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

By John Boessenecker

Book Overview

As seen on Netflix's Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 133501585X
• ISBN13: 9781335015853
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Hanover Square Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The Story of the Gang called "The Cowboys"

This book is with the title portrayed as a book about Wyatt Earp's so called Vendetta Ride against the Criminal Gang called The Cowboys in Arizona. The majority of this books is a detailed history of how the gang began, developed, and then came to an end, after Earp's Vendetta Ride. There is some information in this book about Wyatt Earp and his brothers. But make no mistake, the central theme of this book is the history of the outrageous gang of "Cowboys"; their murders, stagecoach robberies, cattle rustling, and their organization. This is a dense read. This author has detailed cites, and most of the cites are too newspaper articles from that period of time. One of the themes of this book is how the Democratic newspaper in Tombstone portrayed the Earps and their friends as outlaws and murderers; while the Republican newspaper portrayed them as heroes and upholders of the law. The Democratic newspaper also totally ignored the true nature of the Cowboys, as if they were just hard working cowboys. It is a fascinating look at newspaper reporting in the past.