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by The Wild West Extravaganza
The Wild West Extravaganza is a weekly history podcast that brings the real stories of the Old West and American frontier to life. Each episode explores the legendary outlaws, gunfighters, lawmen, cowboys, Native Americans, and frontiersmen who shaped the West. From iconic names like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Geronimo to overlooked tales of shootouts, cattle drives, and wild frontier towns, this podcast delivers the drama, grit, and historical truth of Western history. Discover the legends and forgotten figures that defined the American West.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 3 weeks ago35 min
Sixteen Scalps: The Legend of Jerry Potts
In the fall of 1874, about three hundred men of Canada's newly formed North West Mounted Police were lost on the prairie, watching their horses die and searching for a whiskey fort they couldn't find. Their rescue came in the form of a short, bow-legged horse trader named Jerry Potts. The son of a Scottish fur trader and a Blood woman named Crooked Back, Potts lost his father to a bullet meant for someone else and was raised among traders and his mother's Blackfoot people. By adulthood, he had earned a fearsome reputation, taking sixteen scalps at the Battle of Belly River in 1870 and working as a hunter for the whiskey men at Fort Whoop-Up until the murder of his own mother turned him against the trade. Hired by the Mounties at Fort Benton, he would spend the next twenty-two years as their guide and interpreter. But separating the man from the legend means sorting through tales of Lakota war parties, a snow-blind ride through a blizzard, a council with Sitting Bull, and a child’s chamber pot. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 8, 202616 min
Billy Bastards: Did Billy the Kid Have Children?
In July of 1881, Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Pat Garrett in a darkened bedroom at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He was just twenty-one years old, possibly younger, and had spent the better part of three years among the young women of Fort Sumner, earning a reputation as something of a ladies' man. That same year, rumors swirled that Paulita Maxwell, the teenage sister of the man in whose bedroom Billy died, was carrying the Kid's child. More than a century later, a book by Elbert Garcia would claim that Billy fathered a son with Fort Sumner resident Abrana Garcia. But the records tell a different story, and the search for Billy's children leads instead to the women who mourned him, a would-be brother-in-law who may have helped set him up, and a photograph that bears a stark resemblance. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 1, 202657 min
Was the Civil War Really About States Rights?
Was the Civil War fought over slavery or states' rights? Today we’ll examine the primary sources: the secession declarations of South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas, the ordinances of the other Confederate states, Alexander Stephens's Cornerstone Speech, Jefferson Davis's own words to the Confederate Congress in 1861, and Lincoln's letters on slavery and the Union. We'll also discuss the Corwin Amendment, the Crittenden Compromise, the tariff argument, why poor Southern farmers enlisted, the truth about Black Confederates and the Louisiana Native Guard, Black slave owners, Union atrocities, and how the Lost Cause myth spread from Edward Pollard's 1866 book through the United Daughters of the Confederacy and into Southern history textbooks, including the ones I used growing up in Texas. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ South Carolina Declaration of Causes, December 24, 1860: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, November 24, 1832: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/ordnull.asp Mississippi Declaration of Causes, January 9, 1861: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp Texas Declaration of Causes, February 2, 1861: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp Georgia Declaration of Causes, January 29, 1861: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_geosec.asp Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861. Henry Cleveland, Alexander H. Stephens, in Public and Private (1866), pp. 717 to 728: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-corner-stone-speech/ Stephens's disavowal and "Slavery was without doubt the occasion of secession": Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens, ed. Myrta Lockett Avary (1910), diary entry June 5, 1865. Secession ordinances of all eleven states, including Alabama and Virginia: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/secession-acts-thirteen-confederate-states Also Dwight T. Pitcaithley, ed., The U.S. Constitution and Secession (University Press of Kansas, 2018). Virginia Ordinance of Secession, April 17, 1861: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/virginia-ordinance-of-secession-april-17-1861/ Secession commissioners, including George Williamson of Louisiana to the Texas convention: Charles B. Dew, Apostles of Disunion (University of Virginia Press, 2001). Arkansas convention, March 1861 resolutions, and May 6 secession: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/secession-convention-6304/ James M. Woods, Rebellion and Realignment (University of Arkansas Press, 1987). Florida's unadopted draft Declaration of Causes: State Archives of Florida, Series 577; reprinted in Pitcaithley (2018). Washington Peace Conference, February 1861: Daniel W. Crofts, Reluctant Confederates (UNC Press, 1989). Lincoln's call for 75,000 militia, April 15, 1861, and the secessions of Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina: James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1988), chapter 9. Constitution of the Confederate States, March 11, 1861: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp Jefferson Davis, message to the Confederate Congress, April 29, 1861: James D. Richardson, ed., Messages and Papers of the Confederacy (1905), vol. 1. Jefferson Davis, Senate farewell, January 21, 1861: https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/archives/documents/jefferson-davis-farewell-address Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881), vol. 1. Edward A. Pollard, The Lost Cause (1866). General reading: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. David W. Blight, Race and Reunion (Harvard University Press, 2001). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 10, 20261h 37m
Did Custer Deserve to Die?
