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"The Invaders" of The Johnson County Cattle War. Photo Taken at Fort D.A. Russell near Cheyenne, Wyoming May 1892.

The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River or Wyoming Civil War, was a range war which took place in Johnson County, Wyoming, USA, in April 1892. It was a battle between small farmers and large, wealthy ranches in the Powder River Country that culminated in a lengthy shootout between local farmers, a band of hired killers, and a sheriff's posse, eventually requiring the intervention of the U.S. Cavalry on the orders of the President of the United States.

The events have since become a highly mythologized and symbolic story of the Wild West, and variations of the storyline have served as the basis for numerous popular novels, films, and television shows.

Violent conflict over land use has been a somewhat common occurrence in the development of the American West, but was particularly prevalent during the late 1800s and early 1900s when large portions of the west were becoming settled by the American population for the first time. It is a period which historian Richard Maxwell Brown has called the "Western Civil War of Incorporation"^[1] and of which the Johnson County War was part.

In the early days in Wyoming, most of the land was in the public domain, open both to stockraising as open range and to homesteading. Large numbers of cattle were turned loose on the open range by large ranches, sometimes financed by British and other investors.

Ranchers would hold a spring roundup where the cows and the calves belonging to each ranch were separated and the calves branded. Before the roundup, calves (especially orphan or stray calves) were sometimes surreptitiously branded, and thus taken. The large ranches aggressively defended against cattle rustling by often forbidding their own employees from owning cattle and by lynching (or threatening to lynch) suspect rustlers. Property and use rights were usually respected among big and small ranches based on who was first to settle the land and the size of the herd. Nevertheless, large ranching outfits would sometimes band together and use their power to monopolize large swaths of range land, preventing newcomers from settling the area.

Ella Watson, lynched by wealthy ranchers in 1889 on dubious evidence for cattle rustling.

Jim Averell, Johnson County businessman lynched in 1889 for cattle rustling, though he owned no cattle.

Many of the large ranching outfits in Wyoming were organized as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (the WSGA) and gathered socially as the Cheyenne Club in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Comprised of some of the state's wealthiest and most popular residents, the organization held a great deal of political sway in the state and region. A primary function of the WSGA was to organize the cattle industry by scheduling roundups and cattle shipments^[2], while the WSGA also employed an agency of detectives to investigate cattle rustling against its members.

The often uneasy relationship between larger, wealthier ranches and smaller ranch settlers became steadily worse after the poor winter of 1887-1888, when a series of blizzards and temperatures of 40-50 degrees below 0° F had followed an extremely hot and dry summer.^[3] Thousands of cattle were lost and large companies began to aggressively appropriate land and control the flow and supply of water in this area. Some of the harsher tactics included forcing settlers off their land and setting fire to settler buildings, as well as vigorously trying to exclude the smaller ranchers from participation in the annual roundup. They justified these excesses on what was public land by using the catch-all allegation of rustling.

With rustling in the area likely increasing due to the harsh grazing conditions, and with emotions running high, agents of the larger ranches killed several alleged rustlers from smaller farms. However, many were killed on dubious evidence or were simply found dead while the killers remained anonymous. Frank M. Canton, who was the Sheriff of Johnson County in the early 1880's, and better known as a detective for the WSGA, was rumored behind many of the deaths. The double lynching of innocents Ella Watson and Jim Averell took place in 1889, an event that enraged local residents. A number of additional dubious lynchings of alleged rustlers took place in 1891.

A group of smaller Johnson County ranchers led by a local settler named Nate Champion began to form their own Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Grower's Association (NWFSGA) to compete with the WSGA. The WSGA "blacklisted" the NWFSGA and told them to stop all operations, but the NWFSGA refused the powerful WSGA's orders to disband and instead made public their plans to hold their own roundup in the spring of 1892.^[4]

Frank M. Canton, former Sheriff of Johnson County, was hired to lead the band of Texas killers.

The WSGA, under the direction of Frank Walcott (WSGA Member and large North Platte rancher), hired 28 gunmen from Texas and organized an expedition of 50 men with the intention of eliminating alleged rustlers in Johnson County and break up the NWFSGA. To lead the expedition, the WSGA hired Frank M. Canton, the former Johnson County Sheriff-turned-gunman. The group became known as "The Invaders", or alternately, "Walcott's Regulators".

The group organized in Cheyenne and proceeded by train to Casper, Wyoming and then toward Johnson County on horseback, cutting the telegraph lines north of Douglas, Wyoming in order to prevent an alarm. Canton and the skilled gunmen traveled ahead while a party of WSGA officials led by Walcott followed closely behind. This latter group included such Wyoming dignitaries as State Senator Bob Tisdale, state water commissioner W.J. Clarke, and W.C. Irvine and Hubert Teshemacher, both instrumental in organizing Wyoming's statehood 4 years earlier^{[5] [6]}. They were also accompanied by Asa Shinn Mercer, the editor of the WSGA's newspaper, and an east coast newspaper reporter whose lurid first-hand accounts later appeared in the eastern newspapers.

