What a Wild West Duel Really Looked Like

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  • Опубликовано: 9 июл 2024
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    / historydose
    What were Wild West duels actually like? Today, we look at how common the “classic” quick-draw duel was. We also touch on rates of violence in Old West frontier towns and explain what kind of day-to-day violence most closely mirrored the Wild West gunfights we see in films and books.
    A big thanks to our viewers and Patreon supporters, especially Bobby Jordan and Sean!
    Sources:
    DeArment, Robert K. Deadly Dozen: Forgotten Gunfighters of the Old West. University of Oklahoma Press, 2010.
    Dillinger, Jessica. “The Most Dangerous Cities in the World.” World Atlas, 25 Apr. 2018, www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world.html.
    Dykstra, Robert R. “Quantifying the Wild West: The Problematic Statistics of Frontier Violence.” Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 3, 2009, pp. 321-347.
    Nichols, George Ward. “Wild Bill.” New Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1867, pp. 275-277. Hathi Trust, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000541577;view=1up;seq=7.
    Pak, Eudie. “Famous Wild West Duel: Wild Bill Hickok vs. Davis Tutt.” Biography.com, 30 May 2012, www.biography.com/news/famous-wild-west-duel-wild-bill-hickok-vs-davis-tutt-20835321.
    Roth, Randolph A. “Guns, Murder, and Probability: How Can We Decide Which Figures to Trust?” Reviews in American History, vol. 35, no. 2, June 2007, pp. 165-175.

Комментарии • 3,8 тыс.

  • @HistoryDose
    @HistoryDose  2 года назад +302

    “What a Medieval Duel Really Looked Like” is out now! ruclips.net/video/8uJM5LXvkMM/видео.html

    • @Frosty_tha_Snowman
      @Frosty_tha_Snowman 2 года назад +1

      You guys should do a "what a real Gladiatorial fight looks like"
      Also talk about hoplomachus and retiarius, and the other various Gladiatorial arts.

    • @neganrex5693
      @neganrex5693 2 года назад

      The whole wild west had less shot outs and gunning down than one major city in the US that have tuff gun laws. When their was shot outs in the old west everybody in 5 states heard about it because it wasn't that common but now it's on the news everyday. It's because of bad upbringing at home and schools filling kids heads full of hate now days. We don't have a gun problem we have a people problem.

    • @Frosty_tha_Snowman
      @Frosty_tha_Snowman 2 года назад

      @@neganrex5693 it's not that I disagree, but that was a weird topic to pivot onto from this video

    • @neganrex5693
      @neganrex5693 2 года назад

      @@Frosty_tha_Snowman My mistake. That comment was for some one else. I put it where it didn't belong. That is what I get for baby setting the grandkids and commenting at the same time. LOL.
      Have a nice weekend and thank you for bringing that up.

    • @SStupendous
      @SStupendous 2 года назад

      @Karl with a K Just responded to you on a different chain, but the fact you've copy-pasted your reply and stuck it here, giving yourself a like, makes you seem a heck of a lot like a bot.

  • @jessi2077
    @jessi2077 2 года назад +1030

    “Most gunfights were spontaneous and sloppy”
    so, just like my RDR2 playthrough. sweet.

    • @ideeit7630
      @ideeit7630 4 месяца назад +38

      Like when I crashed my horse into a tree

    • @literallyshanewalsh
      @literallyshanewalsh 3 месяца назад +2

      Fr

    • @stalebread9825
      @stalebread9825 3 месяца назад +6

      Me anytime i try to use deadeye😂

    • @alvins.mindset
      @alvins.mindset 3 месяца назад +6

      My aim anytime I’m hunting a small animal in rdr2

    • @sweeneytodd011
      @sweeneytodd011 2 месяца назад +2

      Sometimes I'm smooth, in and out on a job like a sleek cougar.
      Other times things go bad quickly, sometimes by total accident, the body count gets waaay outta hand, I got an entire community out to kill me.
      Gotta take good wi the bad.

  • @freebeerfordworkers
    @freebeerfordworkers 5 лет назад +5741

    My favourite gunfight story concerned writer Mark Twain when he was a newspaperman in Virginia City. Challenged to a duel he had no idea how to use a revolver so the day before a friend who was an expert shot took him into the woods to practice. Twain was hopeless, so his friend took the revolver off him and proceeded to shoot a couple of birds out of the sky, before handing the gun back to Twain. At which point his opponent who had also come out practice heard the gunfire approached them and wished them good morning. Seeing the dead birds and the revolver in Twain's hand he asked if he shot very often and Twain replied "Fairly often". They parted on cordial terms and when Twain turned up for the duel he found his rival had left town by train that morning.
    If it's not true it should be.

    • @xzqzq
      @xzqzq 4 года назад +334

      If Twain was challenged, didn't he have the choice of weapons ? Shotguns at 20 feet.

    • @robertlehnert4148
      @robertlehnert4148 4 года назад +371

      "In France, there much dueling and even more talk of dueling and I read of one case where a man was actually killed in a duel...if I was ever challenged to a duel, I would politely and friendly take my Challenger aside and kill him"-- The Innocents Abroad

    • @lord9562
      @lord9562 4 года назад +92

      It was destined that the twain would never meet! :)

    • @TheMacPherson
      @TheMacPherson 4 года назад +52

      It’s true, read it in his autobiography recently

    • @zephyr3453
      @zephyr3453 4 года назад +319

      As Mark Twain said, "Never trust a man who wont lie for the sake of a good story. 'Makes you wonder what he's saving them up for."

  • @adriantwiss600
    @adriantwiss600 3 года назад +1199

    I’m impressed that Hickok actually managed to hit him with a revolver at that range

    • @billw2710
      @billw2710 3 года назад +107

      A .36 caliber cap and ball revolver at that, and as everyone knows a round ball doesn't fly very straight when fired from a pistol or rifle, lands and grooves inside the barrel helped somewhat but at 75 yards (225 feet) would still be a miraculous shot with a pistol firing a round ball. I personally don't believe it. In my western history books it said Wild Bill hit Tutt in the forehead and not the ribs. Who knows???

    • @jimtruscott5670
      @jimtruscott5670 3 года назад +65

      @@billw2710 Maybe 75 feet.

    • @GeorgeP99
      @GeorgeP99 2 года назад +6

      Yep impressive

    • @Chris-mt4yq
      @Chris-mt4yq 2 года назад +19

      @@billw2710 Cap & ball is criminally under rated, especially with rifling involved. But agreed, though they can be very accurate at range, a pistol at that many feet is a pretty insane shot

    • @jacobpeters3659
      @jacobpeters3659 2 года назад +24

      @@billw2710 he could have been using conical shot though. Shaped more like a modern round but also a bit new (this ammunition style became extremely popular in the 1850s to the point it was the main ammo used during the American Civil War, Minié ball if curious).
      Far more accurate than the old lead ball so the shot gets a little bit more likely but still for a black powder handgun 75 yards is a heck of a shot

  • @AfaqueAhmed_
    @AfaqueAhmed_ 2 года назад +927

    The fact that their aiming was so damn accurate even when they had their guns to their side hip already makes it stranger than fiction .

    • @korosuke1788
      @korosuke1788 Год назад +140

      We only hear of the shots that landed though. They were probably horrible shots, considering they spent most of their free time getting drunk.

    • @misterious5217
      @misterious5217 Год назад +26

      If you want a realistic western, Appaloosa is a good book and film.

    • @LongBinh70
      @LongBinh70 Год назад +25

      Hip? Again, fiction. Weapon would have been drawn then aimed.

    • @gunsgalore7571
      @gunsgalore7571 11 месяцев назад +39

      They were not shooting from the hip, that is just movie stuff. If you look at any illustrations from the time, they always brought the gun up to eye level and aimed down the sights.

    • @FigmentHF
      @FigmentHF 7 месяцев назад

      Many violent “cowboys” or outlaws were low IQ petty criminals with poorly maintained cheap weapons who fired them when drunk and emotionally triggered. They were notoriously awful shots and barely hit anything. A few guys were like marksman show shooters who did demos as entertainment, they’d point shoot from the hip and do all the cowboy stuff, but even that was later on when the west was already starting to become mythologised, only a few cowboys could point shoot accurately under pressure like this, besides, they were almost always drunk when the shooting started. They’d typically extend their arm and shoot one handed using the sights, like in older European style pistol shooting, and even then their guns weren’t always in perfect condition, and weren’t necessarily all that accurate, especially after 20-30 feet. Hip firing was for if the guy was 5 feet away on the other side of the poker table, and speed was paramount.
      Factor in RNG and survivor bias, and you see a more scrappy and way less elegant reality.

