Today's Article: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Thursday, March 31, 2011


Virgil Ear
Okay, I must admit must of my articles are about U.S. history or U.S. involved
fights, which pretty much makes me an American History lover. So today, by a reader request, I’m writing about the Earp brothers and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Just letting you all know that I’m open for requests, just leave me a comment with an interesting subject and I’ll write about it. If I don’t write your article, don’t worry, I’ll consider it for a later one.

Background
Tombstone, Arizona
The shooting happened in a town near the Mexican border called Tombstone, in Arizona. The Earp brothers, Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan were all lawmen. They moved to Tombstone and Virgil became U.S. Deputy Marshal and Tombstone’s town marshal. Morgan and James assisted him. Doc Holliday was a very close friend to the Earps, since he saved Wyatt’s life once. The McLaury’s (Frank and Tom)  and the Clanton’s (Ike and Billy), along with Billy Claiborne were outlaws and back then known as Cowboys, not to be confused with ranchers or herders. 
Cowboys, as you all know, are organized band of friends who teamed up to commit crimes. The Cowboys were implicated by many crimes and tensions between the Earp family and both of Clanton and McLaury clans increased through 1881, especially between Ike Clanton and Doc Holliday. 

The Gunfight
Tensions between both groups increased as the Earps buffaloed (pistol-whipped) both Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury. Frank Clanton arrived to Tombstone to aid his brother after he heard about the tensions between the Cowboys and the Earp family, including a possible gunfight. When he arrived to town, he went to a gun shop, still carrying his weapons, to buy more cartridges. 
The sheriff attempted to disarm him but he refused. Behan was in favor of the Cowboys, during the trials though.
Good guys above, bad guys below.
Witness reports indicate that the Cowboys were plotting to kill Doc Holliday and the Earps. Holliday lived near the O.K. Corral so when a peasant walked by and eavesdropped their conversation, he heard them talk about killing Wyatt, so he immediately ran to Wyatt to report what he heard. 
The Earps and Doc armed themselves, Doc carrying a double-barreled shotgun and everyone else with a revolver. They walked all the way across the street and into the O.K. Corrall, where the McLaury’s, the Clantons and Billy Claiborne were. They were all armed except for Ike. 
The shooting started when Virgil commanded them to throw up their hands, to see their guns. Frank Clanton and Billy McLaury immediately drew their revolvers and cocked them. The 30-sec shooting began, leaving Frank and Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton killed. The next video I’m going to show you is a pretty accurate version of the events, except for the unlimited ammo in Doc’s weapons and Ike shooting from the store next door. 
The following year, Morgan was murdered playing billiards. Wyatt, James and a group of friends went after the murders. This ride for vengeance came to be called the Earp vendetta ride.
Enjoy the video, and I hope you liked the article. Leave some suggestions and don’t hesitate to ask questions.

42 comments:

Armenia the Finest said...

Imagine just being around that town in those times. I bet people just went on with their regular day like nothing happened. I can just picture how many gun fights went down in a day. The town name is quite ironic too.

Unknown said...

awesome post!

Brendanb said...

One of my faviroute historical events

Chris Divincenzo said...

I bet it was just like a random gunfight in compton..just less firepower. I've seen a person shot to death irl, it was pretty crappy.

-M- said...

Do you know what happened next? Anything about the 'Vendetta ride'?

POP! said...

I'm your huckleberry :D

SOMS said...

yea haigor you lived in wild times back then

Rank said...

thats cool i never knew that!

Rolo said...

good article, must've been pretty hectic to be in such a wild shootout, bullets flying everywhere.

J said...

wow love the blog! very interesting stuff. I'll be checking your blog every day,friend.

Icepax_Nmir said...

Amazing, did you create that story yourself? รถ
I liked it =D hope to see more soon ^^

Big Unicorn said...

Cool story!

Followed.
bigunicorn.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

This is cool. Such great history.

Anonymous said...

Highly interesting stuff. Will be following this blog for more.

Unknown said...

nice!

Eric said...

Great post, very interesting! What movie is the video from?

Chris said...

This makes me want to play Red Dead, who's with me?

Blk Jesus said...

very interesting. well written

Cant wait to see more!!

oops.i.pood said...

Not gonna lie, as soon as I saw the video I just skipped the blog and watched it. Great video though ahah

2seat said...

those were the days. following!

XPSMcLaren said...

Just found your blog, in depth, I love it. Following.

Spade said...

I remember studying this in world history

HabsAreTheBest said...

I love reading about history!

Joe said...

Nice article too bad i already knew this :p maybe next article

Jared Aguirre said...

Yes! I love the wild west. I don't know too much about, but keep posting about the rest and I'll be here all day. Thank you!

lol said...

Man I love your stories, Mr. Storyteller! I feel like I'm in an awesome history class!

Danny Murphy said...

Fantastic post mate, very interesting. That was a great read

Plate said...

Great post. I just read something about this a few weeks ago; it's pretty interesting how stories about local legends can grow and take on a life of their own.

Eric P said...

Very interesting read! Thanks for posting.

izzfoshizzz said...

i feel so much more knowledgeable

Jay said...

thanks for the info, very interesting!

Unknown said...

Interest post, thanks for sharing buddy! :D

PvtCarlin said...

This is a great story. I read more about it on wikipedia!

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is cool stuff

Montana said...

I LOVED TOMBSTONE, Oh my god. Thanks man, gonna watch it again because of you.

JuX said...

good read. And you actually took my suggestion/request. Thankyou.

Moobeat said...

this is a great article. thanks

Patres said...

Ah the old west, a place for men with gigantic balls

PotteryGuy said...

I like the concept. This particular story didn't catch my attention but I'm excited to see what you post next.

EmoGoth said...

It's crazy that a 30 second shooting has gone down so infamously in history.

Aaron M. Gipson said...

I don't know how I missed this post, my friend. My apologies on that. I have always been fascinated by this period of American history, and I think this is probably one of the most reviewed 30 second battles of all time.

paidvacation1605 said...

Tombstone was a GREAT MOVIE "Your no daisy"

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