The first target of the WSGA was Nate Champion at the KC Ranch (name sake for today's town of Kaycee), a small rancher who was active in the efforts of small ranchers to organize a competing roundup. The group traveled to the ranch late in the night of Friday, April 8th, 1892, quietly surrounded the buildings and waited for daybreak. ^[7] Three men besides Champion were at the KC. Two men who were evidently spending the night on their way through were captured as they emerged from the cabin early that morning to collect water at the nearby Powder River, while the third, Nick Ray, was shot while standing inside the doorway of the cabin and died a few hours later.^[8] Champion was besieged inside the log cabin.

During the siege, Champion kept a poignant journal which contained a number of notes he wrote to friends while taking cover inside the cabin. "Boys, I feel pretty lonesome just now. I wish there was someone here with me so we could watch all sides at once." he wrote. The last journal entry read: "Well, they have just got through shelling the house like hail. I heard them splitting wood. I guess they are going to fire the house tonight. I think I will make a break when night comes, if alive. Shooting again. It's not night yet. The house is all fired. Goodbye, boys, if I never see you again."^[9].

With the house on fire, Nate Champion signed his journal entry and put the journal in his pocket before running from the back door with a six shooter in one hand and a knife in the other.^[10]. As he emerged he was gunned down by four different men and the invaders later pinned a note on Champion's bullet-riddled chest that read "Cattle Thieves Beware". ^{[11] [12]}

Two passers-by noticed the ruckus that Saturday afternoon and local rancher Jack Flagg rode to Buffalo (the county seat of Johnson County), where the sheriff raised a posse of 200 men over the next 24 hours and the party set out for the KC on Sunday night, April 10th.^[13]

A map of the TA Ranch during the Johnson County War. Depicts the positions of the Invaders, posse, and 6th Cavalry.

The WSGA force then headed north on Sunday toward Buffalo to continue their show of force. However, the posse led by the sheriff caught up with the gunmen by early Monday morning of the 11th, and besieged them at the TA Ranch on Crazy Woman Creek. The group took refuge inside a log barn on the ranch, and on Monday a group of 10 gunmen tried to escape the barn in a blaze of bullets, however they were beaten back by the posse and 3 Texans were killed. ^[14] However, one of the WSGA members managed to escape and was able to contact the acting Governor of Wyoming, Amos W. Barber the next day. Frantic efforts to save the WSGA group ensued, and two days into the siege Barber was able to send a subsequent telegraph to President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison late on the night of April 12th, 1892.

The telegram read: ^[15]

Barn at the TA Ranch, where the "regulators" had had been besieged by the Sheriff's posse.

Harrison immediately ordered the United States Secretary of War, Stephen B. Elkins, to remedy the situation under Article IV, Section 4, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the use of U.S. forces under the President's orders for "protection from invasion and domestic violence". ^[16] The Sixth Cavalry from Fort McKinney near Buffalo was ordered to proceed to the TA ranch at once and take custody of the WSGA expedition. The 6th Cavalry left Mt. McKinney a mere few hours later, at 2am on April 13th, and reached the TA ranch at 6:45am. The expedition surrendered to the 6th soon thereafter, and was saved just as the posse had finished building a series of breastworks to shoot gunpowder on the invader's log barn shelter so that it could be set on fire from a distance.^{[17] [18]} The 6th Cavalry took possession of Walcott and 45 other men, along with 45 rifles, 41 revolvers, and some 5,000 rounds of ammunition. ^[19]

The text of Barber's telegram to the President was printed on the front page of The New York Times on April 14th, ^[20] along with a first-hand account of the siege at the T.A., and the events immediately became a news sensation.

The WSGA group was taken to Cheyenne to be held at the barracks of Fort D.A. Russell, as the Laramie County jail was unable to hold that many prisoners. They received very preferential treatment, and were allowed to roam the base by day as long as they agreed to return to the jail to sleep at night. Johnson County officials were upset that the group was not kept locally at Ft. McKinney, however the General in charge of the 6th Cavalry felt that the tensions were too high to for the prisoners to remain in the area. Indeed, hundreds of locals from both sides of the conflict were reported to have descended on Ft. McKinney over the next several days under the mistaken impression the invaders were being held there. ^{[21] [22]}

The Johnson County attorney began to gather evidence for the case, and the details of the WSGA's plan emerged. Canton's gripsack was found to contain a list of seventy rustlers, who were either to be shot or hanged, also a list of ranch houses that were burned, as well as a contract to pay the Texans $5 a day each, plus a bonus of $50 for every rustler killed. ^[23] It was reported that the invader's plans included eventually killing rustlers as far away as Casper and Douglas. The Times reported on April 23rd, that “The evidence is said to implicate more than twenty prominent stockmen of Cheyenne whose names have not been mentioned heretofore, also several wealthy stockmen of Omaha, as well as to compromise men high in authority in the State of Wyoming. They will all be charged with aiding and abetting the invasion, and warrants will be issued for the arrest of all of them.” ^[24]

