The Wild West: 1865 to 1888
- A Lawless Era and Cattle Drives
- Rodeos and Wild West Shows
- Railroads and Economic Development
- The Destruction of the Plains Tribes
A Lawless Era and Cattle Drives
The Civil War so weakened the Civilized Tribes that there was a breakdown of law and
order. Outlaw raids that began
during the war continued. Gangs led by killers like William Quantrill and John Wesley
Hardin caused much trouble. The
Dalton
and Doolin gangs were also destructive. Men like Wyatt Earp, later a famous
Western lawman, led criminal operations to rustle cattle and horses. At one
point, rustlers stole some of the Cherokee’s cattle. The criminals then sold the
stolen herd to the Union army so that the Cherokee refugees could eat. In some areas, vigilante
committees tried to enforce the law, but they could not fully control the outlaw activity.
The Frontier Indian Police
brought many criminals to justice, but they could not restore law and order.
Beginning in 1875, United States authorities tried to help restore law and order. The
government established a federal court at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Federal authorities gave
Judge Isaac Parker the power to crack-down on criminals. He recruited 200 deputy marshals.
They began making trips into Indian Territory. They found and arrested law-breakers. One
of Parker’s best and most famous deputy marshals was Bass
Reeves. He was an
African-American from Northeastern Texas. Born a slave, Bass became a runaway as a young
man. He hid in Indian Territory. After the Civil War, he settled in Arkansas and farmed
until he became a deputy.
From 1875 to 1890, Parker sent 9,000 men to prison. He became
known as the "hanging judge" because he sentenced 160 men to hang. But only 79
of the hangings were carried out. The others originally sentenced to death had their
sentences reduced to long prison terms. Other than Reeves, other famous lawmen who helped
Parker tame Oklahoma were
Heck Thomas,
Bill Tilghman and Chris Madsen.
After the Civil War, the North and East had a beef shortage.
In south Texas, great herds of wild cattle roamed free. Early Spaniards who conquered
Mexico in the 1520s brought the first "longhorns" into the region. The
Spaniards developed huge ranches between San Antonio and the Rio Grande. But after Mexico
became independent in the early 1820s, the ranches were abandoned. The wild cattle
multiplied. By 1865, about five million of them could be found in south Texas. By that
time, an eastern railroad had reached Sedalia, Missouri, and the "long drives"
began.
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In the first "long drive," Texas cowboys rounded up a herd and drove it
up the Sedalia Trail to the railhead. Even though the herd had to go over the
Ozark Mountains, the Texans made money. More long drives followed. They used the Sedalia Trail first and then cut the
East Shawnee Trail. It followed the Texas Road through eastern Oklahoma
and then traveled through Missouri. The West Shawnee Trail branched
out and turned northerly into Kansas.
Meanwhile, the railroad continued building westward through Kansas.
Texans kept cutting new trails until the herds could be driven through
open country all the way to Kansas towns like Dodge City, Abilene and
Wichita. Once Texas cattle reached a railhead, the entire market east of
the Mississippi received shipments of much-needed beef. Of course, for the
Texas cattlemen to get to the railheads, they had to cross Oklahoma. The most famous of the trails was named for the
Cherokee trader Jesse
Chisholm. The Chisholm
Trail ran straight north-south through central Oklahoma. It passed just west
of present day Oklahoma City. Today’s Highway 81 follows the old trail. Another
route, the Great Western Trail, ran straight north-south through western Oklahoma. The
Jones-Plummer Trail, yet another route, cut through the Panhandle. As the trails were
being cut in western Oklahoma, cattlemen negotiated with
the plains tribes and leased grazing rights. That gave much needed money to the tribes and
also got them more accustomed to dealing with white people. Soon, a number of factors
caused the end of the long drives. Texas cattle were banned in Kansas and Missouri because
of diseases they carried. As the land became more settled, the ranchers and farmers fenced
their land using barbed
wire. That made the drives more difficult. And, by the 1880s and
1890s, railheads reached both Texas and Oklahoma. That made the long drives unnecessary. |
Cattle Trails through Oklahoma
Chisholm Trail Lookout Point marker near Addington (Photo courtesy of Fred
Marvel, Oklahoma Department of Tourism)
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Additional Resources
Study Guide Questions:
- Name five notorious outlaws who were active in the post-Civil War
era in Indian Territory.
- Who were the Frontier Indian police and what was their role? By
what other name were they known?
- Who were Isaac Parker and Bass Reeves?
- How did vast herds of wild cattle develop in South Texas?
- What were the "long drives"? What ended the "long
drives"?
- Who was Jesse Chisholm?
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