The violence of the American "Wild West" was mostly a myth

Truth-Bringer

Truth-Bringer

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Old West violence mostly myth

Cooperation valued more than conflict

Jul. 17, 2005

Once again as summer progresses, tourists are trying to recapture the romance of the West. Recalling the violent images fostered by Hollywood, they seek out ghost towns, ride horseback at dude ranches and take part in exciting re-enactments of conflicts among vigilantes, sheriffs, cowboys and Indians.

What they don't realize is that the violence of the West is largely a myth.

Yes, there were isolated examples of violence, but the true story of the American West is one of cooperation, not conflict.

Rest of article at:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0717hill0717.html
 
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How true . If it weren't for the fictional romance and intrigue about gratuitis violence in the old west, spawned by pulp novels, movies and television prehaps so much of America that identifies itself as tough-guy gun slingers would have taken another more civilized identity.
 
Yeah life was pretty peaceful as long as you weren't Chinese, black or Indian. Those were the days, you betcha.
 
This is my favorite:

In three years, more than 200,000 people had migrated to California, most of them trying to get rich quick. If there were ever a recipe for chaos, this would seem to be one: people of varied backgrounds and ethnicities, all armed and all seeking a valuable resource. But the mining camps quickly evolved rules for establishing mining claims and for judging disputes. The fact that each person carried a six-shooter meant that each had a relatively equal amount of power. That minimized violence.

Travel, both to the mining camps in California and to the new settlements in Oregon, was also remarkably peaceful. From 1845 to 1860, almost 300,000 people traveled overland via wagon trains to different places in the West.
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Yesiree, life was just peachy keen for everyone back then. I've done a lot of local history research, and it tells me a much different story--especially regarding the gold rush.
 
With the subsequent discovery of gold at Trinidad, Yreka and Jacksonville, Oregon, perceived tension between the Whites and the Indians grew to such an extent that in the summer of 1851, Colonel Redick McKee was sent on an expedition to make peace treaties with the northern Tribes. McKee set out with about 40 mounted men and traveled from Santa Rosa to Happy Camp signing eighteen treaties with the Indians along the rivers. McKee’s enthusiasm for peace treaties was met with equal disdain for them in the Senate, however, and none of the eighteen treaties were ratified the following year in Congress. Regardless of treaty status, there were plenty of Whites ready to kill Indians over gold. During that same expedition, Colenol McKee encountered a miner named Tom Hinton, who proudly proclaimed “that he would shoot Indians whenever he could find them; that he had done so, and would continue to do so” (Bauer 2000:19). This attitude was common among some miners, and tensions continued to rise.

The fear and misunderstanding of the Whites towards the Indians led to brutal massacres and hostile public policy. In February of 1852, a miner from Missouri named Gwin Tompkins shot a young Indian boy who worked in the mining settlement with the dueling names of “Happy Camp” and “Murderer’s Bar” (Gibbs 1851:“George Gibbs’ Journal”, footnote 66), and his body floated downstream to be found by the local Indians. When the Indians questioned a miner who was returning home near the village where they lived, he became fearful of retribution. He returned to the mining camp to raise an armed party and returned to the village, shooting every Indian male and several females, and burned the village to the ground. The same party traveled two miles upriver to a place known as Indian Flat and repeated the process at the village located there (Bauer 2000). Massacre followed massacre in the days of the Gold Rush, including the largest massacre in American history in Yontocket in 1853, where up to 600 unarmed Tolowa Indians were killed during their world renewal ceremony (Medley 2006). When the miners weren’t simply killing the Indians to gain unrestricted land, they were busy destroying the very land that they sought. Modern mining technologies left far more lasting effects than simple massacres.

http://americans.net/forums/post-7259.html
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Admittedly, the author of that article is quite biased.
 
I never claimed anything to the contrary. In fact, I came right out and said as much. If you had bothered to follow the link you would know that.
 
I don't know???????????????????? :D

Subject: Three Surgeons...


Three Texas surgeons were playing golf together and discussing Surgeries they had performed.

The first said, "I'm the best surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident. I reattached them and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England."

The second said, "That's nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident. I reattached them and 2 years later he won a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon."

The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a cowboy who was high on cocaine and alcohol rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse's ass and a cowboy hat. Now he's president of the United States."
 
If i had a time machine i would go back to 1855 to live in an wild west town. Its very easy to make money without the IRS taking it away friom you.You can get away from the tax man easy if you knew when hes comming then thats when you leave town to enter another town.Or you would Rob banks & trains to make your living.
 
steveox said:
If i had a time machine i would go back to 1855 to live in an wild west town. Its very easy to make money without the IRS taking it away friom you.You can get away from the tax man easy if you knew when hes comming then thats when you leave town to enter another town.Or you would Rob banks & trains to make your living.
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You know there was no income tax until 1913 right?
 
steveox said:
Didnt FDR invented the IRS in 1936? He said"" Income Taxes are a small price to pay for freedom."" In other word he ment that income taxes is like paying your dues to a club On Freedom & Democracy.
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No, I'm pretty sure that the IRS came along with the 1913 16th Amendment.
 
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Truth-Bringer said:
Old West violence mostly myth

Cooperation valued more than conflict

Jul. 17, 2005

Once again as summer progresses, tourists are trying to recapture the romance of the West. Recalling the violent images fostered by Hollywood, they seek out ghost towns, ride horseback at dude ranches and take part in exciting re-enactments of conflicts among vigilantes, sheriffs, cowboys and Indians.

What they don't realize is that the violence of the West is largely a myth.

Yes, there were isolated examples of violence, but the true story of the American West is one of cooperation, not conflict.

Rest of article at:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0717hill0717.html
Click to expand...

If this is a subject in which you are actually interested, perhaps you should do a little more research. And not rely on a single vague, anecdotal source. The violence of the time was certainly not as it is depicted in the movies. It was much worse.
 
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