Old West Biographies Trivia

A

Clay Allison was a gunfighter and well known historic figure of the American Old West.

B

Elfego Baca was a legendary lawman, lawyer, and politician in the closing days of the American wild west. 

Sam Bass was a nineteenth-century train robber and Old West icon. -

John Behan was, for 21 months of a two-year term, the sheriff of Cochise County in the Arizona Territory. 

Billy the Kid Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney, was a 19th-century American frontier outlaw and gunman who participated in the so-called Lincoln County War. -

William "Curly Bill" Brocius or Brocious was an American Old West outlaw, gunman and member of the Cow-boys outlaw gang of the Tombstone area in the Arizona Territory during the early 1880s. -

Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tanka I-Yotank, also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow") was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man, born near the Grand River in South Dakota and killed by reservation police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him and prevent him from supporting the Ghost Dance movement. -

Seth Bullock is a western sheriff, hardware store owner and U.S. Marshal. -

C

Kit Carson is an American frontiersman. -

Jesse Chisholm is an Indian trader, guide, and interpreter, born in the Hiwassee region of Tennessee, probably in 1805 or 1806.  The Chisholm Trail is named after him. -

John Chisum is a wealthy cattle baron in the American West in the mid-to-late 1880s.  The Chisum's family moves to Texas in 1837, with Chisum finding work as a building contractor.  He also serves as county clerk in Lamar County. -

Billy Claiborne is a western outlaw and gunfighter who is one of the survivors of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. 

Ike Clanton is born in Callaway County, Missouri, and grows up to be one of the pivotal players in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous events of the American Old West. 

Cochise (K'uu-ch'ish = "firewood") is a chief (a nantan) of the Chokonen ("central" or "real" Chiricahua) band of the Chiricahua Apache and the leader of an uprising that began in 1861. Cochise County, Arizona is named after him. -

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody is an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He is born in the Iowa Territory, near Le Claire. -

David J. Cook is an American western lawman and City Marshal of Denver, Colorado, responsible for over 3,000 arrests.

George Crook is a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.

George Armstrong Custer  was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the Civil War and the Indian Wars.

D

Emmett Dalton was a train robber and member of the Dalton Gang in the American Old West. 

E

Morgan Earp was the younger brother of Wyatt Earp, the famous gunfighter. Morgan was involved in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, where he was wounded.  -

Virgil Earp was one of the men involved in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory of the United States. He spent his life in law enforcement, although ironically it is his younger brother Wyatt Earp, who spent most of his life as a gambler, who is better known in popular history as a western lawman.

Warren Earp was the younger brother of Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, James Earp, and Newton Earp. Like most of his brothers he was a lawman in the American West. Following the vendetta ride, Warren left Arizona for a time. He returned in 1891, and worked as a mail stage driver on the route between Willcox and Fort Grant. 

Wyatt Earp was an American farmer, teamster, sometime buffalo hunter, officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner, and boxing referee.

G

Pat Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was best known for killing Billy the Kid. He was also the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico. 

Geronimo (Chiricahua: Goyaał�, "one who yawns"; often spelled Goyathlay or Goyahkla in English) was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States and their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades.  -

Charles Goodnight was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." -

H

John Wesley Hardin was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West. He was born in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. By the time he went to prison in 1878, he claimed to have killed 44 men.

John Coffee Hays was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas and the United States armies. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American wars.

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. -

Doc Holliday was an  American dentist, gambler, and gunfighter of the American Old West frontier who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. -

Tom Horn was an American Old West lawman, scout, soldier, hired gunman, detective, outlaw and assassin. On the day before his 43rd birthday, he was hanged for murder. -

Big Nose Kate Horony , better known as "Big Nose Kate", and also known by aliases Kate Fisher, Kate Elder, and Mary Katherine Cummings was the long-time companion/common law wife of gunfighter Doc Holliday in the American Old West. 

J

Jesse James was an American outlaw in the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. After his death, he became a legendary figure of the Wild West. -

Tom Jeffords was a U.S. Army scout, Indian agent, and later a stagecoach driver in the Arizona Territory. His friendship with Cochise was instrumental in ending the Indian wars in that region. -

K

Black Jack Ketchum, also known as "Black Jack", was at first an ordinary cowboy and cattle driver who later turned to a life of crime.

L

Little Bighorn Battle (Custer's Last Stand)

• George Armstrong Custer

• Sitting Bull

M

Josie Marcus was a professional dancer and actress who became best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp.

Benjamin McCulloch was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, a U.S. marshal, and a brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. -

O

Buckey O'Neill was a American soldier, sheriff, newspaper editor, miner, politician, gambler and lawyer, mainly in Arizona. -

Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar. -

Commodore Perry Owens was a lawman and gunfighter of the old west. -

P

Zebulon Pike was an American soldier and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. His Pike expedition, often compared to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. -

R

Johnny Ringo was a cowboy who became a legend of the American Old West because, among other things, of his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona.

S

Jedediah Smith was a hunter, trapper, fur trader and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the nineteenth century. Jedediah Smith's explorations were significant in opening the American West to expansion by white settlers.

Belle Starr Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr, better known as Belle Starr was a famous American female outlaw. -

Dallas Stoudenmire was an Old West gunman and lawman, who gained fame for a brief gunfight that was later dubbed the "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight". Stoudenmire had a deadly reputation in his day and was involved in more gunfights than most of his better known contemporaries, such as John Selman, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Elfego Baca, Luke Short, and Doc Holliday. -

W

Samuel Hamilton Walker was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas and the United States armies. Walker served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American wars.

Wild Bunch

• Butch Cassidy/Robert Parker born Robert LeRoy Parker, was a notorious American train robber, bank robber and leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang.

• Sundance Kid/Harry Longabaugh sometimes spelled Longbaugh, also known as The Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, in the American Old West.

Robert McAlpin Williamson was a Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker and Texas Ranger. Williamson County, Texas is named for him.

Y

Cole Younger was a famous Confederate guerrilla and an outlaw after the American Civil War. With his brothers Jim, John and Bob Younger, he joined with Jesse and Frank James to lead the James-Younger gang of Missouri bandits.