  • @festushaggen2563
    @festushaggen2563 5 лет назад +6910

    The quick draw duel may not be historically accurate but it makes for great cinema.

    • @laurieschnurer7614
      @laurieschnurer7614 4 года назад +170

      You sound like my hubby. I'll make a remark about a show and he'll say "Yeah... but it Makes good TV."

    • @NoU-pf8fc
      @NoU-pf8fc 4 года назад +187

      Laurie Schnurer well then your hubby is absolutely correct

    • @liveAiming
      @liveAiming 4 года назад +11

      No, it doesn't, as it looks so utterly unrealistic

    • @PUNISHERMHS_2021
      @PUNISHERMHS_2021 4 года назад +145

      @@liveAiming That's kinda the whole point of TV, to get away from reality

    • @jurij424
      @jurij424 4 года назад +13

      Dragon Man getting away from reality is something totally different than being unrealistic

  • @raffica740
    @raffica740 5 лет назад +8837

    The most common cause of death was actually lumbago.

    • @olliefrancis3740
      @olliefrancis3740 5 лет назад +79

      Raffica lUmbAgo

    • @joker7113
      @joker7113 5 лет назад +1496

      Actually, the most common cause of death was not following the *GOD DAMN PLAN*

    • @joezuru3753
      @joezuru3753 5 лет назад +165

      Raffica it’s very serious

    • @chrisjaybecker
      @chrisjaybecker 5 лет назад +103

      Hasta lumbago, Señor!

    • @artemisiaabsinthium271
      @artemisiaabsinthium271 5 лет назад +66

      I always wondered what the hell lumbago is. What is it?

  • @tims8603
    @tims8603 3 года назад +484

    My father was born shortly after the turn of the 20th century. He talked to a lot of the old timers of the day. He said that the Hollywood style gunfights were very rare. Most of the gunfights were ambushes and spontaneous drunken battles.

    • @bunnyfreakz
      @bunnyfreakz Год назад +8

      Your father? How old are you?

    • @tims8603
      @tims8603 Год назад +29

      @@bunnyfreakz My father was born in 1904. He was 49 when i was born. Do the math.

    • @heids2440
      @heids2440 Год назад +22

      @@bunnyfreakz you do realize "20th century" means the 1900's. just like in today's world we live in the 21st century = 2000's

    • @juanyeat859
      @juanyeat859 11 месяцев назад +6

      Most things were tamed after the 20th centuries

    • @B_H_J
      @B_H_J 11 месяцев назад +9

      If you don't want to do the math he's 69 years old

  • @probablynotmyname8521
    @probablynotmyname8521 Год назад +182

    Hitting a man from a hip shot quick draw at 75 yards is very impressive, possibly the luckiest shot ever.

    • @korosuke1788
      @korosuke1788 Год назад +30

      He probably aimed and then changed the story. It's not like anyone would dare call him a liar.

    • @robadob55
      @robadob55 Год назад +20

      It’s like Gene Hackman said in Unforgiven. The fastest draw isn’t usually who wins it’s the one who can stay calm when bullets fly.

    • @snakyYT
      @snakyYT 4 месяца назад

      Hickok was said to be the greatest gunfighter.

  • @tullochgorum6323
    @tullochgorum6323 3 года назад +1862

    I saw an account by a cowboy from the 1870s where he claimed that no-one would have ever considered a duel as a way to resolve a dispute. He said what actually happened was that one party would hide behind a rock and shoot their opponent in the back.

    • @nicholashodges201
      @nicholashodges201 Год назад +127

      Seriously, there are so, so *many* accounts that say just that, I'm partial to thinking they just might be true.
      They by far outnumber the accounts the chucklehead who spammed this thread claims to have seen...

    • @dirpyturtle69
      @dirpyturtle69 Год назад +2

      @@nicholashodges201 because humans weren’t any different back then. History is so romanticized that it’s full of fud, people were not more honorable they were less so. People were still afraid to die and when no one will ever see the duel… how will anyone ever know what really happened

    • @nicholashodges201
      @nicholashodges201 Год назад +4

      @@dirpyturtle69 that's kinda what my point was

    • @flipadavis
      @flipadavis Год назад

      Exactly. Like why was it assumed there was some sort of honor among thieves? Who would they be trying to impress with risking their lives in some honorable duel in the street in front of witnesses? Hollywood turned the inhabitants of the wild west into Samurai.

    • @brxxzy62
      @brxxzy62 Год назад

      Bro I hope you have the brain cells to realize no one is alive from back then😂Damn yall internet niggas believe whatever y’all hear💀

  • @darylnahorny8326
    @darylnahorny8326 3 года назад +2065

    Finally a breath of fresh air.
    I'm in my twilight years. I have had the chance and pleasure to know my Great Grandfather as well as Grandfather, Grandmother and a couple others.
    My Great Grandfather (long since deceased) was actually born in a wagon on the Oregon Trail. When he was a little older (12 or 13) he worked on a number of wagon trains as a packer and a number two trail boss (Boss's assistant)
    He also worked as a town Sherrif in a few towns in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before becoming a U.S.Marshal in the Oklahoma Territory and he had the opportunity to actually witness more than one gunfight before moving to Canada and working in a Slaughter house till he retired.
    He also lived to be a very old man ( passing away at 97 in 1953) and was familiar with the portrayal of gunfighters on television. He really enjoyed that because it made him laugh at how gunfighters were described on television.
    He told me that the stuff you see on television (fast draw, shooting from the hip, fanning the hammer) was largely a lot of junk. He told me that there were guys in those times that could do that kind of stuff but these were not really gunfighters more like exhibition shooters. You would only see at a shooting exhibition or wild west show.
    My grandfather told me that in the history of Canada and the United States there were less the half dozen actual witnessed and recorded face to face gunfights the first of which was Hickok verses Tutt. He said majority of gunfights were either shooting someone in the back by Ambush or someone pulling a gun shooting someone during a drunken brawl in a saloon.
    He said that the gunfighters he actually saw shoot and kill people were the fastest at getting off an aimed shot. They did not use fancy holsters, often had their revolver stuck in their belt or pocket. Some had holsters waist high all were intent in being the first to get off an aimed shot not just the first guy with a gun out of the holster.
    He also told me that gunfighters (in those days) were pretty much cold blooded, hired killers - and were known as such. They were not thought of as heros - just killers.
    So, once again, popular media has "spun" the stories for popular consumption - not for truth.
    At least that is, ... Untill Now!
    Thank You for Posting facts on the Real Old West

    • @HistoryDose
      @HistoryDose  3 года назад +227

      Thanks, Daryl! Must have been amazing to hear his stories!

    • @darylnahorny8326
      @darylnahorny8326 3 года назад +83

      @@HistoryDose absolutely. Awesome stories some I wished they made a movie or tv series on all sure are differant from the tv and movie and most books from.the mid 30s to present day.
      Some of the true stories although very interesting it's easy to see why they would exaggerate things and make things up. First to keep or try and keep everyone's attention second to make something that only lasted a few second possibly few minutes but in telling it 8n factual realize truth giving some background and history on all involved the telling takes 5 maybe 10 minute so to male it exciting they fill it with B@#$S*@# and make it into a 30 minute with commercials tv or radio show or an hour and some minutes movie. The sad part is the Real Life Actual True Facts and History fade off into the sunset as people beging to beleive the stimulating and exciting tv/radio show or movie which creates myths creating legends and soon people beging ti think.then beleive that is as it really actually factually was and before you know it the Absolute Truth Actual Factual Real Life People Places Events etc disappear

    • @HistoryDose
      @HistoryDose  3 года назад +107

      Yes, I think one problem is that fiction understandably wants to tell only the most exciting parts of history. Thus, even if duels like Hickok-Tutt were very rare, every Wild West movie wants to include a duel, leaving viewers with the impression that they were more common than they actually were.

    • @brownsugawithouttabag
      @brownsugawithouttabag 3 года назад +28

      @@darylnahorny8326 wow awesome story

    • @derrickcox4233
      @derrickcox4233 3 года назад +21

      Nope...popular media is still spinning stories for their liberal agenda.

  • @darrofelipe3776
    @darrofelipe3776 2 года назад +79

    "Being fast is fine, being accurate is final" Wyatt Earp

  • @blu3collar949
    @blu3collar949 3 года назад +438

    Most of Billy The Kid's kills were him shooting the other guy in the back.

