COWBOYS & PISTOLS

We’re going to add another element to the posts on Cowboy to Cowboy.  And that is “Old West Myth and Fact.”  As with anything that has happened in the past, even my exploits, when time gets between the event and the present, a lot of myth begins to surround the fact.  And this is very true with the Old West.

So, we’re going to look at things that we accept as fact and see if it truly was fact.  We’re asking you to put in your two cents, because we could be wrong.  The desire is to discover the truth about how it really happened.

The first topic we’ll cover is cowboys and pistols.  From everything I’ve been able to discover cowboys normally didn’t carry pistols.  First, anytime they were working cattle, the pistol would get in the way.  On a cattle drive a long gun was much more practical.  Any pistols stayed in the chuck wagon.

 Many a cowboy never buckled on a six-shooter because gunmen normally never bothered a man without a gun, and a man without a gun sure wasn’t going to bother a man with one.

 In addition, most western towns wouldn’t allow guns to be carried within the city limits.

What do you say?