Legends of the Old West

The Dakota War is done, but the conflict isn’t finished. Colonel Henry Sibley convenes a military commission to pass judgment on 400 Dakota warriors. The commission performs hasty trials and sentences an historic number of warriors to death. President Abraham Lincoln intervenes on behalf of some of the condemned, but the year 1862 still ends with the largest mass execution in American history.   J...

With Fort Ridgely reinforced, Colonel Henry Sibley sends troops on a burial mission that results in a disastrous ambush. Dakota warriors continue to sweep through the western half of Minnesota, and Colonel Sibley leads a column out of Fort Ridgely to confront the warrior army. At the Battle of Wood Lake, Sibley’s force delivers a crushing blow to the Dakota army and turns the tide of the war.   Jo...

After defenders at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm survive the first Dakota attacks, they re-fortify and brace for the second attacks. Dakota warriors assault both locations in greater numbers and threaten to overrun the two strongest pockets of resistance in southwestern Minnesota.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Blac...

At dawn on August 18, 1862, hundreds of Dakota warriors launch a surprise attack on the Lower Sioux Agency in southwestern Minnesota. The Dakota are starving, and the traders at the agency are hoarding food. After the agency, the Dakota sweep across the landscape and attack homes, farms, and towns. Soldiers at the nearest army outpost, Fort Ridgely, rush to the agency, but they march into a devast...

On August 17, 1862, four young Dakota men kill five white settlers near the village of Acton Township, Minnesota. The act of violence seems spontaneous, but it is fueled by desperation that had been building for years. That night, the leaders of villages in southwestern Minnesota gather for a heated council meeting. At dawn the next day, bands of the Dakota go to war against the settlers and the U...

The Nez Percé have performed an extraordinary feat: they have traveled more than 1,300 miles and repelled three American armies in a series of battles and smaller skirmishes. But they are sore and exhausted. They are within reach of the Canadian border and freedom, but another American army joins the hunt and forces the final showdown between the Nez Percé and the United States.   Join Black Barre...

The Nez Percé escape the Battle of Big Hole and move into Yellowstone National Park. Their options are limited and they choose a treacherous path over a mountain range to try to lose their army pursuers. But the army catches the Nez Percé at a narrow canyon and tries to end the conflict before the Nez Percé once again slip away.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blac...

The Nez Percé are on the run. They cross the Bitterroot Mountains and arrive in Montana. They believe they have left their troubles behind and can start fresh in a new territory. But they soon learn the truth. They are shunned, and sometimes betrayed, by their friends. A new American army unit joins the hunt from an unexpected direction and it clashes with the Nez Percé in a high mountain valley....

A few days after the Battle of White Bird Canyon, an army unit attacks a Nez Percé village. After the fight, the army unit becomes trapped at an abandoned ranch by the advancing Nez Percé column. The smaller fights lead to a two-day battle along the banks of the Clearwater River. The aftermath forces the Nez Percé to make a monumental choice in their pursuit of freedom.   Thanks to Nord VPN for sp...

In the summer of 1876, the murder of a Nez Percé man nearly starts the war. The following summer, a series of attacks by the Nez Percé against settlers who had invaded their homeland pushes the conflict over the edge. Two days of bloody attacks leads to the first battle between soldiers and warriors, and the home for peace is all but gone. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seas...

For about 50 years, there was relative peace in the U.S. and the Nez Percé. There were outbreaks of violence, like the Whitman Massacre, but not the continual warfare that existed between the U.S. army and other tribes. Tensions rose dramatically in the 1850s and 1860s when the U.S. proposed treaties that were designed to take nearly all Nez Percé land. By 1863, five bands of the Nez Percé were re...

As the violence begins to subside in Taney County, it ramped up in neighboring Douglas and Christian counties. The Baldknobbers in those counties wear terrifying masks during nighttime raids on their perceived enemies. But after a pair of murders in front of multiple witnesses, a county sheriff succeeds in stopping the vigilante leaders, and the vigilante movement finally collapses.   Join Black B...

After two years of vigilante activity by the Baldknobbers, many of the people in Taney County, Missouri want the group to disband. Some openly rebel against the powerful vigilantes. The conflict leads to more murders, and then the vigilantes spread beyond the borders of Taney County.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users j...

