Representation of The Johnson County War
Apart from being set in Wyoming and the fact that many of the characters have the names of key figures in the Johnson County War, the plot and the characters themselves have almost no relation to the actual historical people and events. While there were certainly small numbers of settlers arriving in northern Wyoming, there were not hordes of poor European immigrants streaming en masse into the region, let alone killing rich men's cattle out of hunger. Secondly, far from being an "enforcer" for the stockmen, and a murderer, Nate Champion was a well-liked small rancher in Johnson County, whom the rich stockmen dubbed "king of the rustlers" because he stood up against their tactic of claiming all unbranded young cattle on the range. Jim Averell was also a small-time rancher, about a hundred miles southwest of Johnson County. Along with his common-law wife Ellen (or Ella) Watson, he was murdered by rich stockmen two years before the Johnson County War. Stockmen spread a story that Ella Watson exchanged sexual favors for stolen cattle, but this was false. She was certainly not a bordello madam. It is unlikely that Watson or Averell ever knew Nate Champion. There are numerous other ways in which the film bears little or no resemblance to history, or turns history completely upside-down.
The true history of the Johnson County War goes something like this: In April 1892, some of Wyoming’s biggest cattlemen enlisted 23 hired killers from Texas and (along with a very sympathetic newspaper reporter) "invaded" north-central Wyoming to kill "rustlers." They had a hit list of 70 local people to be murdered, including the sheriff and many other prominent citizens of Buffalo. The big stockmen were upset because as more small-time ranches were established in the region, they were no longer able to use this land for their own gigantic herds of cattle. Immediately after the invaders killed Nate Champion and his friend Nick Ray, the citizens of Buffalo were alerted to the situation by a neighbor who had witnessed this event as he rode past. The citizens quickly mobilized and eventually turned the tables, surrounding the intruders at a local ranch, where they intended to capture them by force. An appeal for help by Wyoming's Acting Governor (who was in close cahoots with the cattlemen) convinced President Benjamin Harrison to call out the army from nearby Fort McKinney, and after an all-night ride the soldiers arrived just in time to save the invaders. Though taken prisoner and taken to Cheyenne, they later avoided prosecution through witness intimidation, the manipulation of public opinion by shrewd partisan journalism, and cunning legal manoeuvres.
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