OT?? Old West Heroes

getitdone1 · Post by **getitdone1** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:44 pm

Been talk'in to my brother about Annie Oakley. He says they had a show about her last night on PBS. Look her up on the internet and maybe go to Amazon.com and buy a book about her.

That conversation got me to talk'in to him about Buffalo Bill. THIS GUY DID IT ALL !! Poney Express, Indian Wars, Buffalo hunter and Showman with his Wild West Show. Had his autobiography and will soon be buying it again. (May still have it if I look hard) I think he died broke and in debt. Still, he was truly one of the great Western Heroes and maybe the greatest.

George Armstrong Custer. Don't like the guy. He was after all the glory and didn't care how tough he made it on his men to get it. He was buffalo hunting on horse back one time shooting at buffalo with his handgun. He shot his horse in the head!

Don McCullough

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:23 pm

Heck Thomas!!!!!!!!! There was one honest and kind fella, but one heck of a Lawman and Gunfighter.

lever-4-life · Post by **lever-4-life** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:33 pm

John Wesley Hardin!!! I have always been a fan of him for as long as I can think. Plus he was the only man That Wild Bill avoided a gun fight with.

Comal Forge · Post by **Comal Forge** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:33 pm

It's hard for me to define anyone as a "hero" - but I think Kit Carson was close with Lewis and Clark right there with him, maybe put Jim Bridger in there also. The first explorers and mountain men were some tough characters that had to deal with the hardships of the West before many white men had even seen it.

505stevec · Post by **505stevec** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:51 pm

Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt are my two top. I know not really "Western" but they were men of integrity.

octagon · Post by **octagon** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:05 pm

Remember the Alamo!

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:13 pm

Being born in Texas, the Texas Rangers have been at the top of my list. I met a few of them at the Texas State Fair in 1955 as a 10 year old. I have since then met "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas and Alfred Allee personally along with some of the modern day Rangers. I have a few collectible items from "Lone Wolf", Captain Tom Hickman, Captain John R. Hughes, and Walter Durbin, as well as other Rangers from as far back as 1870s and the frontier Battalion. I also have some items from Wyatt Earp and John Wesley Harden. I read mostly about the Texas Rangers, John Wesley Hardin, and Wyatt Earp. Hardin killed a fellow gambler just a few miles from where I live today at Towash. The Chisholm trail is just a few miles away also. One branch is so close if I had been alive I could have watch the cattle crossing the brazos River from my back porch. The "Old West" is alive in my mind most all the time.

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:14 pm

How about Simon Kenton, he saved Daniel Boone's life.

Mokwaw · Post by **Mokwaw** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:31 am

I tend to lean the other way...Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Kwaina Parker and his father Nokoni....also Tecumseh & Pontiac...I look at Ohio & Indiana as the old old west......I think I would have liked living the Indian way.

Mokwaw · Post by **Mokwaw** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:35 am

JerryB wrote:How about Simon Kenton, he saved Daniel Boone's life.

I have/had a book called the Frontiersman it was about Simon Kenton...Boone was in Kentucky first, but Kenton was basically responsible for settleing the territory along with most of southern Ohio.

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:17 am

Quanah Parker (Quahadi Comanche), Red Cloud & Crazy Horse (Oglala Lakota), Geromino (Bedonkohe Apache), Chief Joseph (Wallowa Nez Perce) just to name a few.

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 5:50 am

Don't forget Magnus Colorado of the Bedonkohe Apache.
Also John Colter a Virginian and first white man to find Yellowstone.

rock-steady · Post by **rock-steady** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:08 am

Liver Eatin' Johnson! He was a bad, bad, man. Ask the Absaroke Crow! He would catch them, tie 'em up and then cut out their livers and eat it in front of them before they croaked! Try this link for more info Link to story

Here' an excerpt from the story....
Johnston's killings continued for years, and the Crow seemed helpless to respond. But one winter, as Johnston was traveling over five hundred miles to visit his Flathead kin, he was ambushed by a group of Blackfoot warriors who intended to present him to the Crow for a handsome reward. The Blackfoot overtook Johnston and captured him, placing him in a teepee and binding him with leather straps. A young warrior guard was placed just outside. But Johnston turned out to be an unmanageable prisoner.

Inside where he couldn't be seen, Johnston eventually managed to chew through the leather straps which bound him, and he slipped out of the exit. When he confronted the guard outside, Johnstonâ€“ who was a large man of about six feet and two hundred poundsâ€“ landed a devastating blow to the man's nose before he was able to act. Johnston wasted no time in taking the warrior's knife, which he used to saw one of the Indian's legs off at the hip. Armed with the leg as a blunt instrument and with the warrior's knife, Johnston managed to fight his way out of the Blackfoot camp and make his escape into the woods.