    • @kgpspyguy
      @kgpspyguy 2 года назад +74

      * Billy- "I'm gonna kill that fella with this here rifle."
      * Other guy- "there ain't no honor in that son. Do it the right way. Pistols at dawn.
      * Billy- "Oh, alright... Wait, would he get one too?"

    • @Frosty_yo
      @Frosty_yo 2 года назад +7

      Isn't that how he died too? from his own gang member even

    • @chrisclarke6344
      @chrisclarke6344 2 года назад +34

      @@Frosty_yo no that was jesse james, billy was shot by sherrif pat garrett.

    • @philobeddoe3495
      @philobeddoe3495 2 года назад +39

      Or, even unloading the other guy's gun while supposedly admiring the gun. Billy the Kid was super overrated and mostly just a punk murderer.

    • @SandmanTheTerrible
      @SandmanTheTerrible 2 года назад +2

      @@chrisclarke6344 and even thats a subject if debate

  • @spyguy888
    @spyguy888 4 года назад +4881

    Love the rdr2 music in the back. Pretty sure that’s the train heist theme.

    • @erenthec9281
      @erenthec9281 4 года назад +328

      Its actually from the first mission, Outlaw's from the west
      Arthur , dutch and micah

    • @Man-fp8vp
      @Man-fp8vp 4 года назад +73

      Jose heisenberg the song is called train heist theme

    • @sethjordan4717
      @sethjordan4717 4 года назад +55

      It’s outlaws of the west

    • @shushan3687
      @shushan3687 4 года назад +34

      It’s from when you save Sadie Adler from the o’driscolls

    • @mrmaori5769
      @mrmaori5769 4 года назад +6

      I thought it happens when your in the snow

  • @rorystockley5969
    @rorystockley5969 5 лет назад +1078

    For those doubting the 75 yard distance - bear in mind that in duels like this, being WILLING to shoot and be shot at is often enough to satisfy honour. Most duels ended with neither participent actually hit. If all duels ended with one party dead, there would have been a lot fewer duels.

    • @henryburby6077
      @henryburby6077 5 лет назад +130

      that applies when maintenance of honor is the goal, but that was only really the case among noblemen in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. random cattlemen and gamblers had no reason to fight in this way.

    • @scottpepper7028
      @scottpepper7028 5 лет назад +2

      @ that's two first name's.

    • @scottpepper7028
      @scottpepper7028 5 лет назад +2

      @ thanks for that mate.did always wonder on that one.

    • @jamesellis5549
      @jamesellis5549 5 лет назад +51

      A 75 yard shot with an 1851 Navy Colt would be one hell of a shot,not doubting but it would be one hell of a shot at that range.

    • @rorystockley5969
      @rorystockley5969 5 лет назад +10

      @ If you're going to be pedantic regarding grammar, at least practice what you preach. My name is a proper noun, so it must be capitalised.

  • @tylerberman7527
    @tylerberman7527 2 года назад +58

    i never thought the duels how they where shown in the movies is how they were done, but i know for a fact that the moment before the gun fight happens they 100% had that old western music in the backround

  • @cobbs
    @cobbs Год назад +41

    According to one historian, there were a couple dozen cases of duels like the kind we see in the movies, but only about 5 of them were documented by reliable sources. It's crazy. Before hearing that, I assumed there must've been thousands.

    • @BroheemBroseph-iy9nl
      @BroheemBroseph-iy9nl Год назад +14

      Sad to know "this town ain't big enough for the two of us" was probably never said in a serious manner

    • @kingman-fm4dq
      @kingman-fm4dq 6 месяцев назад

      ​@@BroheemBroseph-iy9nl nooooooo 😭😭

    • @thephoenix4093
      @thephoenix4093 Месяц назад

      @@BroheemBroseph-iy9nl what do you mean?

  • @johntriplett848
    @johntriplett848 5 лет назад +1005

    I was watching the TV show "Wyatt Earp" with my Grandfather back in the 1950's. He told me that he was in a bar in a Colorado silver mining town in the 1890's. Two drunks standing next to each other at the bar got into an argument. Each pulled out a pistol they had stuck into the waist band of their pants - no fancy holsters. A huge bang as both revolvers went off. Luckily for everyone else in the bar, neither of them missed. And yes, they killed each other. Grand Daddy did not think much of the TV version of an old west gunfight. It kinda verifies what is said in this video.

    • @aintplayinggames7086
      @aintplayinggames7086 5 лет назад +87

      @League of Un-Serious Gentlemen My great great grand dad was a US marshal for a short time. They paid him in land but he left it because he said it was worthless. Not worthless today.

    • @TomYawns
      @TomYawns 5 лет назад +89

      @Truth It was the 1950's smartass, what's your point? If a WW2 vet told somebody that the war movies were nothing like the real thing, would you be snarky and give the vet shit? Also, there are plenty of movies that actually do go out of their way to stick to realism, dick.

    • @r2dlee953
      @r2dlee953 5 лет назад +9

      @@TomYawns Yeah I would I'd also say how the fuck are you not dead yet bro

    • @e32b61
      @e32b61 5 лет назад +25

      aintplaying games
      But it was worthless to him. He probably left it because there was no way he could have held onto it. That's often the case when we look back at some of the land our ancestors had and say, "Why did they give it up? It's worth millions now!" Yes, but they would have spent their entire lives working that land, getting deeper and deeper into debt, working at a loss year after year, and eventually mortgaging it, losing it, or
      failing to pay the taxes and having it seized.
      And to be honest, if I had any asset that would make my life and the lives of my children miserable but had the chance (and not a sure one at that) to bear fruit in 100 years for some descendant of mine, I wouldn't risk it. I want my descendants to live in a good world, but I'm not going to throw my life away so that some punk I'll never meet can grow up in unearned privilege.

    • @kiyavas1879
      @kiyavas1879 5 лет назад +2

      @Truth having sex in part of the real life raising children too just saying

  • @xtremegamez3753
    @xtremegamez3753 5 лет назад +968

    I hear that rdr2 music in the backround... Nice

    • @BH48HGH
      @BH48HGH 4 года назад +1

      I hear new vegas...

    • @m0nsnor547
      @m0nsnor547 4 года назад +2

      it aint rdr2 music its rockstar that used that music in the game dumbass

    • @Kostaki05
      @Kostaki05 4 года назад +29

      @@m0nsnor547 TF are you on about, kid?

    • @jun31d_14
      @jun31d_14 4 года назад

      @@m0nsnor547 wait whats the name of the music tho

    • @jun31d_14
      @jun31d_14 4 года назад

      @ProGamer 8090 i found it the name of the soundtrack is train heist

  • @toro5280
    @toro5280 3 года назад +60

    The headless horseman by Maine Reid (1866) had an interesting duel. As I remember (I read the book 30 years ago) the good and the bad guy decide to settle it with a duel. So everybody leaves the saloon and they walk in from different doors. They start shooting as soon as they see their opponent, but after a few shots the saloon gets so full of smoke that they can't even see where are they shooting. They took a bullet or a few each, but both survive their wounds.

  • @63DW89A
    @63DW89A 3 года назад +156

    "Cowboys" didn't appear in the Wild West until 1867, when the first cattle drives from Texas North to the Kansas rail heads began. That era only lasted about 10 years. The wildest, most violent towns in the Old West were much more dangerous than cow towns like Dodge City, KS, or Abilene, KS. The wildest, most dangerous towns of the Old West, (and some were in existence more than 25 years earlier than the cow towns!) were the mining towns like Virginia City, NV, Helena, MT, Deadwood, SD and Tombstone, AZ. There are a LOT more reasons for armed gangs, cheating gamblers, etc to hang around mining towns, hoping to pick off a lone prospector who has struck it rich, than to hang around cow towns. There were a lot more prospectors than there were cowboys, and the prospectors did MUCH more to open up Western Frontier trails, supply chains, and towns than the cowboys did! Samuel Clemens (Yep, the same guy who became Mark Twain!), ventured out West with his brother Orion in 1861, to the new Nevada Territory. Just arriving, and getting off the Overland Stage in Carson City in July, 1861, Orion and Samuel witnessed a gunfight in the street! Sam soon wandered up to newly built Virginia City, and kinda settled in there, first as a unlucky prospector, than as a laborer in the Stamp Mills, and finally as a newspaper reporter on the "Territorial Enterprise". Sam reported that of the first 35 men buried in the Virginia City cemetery, NONE had died of natural causes. As Virginia City's population then was between 4000 and 5000, that is roughly a per capita murder rate of around 800! Sam wrote a great book, ROUGHING IT, about his time in Virginia City, and it is a must read for anyone who wants to know what the real Wild West was like, outside the narrow "Cowboy lens" that Hollywood keeps giving us unfortunately.

