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There was scant warmth in the winter sunlight, and Sergeant Edward H. Cobb's lips must have been chapped and his neck windgalled by 40 miles of hard riding across the [...]

Dawn was just bleeding into the eastern horizon that morning in March 1846 when a Comanche raiding party drove a herd of stolen stock across a dry ford to the [...]

James Dunn thought his time had come, that this mild day in early 1841 would be his last. Hands bound and body lashed to the saddle of a Comanche pony, [...]

It was one of the most popular military and civilian rifles of its day, won glory in two major wars and saw service along the Western frontier from the Rio [...]

The powerful .44-caliber cap-and-ball Walker Colt and its lighter-framed, shorter-barreled derivative, the Model 1848 Colt Dragoon revolver, were hits on the Western frontier after the Mexican War. But before that [...]

When Samuel Colt patented the first practical revolving pistol design early in he kindled the torch of legend for what became one of the most famous firearms in Western history. [...]

The article focuses on a role played by a mule named Baalam in defeating the Battle of Packsaddle Mountain, the last Indian raid launched into Llano County in Texas in 1873. Cowboy Pinckney Ayers rode Baalam into battle. When Ayers rode up on the mule to the firing line, a bullet creased the mule that caused the mule to bray in outrage pain. The confusion wrought by Baalam in the Apache ranks had been an advantage to the Texans enabling them to tend their wounded and reload their weapons. The leader of the Indians was killed in the battle that led the surviving Mescaleros to withdraw from the battle.

Relates the Battle of Salado Creek and the Dawson Massacre in Texas on September 18, 1842. Incident that started the battle; Background on general Adrian Woll; Details of the Dawson Massacre. INSET: Tejano Patriot Juan Seguín.

Presents information on several firearms and weapons used during the Battle of Salado Creek and the Dawson Massacre in Texas. American long rifle; Shotguns; Handguns.

The article focuses on weapons used by Texans and Indians in the Battle of Packsaddle Mountain on August 5, 1873. Texas cowboys carried Spencer carbines designed by English inventor Christopher Spencer. Indians at the battle were armed with Henry and Winchester repeaters. The Indian force were also equipped with handguns.

Looks at the events in the life of Captain William Frohock and Lieutenant Frederick W. Smith of Company K, 9th Cavalry before their death. Information on court-martial charges that was faced by Frohock which involves gambling; Reason Smith committed suicide by firing a pistol bullet into his brain.

Provides a history of the Hawken rifle, which was long associated with mountain men. Status of the Hawken rifle in Rocky Mountain fur trade; Use of the Hawken by American Indians; Acquisition of the Hawken rifle by Oglala Sioux warrior Makphiya-luta.

The article focuses on the battle at Paint Rock fought by Texas Rangers in the 1840. Historians question whether the battle, which was one of three fought by the men, ever took place. They point to a lack of documentary evidence and unclear memories of those who reportedly took part in the battle. Among the facts disputed was that Jack Hays never defeated the Comanches single-handedly atop Enchanted Rock in 1841, that he and his Rangers never took part in Comanche ambush in Bandera Pass and that Hays never endured a Comanche siege in the spring of 1846.