Legends of the Old West - ENCORE I DODGE CITY Ep. 1: “Bat Masterson, Hunter & Hero”

Episode Date: June 1, 2022

Bat Masterson hunts buffalo in western Kansas. He fights in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. He plays a key role in an Army rescue mission. He meets his lifelong friend, Wyatt Earp. And the journeys of both young men lead them toward an up-and-coming cowtown called Dodge City. Join Black Barrel+ for bingeable seasons with no commercials: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was bitterly cold late in the fall of 1871. Somewhere on the plains of western Kansas, two young men met in a remote and bloody buffalo hunting camp. One introduced himself as Bat, the other as Wyatt. They were similar in many ways. Both had escaped the humdrum of family farms. Both came from families with healthy complements of brothers. Both were good with, and not afraid to use, rifles and pistols.

And both young men wanted adventure and fortune on the country's new frontier. But they were also different in some important ways. Bat Masterson, the younger of the two, was short and stout. Wyatt Earp was five years older and tall and lean. As history unfolded, the differences between the two men extended well beyond the physical. They had different temperaments, and views of the law, and approaches to being lawmen. But despite the differences, Bat and Wyatt became lifelong friends and unconditionally loyal brothers in arms. Together they cut a wide swath through the Halcyon days of the Old West, and left their distinctive imprints on its mythology. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able

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Shopify.com slash Realm. Mais avez-vous ce frisson d'obtenir le meilleur deal? Les membres de Rakuten, eux, oui. Ils magasinent les marques qu'ils aiment et font d'importantes économies, en plus des remises en argent. Et vous pouvez aussi commencer à gagner des remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés, comme Old Navy, Best Buy et Expedia, et même cumuler les ventes et les remises en argent. C'est facile à utiliser et vous obtenez vos remises par PayPal ou par chèque. L'idée est simple. Les magasins paient Rakuten pour leur envoyer des gens magasinés. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada Jag är ute än. This is Episode 1, Bat Masterson, Hunter and Hero. By 1864, as the Civil War still gripped the eastern half of the expanding American nation, white settlers had been blazing trails to the west in heavy numbers for 15 years. A prominent road was

the Santa Fe Trail that ran from Independence, Missouri, straight through Kansas, and down to Santa Fe, New Mexico. An army camp had been built to protect wagon trains that carved ruts in the land and crossed the seemingly endless series of rivers and streams. In April 1865, with the end of the war in sight, the camp was upgraded to a full-fledged fort and given the name Fort Dodge. But upgrade is a relative description. The crude camp along the Arkansas River was transformed into a crude fort where the living quarters were dugouts or maybe structures made of sod. The soldiers battled raiding parties of Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and other tribes in

the area to protect travelers along the trail. And the army as a whole, especially on the western frontier, fought its never-ending internal battle with alcohol. Liquor sales were prohibited near the fort, but as soldiers tend to be thirsty and easily bored, a few sod houses and tent saloons popped up at a site named Buffalo City. Buffalo City was a few miles downstream from Fort Dodge, and it soon became a popular gathering spot for the hundreds of buffalo hunters in the area. popular gathering spot for the hundreds of buffalo hunters in the area. Around 1870, America began to experience a post-war boom in manufacturing. The era would later be called the Gilded Age, and within 30 years, America would be a global economic powerhouse.

And those were the days before vulcanized rubber, so leather was essential for the growth. It was used for the belts which literally kept the gears and spindles of the industrial machinery running. Each year, tens of thousands of miles of new and replacement leather belting were required, and durable leather made from the thick hides of buffalo was ideal for the purpose. The demand helped fuel the brief era of the buffalo hunter. Buffalo hunting could be lucrative, but it was tough and nasty work. During their fall and winter migrations, the massive herds arrived in western Kansas. Dozens and dozens of buffalo hunting parties rode out to spend weeks or months on the plains. Each day, seven days a week,

