1876 in the American Old West

[edit] Events

After being wounded in the hip during a gunfight in Sweetwater, Texas, Bat Masterson agreed to become assistant city marshal of Dodge City.
Several members of the James-Younger Gang, including Cole Younger, are captured after the failed robbery of the First National Bank leads to a gunfight with bank employees and local residents in Northfield, Minnesota.
March 17 - After refusing to comply with the federal governments order to leave the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory, General George Cook attacks the forces of Sioux chieftans Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeating them at the Battle of Powder River beginning the Great Sioux War.
June 17 - Cook's forces are forced to withdraw following his defeat by Crazy Hoursae at the Battle of Rosebud.
June 25 - While leading an attack into a Souix village, the US 7th Cavalry under Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer is ambushed and wiped out by over 2,000 Souix and Commanche warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
August 2 - James "Wild Bill" Hickok is shot in the back of the head and killed by a drunk during a poker game in Deadwood, South Dakota. Hickok, who had supposedly been holding two pair of aces and eights at the time of his death, has since been known to gamblers as the "dead man's hand".