Earp Vendetta Ride

Earp Vendetta Ride

Wyatt Earp began the search for the Cowboys who ambushed Virgil Earp in Charleston, Arizona Territory.
Date	March 20 to April 15, 1882
Location	Cochise County, Arizona Territory, United States
Participants	Wyatt, Warren, and James Earp; Doc Holliday, Sherman McMaster, Jack "Turkey Creek" Johnson, Charles Smith, Dan Tipton, and John Vermillion vs. Johnny Behan, Frank Stilwell, Pete Spence, Ike Clanton, Florentino Cruz, Curly Bill Brocius, Frederick Bode, Pony Diehl, Johnny Barnes, Frank Patterson, Milt Hicks, Bill Hicks, Bill Johnson, Ed Lyle, and Johnny Lyle
Outcome	Four Cowboys killed; arrest warrants issued for Earps and Holliday, who leave Arizona for good
Deaths	Frank Stilwell, Florentino Cruz, Curly Bill Brocius, and Johnny Barnes

The Earp Vendetta Ride was a search by Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, leading a federal posse, for outlaw Cowboys they believed had ambushed and maimed Virgil Earp and killed Morgan Earp. The Earp brothers had been attacked in retaliation for the deaths of three Cowboys in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. From March 20 to April 15, 1882, the federal posse searched southeast Cochise County, Arizona Territory for suspects in both Virgil's and Morgan's attacks. Several suspects had been freed by the court, owing in some cases to legal technicalities and in others to the strength of alibis provided by Cowboy confederates. Up to this point, Wyatt had relied on the legal system to bring the Cowboys to justice. Now he felt he had to take matters into his own hands.

On March 20, two days after Morgan's murder, Wyatt, his brothers Warren and James, Doc Holliday, and two other deputies were escorting Virgil and his wife Allie to a California-bound train in Benson. They learned that suspects Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell were already in Tucson. Wyatt changed plans and stayed with Virgil through to Tucson. After Virgil boarded the train that night, Wyatt spotted two men near the train that he thought were Clanton and Stilwell. He and several men chased Stilwell down and killed him. The other person got away. After Stilwell's body was found the next morning, the Tucson Justice of the Peace issued warrants for the arrest of the five men suspected of shooting him. When the lawmen returned to Tombstone, Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan got a telegram notifying him of the Tucson warrants. He attempted to detain the five members of Earps federal posse sought by the warrants, but they ignored him. Carrying arrest warrants for Curly Bill Brocius and others, they left Tombstone to find the Cowboys implicated in the attacks.