the shooters in the party snuck up on the herds. In the morning, they shot scores of animals with their.50 caliber rifles. Then the skinners came in to do the dirty work. They cut and peeled the heavy hides and left swamps of blood and gore in their wake. And if the cold weather of winter hadn't arrived yet, insects swarmed the area like a plague. The landscape stank from thousands of rotting

carcasses. If winter had arrived, the skinners worked through freezing temperatures with numb hands. It was on the plains of western Kansas, before the Santa Fe Railroad arrived, and before an ugly camp called Buffalo City transformed into the town of Dodge City, that Bat Masterson met Wyatt Earp. Bartholomew William Barclay Masterson was the second of five brothers in the Masterson family. Before him came Ed, and after him came Jim, Thomas, and George. The Masterson family moved around a lot, like that of Bartholomew's soon-to-be friend, Wyatt Earp. The Mastersons moved from Quebec, Canada, to upstate New York, and then to Illinois. They finally settled in eastern Kansas and started a farm on 80 acres on the edge of the frontier.

And it was in these formative years on the family farm, and the transition off the family farm, that Bartholomew Masterson began calling himself Bat. He experimented with different nicknames, but eventually he settled on Bat. Bat Masterson. It had a nice ring to it. He and his older brother Ed did their duty and helped establish the family farm. But like Wyatt and his brothers, Bat and Ed couldn't handle the boredom of domestic farming for very long.

They'd taken sporadic trips to nearby settlements and had seen the colorful panoplia frontier characters—soldiers, buffalo hunters, and teamsters. In the fall of 1871, they decided it was time to leave the family farm and strike out on their own. They traded in farming for the backbreaking and bloody work of buffalo hunting on the plains of western Kansas. They certainly would have come in contact with the rough community known as Buffalo City, which now sported some crude wood buildings. It was a drinking haven for soldiers and hunters alike. But by 1871, buffalo hunting as a trade or industry was starting to decline.

Years of steady slaughter were driving the herds toward annihilation. Bat and Ed Masterson, and hundreds of other hunters, faced a decision. They could keep hunting, but they'd have to expand their travel distance, or they'd have to find a new line of work. Bat and Ed chose to continue hunting, which now required venturing to new and more perilous hunting grounds around the Texas Panhandle. That area was the last remaining stronghold of the feared Comanche,

and it was in a historic spot in the Panhandle that Bat would prove himself to the people of Dodge City. But before that, he made a good first impression. In the summer of 1872, during a seasonal break from hunting, Bat and Ed worked for a few months to build the last five miles of railroad grade from Fort Dodge to Dodge City. They were hired by a man named Raymond Ritter,

who was a subcontractor for the Santa Fe Railroad. The Santa Fe Railroad secured a government concession to lay tracks across Kansas to the mining fields of the New Colorado Territory. The tracks were going to go right through the bawdy settlement of Buffalo City. The arrival of the railroad ensured the permanence and growth of the community. A real town was plotted. Land speculators and promoters arrived, and the town changed its name to Dodge City. When Bad and Ed finished grading the land for the railroad into Dodge, they received a hard lesson in shady

business practices. Their employer, Raymond Ritter, skipped town without paying them the $300 he owed. Bat and Ed were only 18 and 19 years old at the time. But a year later, when Bat was just 19, he collected the debt. He received word that Raymond Ritter would be passing through Dodge on the train. Bat Masterson boarded the train and searched the cars for Ritter. News circulated through town that there might be a set-to at the depot. People gathered to watch. Bat found Ritter and forced him out of the train car and onto the platform at the end of the car.

As they stood outside the door, a crowd gathered on the ground below them. Bat instructed Ritter to pay the money he owed. Ritter appealed to the crowd for help. He said he was being robbed, but the crowd just watched the show. Finally, Ritter peeled off the $300 from a roll of cash, and the citizens of Dodge got their first look at the cool customer named Bat Masterson. He had steel nerves, and he'd threatened violence, but he hadn't had to use it. The people liked the way he worked, and they also liked the round of drinks he bought with his new money. And then a year later, he proved his resoluteness and bravery to an even By 1874, the remaining buffalo herds in the southern plains were mostly in the Texas Panhandle.