    • @SStupendous
      @SStupendous 2 года назад +14

      "Cowboys" appeared long before that. In the 1830s for instance there were cattle drives in the South, around Texas. Most people you see in Westerns aren't cowboys in the sense of the profession. The "Wild West" as we remember it definitely existed long before 1867, the famous image of the old man panning for gold, as an example, in the '49 gold rush..

    • @thebighurt2495
      @thebighurt2495 Год назад +8

      @@SStupendous There were also Mexican (and earlier Spanish) cowboys called 'Vaqueros" as back as the 1600s. Plus, there was Black Cowboys in Texas from the beginning of Texas. It was, after all, a slave state.

    • @KitamusPrime
      @KitamusPrime Год назад +2

      @@thebighurt2495 that's where cattle ranching began in the new world. Gregorio de Villalobos established the first cattle ranch in 1521. The first cattle drive that brought cattle into the American Southwest was by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1540. It took I want to say 500 men majority Mestizo to move through Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and up to Kansas. The first permanent cattle ranch in the Southwest was established by Juan de Onate in 1598 in New Mexico. Majority of the actual working cowboys in the Southwest at the time were Mestizos which are Spanish/Indigious mixed.

    • @lordofthemound3890
      @lordofthemound3890 Год назад +4

      In those days, the term “cowboy” had a negative connotation: a cattle rustler. The owners were usually called “cattlemen” and their workers were usually called “ranch hands” or simply “hands.”

    • @lordofthemound3890
      @lordofthemound3890 Год назад

      @Karl with a K Could you give us a couple of accounts with names?

  • @jackfenn7524
    @jackfenn7524 4 года назад +2614

    In the Old West, as today, people who stayed home and minded their own business suffered no harm. The idiots who hung around saloons got in trouble, same as today.

    • @curatorcogs5438
      @curatorcogs5438 4 года назад +378

      jack fenn Not necessarily. There were bandits and robbers, serial killers and rapists, as there is now. Difference is there was almost no effective law enforcement, so these lunatics could pretty much just run around with only the fear of bounty hunters and some rarely good-hearted and honest policemen. Plus, you had the native Americans that attacked settlements and homesteads in rural areas. Not to mention the wildlife. At the time of the early 19th century, wild animals were much more common in the United States than they are today, which is unfortunately due to urban sprawl, farmland and general habitat loss. Grizzly bears, grey wolves, timber wolves, and even coyotes have been historically documented as attacking people back then relatively frequently, especially those who chose to live in the wilderness away from the towns.

    • @codekhalil6437
      @codekhalil6437 4 года назад +223

      @@curatorcogs5438 I think he meant that if you hang around sleazy areas, you are more likely to get shot. That part still holds true today. you make some good points

    • @buttermebuns6974
      @buttermebuns6974 4 года назад +52

      Introverts live long life’s
      Extrovert die

    • @flitsertheo
      @flitsertheo 4 года назад +8

      Safe at home, just minding your own business :
      ruclips.net/video/QqTfBysL0wE/видео.html

    • @blankblank5409
      @blankblank5409 4 года назад +9

      I can’t be bothered To think of a name How it always was and always will be

  • @POOKIE5592
    @POOKIE5592 5 лет назад +205

    I'll bet a lot of "gunfights" were a shotgun blast in a dark alley.

    • @iaon652
      @iaon652 5 лет назад +28

      And most of targets were kidneys of drunken puking men. I mean shot from behind. And yet, yankees are proud of their history and heritage.

    • @camgnilpe9300
      @camgnilpe9300 5 лет назад +13

      laon FUCK OFF!

    • @videogamebomer
      @videogamebomer 5 лет назад +19

      @@iaon652 Better than the hicks that backstabed their nation so that they can keep people in chains

    • @iaon652
      @iaon652 5 лет назад +1

      @James Smith You definetely can. Diferance is, we are not proud of it. And when making movie about it, we do not twisting the story how great it was.

    • @iaon652
      @iaon652 5 лет назад

      @James Smith It is called bolsevik propaganda. Even russians lauhhed over it, silently, of course. Open expresion would sent them to gulag. In USA - land of freedom on the other hand, general opinion about Hollywood made western in 50´s was like dead indian=good indian. I mean they was still OK with extermination of native americans, short after world experienced one final solution. Hollywood production was about to make profit, which mean they satisfied general population demand.

  • @arumatai
    @arumatai 3 года назад +163

    75 yards is not a quickdraw duell, thats a precision contest. oh and if you can identify your foe in that distance you don't need glasses.

    • @jimtruscott5670
      @jimtruscott5670 3 года назад +5

      Maybe 75 feet.

    • @arumatai
      @arumatai 3 года назад +2

      @@jimtruscott5670 i think some chronikler or newspaper guy misread a 1 in handwritten notes for a 7

    • @jimtruscott5670
      @jimtruscott5670 3 года назад +1

      @@arumatai Could well be.

    • @randomguyontheinternet8345
      @randomguyontheinternet8345 2 года назад +2

      Ever stand in a football field?

    • @gunsgalore7571
      @gunsgalore7571 11 месяцев назад

      I know people who compete in pistol competitions that include ranges of up to 100 yards. As for myself, I don't often shoot a pistol at over 15 yards, but I can shoot 200-400 with a rifle.

  • @necrodamus5481
    @necrodamus5481 2 года назад +181

    I was actually a little concerned when you didnt mention that most gunfights didn't involve gunfighters fanning their revolvers in a quick draw fashion. That rarely very rarely ever happened. Fanning revolvers aka firing from the hip was more a creation of hollywood and gunfighters doing that in a duel tended to end up very dead

    • @c-secofficer123
      @c-secofficer123 2 года назад +21

      It is also terrible for the revolver and can break it lol. Cant imagine cowboys with old weathered revolvers were basically trying to break them

    • @Nitro1000
      @Nitro1000 2 года назад +13

      Fanning was known to have happened but it was only really used to get 2 consecutive shots off fast. Remember you had to thumb the hammer for every single shot and a single shot from a black powder .45 wasn’t always going to stop your opponent. It wasn’t something you’d want to do with only 5 shots (yes 5 you always had your firing pin sitting on an empty chamber when caring) before having to reload.

    • @JohnDoe-kh1mt
      @JohnDoe-kh1mt Год назад +3

      @@Nitro1000 Actually, some guns have grooves so you can load six.

    • @darrenmuse
      @darrenmuse Год назад +1

      @@c-secofficer123 Especially since firearms back then weren't exactly inexpensive as the are now, relatively of course.

    • @c-secofficer123
      @c-secofficer123 Год назад +6

      @@darrenmuse oh yea, a revolver was almost a months wage for the average Cow hand, and a carbine repeater was even more.

  • @ruruyu59
    @ruruyu59 4 года назад +694

    Now give us “what a samurai duel really looked like.”

    • @ruruyu59
      @ruruyu59 4 года назад +6

      GuiltyKing27 this is knowledgable we need more people like you.

    • @ruruyu59
      @ruruyu59 4 года назад +2

      GuiltyKing27 give me your pfp sauce 😂

    • @Joe-uz7vd
      @Joe-uz7vd 3 года назад +12

      @GuiltyKing27 idk about that... Maybe for samurai its different but European duels could vary from 30 seconds like you mentioned to 20 minutes, an hour, or even all day. It depends on the skill stamina and equipment of the opponents, if all the categories are equal, duels could realistically last until the fighters give up or a judge calls it a draw, for example I believe that trial by combats would always cap at sunset if they started before or at midday, while admittedly there are no cases I could find of duels lasting this long its interesting that they would add such a rule if all duels lasted mere minutes. But that's just my opinion and I haven't studied Japanese warriors as in depth as their European counterparts to say whether or not their duels were similar, I also wouldn't call sword fights messy if the combatants were experienced and know how to fight correctly it could almost seem like a dance of some kind, but again this changes drastically if the combatants are inexperienced and swing swords like clubs lol. Overall I don't think there's anyway we can say how long a sword fight could last as there is simply far too many variables to take into account, like whether it rained the night before and if the ground is muddy or hell even if the sun is positioned into the view of one combatants sight, that alone could be a determining factor of duel.

