Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Gunfight Between the Cowboys and Marshals in Tombstone AZ

On October 26, 1881, in Tombstone Arizona, marshals, Virgil, Wyatt, and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holiday met cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury in a bloody shoot out at the O.K. Corral. The next day the Tombstone Nugget newspaper said that day was "one of the crimson days in the annals of Tombstone, a day when blood flowed as water, a day always to be remembered as witnessing the bloodiest and deadliest street fight that has ever occurred in this place, or probably in the Territory."

The cowboys were known as trouble makers and thugs. The Earps and the cowboys were in a dispute about who should control the town of Tombstone. They had previously been in court, and in court, Billy Claiborne made threats against the life of Virgil Earp. The day of the fight, the sheriff told the marshals that there would be trouble if they went to confront the cowboys at the O.K. Corral.

Ignoring the sheriff, the marshals went to the corral, there Virgil said to the cowboys, “throw up your hands boys, I intend to disarm you.” As he said this, Frank McLaury began to draw his revolver, then the fire storm began. Frank McLaury was shot by Wyatt, about the same time Doc Holiday shot Tom McLaury, then a Clanton shot Morgan Earp, and Virgil in the calf. The whole thing didn’t even last 30 seconds. In that time span, 30 some shots were fired, and two civilians were injured by stray bullets.

Shortly after the fight, mines in the nearby hills were closed. The miners went home and armed themselves in case more cowboys came to town to break the captured cowboys out of jail. The men were there to help the sheriff keep order in the town; they were not needed, and the excitement died away.

In all, three cowboys were killed, and the Earps and Doc Holiday were charged with murder. However a month later a judge declared their action “fully justified.”