Legends of the West: Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp

Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the “Wild West”, which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind. In Charles River Editors’ Legends of the West series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most famous frontier figures in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Though they have long been overshadowed by their more famous brother Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp played decisive roles in some of the most famous events in the history of the Old West. Most notably, the two brothers were at Wyatt’s side for America’s most famous gunfight, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Though the gunfight lasted less than a minute, it is still widely remembered as the climactic event of the period, representing lawlessness and justice, vendettas, and a uniquely Western moral code. Fought in the middle of Tombstone, Arizona, the gunfight pitted the three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday against Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. By the time the 30 second gunfight was over, the McLaury brothers were dead in the street, Billy Clanton had suffered a painful and fatal gunshot wound to the chest, and Holliday, Virgil and Morgan Earp were all wounded.

To this day, the motives behind the gunfight, and exactly how it all went down, remain heavily debated, but the aftermath of the gunfight is much better known. Both Virgil and Morgan were the targets of assassination attempts in the coming months, precipitating the Earp Vendetta Ride in 1882.