In 1883 in Taney County, Missouri, a murder case ends with an apparent lack of justice, and Nathaniel Kinney decides to take matters into his own hands. He forms a vigilance committee – nicknamed the Baldknobbers – whose goal is to punish criminals who escape the law. The vigilantes strike their first blow, but their seemingly righteous mission quickly turns to a campaign of harassment that spread...

In this episode, we attempt to separate fact from fiction and tell the story of the man whose life inspires books and the famous movie “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford. The truth is far different from the legend, but it still showcases a life full of adventure.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Bar...

The story of the man who is known as Jeremiah Johnson is shrouded in mystery. In this episode, the character of John Johnson joins the ranks of mountain men in the 1840s and soon embarks on an epic campaign of vengeance against Crow warriors. The mythical figure earns the nicknames “Crow Killer” and “Liver Eating Johnson” while he travels the West and experiences a superhuman number of adventures....

With his quest for revenge complete, Hugh Glass follows the new Santa Fe trail to territories that will become New Mexico and Arizona. But the call of the Rocky Mountains lures him north again. He helps establish new trading posts and fights one final battle with Native American warriors.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple us...

Hugh Glass is an older veteran trapper when he joins the Ashley-Henry fur company. In 1823, he suffers a catastrophic attack by a grizzly bear in the woods along the Grand River in what is now South Dakota. Against seemingly impossible odds, Hugh Glass survives his devastating injuries and begins a quest for revenge against those who left him for dead.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and...

In 1824, Jedediah Smith undertakes the journey of a lifetime. He travels across more of the West than any other explorer of the age. He battles starvation and Native American war parties, and ascends to co-owner of the Ashley-Henry fur company before retiring from the life of a trapper in the Rocky Mountains. Then, on his final adventure, his story ends in mystery.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free...

In 1822, Jedediah Smith answers an advertisement to join a new fur trading company led by William Ashley and Andrew Henry. Smith and the rest of the company head into the wilds of the Upper Missouri River country and find themselves tested by the weather, the terrain, the animals, and the Native American warriors who want to stop encroachment on their territory.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free ep...

Music from the Legends of the Old West podcast. Western-themed songs:   0:00 – Legends of the Old West Opening Cue 0:12 – Legends of the Old West Theme (Full Version) 1:36 – “Dust” 4:18 – “Riding West” 6:40 – “Providence” 8:54 – “Water Grave” 11:19 – “Dirt” 13:44 – “Desperado” 15:50 – “At The Frontier” 18:00 – “Coyote” 20:28 – “Meanwhile” 23:29 – “Lonesome” 25:30 – “Saddle Up” 28:38 – “Slow Rider”...

In November 1875, Captain Leander McNelly makes his most famous and controversial move: he leads his militia company into Mexico and attacks two villages to recover stolen cattle. His actions provoke a standoff with Mexican officials and consternation from his superiors, but his men love his bold strategy. After the events known as the Las Cuevas War, McNelly’s time in command draws to a close. Bu...

In South Texas, in an area known as the Nueces Strip, cattle rustling is a huge problem and it comes with an additional layer of complication: many of the rustlers are from Mexico. They ride across the border, steal Texas cattle, and drive the cattle to Mexico. In 1875, Captain Leander McNelly and his militia company are dispatched to the Rio Grande Valley to stop the rustlers from Mexico. Shortly...

In the early 1870s, the Horrell brothers were involved in the murder of a sheriff, the murders of State Police officers, a jailbreak, and a bloody episode known as the Horrell War in New Mexico before the infamous Lincoln County War. In 1877, they become embroiled in a deadly feud with the Higgins clan until Major John B. Jones dreams up a creative solution. Meanwhile, during the early stages of t...

 In 1875, Major John B. Jones leads the gradual transition of the Texas Rangers from frontier fighters to law enforcement officers. As Texas becomes the heart of the cattle ranching industry in America, cattle rustling becomes a serious problem. In Mason County, two factions battle each other. And as the murder rate rises, Jones leads the Rangers to town to try to settle the affair.   SELECTED BIB...