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.
March 17 - After Sioux chieftans Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refuse to comply with the Federal government's order to leave the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory, General George Crook attacks their forces, defeating them at the Battle of Powder River beginning the Great Sioux War.
June 17 - Crook's forces are forced to withdraw following his defeat by Crazy Hourse at the Battle of Rosebud.
June 25 - While leading an attack into a Souix village, the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment 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 at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
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".
September 7 - 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.