World Agriculture Directory: the home of the world's largest agriculture database. Fastest way to find events, farms and agribusiness that suit your needs. Agriculture Event Directory

Cattlemen Hall of FameBeef cattle barons, cowboys, breeders and builders from around the world

Transporting Beef: Trails, Rails and Ships

The Johnson County War: Wyoming's 1892 Fight Between Big and Small Cattlemen

Large cattlemen rode north from Cheyenne with hired gunmen, and the town of Buffalo rose to meet them.

What was the Johnson County War?

The Johnson County War of 1892 was an armed invasion of northern Wyoming by large cattle owners and their hired men. According to the Wyoming State Historical Society essay on the Johnson County War, big cattlemen who had overstocked the open range after the 1880s boom resented small operators who grazed cattle on public land and might claim it under homestead laws.

Cattlemen said they acted to protect their property from rustlers. Johnson County residents said rustling was exaggerated and that the invasion aimed to clear competitors from the range. The record shows both claims and a dispute that was as much about land as about cattle.

Causes: rustling charges and the 1889 lynching

Johnson County juries acquitted rustling suspects in 1889, which angered the large owners. That year, homesteaders Ellen Watson and Jim Averell were lynched, an act the essay says showed how far big cattlemen would go against challengers.

The Wyoming Stock Growers Association employed stock detectives, and the essay says its employees formed a small assassination squad that included Frank Canton, a former Johnson County sheriff and association stock inspector. The squad hanged Tom Waggoner and attacked Nate Champion in November 1891. Champion survived and named his attacker, Joe Elliott, a stock detective.

The invasion of April 1892

The essay counts 52 invaders, including cattlemen, top employees and 23 hired Texas gunmen. Canton carried a list of about 70 names. They left Cheyenne by private train on April 5, 1892, then rode on horseback toward Buffalo.

The record is not clear on who gave which orders. What the essay shows is the plan and its first target: Champion, at the KC Ranch near present-day Kaycee.

Nate Champion at the KC Ranch

On April 9, 1892, the invaders surrounded Champion at the KC Ranch. He held them off for hours and wounded three of them. In mid-afternoon they set the cabin on fire and shot him as he came out. The essay's key dates also name Nick Ray as killed.

Local residents alerted by the shooting rose against the invaders. The ranch fight, rather than Buffalo, is where the invasion turned from a plan into a public scandal.

The siege at the TA Ranch and the Army

Local men surrounded the invaders at the TA Ranch south of Buffalo, and the posse grew to more than 400 men in a three-day siege. On the third morning posse members advanced in a log go-devil fort on wagon running gears, intending to use dynamite, and the invaders' own captured supply wagons supplied the dynamite.

Governor Amos Barber, who the essay says supported the invasion, requested troops and sent telegrams to President Benjamin Harrison. When they failed, Senators Joseph Carey and Francis E. Warren visited the president, and Harrison agreed to send troops. Soldiers from Fort McKinney arrived on April 13, 1892, and took the invaders into custody.

Why It Mattered

The war showed what large owners could and could not do. They could hire gunmen and move them by train. They could not control a county that organized quickly, or a federal government that sent troops.

The costs fell on the county. Barber took control of the prisoners and blocked Johnson County's questioning of them, and Johnson County bore the costs of housing and prosecution, with no state aid.

  • The cattlemen worked through an association with its own stock detectives, which gave the invasion organization.
  • They hired 23 Texas gunmen, outside men with no local stake.
  • They used a private train to reach Buffalo country quickly.
  • They lost the initiative at the KC Ranch, where one man held off the party for hours.
  • Local residents mobilized a posse of more than 400 within days.
  • Political ties went to Washington, but the Army took the invaders into custody.

Outcome, trial and aftermath

About eight months later, in Cheyenne, no jury could be seated, and the county lacked funds to continue. All charges against the invaders were dismissed, and none were tried. Democrats won a landslide in the 1892 election and Warren lost his Senate seat. Divided Democrats and Populists left Wyoming with only one U.S. senator for two years, and Warren returned in 1895 and served 34 years.

In 1893 the association opened its membership to all Wyoming stock growers. Wyoming's 1909 Spring Creek Raid later led to convictions of cattlemen raiders. For the larger setting, see the EBSCO research starter on the open range and the Roosevelt Center essay on the hard winter of 1886 to 1887, which describe the overstocked range of that decade. More range history is in the ranching section of farm.FM and a farm.FM story on a Wyoming range war.

Timeline

  1. 1889Johnson County juries acquit rustling suspects; Ellen Watson and Jim Averell are lynched
  2. Nov 1891Nate Champion attacked and survives; Tom Waggoner hanged
  3. Apr 5, 1892Invaders leave Cheyenne by private train
  4. Apr 9, 1892Champion killed at the KC Ranch after hours of fighting
  5. Apr 1892Local posse of more than 400 besieges the TA Ranch for three days
  6. Apr 13, 1892Fort McKinney troops take the invaders into custody
  7. Late 1892Charges dismissed in Cheyenne; none tried
  8. 1893The association opens membership to all Wyoming stock growers

Frequently asked questions

What was the Johnson County War?

It was a 1892 invasion of northern Wyoming by large cattle owners and hired Texas gunmen, aimed at suspected rustlers and small ranchers around Buffalo. Local residents besieged them until Army troops took them into custody.

What happened to Nate Champion?

Champion was surrounded at the KC Ranch on April 9, 1892. He held off the invaders for hours and wounded three, but they set the cabin on fire and shot him as he came out.

Who was punished for the Johnson County invasion?

No one was tried. About eight months later in Cheyenne no jury could be seated and the county lacked funds, so all charges against the invaders were dismissed.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

More from the hall