    • @Joe-uz7vd
      @Joe-uz7vd 3 года назад

      @GuiltyKing27 ah yes, sorry I thought you had meant a 1 on 1 duel and completely misunderstood what you meant, yes absolutely the European battlefields were as messy as you could imagine, even more so when gunpowder was introduced like wars such as the 100 years war, it was near impossible to have a fair and square duel in the closely packed lines of your formations without getting stabbed from your blindside, and as I said gunpowder made things worse as loud explosions caused panic and friendly fire due to how hard the primitive cannons and gunpowder weapons were to use so friendly formations were at great risk of being bombarded by their own cannons at times. But even without gunpowder being thrown into the mix battles still would get messy like the battle of Agincourt, the mud just made it far too difficult to use armour so anyone wearing it would just slip and slide around falling over, this meant for the French that didn't realise armour would be useless, that even the lowest level English infantry had an advantage over the French knights as they literally couldn't stand on the muddy terrain, you can imagine the panic and slaughter that ensued after that, not exactly elegant fighting lol. Anyways sorry about the misunderstanding I hope you found my ramblings at least a little interesting XD

    • @SnD340
      @SnD340 3 года назад +1

      @@Joe-uz7vd Europeans were nothing compared to mastered samurai katana. Why the fuck would it take 20min to fight someone. And no it doesn't depend on their stamina. No one fights with big ass swords and big ass chain armor 20min-1hour-1day. That's just big ass cap. What do they call a timeout when one of they gets a boo boo or gets tired? Samurai were quick clean and ruthless. The fuck they needed 20min for? Its parry/block then counter -execute. Clean kill lots of blood. On to the next.

  • @g8trdone
    @g8trdone 3 года назад +150

    "Of course I shot him in the back! That guy coulda killed me!"

  • @finishstrongdoc
    @finishstrongdoc 3 года назад +25

    Dueling was outlawed and was replaced by tort law, which today works in much the same way as dueling did in the Wild West, a zero sum game with no holds barred. the courts, being corrupt as hell, declaring the survivor as the winner.

    • @ricardogalvan1031
      @ricardogalvan1031 2 года назад +4

      Maybe we need to go back to dueling with guns!

  • @KowboyUSA
    @KowboyUSA 5 лет назад +259

    Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are so naturally good together the feds decided to name an entire agency in their honor.

    • @gustarddonut1452
      @gustarddonut1452 4 года назад +5

      Which one

    • @jaydenbrockington4525
      @jaydenbrockington4525 4 года назад +11

      Bruh Moment the ATF

    • @DonVigaDeFierro
      @DonVigaDeFierro 4 года назад +9

      I don't know why tobacco is with those other two.
      Tobacco smells and tastes like shit, and only an addiction makes you smoke... it's not like it could get you killed and others around you... in the immediate future...

    • @KowboyUSA
      @KowboyUSA 4 года назад

      @@gustarddonut1452 ha ha! Okay. You got me.

    • @shoelessbandit1581
      @shoelessbandit1581 4 года назад +7

      Should be a convenience store and not the worst government agency

  • @captaingreek
    @captaingreek 4 года назад +91

    - Hey you!
    - Are you talking to...
    Bang!

  • @opemsupplemental6566
    @opemsupplemental6566 3 года назад +32

    It's good to get the real story from someone who was actually there.

    • @dumbdumber1885
      @dumbdumber1885 Год назад +1

      yeah one can always rely on a historian to get the facts and truth out to people lol.

  • @vilstef6988
    @vilstef6988 Год назад +14

    My favorite gunfight story. Read it in a Time Life wild West book and don't know how much veracity to credit. Two cowboys were squaring up to slap leather. One was a shade over five feet tall. The other somewhat taller and tipping the scales at over 300 pounds Big guy was having second thoughts, and allowed that he was a bigger target. Little guy says, why don't we chalk an outline of someone my size onto you, and any bullets outside the lines don't count. No report on how that shootout went down.

  • @Steve_Milo
    @Steve_Milo 5 лет назад +75

    This is actually a very accurate description of GTA Online. There are duels that follow honor rules between players, but most are sloppy griefers and wanna be try hards without rules and without skill who will kill you in the most underhanded ways. And most players are just trying to make money and get by.

  • @EcuadorianFlagShip
    @EcuadorianFlagShip 5 лет назад +362

    the shoot effects and sounds you used were amazing and really added to the video my dude

    • @HistoryDose
      @HistoryDose  5 лет назад +13

      Glad you liked them!

    • @michaelwertzy9808
      @michaelwertzy9808 5 лет назад

      Who you be call'n dude, dude? LOL

    • @cattlewranglerwalsh116
      @cattlewranglerwalsh116 5 лет назад

      @@HistoryDose but in the real world rifle shots don't sound that good, the movies have a lot to answer for.

  • @Schizniit
    @Schizniit Год назад +11

    I always love when people who've never been in an actual fight where someone was trying to really hurt them, and it shows when they talk about war and fighting in general. They treat it as if people will do and act exactly as they want them to and that things happen in a perfect world in a fight and some slow motion bs. In reality, when you fight, time speeds up and your body just kinda does what it needs to survive, so people will literally do anything to make sure it's you and not them. And the messed up thing is, strength and skill have nothing to do with it, how far you're willing to go is the deciding factor in real combat

    • @xDYBALAx10
      @xDYBALAx10 4 месяца назад

      took the words out of my mouth

  • @jaykore3589
    @jaykore3589 2 года назад +15

    1:32 train heist theme? nice

    • @IKnowYouStranger
      @IKnowYouStranger Год назад +4

      Hello stranger.

    • @kingman-fm4dq
      @kingman-fm4dq 9 месяцев назад

      Got confused for a sec since i was opening rdr2 at the same time

    • @jaykore3589
      @jaykore3589 9 месяцев назад

      @@kingman-fm4dq LOL

    • @kingman-fm4dq
      @kingman-fm4dq 9 месяцев назад

      @@jaykore3589 you still active after a year?

    • @jaykore3589
      @jaykore3589 9 месяцев назад

      @@kingman-fm4dq duh 🙏

  • @schizophrantic
    @schizophrantic 5 лет назад +32

    After watching countless security cameras of real gunfights, mostly in Brazil, I have come to the conclusion that the same exact thing happened in the Wild West. There was ambush or someone draws first without declaring he was gonna do it to the other party. You can't draw on a drawn gun and win. You can counter ambush if the opportunity arises. And many other scenarios. But you never stand in front of the other guy, gun in holster, and give the other guy the chance to draw on you first. That is stupidity.

    • @joeligma4721
      @joeligma4721 Год назад +1

      we got the Wild West, and now we got Brazil - the Sussy South

  • @rohawaha
    @rohawaha 5 лет назад +27

    I lived in Tucson and made many trips to Tombstone , there were many gunfights there, some of the original saloons still stand and there are plenty of bullet hole's , they point out one saloon where they changed the front door from the East to the South of the building because patrons of the bar across the street would shoot through the door at their rivals on a regular basis.

    • @SwedishDrunkard5963
      @SwedishDrunkard5963 Год назад

      @Karl with a K the majority of duels was in europ at that time as i have only found two duels from the wild west

    • @SwedishDrunkard5963
      @SwedishDrunkard5963 Год назад

      @Karl with a K im not sure what you mean whit just started but i dont mean that duels did not happen

  • @AudieHolland
    @AudieHolland 2 года назад +95

    I read an account of one of the few organized, probably even 'courteous' gun duels in the Wild West.
    Two gunfighters stand opposite each other, armed with shotguns.
    They approach each other, firing a shot with every step.
    A few seconds later, there are two dead bodies in the prairie.

  • @logger22
    @logger22 9 месяцев назад +6

    Your point on how spaghetti westerns portray gunslingers as heroic vigilantes and how the Wild West was actually a very dark and violent period is the reason why I love the Red Dead games.

  • @ThisUpdateSucks
    @ThisUpdateSucks 4 года назад +69

    "Things have a way of escalating out here in the west, one thing leading to another"
    -Buster Scruggs

    • @kgpspyguy
      @kgpspyguy 2 года назад

      "Do you need a count?"

    • @pichibomb475
      @pichibomb475 2 года назад +1

      @@kgpspyguy “no si-

  • @frizzbeemans007
    @frizzbeemans007 4 года назад +668

    Wild west film: Draw!
    My 5yo brain: i can also draw :D

  • @davegoldspink5354
    @davegoldspink5354 3 года назад +10

    Great job on the video. As an Aussie kid I never got into Western but now some 50 years on there are quite a few that I love mostly with Clint Eastwood or Terence Hill and Bub Spencer in them.

