.
From 1867 to 1872, more than three million head of Texas longhorn cattle were herded up the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene.
By 1890, some 10 million head of cattle were herded up the Chisholm and other trails out of Texas.
booming cities
Boomtowns used to be mining towns where gold, silver, or oil had been found. The California Gold Rush of 1849, for example, sparked the largest mass migration in US history after gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in early 1848. It peaked in 1852 with more than 300,000 people who arrived in the territory. These hopeful prospectors were called “forty-nine”.
When the gold in an area ran out, miners and businesses would go out looking for the next gold find, leaving the city empty and abandoned.
boot hill
Boot Hill is the name of many Wild West cemeteries during the 19th and early 20th centuries for the cemeteries of gunslingers, or those who “died with their boots on”. The graves of Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury who died during the famous OK Corral shooting are located on Boot Hill in Tombstone.
dodge city, kansas
Dodge City began in 1847 and is famous as a frontier cow town, its saloons, outlaws, and Boot Hill Cemetery.
Many of the early settlers were buffalo hunters, railroad workers, gamblers, gunfighters, ranchers, and soldiers.
Two legendary Wild West lawmen, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson served as sheriffs in Dodge City.
Dodge City became a boom town, with thousands of head of cattle passing through its pens annually.
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone became one of the last boom towns on the American frontier. It was a large silver mining town and is famous for the OK Corral gunfight that took place on October 26, 1881.
Founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin, it was considered the most dangerous of all the towns in the Wild West.
The Tombstone Epitaph, a monthly publication covering the history and culture of the Old West was founded in 1880 and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Arizona.
Deadwood, South Dakota
Deadwood was a lawless frontier settlement turned into a thriving mining town.
In 1874, a band of American cavalrymen led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills, which belonged to the Sioux Indian Reservation. Between 1874 and 1877, some 20,000 prospectors made the journey to Deadwood Gulch, including outlaws, gamblers, and gunslingers. Gambling and prostitution were big business, and many locals took the law into their own hands.
Two of the most famous characters in Deadwood were Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, one of the best gunslingers in the American West. He was murdered in Deadwood on August 2, 1876. The Black Hills Gold Rush also brought Wyatt Earp and his brother Morgan in 1876 to Deadwood.
Abilene, Kansas
Abilene was a railroad cow town of the Old West. Between 1866 and 1889, millions of Texas longhorn cattle headed there in search of a market.
Abilene was also a point for grain and other agricultural products.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower spent his childhood in Abilene and is buried in the Meditation Place at the Eisenhower Center in Abilene with his family.