The Last Gunfight

On October 26, 1881, a confrontation between eight men in Tombstone, Arizona, erupted in gunfire. The Earp brothers and Doc Holliday faced off against Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury. When it was over, three men were dead and two were wounded. The shootout lasted just 30 seconds but profoundly impacted the way Americans viewed the Old West. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as the event came to be known, is often viewed as the defining battle between frontier forces of good and evil.

As award-winning author Jeff Guinn shows in The Last Gunfight, many of the facts surrounding the event have been misinterpreted or are simply incorrect. For example, the shootout occurred not in the O.K. Corral but in a vacant lot several doors down. Popular legend holds that “the cowboys”—Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury—fired first. But did the Earps truly act in self-defense?

Drawing from a cache of new material—including diaries, letters and Wyatt Earp's own hand-drawn sketch of the shootout—Guinn examines what happened on that day in Tombstone. He also paints a vivid picture of what the West was really like. More than a showdown between good guys and bad guys, the gunfight was symbolic of a clash between evolving social, political and economic forces. At the time, a loosely knit band of desperados, collectively known as cowboys, were causing tensions and threatening the peace in Tombstone.

The cowboys robbed stagecoaches and rustled livestock. In exchange for a cut of the profits, ranchers like the Clantons and McLaurys willingly grazed the stolen cattle on their land until it was ready for sale. “In Wyatt’s real West, anyone referred to as a cowboy was most likely a criminal,” explains Guinn. It was Hollywood that later romanticized the term, using it to describe hardworking ranch hands and those who rode horses and fought to uphold justice.

In Tombstone, opposing opinions about the cowboys intensified an already bitter political feud over government intervention in territorial and local issues. The rugged individualists, independent ranchers and cowboys wanted less intervention, while the wealthy miners and well-heeled townsfolk wanted more. The town’s rival newspapers fed the flames. The Nugget claimed the cowboys' transgressions were exaggerated. Taking the opposite view, The Republic Epitaph declared the cowboys a menace to local safety and Tombstone’s reputation. Simmering tensions over the issue led to the history-making deadly confrontation.

Guinn separates the facts from the fiction and places the gunfight in the context of its times. Combining masterful storytelling, fresh research and memorable characters, The Last Gunfight illuminates the Wild West's iconic shootout.