  • @sleepless9957
    @sleepless9957 2 года назад +12

    One Brother a artist, the other historian creating this amazing channel.
    Each video better than the next, this channels, and its creators are truly amazing

  • @willhoops695
    @willhoops695 4 года назад +229

    Cowboy helping cattle ranchers sounds like John marston

  • @benmussolini2284
    @benmussolini2284 4 года назад +244

    Clint Eastwood was the best gunfighter in the Old West of the 1960s .

    • @themajesticbulldog3832
      @themajesticbulldog3832 3 года назад +12

      Yeah the quick shooting feature in rdr2 was inspired by that movie aswell

    • @bossdoggo2595
      @bossdoggo2595 3 года назад +18

      He probably has dead eye

    • @swaldron5558
      @swaldron5558 3 года назад

      Yes but he’s only actor.

    • @FrankEly28
      @FrankEly28 3 года назад +26

      @@swaldron5558 no what actor, back in 1860s he was the most feared outlaw, him,tuco and the late angel eyes,learn your history bro

    • @benmussolini2284
      @benmussolini2284 3 года назад +4

      @@FrankEly28 True that adventure happened during the Civil War .

  • @stevenleslie8557
    @stevenleslie8557 3 года назад +4

    I had a history teacher in jr high who de-romantized the wild west sheriff hollywood image who he said had no desire to duel, but reached for his double barrel shotgun when some disturbance was going on in town. There was no standoff, just a lot of shooting and a few dead guys. The sheriff sometimes included.

  • @sparkclouding5302
    @sparkclouding5302 Год назад +1

    Really cool video I'm going to check out more of your content!

  • @bobburke3384
    @bobburke3384 3 года назад +810

    75 yards, really? That’s 225 feet, almost the length of a football field. Your lucky to hit a barn door at that distance with a six gun.

    • @dunruden9720
      @dunruden9720 3 года назад +89

      you're

    • @Dylski.
      @Dylski. 3 года назад +55

      Imagine what he could do with today's ammunition and firearms

    • @timbuktu8069
      @timbuktu8069 3 года назад +46

      Probably 75 feet
      dunruden- Thanks Karen

    • @deanpd3402
      @deanpd3402 3 года назад +16

      I want to know who got out the measuring tape?

    • @jacobeldredge2956
      @jacobeldredge2956 3 года назад +27

      Bob, a football field is 360 feet. 225 feet isnt that far when you’re looking for someone. Sit down.

  • @user-kw3dy8pf9b
    @user-kw3dy8pf9b 5 лет назад +461

    That RDR2 theme in the back though, you did us dirty ;)

    • @TucoBenedicto
      @TucoBenedicto 5 лет назад +6

      Fuck RDR 2, that's the They Call Me Trinity theme at the end.

    • @yubos98
      @yubos98 5 лет назад +38

      @@TucoBenedicto Fuck YOU, sir. He's not talking about the score in the end, he talks about ambient music throughout the video.

    • @MarcillaSmith
      @MarcillaSmith 5 лет назад +11

      I like the "sir" part, keeping it respectful and classy

    • @yubos98
      @yubos98 5 лет назад +13

      @@MarcillaSmith But of course, m' lady! After all we live in a civilized society.

    • @TucoBenedicto
      @TucoBenedicto 5 лет назад +1

      @@yubos98 But I don't give a shit of what he was talking about.
      I'm pointing at the actual good stuff.

  • @zervoke1049
    @zervoke1049 5 месяцев назад +11

    we are only watching this video because we are RDR fans lol

  • @Wulfzz
    @Wulfzz 5 лет назад +87

    Bro I was waiting for a reenactment of a wild west duel the entire video.

  • @bink5242
    @bink5242 3 года назад +70

    Someone in the saloon: *decides to punch someone*
    Everyone in the saloon: “It’s my time to shine”

    • @jonrooney3310
      @jonrooney3310 3 года назад

      YES! indeed it is

    • @sigmacall4148
      @sigmacall4148 2 года назад +4

      COME HERE PRETTY BOY

    • @petertoth3477
      @petertoth3477 2 года назад +5

      @@sigmacall4148 Pretty boah? You're kidding me! Pretty boah?!

    • @failure4452
      @failure4452 2 года назад

      *starts throwing chairs for no real reason*

  • @mrc4912
    @mrc4912 Год назад +4

    Most gunfights back then were between drunken gamblers and were at such close ranges that if they missed, they could practically reach out and hit their opponent with a gun barrel. One notable exception was Wild Bill Hickock, who shot a man through the heart at 70' during a gunfight. It was over a poker game, I think.

  • @ivanlogo4901
    @ivanlogo4901 2 года назад +1

    Congratulations on your JR shout-out, bro. I'm glad your channel is gonna blow up.

  • @Tir3d219
    @Tir3d219 5 лет назад +11

    I really, truly enjoyed this video from start to finish. It was well edited, brilliantly paced, and extremely informative while still maintaining an entertaining comedic timing. Fantastic work.

  • @microwaveonxbox429
    @microwaveonxbox429 4 года назад +526

    In a parallel universe:
    The domestic west

    • @gibraltar2843
      @gibraltar2843 4 года назад +45

      And on the Eastern seaboard, everything was chock full of duels in the middle of a high class establishment in New York. That’d be a real fun alternate reality

    • @HistoryDose
      @HistoryDose  4 года назад +182

      The game where Arthur Morgan teams up with his best friend Micah Bell to improve agriculture on the frontier

    • @thenewcaliph766
      @thenewcaliph766 3 года назад +22

      @@HistoryDose But don't rats eat up crops and ruin harvests?

    • @jokobomb4191
      @jokobomb4191 3 года назад +5

      Isnt that just Russia?

    • @retardcorpsman
      @retardcorpsman 3 года назад

      The New Caliph
      Not in this one, it the cornered tigers that eat the corn and crops.

  • @ricketycricket3574
    @ricketycricket3574 2 года назад

    Just found this channel a few days ago. I am so impressed.

  • @markstandifer9304
    @markstandifer9304 Год назад

    This makes so so much more sense, the closure I didn’t know I needed

  • @jasonmorahan7450
    @jasonmorahan7450 4 года назад +19

    Based on reading a lot of other people's research my conclusion was the "quick draw duel" was entirely the product of films, where it was assumed every gunfighter was well practised enough to always hit their mark, but the fact most "gunfighter duels" were drunken armed assaults more than formal duels never entered the writers' minds, wouldn't have passed censorship. The reason for depicting a holstered draw would be to qualify for self defence as opposed to a murder charge for the duel, for this to work you would have to let the other guy touch his gun first, however be faster at clearing your holster and firing, but this would be more a product of the 20th century, which is when these screenplays were written.
    Historically a formal duel, such as researched by historical enthusiast Ed Harris for his film Appaloosa occurred in the manner portrayed by Viggo Mortensen at the end of the film, with gun in hand pointed at the ground, turned sideways to present a reduced target and sidearm brought up in classical, extended and sweeping fashion for a single, well aimed killing shot. Rushing to fire first would likely be as fatal mistake as taking too long to aim and fire, the object wasn't to fire first but to fire accurately first. The only real difference in the style of western duel to an English duel would be less fanfare in the preparation and no other parties involved but the manner of dispatching the opponent was the same, gun readied in hand and no pretence about why you're there. Hence they were banned specifically, whereas during the colonial period, under English law they were a legitimate way in which consenting adults may handle a dispute without legal repercussion.
    However as mentioned most historical western gunfights weren't formal duels, they were nothing more than violent criminals committing homicide or attempted murder, whether or not they or someone else tried to dress it up retrospectively. In fact for qualifying as a formal duel if you had to draw from a holster, or from a coat pocket and kill an opponent it was murder, not a consenting duel, technically you were supposed to be handed your sidearm by a witness whom inspected both weapons and thereafter it was to remain within common view, in your hand until firing.

  • @micahbell5262
    @micahbell5262 3 года назад +17

    “I’m a survivor Black Lung, a survivor all there is living and dying.”

    • @soapoffical2984
      @soapoffical2984 3 года назад +2

      Shut up micah

    • @micahbell5262
      @micahbell5262 3 года назад

      soap offical 2 You’re no better than me, Morgan!!

    • @johnmarston7865
      @johnmarston7865 3 года назад +1

      @@micahbell5262 he not but im yes rat!

