The Johnson County War (1892)

• The Johnson County War

  1892
• Range wars were conflicts over areas of land on the Plains. The most famous was the Johnson County War in Wyoming.
• Wealthy Ranchers versus Homesteaders and Small Ranchers
• Wealthy ranchers

  Wealthy ranchers owned huge ranches and held key roles in local government and law. They were hit hard by the Great Die-Up of 1886-87. The big ranchers used their influence in the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) to ban small ranchers, who they accused of stealing their cattle
• Homesteaders and small ranchers

  Ordinary people were fed up of the big ranchers taking what they wanted. In 1889, homesteaders Ella Watson and Jim Averill were killed by rancher Albert Bothwell, who wanted their land. In 1892 the small ranchers and homesteaders decided to hold their own spring round-up, to claim any unbranded cattle before the WSGA could.
• Planning

  The WSGA planned to invade Johnson County. They hired 22 gunmen to kill 70 rustlers.

  • They raised $100,000 of funds (mostly for legal fees)
  • They paid the gunmen $5 a day, plus $50 for every rustler they killed
• Failure

  ‘The Invaders’ failed. They tried to attack the KC Ranch, but its owners Nate Champion and Nick Ray held them off all day. Sheriff Angus raised a posse of 40 men to catch the Invaders.

  Many local citizens joined in and they surrounded the Invaders at the TA Ranch.
• Trial

  The Invaders had to be rescued by the US Army. Their trial was biased:

  • They had powerful friends – the state governor, the judge, good lawyers.
  • The trial was moved out of Johnson County to Cheyenne, where the jury was more likely to support the ranchers.
  • The lawyers dragged the trial out until the prosecutors ran out of money. The charges were then dropped.
• The Johnson County War is significant because:

  • Rich, respectable cattlemen thought it would be a good idea to kill 70 people
  • More importantly, many people thought it was wrong and stood up to them (vigilante justice)