Ride the Devil's Herd: Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang

by John Boessenecker

Overview

A Pim County Public Library Southwest Books of the Year 2021

A True West Reader’s Choice for Best 2020 Western Nonfiction

Winner of the Best Book Award by the Wild West History Association

The little-known story of how a young Wyatt Earp, aided by his brothers, defeated the Cowboys, the Old West’s biggest outlaw gang.

Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full.

The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers.

Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were fifty times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335015853
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	35,438
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

John Boessenecker is the author of twelve books, including New York Times bestseller Texas Ranger. He has received the Spur award from Western Writers of America, the Best Book award from Westerners International, and in 2011, 2013 and 2019 True West named him Best Nonfiction Writer. He has appeared frequently as a historical commentator on PBS, The History Channel, A&E, and other media. He lives near San Francisco, California.

Table of Contents

1 Devils from Hell: The Cowboys 11

2 Fighting Men: The Earp Boys 37

3 Blood on the Border 69

4 The Earps Come to Tombstone 105

5 Curly Bill Takes Charge 127

6 Death on the Tombstone Stage 152

7 Wanted Dead or Alive 175

8 Cowboys and Mexicans 196

9 Ride the Devil's Herd 216

10 The Fight Has Commenced 244

11 A Trial in Tombstone 267

12 The Cowboys Strike Back 287

13 Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal 308

14 Wyatt Earp, Frontier Vigilante 329

15 Curly Bill Cashes In 351

16 Last Ride of the Cowboys 376

17 The Sunset Trail 403

Appendix: The Cowboy Roster 437

Acknowledgments 441

Notes 445

Index 497

Editorial Reviews

02/17/2020

Historian Boessenecker (Shotguns and Stagecoaches) delivers an exhaustive account of lawman Wyatt Earp’s takedown of the “loosely organized” gang of bandits and cattle thieves known as the Cowboys. Boessenecker traces the Cowboys’ origins to New Mexico and west Texas in the mid-1870s, where future members robbed stagecoaches, raided cattle ranches, murdered rival desperadoes, and fought in border wars. Meanwhile, Wyatt Earp left behind his “unsavory” background as a horse thief and alleged pimp to become a peace officer in Dodge City, Kans. By the time Wyatt and his brother Virgil, a deputy U.S. marshal, arrived in Tombstone, Ariz., in 1879, there were roughly 100 Cowboys rustling cattle on both sides of the border and selling them to local ranchers. Boessenecker details numerous confrontations between the Earp brothers and the Cowboys and their associates, culminating in the infamous 1881 gunfight at O.K. Corral, for which Wyatt stood trial for murder. Once acquitted, he led a posse against the Cowboys and “effectively end organized banditry in Arizona Territory.” Boessenecker overstuffs this granular history, clogging the narrative but providing a plethora of intriguing details about the politics, economics, and culture of the Old West. History buffs with a tolerance for tangents will be rewarded. Agent: Claire Gerus, the Claire Gerus Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"For serious readers of Western history... Ride the Devil’s Herd may well prove the gold standard." —Wall Street Journal


"A ripsnortin' ramble across the bloodstained Arizona desert with Wyatt Earp and company. ... A pleasure for thoughtful fans of Old West history, revisionist without being iconoclastic." -Kirkus Reviews

“Readers who want to learn the true details about what happened before, during and after the gunfight will be rewarded… [Boessenecker] provides rich detail on the Earp family and its questionable ethics.” –The Roanoke Times


"[A] well-researched, well-crafted history." -HistoryNet

"Ride the Devil’s Herd is a rich and satisfying read, a significant contribution to Earpiana, an antidote to Clavin’s fanciful stew, and a book that unclouds the picture and shows us why these men became legends." -Los Angeles Review of Books

"Readers interested in Wyatt Earp and “Wild West” history will enjoy this new chronicle of the lawman’s life and times." -Library Journal

“An exhaustive account of lawman Wyatt Earp’s takedown of the ‘loosely organized’ gang of bandits and cattle thieves known as the Cowboys.” –Publisher’s Weekly


