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

by John Boessenecker

Overview

As seen on Netflix's Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War
Winner of the Best Book Award by the Wild West History Association

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

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.

Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil''s Herd reveals this long-forgotten chapter of Wild West history.

“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.” —Roanoke Times

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335150004
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	11/02/2021
Edition description:	First Time Trade
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.30(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

A fascinating look into the epic life of one of the greatest American lawmen of the 20th century.”

San Antonio Express-News on Texas Ranger

The author’s painstaking research…brings forth an astounding story…A superb account.”

Washington Times on Texas Ranger

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.”

author and historian Robert K. DeArment

Through the extraordinary experiences of this straight-shooting, honor-bound lawman, Boessenecker sets forth a critically needed look at the history of Texas lynchings and race riots while presenting evidence for the murderous nature of Bonnie and Clyde that foreordained their violent deaths.”

Library Journal on Texas Ranger

Finally, a complete, thoroughly researched and true account of Frank Hamer, whose experiences proved that the Wild West didn’t end in 1900. All of our favorite lawmen pale in comparison to Hamer’s service…Frank Hamer was the real deal and arguably the greatest lawman of the West.”

Roundup Magazine on Texas Ranger

Frank Hamer’s is perhaps the last great story of the American West to be told…Well, Hollywood? Now you have the book, so go make the movie.”

Dallas Morning News on Texas Ranger

A biography of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, from his youth in the Hill Country to his appointment to the Rangers in 1906. He’s most famous for killing Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in 1934, but there’s much more to the cowboy lawman.”

Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Texas Ranger

Boessenecker goes through Hamer’s career chronologically, methodically and in great detail, exploring both good and bad.”

Austin American-Statesman on Texas Ranger

"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

"Boessenecker is by far the most talented author writing about gunfighters today. His encyclopedic knowledge is evident here on almost every page."–Bryan Burrough, The Week

From the Publisher

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