The American Wild West Quiz | U.S. History (2024)

Answer: Jersey LillyIn 1883, Judge Roy Bean built a courthouse/saloon in the tent city of Langtry, Texas. He named the building "The Jersey Lilly" after Lillie Langtry, the English music hall actress. Bean had seen a photograph of Lillie and was said to have fallen in love with her immediately. Lillie was known as the "The Jersey Lily" but the spelling on the sign at the courthouse was "The Jersey Lilly" (Note the spelling of Lily)

Rumour has it that the Judge ordered a Chinese man, who had been convicted of a minor offence, to paint the sign and the spelling mistake went unnoticed.
Another coincidence was that the Judge had settled in Langtry, Texas, so named after George Langtry, the railroad boss that was responsible for running the railroad through the town. George and Lillie were not related.
The actress made a trip to Langtry in 1903 but the Judge had, sadly, died a few months earlier. The courthouse still stands and is a major tourist attraction.

Answer: Billy the KidHenry McCarty, also called William Bonney, was best known as Billy the Kid. The confusion surrounding Billy's real name is due to the fact that it is believed that his father was known as either William Bonney or Patrick McCarty, and his mother was either known as Catherine McCarty or Katherine McCarty Bonney. The reason for this confusion is that their real surnames were not known although it is known that they were of Irish stock. Billy was born in 1859, and in 1868 his mother took up with William Antrim and for a while Billy called himself the Antrim Kid until settling on his final name of Billy the Kid.

Billy was killed by Pat Garret in 1881 at the age of 21. It is said that he had killed a total of 21 people, one for each year of his life, but in actual fact it is now believed that he only killed 9 people, two in self defence.
His gravestone has been stolen and recovered three times since the 1940s. The complete grave is now covered by a metal cage.

Answer: ScottishAllan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow in 1819 and emigrated to America in 1842. In the 1850s he was co-founder of the North Western Police Agency, which later became known as the famous Pinkerton Agency. The Agency was the first detective agency in the USA and had considerable success in solving train robberies.

In 1861 he became Abraham Lincoln's bodyguard and foiled a plot to assassinate the President. During the civil war Pinkerton became head of the Union Intelligence Service and for some time worked undercover. After the civil war the Agency continued its investigations into train robberies and at one time actively pursued Frank and Jesse James. In the 1870s the Agency became involved in fighting various union activities and in 1876 testimony by the Pinkerton Agency lead to the conviction and subsequent excecution of twenty members of "The Molly Maguires", a militant Irish movement that had infiltrated the coal miner's union in Pennsylvania. In 1884 Pinkerton died from an infection of the tongue after he had bit it following a fall on the sidewalk.

Answer: shot deadJesse, born in 1847, was brought up for most of his younger life by his mother, his father having left to find gold in California. As the family were slave owners the James brothers supported the Confederate cause and in 1862 both joined William Quantrill, a Southern guerilla fighter.

After the war the James brothers became outlaws and formed a gang which included the Younger brothers. For ten years the gang raided numerous banks, railroads and stagecoaches until 1876, when they attempted to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. However, the townspeople were suspicious and were waiting for the gang when they left the bank. Three members of the gang were killed and Cole, Bob and James Younger were wounded and captured. Both the James brothers were also wounded but managed to escape.
After a period in hiding Jesse formed another gang which included Robert and Charlie Ford. After a raid in Missouri, the Governor, Thomas Crittenden posted a reward of $10,000 for the capture of Jesse.

Robert Ford contacted the Governor and offered his services and on 3rd April, 1882, Bob Ford visited Jesse at his home. Jesse was putting a picture up on the wall when Bob Ford shot him in the back of the head, and Jesse died immediately.
Bob Ford was captured and found guilty of murder but was pardoned by the Governor two hours after sentencing. Ford was later shot dead by another member of the James gang.

Answer: Chief Sitting BullChief Sitting Bull was head of the Lakota Tribe (part of the Sioux Nation) and was instrumental in the defeat of Lieutenant Colonel Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Jun e1876. After the battle he and his people were pursued by the US Cavalry until they settled down in Canada.

However, hunger and cold forced him and his family to return to USA where he gave himself up. After serving two years in prison he was allowed to return to the reservation. In 1885 he was allowed to leave the reservation and join Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show where he appeared for about four months before returning home. It is believed that he was paid about $50 dollars a week for riding around the ring in full battle dress.