"Ride the Devil's Herd is a marvelous book. By means of meticulous research and splendid writing John Boessenecker has managed to do something never before attempted or accomplished, tying together the many violent clashes between lawmen and outlaws in the American southwest of the 1870-1890 period and showing how depredations by loosely organized gangs of outlaws actually threatened "Manifest Destiny" and the successful taming of the Wild West." –Robert K. DeArment, author and historian


"I never expected to read a Wyatt Earp book that contained so much information I was not aware of. " –Jeff Morey, historian and technical advisor for the 1993 film Tombstone

"One of the first lessons when you begin researching Tombstone is that the outlaws are far more interesting than the lawmen. John Boessenecker makes that abundantly clear in in telling their story of the legendary conflict in Cochise County. This engrossing book is a major addition to the literature of Wyatt Earp history."–Casey Tefertiller, author Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend

“Wyatt Earp’s role in the 1882 border conflict with cattle thieves, smugglers, and stage robbers known as the ‘Cowboys’ has been controversial, but John Boessenecker does a masterful job of unraveling the story and giving it a carefully crafted reconstruction that immediately moves this book to the first rank of books not only about the Earps but also about outlawry in the Southwest. Using fresh material, mature analysis, and well-paced writing, Boessenecker adds yet another major work to his growing shelf of splendid histories.” –Gary L. Roberts, author of Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend

"Wyatt Earp, arguably the most iconic of all American lawmen, is carefully examined by master Western historian John Boessenecker in Ride the Devil's Herd. Written with an astounding grasp of his subject, Boessenecker has realigned Earp as a man against an incredible foe: the cow-boys of the southwestern borderlands. Using newly-discovered archival records, Ride the Devil's Herd is one of the most important volumes in Earpiana in decades."
–Erik J. Wright, National Tombstone Epitaph and author of Phil Foote: Lawman, Outlaw... Hell-Raiser

From the Publisher

01/31/2020

Boessenecker (Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer) uses historical newspaper accounts to offer an examination of Wyatt Earp and his two-year war against a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys. The lawlessness of the Mexican-American borderland during the 19th century allowed the Cowboys to operate in Texas and New Mexico and finally in Arizona where they came up against Earp and his brothers. Boessenecker provides biographical information on the Earps, including the family's westward movement, their search for riches, and their eventual employment in law enforcement. An integral part of this book is the examination of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, AZ, and the participation of Cowboys Curly Bill Brocius and Ike Clanton. In the final chapter, Boessenecker presents commentary on the state of current law enforcement and its similarities to what the Earps faced in their pursuit of outlaws. VERDICT Readers interested in Wyatt Earp and "Wild West" history will enjoy this new chronicle of the lawman's life and times.—Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community Coll., Mt. Carmel

Library Journal

2020-01-12
A ripsnortin' ramble across the bloodstained Arizona desert with Wyatt Earp and company.

Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the like may be best known for the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, but, as trial lawyer and popular historian Boessenecker ably shows, that was but one episode in a drama with many moving parts. Some of it traces back to points east, where ruffians known as "Cowboys"—not at all an admiring term in those days, "synonymous with desperado, bandit, and cutthroat"—robbed and murdered with abandon. The presiding genius of one band was an Irish New Englander who joined the Army and found frontier New Mexico a congenial place to conduct his nefarious business, including cattle rustling, horse thievery, and other affronts to public order. The story of Billy the Kid figures in this history, as does that of Earp paterfamilias Nicholas, hard-drinking, opinionated, and sometimes in trouble with the law. Indeed, at points in this narrative, readers may need a score card to keep track of which side of the law Wyatt and company were on at any given time. By the time they went to war with a Cowboy named Curly Bill Brocius, they were vigilantes who themselves would be in trouble with the authorities, Wyatt having gunned down a quarry on the streets of Tucson without much regard for the niceties of a fair warning. Throughout, Boessenecker displays a fine eye for period detail: He notes that much Old West violence had a political dimension that makes our time look tranquil by comparison. It was made all the nastier by the "entertainment vacuum" that existed on a frontier without much to do except drink and brawl. Charges that the Earps took part in dark-side activities such as gambling "were inflammatory but true," writes the author, good reason to stay a step ahead of the law and get out of Tombstone after the shooting stopped.

A pleasure for thoughtful fans of Old West history, revisionist without being iconoclastic.

Kirkus Reviews