Those charges on the men "high in authority" in Wyoming were never filed however, and eventually the invaders were released on bail and were told to return to Wyoming for the trial. Many simply fled back to Texas and were never seen again. In the end the WSGA group went free after the charges were dropped on the excuse that Johnson County refused to pay for the costs of prosecution. The costs of simply housing the men at D.A. Russell was said to cost over $18,000, and the sparsely populated Johnson County was unable to pay. ^{[25] [26]}

Meanwhile, tensions in Johnson County remained high, and the 9th Cavalry of "Buffalo Soldiers" was specifically called upon to Fort McKinney to replace the 6th as the 6th cavalry was said to be swaying under the local political and social pressures and were unable to keep the peace in the tense environment. The buffalo soldiers responded with about two weeks from Nebraska and moved the men to the rail town of Suggs, Wyoming creating "Camp Bettens" despite a racist and hostile local population. One soldier was killed and two wounded in gun battles with locals. Nevertheless, the 9th Cavalry remained in Wyoming until November to quell tensions in the area.^{[27] [28]}

Emotions ran high for many years following the polarizing events of the so-called Johnson County Cattle War, as some viewed the large and wealthy ranchers as heroes who took justice into their own hands in order to defend their rights, while others saw the WSGA as heavy-handed villains intent on monopolizing what was public land.

Although many of the leaders of the WSGA's hired force, such as W. C. Irvine, were themselves Democrats, the ranchers who had hired the group were tied to the Republican party, and their opponents were mostly Democrats. Many viewed the rescue of the WSGA group at the order of President Harrison, a Republican, and the failure of the courts to prosecute them a serious political scandal with overtones of a class war. As a result of the scandal, the Democratic Party became popular in Wyoming for a time^{[citation needed]}, and Wyoming voted Democratic in the 1896 U.S. Presidential Election.

A longer economic legacy was that Johnson County was slower to develop economically than some other parts of the state as the shadow of the war and subsequent events created the view that the area was a volatile place to live^{[citation needed]}.

The Johnson County War, with its overtones of class warfare, and intervention of the President of the United States to save the lives of a gang of hired killers and set them free, does not fit in well with the American myth of the west. The Virginian, a seminal 1902 western novel, solved the problem by taking the side of the wealthy ranchers, creating a highly mythologized tale dealing with the themes of the Johnson County war but bearing little resemblance to the actual events. The novel was popular, striking a strong chord with the public and later made into no less than six film versions (in 1914, 1923, 1929, 1946, 1962, and 2000).

Though not explicitly connected with Johnson County,The Ox-Bow Incident (1940), by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, is a novel that dramatizes and condemns a lynching of the sort that Wister's novel appears to defend.

Jack Schaefer's popular 1949 novel Shane also dealt with the strong themes associated with the Johnson County War, but instead took the side of the settlers. The novel spawned both a film Shane (1953) and a 17-episode TV Series (1966).

The 1980 film Heaven's Gate and a TV movie called The Johnson County War (2002) also painted the wealthy ranchers as the "bad guys." Heaven's Gate was a dramatic romance somewhat based on the historical events, while The Johnson County War was based on the 1957 novel Riders of Judgment. Yet another novel titled Riders of Judgment was released in 2001 that also depicts fictional events similar to that of the Johnson County Cattle War, except this Riders of Judgment was written by Robert Vaughn under the pen name of the now deceased legendary western author Ralph Compton .

In addition, numerous western films and novels have been made that borrow small facets of the Johnson County War and combine them with otherwise invented storylines. One example is the 1970 film The Cheyenne Social Club with depicts the Cheyenne Club as a brothel taken over by two Texans ultimately besieged by a throng of angry local ranchers.

The story of the Johnson County War from the point of view of the small ranchers was chronicled by Kaycee resident Chris LeDoux in his song Johnson County War on the 1989 album Powder River. The song included references to the burning of the KC Ranch, the capture of the WCGA men, the intervention of the US Cavalry, and the release of the cattlemen and hired guns.

In 1894, eyewitness Asa Shinn Mercer published an indignant account of the war, titled The Banditti of the Plains. The book was effectively suppressed for many years, as the WSGA actively tracked down and destroyed all but a few of the first edition copies from 1894 printing, and was rumored to have hijacked and destroyed the second printing as it was being shipped from a printer north of Denver, Colorado ^[29]. The book was later successfully reprinted several times during the 20th Century.

• Kaycee, Wyoming
• Lincoln County War

• Photographs and a brief account of Johnson County War