    • @woopdashoop9860
      @woopdashoop9860 2 года назад

      Love you micah, the only realistic character in that game

  • @toothl3ss91
    @toothl3ss91 3 года назад +1

    Wow...75 yards with a pistol and one shot!!! I am a competition shooter and NRA pistol instructor. I shoot long range pistol for fun a lot. 75 yds at 6 inch plates with today's modern semi-automatic pistols is not difficult, but does require practice and good technique...without the threat of dying! Under the circumstance, Wild Bill's shot is exceptional.

    • @billw2710
      @billw2710 3 года назад

      Did you mean BS rather than exceptional? Wild Bill carried 2 Navy Colt pistols, pearl handles in .36 caliber, black powder cap and ball. Hitting a target at 225 feet with a round ball from a black powder pistol is BS, I don't care what the "historians" claim.

  • @davidclaiborne5280
    @davidclaiborne5280 Год назад +2

    One of my distant relatives was present at the shootout at the O.K. Corral, but on the wrong side (William Claiborne). He didn't have a gun, so he ran at the first sign of trouble. Years later he would get into an argument with a gunfighter in a saloon who was allegedly (a lot of the accounts are legendary at this point) badmouthing his former employers, who were killed at the O.K. Corral. He was of course drunk, and went outside and called the gunfighter out. The gunfighter went out a side door and shot him in the back, at least according to one account. He died several hours later. This story strikes me as a much more plausible progression and outcome to most gunfights. More like a gang fight than two people facing each other down in the middle of a street.

  • @lilguava70
    @lilguava70 5 лет назад +71

    Fantastic quality from a small channel, can't wait to see it grow.
    Also I REALLY appreciate that you include sources. Many others have glaring inaccuracies and don't bother sourcing much if anything.

    • @HistoryDose
      @HistoryDose  5 лет назад +8

      Thanks! We always try to be transparent with our sources. It provides reading material for those who want to investigate the issue further, while also showing you guys that we've done our research.

  • @whitestguyuknow
    @whitestguyuknow 5 лет назад +7

    What an amazingly well made video dude! I seriously loved your editing. No offense to the rest, it's all great in complete honesty, but it was the best part of the video

  • @jmalko9152
    @jmalko9152 3 года назад

    Informative!

  • @whiskeytango9769
    @whiskeytango9769 Год назад +4

    Having shot a handgun from time to time...being able to draw and shoot quickly while being shot at and hit your man at 75 yards is very impressive. Even at 25 yards, most times, both shooters would miss.

  • @scotscotty8075
    @scotscotty8075 5 лет назад +29

    The quick draw from a holster is a Hollywood invention. Holsters rigs back in the day were nothing like those seen in the movies.

    • @peytonparkhill8384
      @peytonparkhill8384 4 года назад +6

      When Andrew Jackson dueled Charles Dickinson he knew his chances of beating a superior marksman were slim to none. So he let Dickinson shoot first. He even went so far as to wear a coat much too large for his frame in an effort to conceal his silhouette and lower the chances of Dickinson landing a fatal shot. Even through all that, he still took a shot to the chest and then took his time to place his shot square in Dickinson's chest. Eventually Jackson recovered but Dickinson died the same day.

    • @colinp2238
      @colinp2238 3 года назад

      And the tied down holster is only for effect in cinema like a black hat.

  • @bobby33x97
    @bobby33x97 4 года назад +15

    Of course the other classic duel in the Wild West occurred in 1881 in Tombstone, AZ. In addition to the standoff and "quick draw" elements, the Gunfight at the OK Coral included the tension building "Walk Down" to the site of the fight!

  • @futurenow522
    @futurenow522 2 года назад

    Just discovered your channel,,, very informative!!!!

  • @chrisoxford4026
    @chrisoxford4026 2 года назад

    Great stuff I'm now subscribed!

  • @faerieSAALE
    @faerieSAALE 4 года назад +134

    "I'm the roughest, toughest, root'nest, toot'nest, fastest gun-slinger west of the Pecos!" Yosemite Sam.

    • @leftcoaster67
      @leftcoaster67 4 года назад

      Yosemite Sam vs. Nasty Canasta, who wins?

    • @duncanstone8758
      @duncanstone8758 3 года назад

      "north, south, east, aaaaand west of the Pecos"

    • @Bropann
      @Bropann 3 года назад

      Or Pecos Bill. Lol.

    • @bishopaz
      @bishopaz 3 года назад

      LOL 😆

    • @mikearmstrong8483
      @mikearmstrong8483 3 года назад +1

      My favorite: walk into the bar and loudly proclaim "I'm the most badass futhermucker in here! Anybody want to argue that....oh crap, this ain't the Boys and Girls Club!"
      Hint: don't try that in a bar where they don't know you well.

  • @farmall4505
    @farmall4505 4 года назад +4

    At 2:40 it sounds like any time I’m in a town in rdr2

  • @docholliday4278
    @docholliday4278 Год назад

    Very good video, really clears the misconceptions people have about duels. And the Wild West in general.

  • @lorenzodelre7001
    @lorenzodelre7001 3 года назад

    loved it! Great video/ docu. Any other video amde about the Old Wild West? An historic period i've always been appeald by

  • @jamesdunn9714
    @jamesdunn9714 5 лет назад +5

    Well done and informative.

  • @savagehistory5613
    @savagehistory5613 5 лет назад +5

    Great video, guys

  • @K_L_Christman
    @K_L_Christman 2 года назад

    Awesome video.

  • @peternavanac9310
    @peternavanac9310 3 года назад

    Wow, just saw this. Very interesting. Thanks.

  • @sevennationarmy4753
    @sevennationarmy4753 4 года назад +60

    Dutch: *I HAD A PLAN, ALL I NEED IS FAITH!!!*
    michah: *WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY IN BLACKWATER*
    Arthur: *LENNNNEEEEYYYYYYY*
    Hotel: *TRIVAGO*

    • @hambyla
      @hambyla 4 года назад +2

      This comment is on crack.

    • @Rubenz343
      @Rubenz343 4 года назад +6

      Uncle : LUMBAGO

    • @jonrooney3310
      @jonrooney3310 3 года назад

      @@Rubenz343 LMAO

  • @ReyesdeMadrid
    @ReyesdeMadrid 5 лет назад +42

    I think there might be a bit of an anachronism fusion of the traditional duels of Europe and the Eastern United States and the gun fighting of the Western United States. We know Alexander Hamilton died in a pretty regulated duel, he even had his own dueling pistols he requested he and Burr use for the occasion and we know his sons also died in duels. Dueling with all the rules and protocols was a real thing in the East Coast and in Europe.
    My guess is that when the papers and novelists sensationalized the West for the East Coast and European audience they fell back on the well known phenomena of dueling to make the gun fights more glamorous and noble.

    • @MarcillaSmith
      @MarcillaSmith 5 лет назад +3

      Yes, it makes sense to try and relate a newstory to something with which the audience is already familiar.
      Watching this, I also wondered if there was some degradation of the formalized dueling to the point of a "duel" consisting of ambush "dueling" someone in the back, what might become of the modern equivalent "litigation," if that is a fair comparison

    • @ArthurMorganFan123
      @ArthurMorganFan123 5 лет назад

      Where in Europe? Lol. No one in Europe did anything like this, if they did provide evidence and I'll completely change on my stance.

    • @MarcillaSmith
      @MarcillaSmith 5 лет назад +2

      @@ArthurMorganFan123 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_by_combat

    • @RazorO2Productions
      @RazorO2Productions 4 года назад +2

      @@ArthurMorganFan123 People have dueled in Europe since like Ancient Greece

    • @StumpyVandal
      @StumpyVandal 4 года назад +2

      Shua it became such a problem with guys killing each other governments had to ban it as they were losing all sorts of talent.

  • @robertneven7563
    @robertneven7563 2 года назад

    Amazing video, thanks

  • @_tym3k
    @_tym3k 5 месяцев назад +2

    I love how you used "outlaws from the west" as the background music!