As Johnston began the two hundred mile journey back to his cabin, the guard's leg proved to be useful as more than just a weapon. He used it as a source of food for lack of anything better in the harsh winter, and it sustained him until he reached his destination.

Post by **Hobie** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:18 am

Mokwaw wrote:I tend to lean the other way...Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Kwaina Parker and his father Nokoni....also Tecumseh & Pontiac...I look at Ohio & Indiana as the old old west......I think I would have liked living the Indian way.

Most of us would have "gone native". It is more fitting to our thought process.

Post by **Hobie** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:20 am

game keeper wrote:Don't forget Magnus Colorado of the Bedonkohe Apache.
Also John Colter a Virginian and first white man to find Yellowstone.

John Colter was a borned about 12 miles from where I live and most everybody of those times had passed through here.

Jarhead · Post by **Jarhead** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:21 am

Hobie wrote:
Mokwaw wrote:I tend to lean the other way...Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Kwaina Parker and his father Nokoni....also Tecumseh & Pontiac...I look at Ohio & Indiana as the old old west......I think I would have liked living the Indian way.
Most of us would have "gone native". It is more fitting to our thought process.

I admire the Native American Indian....I married one....

We have been together since 1968.....Thier kids turn out OK too....

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:28 pm

Beautiful girls, you must be very proud sir.

Jarhead · Post by **Jarhead** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:51 pm

game keeper wrote:Beautiful girls, you must be very proud sir.

Thanks GameKeeper,

Yes, they are a Blessing indeed...

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:54 pm

Calamity Jane. Just because.

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:06 pm

You asked about "heros" and that cuts the list way, way down. In my way of thinking a hero must be a person of good character, high morals and make a positive contribution to society.

Wes Hardin was mentioned. He was a sociopath, a killer, a chronic drunk and in general a man of poor character and low morals. He was one dangerous man, but he is far from a hero.

Some folks that fit the hero list, would be John Coffee Hayer, John S "Rip" Ford, Chief Joseph, Crazy Horse and others.

If the truth be known, heros were in short supply in the Old West, just as they are now.

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:18 pm

Frank Hamer

Bill Tilghman

John Slaughter

Heck Thomas(already mentioned)

Tom Rynning or Arizona Ranger fame

claybob86 · Post by **claybob86** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:29 pm

Dunno if he's a hero, but I kind of admire Hugh Glass.

http://www.rosyinn.com/more005.html

sore shoulder · Post by **sore shoulder** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:10 pm

rock-steady wrote:Liver Eatin' Johnson! He was a bad, bad, man. Ask the Absaroke Crow! He would catch them, tie 'em up and then cut out their livers and eat it in front of them before they croaked! Try this link for more info Link to story

Here' an excerpt from the story....
Johnston's killings continued for years, and the Crow seemed helpless to respond. But one winter, as Johnston was traveling over five hundred miles to visit his Flathead kin, he was ambushed by a group of Blackfoot warriors who intended to present him to the Crow for a handsome reward. The Blackfoot overtook Johnston and captured him, placing him in a teepee and binding him with leather straps. A young warrior guard was placed just outside. But Johnston turned out to be an unmanageable prisoner.

Inside where he couldn't be seen, Johnston eventually managed to chew through the leather straps which bound him, and he slipped out of the exit. When he confronted the guard outside, Johnstonâ€“ who was a large man of about six feet and two hundred poundsâ€“ landed a devastating blow to the man's nose before he was able to act. Johnston wasted no time in taking the warrior's knife, which he used to saw one of the Indian's legs off at the hip. Armed with the leg as a blunt instrument and with the warrior's knife, Johnston managed to fight his way out of the Blackfoot camp and make his escape into the woods.

As Johnston began the two hundred mile journey back to his cabin, the guard's leg proved to be useful as more than just a weapon. He used it as a source of food for lack of anything better in the harsh winter, and it sustained him until he reached his destination.

Ol Jeremiah was ornery, and makin a hobby out of terrorizing a whole tribe after they upset him off makes me chuckle. Too bad they ruined his legend by making a movie about him starring Redford.

Swampman · Post by **Swampman** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:58 pm

Jedediah Smith a true Christian and a real hero.

ohwin94_61 · Post by **ohwin94_61** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:20 pm

Cheif Sitting Bull