Western genre exists, by and large, as much as the movie itself. it lasted only about half a century (from the 1830s to the 1880s), but now it is part of the great American myth on which - and this is really so - the whole American culture is based.
Western is a real American classic. And, in fact, everything we know about the Wild West is gleaned from those same films about courageous and fearless cowboys and their determined spouses. But was it really so? Let's try to figure it out.
10. Much of what we know about the Wild West is not true.
Yes, a good half (or maybe more) of what we saw in Westerns is a common fiction. If we also take into account that a significant part of them were shot not by Americans, but by Italians (did you hear the term “spaghetti western”?), It becomes clear that there are big problems with real historical images.
The American cowboys were no heroes masterfully wielding all kinds of firearms. A cowboy is an ordinary shepherd who drives large herds of cows back and forth across the prairies.
And they didn’t engage in battles with the Indians (for the most trivial reasons: firstly, there were always not so many cowboys during the herd, obviously less than the Indians who entered the warpath; secondly, there were no showdowns with the Redskins so to speak, in their "duties", and indeed, you get involved in a particularly unnecessary shootout - goodbye, herd; and thirdly, there is no sense in quarreling with the Indians, whose lands are constantly chasing cattle).
And the cowboys did not arrange any duels on the main streets of the towns (they rarely used weapons at all).
9. A man without a weapon was not considered a full-fledged man
Yes, the tradition of keeping weapons in the house (just in case) appeared in the United States precisely in the days of the Wild West. Then this was a real need: a man should be able to get game to feed his family, and also protect her (family) if necessary.
Therefore, every self-respecting cowboy or farmer, of course, had that famous Colt or any other firearm.
But here about the phenomenal accuracy of literally every American from the Wild West (including women), one can doubt quite reasonably. Not all were excellent shooters beating at a coin from a distance of 200 meters.
8. Laws established by private offices
In large cities of the Wild West, there were fairly large police departments that did a good job of protecting public order and ensuring security. That is why the bandits tried not to go in there: they did their dark things, mainly in the countryside.
Robbing a bank, stealing and selling someone else’s cattle, “slowing down” and robbing an entire train is easy! But don’t be offended if you are shot without trial and immediately right at the crime scene.
The fact is that since there were almost no official representatives of the authorities in the “wild prairies”, their functions were performed by various private security and detective agencies (or “land offices”), which “adapted” existing laws to their own methods.
They usually did not arrest criminals - they shot to kill without warning (why bother with them?). By the way, the founder of one of the most famous such agencies was the famous Alan Pinkerton - the prototype of the "king of detectives" Nat Pinkerton.
7. Bandits intimidated sheriffs with possible revenge
You will say: “But there were sheriffs in the small towns of the Wild West?” Is not it so? Why didn’t they fight crime on their territory? ” In fact, they fought (as far as they could if there were only two or three assistants).
But in the countryside everyone knows everyone. And if the sheriff was fond of pursuing a local gang, he was quickly hinted that the bandits were aware of where his family lives or with whom he is connected by friendly and other ties.
And if he does not stop stopping them from “doing work”, then these people may suffer (even death). And the sheriff knew for sure - these are not just words.
6. White did not always win battles with the Indians
The white alien wars with the Indians - the indigenous inhabitants of the American continent, lasted, in total, three and a half centuries: almost from the beginning of the colonization of North America until 1890 (until the massacre at Wounded-Ni).
But they took on the most fierce character just in the era of the Wild West - by that time the Indians, uncompromisingly driven out to the most barren lands, were literally fighting for their survival.
And, judging by the Westerns, one can easily believe that the American army almost always defeated the Redskins (naturally, wild and bloodthirsty) with ease.
In fact, this, of course, is completely untrue. So, in the summer of 1876, the combined forces of the Lakota and Cheyenne Indians during the so-called "Sioux Wars" practically destroyed the 7th cavalry regiment of George Custer at Little Bighorn (moreover, Custer himself attacked the Indian camp, despite the fact that there were many women and children).
And 10 years before this major event, in 1866, the same Lakota and Cheyenne (as well as Arapaho) killed the detachment of Captain William Fatterman (81 people). And these are far from isolated cases.
5. It was not Indians who invented scalping
And since we started talking about the Indians - they didn’t start the barbaric tradition of scalping the defeated enemy either. Actually, this is the “invention” of whites.
