Show Notes
When the western artist George Catlin journeyed to the Southern Plains in 1834 the animal that caught his attention there was the wild horse, which covered the country in immense herds. Little known to Catlin, or to Thomas Jefferson, who longed to know about horses in their natural state, horses were so successful in the western wilds because they were original natives of North America. Eventually a trade in wild horses dominated the southern West the way the fur trade did in the North. Native people initiated the trade, Hispanics in Texas perfected the art of capture, and from 1790 into the 1850s independent American traders captured, traded for, and drove wild horses east to supply the advancing American frontier. Little known in western history because until the 1920s it lacked a corporate player, the wild horse trade was an unexpected success and mustangers a working-class phenomenon of the West. Thank you to our sponsor Velvet Buck. Subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon. MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men" Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Gunfighters
America’s first famous gunfighter also happens to have been a titanic fraud. Join best-selling author Bryan Burrough as he dives separates the into facts from the fictions enveloping the career of Wild Bill Hickok. Thank you to our sponsor, Tecovas. Follow now on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube. MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men" Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join best-selling author Bryan Burrough as he drills deep into the legend of John Wesley Hardin, the teenaged Texas psychopath who may have been the Old West’s deadliest gunfighter. Thank you to our sponsor, Tecovas. Follow now on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube. MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men" Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Where did all those gunfighters popping up the Old West actually come? Join best-selling author Bryan Burrough as he explores the extraordinarily violent place that gave birth to a whole lot of them: Texas. Thank you to our sponsor, Tecovas. Follow now on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube. MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men" Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join author Bryan Burrough as he delves into the little-known stories of the first notable Old West gunfighters, from the Texans who popularized the first revolvers during the 1840s to the outlaws of Gold Rush California and the first gunfighter to achieve literary acclaim — thanks to a young Mark Twain. Thank you to our sponsor, Tecovas. Follow now on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube. MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men" Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Best-selling author Bryan Burrough explores the surprising origins of Old West gunfights in America’s deep involvement with the duel, a contest used by so many men during the early 1800s, including politicians from Andrew Jackson to Abraham Lincoln, chose to settle their disputes by drawing guns and firing at each other. From the duel that left Alexander Hamilton dead in 1804 to the dozens or more that took place every Sunday during the 1830s in New Orleans’ city park, Burrough traces how these bloody contests over honor evolved into the manic gunfights we remember on the post-Civil War western frontier. Thank you to our sponsor, Tecovas. Follow now on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube. MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men" Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.