howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas
where the heat wave continues in earnest with 110 degrees
Fahrenheit today which is what...about 44 C? The car says
113 though.
Well I wanted to dispel a few myths about the Old West today
just for fun. Over the years I've gotten a kick out of people when
I'd tell them I'm from Dodge City because I never knew what their
reaction was going to be.
Almost everyone knew about the TV series Gunsmoke which,
by the way, was the longest running series of it's kind. It was
on for 20 years from 1955 thru 1975. So when I would say
Dodge City, that's what they would think of.
Many thought that Matt Dillon was a real person in history,
which he wasn't, but others didn't know that Dodge City really
existed, they thought it was just a made up town for TV! lol.
Likewise many thought that the Longbranch Saloon, which
was the main hangout of the show, was also made up but
in fact it really did exist and still does today, although it is
a replica on the original spot.
Also, remember Doc from the show? He was a real person in
real life and his son and grandson were also medical doctors
in Dodge.
okay lets get to the myths.
Cowboy Hats
everyone in the movies what the classic cowboy hat but if you
study original photos you'll discover that almost no one wore
the classic style that we see today. They wore a variety but most
of them looked like an Amish hat like this cowboys wore in this
photo from the 1860s:
source
see, no classic style cowboy hat. myth busted.
look at one of the most famous villians of all time, Billy the Kid:
see, no classic cowboy hat. I don't know what kind of hat that
funky thing is, looks like it got ran over by a herd of mules or
something.
Circle the wagons to protect from Indians
You know how in all the old western movies if they show a
wagon train they always circle the wagons at night and post
guards to watch for Indians? That's not why they circled the
wagons.
They circled the wagons at night to corral the livestock. They
had all these horses, cows, and oxen that they didn't want
wandering off in the night.
The idea of circling the wagons to protect from Indian attacks
is a good idea but the problem there is..these wagon trains
stretched out for miles. If there was a surprise attack it would
take hours to circle them for an attack.
I think it's interesting that the term "circle the wagons" is based
on a false belief that rarely if ever happened in real life.
Bank Robberies
The movies and TV shows would have you believe that the
West was so dang lawless that banks were being robbed all
the time, how many scenes of bank robberies have you seen
in Westerns?
The truth is, banks were almost never robbed, mostly because
they were in the very center of town right next to the Sheriff's
office and surrounded by people.
There were only a few for the first 30 years or so until Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid started robbing them in 1889.
But even then, they mostly robbed stage coaches and trains.
Here's an interesting photo of the real Butch and Sundance:
source
Look at these fine gentlemen. I wish I looked that good in a suit.
Heck I wished I looked that good period! Notice their non-cowboy
hat hats. Sundance Kid is the front left end and Butch is on the
right front end.
I mean these guys could just walk into a bank and get a bank
loan and they could disappear, they didn't have to resort to
violence, any banker would give a loan to these guys, look at
them! the other men in that photo is the rest of their gang.
So it was rare for a bank to get robbed, railroads were the big
scores, he's a photo of a railroad car that these guys robbed,
they blew it to pieces with dynamite and scored 60 grand!
source
Gunfighters facing off in the middle of the street
This didn't happen. The only time this happened in our history
is going back to the 1700's and early 1800's like in the famous
Burr and Hamilton duel.
They didn't do duels in the Old West, that's a total Hollywood
fabrication. A very cool one but just a myth.
The closest to that happening is when Wild Bill Hickok shot
someone in the street but they didn't go out and face off,
they hated each other and I think they just drew their pistols
when one saw the other one. Hickok hit the other guy in the
chest, the other guy missed.
There was some fancy gun handling like spinning the pistol
and slick holstering moves because you know, this was a bunch
of men after all. They showed off. I was even pretty good at one
time myself.
Bottom line though, it wasn't the fastest draw but the steady
hand, nerves and good aim that was important.
Okay folks, those are my myth busters for today, I'll be busting
more as time goes on but these are some major ones to get
straight.
Thanks so much for reading, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know, you might just be a redneck if:
you know of at least 6 different ways to bend the bill of a
baseball cap!