Answer: Wild Bill HickokWild Bill Hickok was shot through the back of his head whilst playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood. Normally he would always sit with his back to the wall but this time he had his back to the door. Jack McCall, believing that Hickok had killed his brother, burst into the saloon and killed Wild Bill outright.
Hickock was holding a poker hand consisting of two pairs, Aces on Eights, and this has become known as "The Dead Man's Hand". McCall was subsequently tried, found guilty and executed. He has the dubious honour of being the first man to be officially executed in Dakota Territory.

Answer: William QuantrillWilliam Quantrill fought for the Confederates at the beginning of the Civil War. He gathered a small band of men around him, many of whom were not recognised as soldiers, and although he fought for the Confederate cause, also raided the Kansas countryside for profit. In 1862 it was announced that Quantrill's guerilla Army was made up of robbers and murderers. After this Quantrill decided to go his own way.

In 1863, he believed that the city of Lawrence was full of Union followers and with a band of 450 men ransacked the town. Once their so called military objective had been completed they then set about killing all the men in the City. Approximately 150 men were massacred. The only thing in Quantrill's defence was that he did not harm the woman and children. In 1865 Quantrill died of a gunshot wound to his chest aged 27.

Answer: Goodnight-LovingCharles Goodnight and Oliver Loving joined together to forge a cattle trail from Texas and New Mexico to the railroads in Colorado. The cattle trail became known as The Goodnight-Loving trail. In 1867 Loving was seriously wounded during a Commanche attack and died of gangrene. Before he died, Charles Goodnight promised Loving that he would return Loving to Texas.

Loving was buried at Fort Sumner whilst Goodnight took the cattle on to Colorado. On his return to Fort Sumner, Loving's body was exhumed and Goodnight took the body back to Texas where it was buried with full honours. The television mini series "Lonesome Dove" is loosley based on the Goodnight-Loving story.

Answer: IllnessDoc Holliday, friend of the Earp brothers and a participant at the gunfight that took place at the OK Corral, died in his bed from tubercolosis aged 36. He is believed to be buried at Glenwood Springs Cemetary, Colorado, although some people believe he was buried elsewhere in an unmarked grave.

A graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery he became a gambler and gunfighter. Part of the inscription on his gravestone reads "One of the great gamblers and the speediest man with a six gun in the West. He lost his biggest bet when he died in a Glenwood Springs Sanatorium with tubercolis instead of being cut down by a bullet". It is said that just before he died he had a drink of whisky, then looking at his bootless feet said "That's funny". He had always meant to die with his boots on.

Answer: SiouxIn December 1890 trouble had been brewing between the Sioux, camped at Wounded Knee, and the white settlers. Most of the trouble was due to the Sioux practising the ceremonial Ghost Dance in which it was believed that by wearing "Ghost Shirts" the tribe would not be harmed by the white man's bullets and they would be able to regain their freedom. An order went out to arrest Chief Sitting Bull but he was killed in the attempt, so the attention was then changed to Chief Big Foot.

On December 28th, whilst Big Foot's people were camped at Wounded Knee, the Army attacked, killing approximately 300 men, woman and children. The Army lost 25 soldiers. This was the last major confrontation between the Indian Nations and the US Army.

Answer: ThreeThe gunfight at the OK Corral lasted for less than three minutes, some people stating that the actual firing only lasted for 30 seconds. During this time two people were killed outright and one died very soon after. Tom and Frank McLowery were killed outright and the young Billie Clanton died a half an hour later with six bullet wounds. Three others were seriously wounded whilst two of the gun fighters were not hit at all.

The outlaws fired seventeen shots but only three scored, whilst Wyatt Earp and his men also fired seventeen shots with eleven hits. Only Ike Clanton, who had run away, and Wyatt Earp were unscathed.

Answer: Black BartCharles Bolles, known as Black Bart, robbed many stagecoaches during the 1870s and 1880s. For some reason during this period he left a poem at the scene of two of his robberies. The first poem read " I've laboured long and hard for bread, for honour and for riches, but on my corns too long you've tread, you fine haired sons of bitches" signed Black Bart the P08. No-one is quite sure how and when Black Bart died.

Some people said that Wells Fargo had paid him a large amount of money to retire, but they denied having contacted him, and Black Bart just simply disappeared.

Some people belived he retired to New York and died in 1917, but this has never been proven.