  • @ajmaloney0408
    @ajmaloney0408 3 года назад +4

    I'm a former criminal defense lawyer, and so I have thought about the gunfights of the old west from a legal and moral perspective, and this is what I think is important to consider: in a lawless or semi-lawless environment such as the wild west, when it came to two people shooting at each other there was going to be a question after the smoke had cleared about who was morally, and therefore potentially legally, justified in their actions. The main point I wish to make is this: if two men are in a dispute and one of them pulls out a gun with the apparent intent to shoot the other man, well, if that other man is either unarmed or, being armed, has not made any move to reach for his weapon, then if the first man simply pulls out his gun and shoots a man who was not trying to shoot him, well most people would call that murder. If however, the second man, sees that the would be murderer has reached for a gun with apparent intent to shoot him, then the situation is different, and the second man has now instantly earned a moral, and possibly also a legal, right to reach for his own gun, if he has one, and to shoot his assailant first. So, the man who draws has gun against a man who has not reached for a gun is about to commit an unjustified killing, whereas the man who was drawn against has automatically earned the right of self-defense, provided of course that he is fast enough to draw his gun after his opponent, but shoot before him. So, my guess would be that in the old west, a big part of the 'game' would have been in being able to justify your shooting another man by being able to claim, usually with witnesses, that the other guy drew a gun on him, and that shooting only took place as an act of self defense in response to the initial aggressor. Make sense? This concept is well illustrated in the classic western movie Shane. In that movie the professional gun slinger, Wilson, goads the hapless Texan farmer and teases him until the Texan loses his temper and reaches for his gun, and that was exactly what Wilson was waiting for. "..yeh Joey, Wilson was fast, real fast...". Yeah, I've watched that movie about a hundred times by now, the wife and kids all leave the house when ever I get that DVD out - sad really.

    • @Olliemets
      @Olliemets 2 года назад

      Classic. Just watched it again. One of my favorite movies of all time. I was out in the Tetons which inspired me to watch it again.

  • @deadinsidemcgee411
    @deadinsidemcgee411 3 года назад +52

    “Gunfighters often took every advantage they could”, as they should, should they not? In a gunfight to the death I’d sure as hell take every cheap shot I could.

  • @tomsmith5216
    @tomsmith5216 3 года назад +3

    I read a newspaper account of a gunfight sometime in the 1870s. Thr two men involved stood about 30-40 yards apart, and fired a total of 15 shots before one was finally wounded in the leg, ending the fight. They were apparently not gunfighters...

  • @elliotkingaby5312
    @elliotkingaby5312 3 года назад +4

    “Someone tries to kill you, you try and kill ‘em right back!” Mal Reynolds

  • @c.morris6483
    @c.morris6483 5 лет назад +33

    Plus the likelihood that 80% of the men working as cowboys in the 1870s and 80s were either involved in Indian wars, the Civil War, or both and knew how to use a revolver.

  • @blondbowler8776
    @blondbowler8776 5 лет назад +37

    In 1970 I wrote a contrast-and-compare paper for a bonehead college US history class, "The Wild West Movie vs How It Really Was". It was a hoot, fun to write, and got an A. It is said somewhere that it was gratifying to see the puffs of dust front and back, and was referred to as "dusting" one's opponent. Thanks for the vid.

    • @TomYawns
      @TomYawns 5 лет назад

      Where'd you hear that bit about dusting?

    • @blondbowler8776
      @blondbowler8776 5 лет назад +2

      I'm sure it was something from the likes of Outdoor Life, Guns and Ammo, Shooting Times, or the like. It was nearly fifty years ago, and, IIRC, the actual quote was something like "...gunfighters of yore would cackle with glee when they 'dusted' an opponent". (Grins). Take it for what it's worth. Some of that paper's documentation would include MAD magazine, which did a spoof on Hollywood westerns vs the way iit really was way back in the 60s when Westerns were about all there was on TV. I wrote the paper (and the comment) tongue-in-cheek, but the professor sure liked it. Said he was going to use it as an example of how to write a term paper. Hehehe, I still get a kick out of that.

    • @blondbowler8776
      @blondbowler8776 5 лет назад

      On second thought...I think it was an article in Gun Digest, 1964-ish, by Arvo Ojala, the guy who invented the Hollywood fast-draw holster, the very same guy that Matt Dillon guns down at the beginning of every episode of Gunsmoke.

  • @robertcronin6603
    @robertcronin6603 3 года назад

    Good video!

  • @muchanadziko6378
    @muchanadziko6378 Год назад

    very interesting and informative!

  • @willlasdf123
    @willlasdf123 5 лет назад +18

    I always thought the myth of the Wild West duel was actually based on the the old stories of Southern gentry prior the Civil War settling matters of honor or business disputes with modified European style duels (long after Europeans stopped doing that).

    • @augustin5611
      @augustin5611 5 лет назад +4

      Actually europeans continued dueling with guns and even swords for a long time. In the XIX, it was very commun to duel your foes and you can find alot journalist, writer or even philosopher who where pretty good at it.

    • @LetsGoGetThem
      @LetsGoGetThem 5 лет назад

      idk even if duels are technically illegal in some places/states still, heard smthin bout it

    • @thrillrtflc
      @thrillrtflc 5 лет назад +1

      @@amazed2341 1967

  • @yourbarista4154
    @yourbarista4154 5 лет назад +44

    Thanks for not coming at the subject with a wild pendulum swing to the opposite side of the Wild West myths.
    The west had violence as your video well explained. You have a good take on the truth with no agendas and I appreciate that.

  • @rogertulk8607
    @rogertulk8607 Год назад

    This is consistent with other things I've read about the Wild West. Thanks for this

  • @jonahbarnes5841
    @jonahbarnes5841 Год назад

    What an excellent channel!

  • @artemisiaabsinthium271
    @artemisiaabsinthium271 5 лет назад +5

    I really liked this. Especially since the closing music was the theme from, "They Call Me Trinity". 👍

  • @Paratrooper23
    @Paratrooper23 5 лет назад +5

    "Speed is good, accuracy is everything." Wyatt Earp

    • @shooterqqqq
      @shooterqqqq 5 лет назад

      Or--- speed is fine but accuracy is final.

    • @williamsherman5178
      @williamsherman5178 5 лет назад

      Paratrooper23
      He was also quoted as saying “Take your time, in a hurry.”

    • @gunsquawk4443
      @gunsquawk4443 4 года назад +1

      Not Wyatt Earp, Kevin Costner playing Wyatt Earp.

  • @tgdevourer
    @tgdevourer 2 года назад +2

    Thank you for this, now I can add that bit of realism to my wild west comic about a dead sheriff coming back to life!

  • @franciscoortega7938
    @franciscoortega7938 3 года назад

    very well done... nice graphics.

  • @blipcat3382
    @blipcat3382 5 лет назад +233

    Most were just shot in the back....quick draws were a myth !

    • @issstari954
      @issstari954 5 лет назад +46

      Not entirely it was mostly inspired of the much older gentlemens duels that happend with single shot pistols which were inaccurate

    • @Shastavalleyoutdoorsman
      @Shastavalleyoutdoorsman 5 лет назад +26

      @@issstari954 exactly it's foolish to think people just stop dueling. Maybe it never went down like the end of once upon a Time in the West. But I think there were plenty of shootouts that started with standoffs.

    • @issstari954
      @issstari954 5 лет назад +6

      @@Shastavalleyoutdoorsman Sure there were maybe they werent common but they defiantly happend sometimes

    • @Vidman919
      @Vidman919 5 лет назад +16

      Texas Chainsaw Jesus yeah there were a lot of ambushes. For anyone that has seen brave heart and remembers the rumors about William Wallace killing such and such number of men, that was the Wild West. Numbers were highly exaggerated, and the gunfighters didn’t care too much because men often just left them alone because of rep. But most had only shot 2-3 men with very few killing anymore than that in a gun battle. Now to the quick draw question, yes that was a thing but not the way the movies portrayed it. It was a quick draw in the sense that one man drew his gun first. Following? Every gun starts in a holster, and whoever had it out first was the “quick draw.” Thus Hollywood glorified it, after the dime novelists wrote “about” these gun battles. Most to none ever saw the gun battle outside of a newspaperman who would write a story generally condemning the actions, especially if the individual was commonly unliked. In the instance of Wild Bill Hickok, he was considered a “Shootist” because of the skills that he had with a gun. If you also look at his history you will find he was an adventurous man. A mountain man, a Union Soldier/Spy for the Union, and sheriff a few times. He used his guns a lot, so his experience and expertise is what equates him to most historians as the “first fast draw.” It had become muscle memory. I’m not saying the duels happened. Just clarifying the difference of what we think of as a “cowboy showdown” to what it actually was. Yes alcohol or gambling were usually involved. No they didn’t go out into the street. They shot it out from where they were. Didn’t happen as often as the movies claim but it did happen. It a very interesting subject to study subjectively, and the sport is even more fun to participate in as you aren’t shooting at people but trying to beat your time. If you study your history and compete you have a better understanding of the times, and can call people on their bs.

    • @ellerellerek52
      @ellerellerek52 5 лет назад +5

      @Texas Chainsaw Jesus but ambush is a murder and dual is not