The Panhandle was still effectively ruled by the Comanche and their Kiowa and Cheyenne allies. Few white men ventured into the Comancheria, and fewer returned to tell the tale. A group of accomplished Dodge City buffalo hunters determined to do just that. The hunters knew they needed strength in numbers, and Bat Masterson was invited on the expedition. He was an experienced hunter, even at the relatively young age of 20 years old. hunter, even at the relatively young age of 20 years old. And he also had experience against Native Americans. He'd helped steal 150 horses from the Cheyenne in the dead of winter. Local merchants gave supplies to the outfit and guaranteed to buy all of their hides for market value. The hunters left Dodge City in June of 1874 in a wagon train. Their goal was to travel

150 miles to the abandoned trading post of Adobe Walls deep in the Panhandle. At Adobe Walls, the hunters set up a temporary settlement, including a general store, warehouse, and of course, a saloon. The settlement was used as a somewhat secure base camp for hunting parties. The expedition set up camp almost exactly five months shy of the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Adobe Walls, which, very soon, would have to be known as the First Battle of Adobe Walls. Ten years earlier, in November 1864, Ten years earlier, in November 1864, famed mountain man turned army colonel Kit Carson led a punitive expedition into the Comanche stronghold. He intended to dissuade the Comanche from any further attacks on wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail.

Carson had a combined force of nearly 400 soldiers and scouts, and two mountain howitzers. The expedition attacked a Kiowa village near a spot called Adobe Walls that was the ruins of William Bent's old trading post. Carson and his men were then dismayed to learn that that was just one of several villages in the area. Soon, an estimated 1,400 Comanche, Kiowa, and Kiowa Apache warriors faced the expedition. Some reports claimed there were as many as 3,000 warriors, but that number is almost certainly too high. Either way, it was one of the largest Native American forces arrayed against white soldiers, and the Battle of Adobe Walls was on. and the Battle of Adobe Walls was on. After Carson's initial attack on the Kiowa village,

he prudently chose a fighting, step-by-step withdrawal, and the two mountain howitzers likely saved the expedition from destruction. Carson retreated to New Mexico. He and the U.S. Army called the battle a victory because they had punished a group of Kiowa, and they had not been wiped out by an overwhelming enemy. Conversely, the Comanche and Kiowa called it a victory because they had repelled the famous Kit Carson and now firmly controlled the Panhandle. But their sphere of control gradually diminished over the next ten years.

of control gradually diminished over the next ten years. Slowly, bands of the proud tribes succumbed to the might of the army and the weight of westward expansion. By the time Bat Masterson's expedition arrived at Adobe Walls in 1874, there were just a few hundred remaining holdouts of the Kiowa and Comanche, but they were led by the last great chief, Quanah Parker The Comanche homeland that once stretched hundreds of miles in every direction Was now just a small island of only the most rugged and desolate ground It was surrounded by white settlements and travelers that grew closer by the day But it was also the homeland of what remained of the great southern herd of buffalo. So when Bat Masterson and a collection of hunters from Dodge City boldly rode down into the Texas panhandle,

Quanah Parker and his allies were determined to drive them out. This wasn't just a quick hunting trip from the men from Dodge. They planned to stay for months. The hunters scattered throughout the panhandle as they set up small roving camps, and predictably, the Comanche attacked the camps. Surviving hunters drifted back toward the relative safety of the settlement at Adobe Walls. As the weeks passed and the Comanche attacks increased, many buffalo hunters decided their work in the panhandle was done and they skedaddled back to Dodge. Ultimately, 28 hunters and one woman were left at Adobe Walls. One of those hunters was Bat Masterson. Early on the morning of June 26, 1874, Quanah Parker led an estimated 700 warriors on an

attack against the settlement. The surprise attack at dawn gave the Comanches an advantage. Outlying hunters were killed in their sleep. The initial fighting in the settlement was close-quarters combat. The warriors attempted to break down the doors and breach the buildings. The crude structures were mostly made of sod, and despite the Comanches' best efforts, they couldn't burn the buildings. The hunters barricaded themselves inside and fought with their pistols and knives.