The fact is that when the real war began to exterminate the Redskins (who did not want to move from their ancestral lands and sometimes were massively extinct by entire tribes thanks to the "good" white people who sold them cheap blankets infected with diseases that were fatal for the Indians), they were allowed to literally shoot like animals.
Moreover, the mercenaries who willingly took part in this genocide were also paid $ 25 for each red-skinned man.
But in order to prove the fact of the murder, it was necessary to provide some kind of “trophy”, and carrying with him, for example, his entire head is somehow not very convenient.
Therefore, it was thought up just to remove the skin with the hair from the head, because the scalp fits perfectly in any bag. And the Indians just began to do the same.
4. Decent people did not wear jeans
Now jeans are universal clothes, we put them on, as they say, "both in the feast and in the world." Everyone knows that they appeared in America.
Well, who heard that initially these comfortable pants were just a kind of work clothes, that is, clothes for dirty work?
They were worn exclusively by cowboys, farmers, gold miners, and slaves on plantations in the southern states. Not a single gentleman would have even thought of fastening "this."
By the way, the blue jeans in the Wild West, too, did not know - then they were dirty white, and until the 1870s. no one saw any practical need to paint them.
3. The cowboys had an unwritten “code of honor”
As we already know, cowboys were the most ordinary wage workers, and, often, they were also extremely poor. They found "vacancies" in the surrounding ranches and pastures and grazed someone else's cattle (sometimes without even their own horse) for a very modest payment.
But these “saddle and whip workers," nonetheless had a kind of code of good behavior. So, a cowboy would never start shooting at an unarmed man (firing at women and children was all the more strictly forbidden).
They also did not have the right to put on someone else's hat, and to jump on someone else's horse without the permission of the owner in their community was literally the same as "seduce someone else's spouse" (accordingly, the horse thieves were hung up without question).
Well, when leaving the city after a successful weekend, you had to grumble into the air and yell louder (as if in gratitude for the pleasure).
2. The bison were destroyed almost without exception
Far from the last reason for the most severe Indian wars was the destruction by white people of a huge number of bison. For the prairie Indians, these wild bulls were the main source of life - they fed on meat, made tools, clothes and dwellings (tipi and wigwams) from skins, bones and veins.
At the same time, the Indians never killed the bison without special need, hunting them as much as was necessary for the tribe at the moment.
But when the whites came to the lands of the Indians (and especially when they began to build railways here), the number of buffalo began to decrease rapidly.
They were beaten out by predators, not even in hundreds of thousands, but in millions, for example, if in 1800 the number of bison, according to approximate estimates, was about 30 million, then by the end of the 19th century there were less than a thousand (!) Of them left.
The American army was supplied with hides and meat of bison, and in addition, a significant part of the “booty” was profitably sold to Europe.
1. Some of the pioneers of the Wild West had to eat people
In the winter of 1846-1847 there was a terrible story related to immigrants to the West. Later it was called Donner Party.
62-year-old George Donner and 46-year-old James Reed, who lived in Springfield, Illinois, were too inspired by the booklet of a certain Mr. Hastings, a lawyer who visited California and urged everyone to immediately go to this place blessed by God.
Moreover, Hastings assured that he knows a shorter way to California (shorter by as much as 600 kilometers compared to the one that most immigrants go). As it turned out later, Hastings himself did not go this way.
Reed and Donner loaded their families into the carts and pushed out on the road. On the way, several more large families joined them, as a result, the total number of group members reached 87 people (on 23 wagons).
They were in a hurry to get to the first cold weather. But, having already covered almost a full 4 thousand kilometers (it remained to cover only some 200 km through the Sierra Nevada mountains), the group suddenly got stuck on a pass impassable for carts due to early snow and breakdowns.
In a matter of days, the pass was covered with snow so that in some places the snowdrifts reached a height of 6 meters. As a result, Donner with people was forced to winter in the mountains, trying to survive for 4 months and get out of the trap. (Reed was expelled from the group long before the murder of one of the drivers, and he safely reached California himself).
When at the end of February 1847 they were found by the first rescue expedition, only 48 people remained from the group, extremely exhausted and almost mad. As it turned out, many of them survived, mainly by eating the corpses of their deceased comrades. (But only one man openly admitted this).