Wild West Online

A cinematic archive of the American frontier — outlaws, lawmen, gunslingers, and the ghosts of the plains, 1800–1910.

Enter the Directory Walk the Timeline

Wanted Across the Territory

Wanted

LAW

Bass Reeves

Fourteen fugitives eaten his outfit's food, slept under his guard, and hanged anyway by the law he swore to.

Wanted

SETTLER

Christopher Houston Carson

The most famous man in America he'd never read a word about — Kit Carson couldn't read, and couldn't escape his own legend either.

Wanted

GUNSLINGER

James Butler Hickok

Shot dead holding aces and eights, a hand the whole frontier learned to call the Dead Man's Hand.

Wanted

OUTLAW

Jesse Woodson James

Killed in his own parlor, hanging a crooked picture, by a man he trusted.

Wanted

FRONTIER WOMAN

Phoebe Ann Mosey (Annie Oakley)

She could split a playing card edge-on at ninety feet, and shot her way out of poverty before she turned sixteen.

Wanted

NATIVE LEADER

Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull)

A holy man who saw soldiers falling into camp like grasshoppers, weeks before the Little Bighorn proved him right.

From the Territorial Press

myth vs reality

Myth vs. Reality: Did Billy the Kid Really Kill Twenty-One Men?

The most repeated fact about Billy the Kid is also the least supported one. Here's what the record actually shows.

myth vs reality

Myth vs. Reality: The Quick-Draw Duel That (Almost) Never Happened

Two men, facing off in an empty street, drawing on a signal. It's the defining image of the Wild West — and it was vanishingly rare.

illustrated guide

Iron and Powder: The Weapons That Defined the Frontier

From the Colt Peacemaker to the Winchester repeater, the tools of frontier violence shaped how the West was won, policed, and mythologized.

The Frontier Timeline

A glimpse at 1876–1890 — the years the frontier's violence peaked and its old world began closing for good.

1876

Battle of the Little Bighorn

Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho forces under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull's spiritual leadership annihilate Custer's 7th Cavalry command.

1876

Wild Bill Hickok Killed in Deadwood

Jack McCall shoots Hickok in the back of the head during a poker game, creating the legend of the Dead Man's Hand.

1876

Northfield Raid Collapses

The James-Younger gang's Minnesota bank raid ends in disaster, scattering the original outfit.

1877

Crazy Horse Killed

Crazy Horse dies during a struggle at Camp Robinson months after his surrender.

1878

Lincoln County War

A brutal New Mexico range conflict launches Billy the Kid's outlaw career.

1881

Gunfight Near the O.K. Corral

Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday face the Clanton-McLaury faction in Tombstone, Arizona.

1881

Billy the Kid Killed

Sheriff Pat Garrett shoots the Kid in a darkened room at Fort Sumner.

1882

Jesse James Assassinated

Robert Ford shoots Jesse James in the back of the head in his own St. Joseph parlor.

1886

Geronimo's Final Surrender

Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson Miles, ending organized armed Apache resistance in the Southwest.

1887

Annie Oakley Performs for Queen Victoria

Buffalo Bill's Wild West tours Europe; Oakley's marksmanship captivates royal audiences.

1890

Ghost Dance Movement Spreads

A spiritual revival movement alarms federal Indian agents across reservations, including Standing Rock.

1890

Sitting Bull Killed at Standing Rock

Reservation police kill Sitting Bull during a botched arrest, weeks before the Wounded Knee Massacre.

1890

Wounded Knee Massacre

U.S. troops kill an estimated 250-300 Lakota men, women, and children, closing the era of organized armed resistance on the northern plains.

View Full Timeline (1800–1910)

The Territory

Towns, forts, trails, and battle sites where the legends of the frontier were written.

Abilene, Kansas

town

Black Hills

landmark

Bosque Redondo

landmark

Chiricahua Apache Homeland

landmark

Chisholm Trail

trail

Darke County, Ohio

town

Deadwood, Dakota Territory

town

El Paso, Texas

town

Explore the Full Map