Quanah Parker was said to be particularly aggressive. He tried to get his horse to kick open the doors. He leapt on rooftops and poured gunfire down from above. The battle raged for two hours. The warriors had numbers and mobility, but the hunters had fortifications and mountains of ammunition. Eventually, steady waves of gunfire at short distances pushed the warriors back so the hunters could unload with their.50 caliber Sharps rifles. The Big Fifties, as they were called, drove the warriors from the settlement. The initial battle ended in a standoff. Dozens of warriors lay dead on the ground. Quanah Parker's horse was shot out from under him, and that caused the first stage of the retreat.

But the hunters kept launching.50 caliber slugs at the warriors no matter how far they retreated. Quanah Parker was shot in the shoulder. A medicine man's horse was killed, even though he had assured the warriors that the white man's bullets could not harm them. And out of these long-range shots came the one that took on legendary status. Several hunters said that one of their number, a man named Billy Dixon, hit a Comanche with a shot that traveled somewhere around 1,500 yards, which is just short of one mile. The distance would always be disputed, but the success of the shot was not.

Billy Dixon and Bat Masterson became true comrades-in-arms for a time. Billy had high praise for Bat during the fight. Many years later, Billy wrote, Bat Masterson should be remembered for the valor that marked his conduct. He was a good shot and not afraid. The war party had retreated out of sight, but the hunters at Adobe Walls couldn't know at that moment that the party had left the area altogether. The hunters were understandably anxious about leaving their shelters, but eventually, Bat Masterson, Billy Dixon, and a handful of others made the 150-mile trip to Dodge City.

Shortly after their arrival, they learned that Colonel Nelson Miles was about to lead a column of soldiers back down to the Panhandle. Bat and Billy signed on as scouts for the Army. The mission and the events that followed solidified Bat Masterson's reputation as a man who would be a good choice for a lawman in Dodge City. The initial mission was to hunt down Comanche and Kiowa war parties. As the column rode down into the Texas panhandle, a detachment split off to go to Adobe Walls. Around a dozen hunters were still holed up in the little settlement. They had food and whiskey, but they were justifiably afraid to go out hunting.

There hadn't been any major attacks since the battle, but the threat was always there. Batmasterson and Billy Dixon were the first two men to greet their former colleagues, and they were the first to bring news of the outside world in two months. The hunters were okay, all things considered, so the army moved on to find its enemies. At the end of August 1874, the column fought a small engagement and then a larger one when a couple hundred warriors surprised the Army scouts, including Bat and Billy. The cavalry rode to the rescue, and the engagement turned into a galloping fight that lasted for miles. When the battle finally petered out, the mission changed.

petered out. The mission changed. Colonel Miles learned that four sisters had been kidnapped by Cheyenne dog soldiers in western Kansas outside the town of Ellis, which was about 90 miles north of Dodge City. The girls' family was headed to Colorado in search of its dream life, but then the girls watched in horror as their parents, their brother, and their two older sisters were killed and scalped. Down in the Texas panhandle, Colonel Miles heard that the dog soldiers were bringing the captive girls south. Along the way, the girls had been split up. Two had gone with one band of the Cheyenne and two had gone with another. Colonel Miles changed his goal from a punitive expedition to a rescue mission. It took two months, but the Army column finally located two of the girls. The Army scouts, including Bat Masterson, attacked a Cheyenne village and drove out the inhabitants.

The scouts found the sisters hiding under a buffalo robe. They were shivering and starving. It took another five months for the army to track down the Cheyenne band that held the other two sisters. It was now March of 1875. The expedition that had been expected to last a few days or maybe a couple weeks had now gone on for eight months. As the army column rode toward New Mexico and the Cheyenne camp that supposedly had the two girls, the soldiers were met by representatives of the Cheyenne. The winter had been brutal and the Cheyenne were starving. The emissaries told Colonel Miles

that the Cheyenne would surrender in exchange for food. Batmasterson and a small team of soldiers rode into the camp to discuss a deal. They said a deal was only possible if the Cheyenne returned the two girls, if they were still alive. Masterson and the others were ushered into a tent where they saw the two remaining sisters.

