Wyoming Range War Quotes

“Governor Barber, who may have understood these things also, undermined Angus’s plan. Because of the actions of the governor of Wyoming, it would be more than two months before Sheriff Angus was allowed to interview his first suspect.”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“Suddenly, in the far distance, a bugle was heard, heralding the troops from Fort McKinney. The fighting at the T. A. did not stop immediately, though. Van Horn later reported that both of the hostile parties discovered his presence, and from that time the besiegers “kept up an almost continuous fire upon the buildings.” Shortly, the troops pulled up near the ranch, and about 6:45 A.M., Colonel Van Horn asked Sheriff Angus to order the posse to stop firing, which, in Van Horn’s words, “was soon effected.”13 The invaders watched the approach of the troops with intense interest. In a dramatic passage, David wrote that Major Wolcott, seeing the troops, “threw his hand in a gesture of stunned groping to the table and whispered: ‘Gentlemen, it is the troops. We are to live.’”14 Sam Clover interviewed a stockman he called Bertram, who told him, “We were up against it hard, and knew our case was hopeless unless the soldiers were ordered out. When that bugle sounded I could have wept; as it was, I howled for joy.”15 On the other hand, some of the invaders continued to show disdain for the sheriff’s posse, refusing to admit that they were ever in peril. Frank Canton wrote much later that the invaders could have broken out anytime they wanted. They only bothered to stay, Canton said, because they had gone to the trouble of making fortifications.16 Canton’s bravado notwithstanding, most of the invaders were deeply relieved. Surrounded and outnumbered almost ten to one, they faced determined men with ample ammunition and food. The four hundred besiegers, according to a Cheyenne Daily Leader correspondent on the scene, “were invariably small ranchmen, distinct from the rustlers, who believed that their lives and homes were in danger from the invasion.”17 Clover described the invaders, on the other hand, as presenting a “desperate appearance. . .  hollow-eyed, begrimed and half-frozen.”18 Still, they made”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“the Johnson County commissioners, who “talked very feelingly,” he said. “They resent the many slurs cast upon their county by the cattle barons who are trying to drive the smaller stockmen off the range.”10”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“went to the White House and got the President out of bed. Carey and President Harrison were said to be old Senate friends, and no one was present at this session to speak for Johnson County. Quickly convinced of the necessity for immediate action, Harrison ordered a telegram send to General John R. Brooke in Omaha shortly after 11:00 P.M.4 At 11:05 P.M. the president wired Governor Barber that “in compliance with your call for the aid of the United States forces to protect the state of Wyoming against domestic violence,” he had ordered the secretary of war to send troops.5 The president did not have his facts right — the state of Wyoming needed no saving from domestic violence — but Governor Barber made no effort to set the record straight. At 11:37 P.M. General Brooke telegrammed Governor Barber, informing him that the commanding officer at Fort McKinney had been ordered “to prevent violence and preserve peace.”6 This message was received in Buffalo at 12:05 P.M., and within two hours, troops rode out of Fort McKinney under orders from the post’s commanding officer, Colonel J. J. Van Horn.7”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“For a time the invaders believed they would be rescued, if not by troops, then by reinforcements from other big cattlemen. But a message sent to John Winterling in Sheridan County urgently seeking help (Winterling was the man who made the motion for the big cattlemen to personally participate in the invasion) produced only a deafening silence.56 David summarized the attitudes of the invaders the evening of April 12, 1892: “Each man gave up hope in his heart that day. Each knew the impossibility of rescue, and all understood the ruthlessness and vindictiveness of some of the most active of the besiegers. There was absolutely no hope of life beyond the following daybreak.”57”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“The barn at the T. A. stands today, and one cannot help but notice perfectly circular holes in the side walls, about half an inch in diameter.”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“In sum, until April 12, Governor Barber, apparently assumed that his friends were faring well, and took no action whatsoever. Governor Barber’s friends, however, were not faring well at all. From the beginning of the siege, the weather had been bad. A cold rain began to fall shortly after men from Buffalo first arrived at the T. A., about midnight the evening of April 10, and during that night the rain turned to snow, meaning that the invaders in the cramped quarters of their fort “suffered intensely.”34 The peril of the invaders was obvious, and knowing that the telegraph lines were probably still down, they wanted to get a message to the governor in Cheyenne “stating their predicament and asking for immediate help.”35 A young man named Dowling stepped forward and offered to try to get through the lines around the ranch to Buffalo. His offer was immediately accepted, and H. E. Teschemacher wrote a telegram to Governor Barber, which was signed by Major Wolcott. It was an especially dark evening, and Dowling had a harrowing adventure, wading through the icy creek and then briefly falling in with some of the besieging men. In the darkness nobody identified him, however, and he managed to split off from them. He was then able to “commandeer a horse” and ride to Buffalo.”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“The shortage of information did not keep the Cheyenne Sun from taking some strong editorial positions. Indeed, the Sun’s impartiality, never more than a thin veneer, seemed to disappear entirely. It ran a front-page article about a Mr. Johnson, who had experience as a small cattleman “up north.” Johnson reported, according to the article, that the officers conducting the roundups (usually foremen of big cattle companies) gave him every possible help, but that he was bedeviled by rustlers. The Sun declared that Mr. Johnson’s experience was the same as for hundreds of others and that “for the good of the state the rustlers must be driven out.”29 The Sun then devoted its entire editorial page to a series of articles that unblushingly favored the positions of big cattlemen. One article stated that it was imperative for the big cattlemen to take a stand, to combat the huge problems with cattle stealing, to smash down once and for all the kingdom of thieves in northern Wyoming — where twenty-two big cattlemen had been put on a death list (no proof of this fantastic charge was provided) and all the cattlemen had been ordered away from their property.30 Other articles repeated the charges that cattle were being shot down on the range by rustlers, that it was impossible to obtain convictions, and that the rustlers were so boldly threatening that the big cattlemen must protect themselves.31”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“For the first few days of the invasion, only the most general of news filtered back from the north. On Saturday, April 9 (the date that Champion and Ray were attacked and killed), the Daily Leader interviewed Governor Barber and asked him whether he had taken any action about “the armed body of men which passed through the state on Tuesday evening.”23 “I have not,” the governor replied. “The matter has not been brought to my attention officially.” The governor then added with a smile: “I only know of the matter through newspaper reports, which, as you know, are somewhat conflicting on the subject.”24 The governor was telling the people of Wyoming an outrageous lie. He knew all about “the matter”; nobody had to inform him about the invasion, officially or otherwise.”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“To ensure that no men would be kept from the fray because they lacked equipment, the Buffalo merchant Robert Foote threw open all the resources of his store, passing out guns, ammunition, slickers, blankets, and flour to anyone who wanted them. Foote rode up and down the Buffalo main street, “mounted on his celebrated black horse, with his long white beard flowing in the breeze,” and shouted: “Come out, you — —, and take sides. Now is the time to show your colors.”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

“deep-seated hatred between the cattlemen and the settler.”40 This should come as no shock; the only surprise is that the big cattlemen would sometimes deny their attitude toward settlers. A settler who exercised his perfect right to 160 acres along a stream could significantly impair a big cowman’s range; if several did so, the range would be lost altogether, as happened, for example, along Shell Creek in the Big Horn Basin.”
― John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County