The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River and the Wyoming Range War, was a range conflict that took place in Johnson County, Wyoming from 1889 to 1893. The conflict began when cattle companies started ruthlessly persecuting alleged rustlers in the area, many of whom were settlers who competed with them for livestock, land and water rights. As violence swelled between the large established ranchers and the smaller settlers in the state, it culminated in the Powder River Country, when the former hired gunmen invaded the county. The gunmen's initial incursion in the territory alerted the small farmers and ranchers, as well as the state lawmen, and they formed a posse of 200 men that led to a grueling stand-off. The siege ended when the United States Cavalry on the orders of President Benjamin Harrison relieved the two forces, although further fighting persisted in the following months.
Kaycee is a town in Johnson County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 247 at the 2020 census. It is home to a museum that preserves the cattle ranching heritage of the area, especially the history of the Johnson County War.
Banditti of the Plains is a book written by Asa Mercer about the Johnson County War in Wyoming, United States.
Thomas Horn Jr., was an American scout, cowboy, soldier, range detective, and Pinkerton agent in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West. Believed to have committed 17 killings as a hired gunman throughout the West, Horn was convicted in 1902 of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell near Iron Mountain, Wyoming. Willie was the son of sheep rancher Kels Nickell, who had been involved in a range feud with neighbor and cattle rancher Jim Miller. On the day before his 43rd birthday, Horn was executed by hanging in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Clifford Peter Hansen was an American politician from the state of Wyoming. A Republican, he served as the 26th Governor of Wyoming and subsequently as a United States senator. He served as a member of the board of trustees from 1946-1966 to his alma mater, the University of Wyoming located in Laramie. He was also a county commissioner in Jackson, the seat of Teton County in northwestern Wyoming. Before his death on October 20, 2009, he was the oldest living former U.S. Senator as well as the third oldest living former U.S. Governor.
Nathan D. Champion — known as Nate Champion — was a key figure in the Johnson County War of April 1892. Falsely accused by a wealthy Wyoming cattlemen's association of being a rustler, Champion was the first person targeted by a band of hit men hired by the cattlemen. In reality, Champion was simply a small rancher who stood up against the big cattlemen's practice of claiming all unbranded young cattle on the range. He is celebrated for his heroic stand in his besieged cabin and for a heartfelt letter written at the time describing the events.
The 2006 Wyoming gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal won re-election in a landslide over Republican Ray Hunkins, becoming the first Democrat since 1910 to win every county in the state. To date this was the last time a Democrat was elected to statewide office in Wyoming, the last time a Democrat carried every county in the state, the last gubernatorial election in which a Democrat received more than 30% of the vote, the last statewide election in which a Democrat received more than 45% of the vote, and the last statewide election in which a Democrat won any county besides Teton, Albany, Laramie, or Sweetwater. As of 2024, Ray Hunkins is the last Republican gubernatorial nominee who was never elected Governor of Wyoming. This is the last time that Wyoming voted for and elected a Senate candidate and a gubernatorial candidate of different political parties.
Amos Walker Barber was an American surgeon and politician. He was the second Governor of Wyoming after that state joined the Union in 1890.
Ellen Liddy Watson was a pioneer of Wyoming who became known as Cattle Kate, an outlaw of the Old West, although the characterization is a dubious one, as subsequent research has tended to see her as a much maligned victim of a self-styled land baron. Watson had acquired homestead rights on land with water resources vital to the wealthiest rancher in the county, Albert Bothwell, when she was accused by him of cattle rustling. She was abducted from her home and lynched along with her husband by Bothwell and some other ranchers he had incited against her. The bodies were left hanging for two days, and the reputation that attached to her until recently was quickly established by newspaper publicity. Accounts of Watson as a rustler are now regarded as highly biased. Her life has become an Old West legend and inspired a number of television and film accounts.
There is evidence of prehistoric human habitation in the region known today as the U.S. state of Wyoming stretching back roughly 13,000 years. Stone projectile points associated with the Clovis, Folsom and Plano cultures have been discovered throughout Wyoming. Evidence from what is now Yellowstone National Park indicates the presence of vast continental trading networks since around 1,000 years ago.
William Lyman Maginnis was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wyoming Territory from November 8, 1886 to October 1, 1889.
The 2002 Wyoming gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican Governor Jim Geringer was term-limited and unable to seek a third term in office, thereby creating an open seat. Former U.S. Attorney Dave Freudenthal and former Wyoming House Speaker Eli Bebout both emerged from competitive Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, and faced off against each other in the general election. Despite Wyoming's strong inclination to elect Republicans, a contentious race ensued, with Freudenthal ultimately defeating Bebout by fewer than 4,000 votes. As of 2023, this is the last gubernatorial election in Wyoming to be decided by less than 20 percentage points.
The following works deal with the cultural, political, economic, military, biographical and geologic history of pre-territorial Wyoming, Wyoming Territory and the State of Wyoming.
The sheep wars, or the sheep and cattle wars, were a series of armed conflicts in the Western United States fought between sheepmen and cattlemen over grazing rights. Sheep wars occurred in many western states, though they were most common in Texas, Arizona, and the border region of Wyoming and Colorado. Generally, the cattlemen saw the sheepherders as invaders who destroyed the public grazing lands, which they had to share on a first-come, first-served basis. Between 1870 and 1920, approximately 120 engagements occurred in eight states or territories. At least 54 men were killed and some 50,000 to over 100,000 sheep were slaughtered.
Mary Elisabeth Hansen Mead was an American rancher, businesswoman, and a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Wyoming. She was the daughter of Governor and U.S. Senator Clifford Hansen and the mother of former Governor Matt Mead.
Charles Bingham Penrose was an American gynecologist, surgeon, zoologist and conservationist, known for inventing a type of surgical drainage tubing called the Penrose drain. He was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote several editions of a textbook on medical problems in women, and was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Agnes Wright Spring was a journalist, writer and historian from Wyoming who wrote books focusing on Wyoming and Western history.
W. Turrentine "Turpie" Jackson was an American professor of history, specializing in Western U.S. history.
On March 15, 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Presidential Proclamation 2578 establishing a large swath of land east of the Teton National Park as a national monument. The area of land covered 221,610 acres (89,680 ha). The majority of the land was National Forest, but 32,117 acres (12,997 ha) of the monument were donated by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and 17,000 acres (6,900 ha) were privately owned ranches. This proclamation incited a controversy in Teton County that caused immediate pushback from western congressmen who saw the act as a violation of state sovereignty.
The Siege of the TA Ranch was a siege and the climax of the Johnson County War, which happened on April 11–13, 1892 in the TA Ranch in Johnson County, Wyoming.