They were alive, but starving like everyone else. The army reclaimed the girls, and then the Cheyenne surrendered and moved to a reservation. Over the course of 10 months, Bat Masterson had ridden hundreds of miles, had fought in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, and had played a part in the rescue of four girls. He was viewed as a hero, and he was just 22 years old. With his service complete, he mustered out of the Army and returned to civilian life. And his first stop was a rough little town called Sweetwater in the Texas Panhandle. Today, it's the tiny hamlet of Mobede. But in the spring and early summer of 1875,

it was about to experience a boom because the army built an outpost nearby. In Sweetwater, Bat Masterson's reputation took another jump when he killed his first man. Bat went back to buffalo hunting to make some quick money. As the season ramped up in the fall and winter of 1875, when the coats of the buffalo were thick to guard against the cold, Bat spent more and more time around Sweetwater. The town was the social hub of the area for buffalo hunters and soldiers who wandered in from the nearby fort.

And the entertainment headquarters was the Lady Gay Saloon. Somewhere along the way, Bat became sweet on a gal named Molly Brennan. The trouble was, another man was also sweet on Molly. That man was Corporal Melvin King. King was a soldier stationed at Sweetwater. He was a Civil War veteran and a noted gunslinger and a bully. He was said to have killed several men in barroom gunfights, gunfights that he provoked. Though he was in uniform, he seemed to have done pretty much whatever he wanted. He occasionally ran off with Texas cowboys to drive cattle to Kansas,

and during one of those trips he ran into Bat Masterson's friend Wyatt Earp. While Bat had been traversing the southern plains with Colonel Miles' expedition, Melvin King had joined a cattle drive that ended in Wichita, where Wyatt was the deputy marshal. One night, Melvin King was drunk and armed with two pistols. He stood in the middle of town and boasted that he would kill that troublesome Wyatt Earp. Wyatt happened to be around the corner. He quickly disarmed and subdued King and ran him into the town jail. King was later released and eventually went back to his pseudo job of being a soldier at the Sweetwater outpost. As Bat spent the fall and winter of 1875 hunting buffalo in the area,

he became a fixture in Sweetwater and became interested in Molly Brennan. He became a fixture in Sweetwater and became interested in Molly Brennan. On the night of January 24, 1876, Bat was sharing some private after-hours drinks with Molly in the Lady Gay Saloon. Melvin King found out about the rendezvous. He figured that Molly was his girl. He hurried into the saloon to break up the meeting. He charged into the bar with his pistol drawn.

King fired at Bat and hit him in the pelvis. Molly jumped up in front of Bat. King fired again and hit Molly in the stomach. Bat was badly wounded and bleeding from his abdomen, but he unlimbered his pistol and fired one shot at King. The bullet hit King square in the heart. and fired one shot at King. The bullet hit King square in the heart. In a matter of seconds, Melvin King was dead on the dirty saloon floor. Molly Brennan was also dead, and Bat Masterson was grievously wounded.

It took Bat weeks to recover. He walked with the help of a cane for several months, and he had a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. Bat was 23 years old. He'd killed the notorious and murderous Melvin King. He'd been part of the heroic mission that saved four girls from the Cheyenne, and he'd shown poise and determination in front of the people of Dodge City when he'd confronted Raymond Ritter. Bat had gained a reputation that shaped the course of his life. In the spring of 1876, still using his cane, he returned to Dodge City. His younger brother Jim and his friend Wyatt Earp were newly installed as lawmen in town.

It was time for the Earps and the Mastersons to team up to help tame Dodge City. And Dodge City needed them too, because it was about to become the wickedest town in the West. Next time on Legends of the Old West, we chart Wyatt's course to Dodge City and experience Dodge's hell-raising days as the queen of the cow towns. More Mastersons and Earps come to town, and so do other men who'll become legends in their own rights. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. of the Old West. This season was researched by Aaron Aylsworth and written by Aaron and myself.

Audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com

for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening.