David Lauterborn

Feb 23, 2024 | historynet.com | David Lauterborn

Each year since 1961 Western Writers of America has bestowed on a respected individual its Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the field of Western history. Previous Wister recipients include Oscar-winning director John Ford and actor John Wayne, Pulitzer-winning Kiowa poet and novelist N. Scott Momaday, historian Robert M. Utley and such bestselling novelists as Elmer Kelton and Tony Hillerman.

Feb 22, 2024 | historynet.com | Austin Stahl |David Lauterborn

Adding insult to injury, a Pawnee scout for the U.S. Army shot in 1869 by a member of his own command was for decades denied a marker reflecting his Medal of Honor for the same action. What makes the oversight worse is that Sergeant Mad Bear (Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish) was the first American Indian ever awarded his adoptive nation’s highest honor. Thanks to the diligent research of Wild West contributor Jeff Broome, the scout may finally have his day in the sun.

Jan 26, 2024 | historynet.com | Austin Stahl |David Lauterborn

There’s an element of truth to the maxim “the hat makes the man.” In the 19th century West, for example, certain headgear served to identify their wearers at a glance. Soldiers had the shako, firefighters the leatherhead, Indians the warbonnet and vaqueros the sombrero. But perhaps no other topper in history has symbolized a people and their region in such a defining way as the cowboy hat.

Dec 22, 2023 | historynet.com | Austin Stahl |David Lauterborn

Cephas William “Dick” Parr (1843–1911) never achieved the fame of fellow scout turned showman William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, though judging by this 1890s publicity photo, Dick struck as dashing a figure. His name is also linked to one of the most storied fights of the Indian wars.

Nov 7, 2023 | historynet.com | David Lauterborn

This circa 1880 photograph of the first grocery store to open in Lyons, Colorado, speaks to an uncomfortable truth: most people in the Old West did not wear Stetsons. As much as we’d like to imagine the citizens of every frontier boomtown moseying down wooden boardwalks in wide-brimmed, high-crowned, beaver-felt hats, they were impractically large, even for the broad streets of a mining town like Lyons. Anyway, most respectable men would rather bring a touch of Eastern class to the frontier.