Nearly a century and a half ago, the Old West was one of the most fascinating cultures in the world. It was filled to the edge with rugged men, brave women, and a desire to explore the unknown and build sometihng for themselves. Of course, among the beauty and majesty of the unsettled west was a danger unrivaled across the plains in civilization. Unexpected weather, wild animals, and Native tribes defending their land all posed grave threats to the people expanding from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. And, if you were able to survive all of that, you still had to contend with the unscrupulous cowboys in the harsh cattle towns.
Because this hype, the romanticism surrounding the west creating myths and legends we still talk about today. From the duals in the street at high noon to the lawmen keeping the towns safe from the gunslingers. Perhaps the most famous example of this is Wyatt Earp and his brothers along with Doc Holliday’s exploits in Tombstone, Arizona. Years of films and novels built the Shootout at the OK Corral up as the most iconic real-life event that embodied everything we believed the Old West was. And today, 145 years ago, was the day it happened. But, how much of this is true? And how much was embellished fantasy to fill a romance?
He was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean blonde fellow nearly dead with consumption and at the same time the most skillful gambler and nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew. – Wyatt Earp on Doc Holliday
The legend
When the Earps moved to Tombstone, they were already legends. Wyatt had made a name for himself as a tough as nails lawman. So it wasn’t long before the town adopted him and his brothers as the defacto protectors against an out of control gang of cattleman calling themselves The Cowboys. The confrontation between the law and the outlaws built until Ike Clanton stayed up until dawn playing poker and getting drunk, saying he and his gang of gunmen were going to fight the Earps. The next day, the Earps, behind Marshal Virgil Earp, along with Doc Holliday, moved down to the OK Corral to disarm the Cowboys in accordance with the no guns in town without a permit law. Once they arrived, Virgil commanded, “Throw up your hands, I am here to disarm you.” When two of the Cowboys, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton, reached for their revolvers, Earp continued, “Hold on, I don’t want that!” But the fight was on.
Thirty bullets in thirty seconds. Ike Clanton fled without firing a shot. Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton paid for their escalation along with Tom McLaury. Three deaths on their side. Morgan and Virgil Earp were both wounded and Holliday was shot in the hip. Earp, famously, was never grazed by a bullet in his entire law enforcement career.
The aftermath of this saw the Earps on trial for murder, where they were acquitted, then a retribution that saw the crippling of Virgil and the death of Morgan. Finally, the saga ended with Wyatt crossing over to outlaw when he took vengeance on the Cowboys who killed his brother. He went on a three-week killing spree where he murdered Frank Stilwell, Curly Bill Brocius, Florentino Cruz and Johnny Barnes. After what was called his “Vendetta Ride,” he fled to Colorado.
You fellows haven’t given me any show at all. You’ve treated me like a dog. Fight is my racket, and all I want is four feet of ground. If you fellows had been a second later, I would have furnished a coroner’s inquest for the town. I will get even with all of you for this. If I had a six-shooter now, I would make a fight with all of you. – Ike Clanton
The myth
A shallow look into the history of the Old West will tell you that there are always misconceptions and inflated stories to deepen the fascination with the culture. Much of what made up these stories wasn’t neccissarily false, but it wasn’t exactly on par with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The event that took place 145 years ago today is no different. So what was false or misleading about the myth of the Shootout at the OK Corral?
- The location is the first. The actual shootout took place in a vacant lot about six doors down the alley from the OK Corral, but the Hollywood machine liked the title better. So when Wyatt Earp began his Hollywood bloat of the incident to make movies, he adopted the same myth.
- The good vs evil. The truth is, despite the glorification of the character of Wyatt Earp, he and his brothers were almost equally devious and guilty of breaking the laws of the land as the Cowboys. This wasn’t a good vs evil, this was more akin to a gang fight.
- Doc Holliday wasn’t an anti-hero. Movies like Tombstone create Holliday as an unlikely companion to Wyatt Earp, a suspected murderer and gambler who simply did all the heroic things because Wyatt was his friend. The truth is less romantic. He was a gambler, not a shootist, who just chose the side of the budding gang war.
The truth
Now, let’s talk about the things in this story that were true. At least, according to the witnesses of the day and what historians generally maintain as the truth.
- The facts of the actual shootout are virtually undisputed. The Earps and Holliday marched down to the lot with the voiced intention of disarming the men who had been threatening them with a fight. The casualties and the wounds are also accurate.
- Wyatt Earp truly spent his entire career going up against the worst the Old West had to offer and was never once even grazed by a bullet. Without the elevated glorification of his character, this is a fact that is wild enough to have made this man a legend of the time.
- The “Vendetta Ride” was real. After the murder of his brother, Morgan, Wyatt went on a rampage and killed everyone reportedly tied to his death. The man who built a name as a lawman ended his career on the other side of it based solely on revenge.
At the end of his life, Wyatt played a big part in the fictionalization of his own legend. He embellished stories and almost singlehandedly created the romance of the Old West along with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. But, regardless of what is real and what is not, The Shootout at the OK Corral remains one of the most iconic moments in the history of our country and our culture.