Did Custer deserve to die at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and did the Lakota steal the Black Hills? In this reaction episode of the Wild West Extravaganza, we’ll dig further into the history behind the Great Sioux War of 1876. Topics include the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, the Black Hills gold rush, Ulysses S. Grant's secret White House meeting, the Watkins report, the December 1875 ultimatum, and the 1980 Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Sioux Nation. We also cover the Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Arikara claims to the Black Hills, Red Cloud's War, the Grattan Massacre, Major Reno and Captain Benteen at the Reno Court of Inquiry, Bloody Knife and Gall, the jammed Springfield carbines, Custer's rumored presidential ambitions, the Washita, Sand Creek and Chivington, the Pawnee and Massacre Canyon, the Dakota War of 1862, and whether historians are biased about George Armstrong Custer and Native American history. Custer’s Last Stand (Part 1) – https://www.wildwestextra.com/custers-last-stand-hero-or-fool/ Reno Hill: Surviving Little Bighorn (Part 2) - https://www.wildwestextra.com/reno-hill-surviving-the-little-bighorn/ Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Aug 26, 202617 min
Fat Alice & the Battle of the Bordellos
In the spring of 1886, two El Paso madams went to war over a young prostitute named Bessie Colvin, and by the time the smoke cleared, one of them was shot in her privates and the other was under arrest for attempted murder. This is the story of Alice Abbott, the six-foot-tall brothel operator known as Fat Alice, and her rival across the street, Etta Clark, better known as Etta the Grasshopper. We cover how prostitution actually worked in the Old West, from the crib girls at the bottom to the saloon girls and the high-end parlor houses, along with the $10 weekly fine that conveniently went straight into the pockets of the El Paso police department. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Aug 13, 202629 min
A Short History of Dodge City
Dodge City, Kansas, earned its reputation as the wickedest little city in America in just a single year, back when it was still a lawless buffalo camp with no sheriff, no judge, and nothing more than a hole in the ground for a jail. In the years that followed, Texas cattle replaced the buffalo and transformed Dodge into the Queen of the Cowtowns. And the lawmen who kept a lid on the violence, like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, went on to become some of the most famous names of the Old West. Also discussed are Dora Hand, Bill Tilghman, Clay Allison, Charlie Bassett, Ed Masterson, Luke Short, Mysterious Dave Mather, the Dodge City War, and the infamous Long Branch saloon.Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Aug 6, 202624 min
Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane might be the most famous woman to ever come out of the Old West. According to the legend, she scouted for the Army, rode for the Pony Express, fought hostile natives, and married Wild Bill Hickok. The only problem is almost none of that is true. Join me as we dig into the real Martha Jane Canary. We'll discuss her tumultuous childhood, the truth about her romance with Wild Bill (and why she's really buried beside him at Mount Moriah), her work for Al Swearengen at the Gem Theater, friendship with Buffalo Bill Cody, and a ton more! The myth cast Canary as a buckskin heroine, but the actual evidence makes her much more interesting. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jul 30, 202620 min
Drugs in the Old West
DISCLAIMER: This video is a historical documentary about medicine, pharmacy, and substance use in 19th-century America. It is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing in this video promotes, encourages, or provides instruction for the use of any illegal substance. Many of the substances discussed were legal during the period covered but are now controlled substances. They caused enormous harm, addiction, and loss of life, both then and now. This channel does not condone or promote illegal drug use of any kind. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357, a free, confidential, 24/7 resource. This is a documentary-style look at pharmaceutical use on the American frontier. We cover the history of morphine and the hypodermic syringe, the myth of the Civil War Soldier's Disease, the real history of opium dens in mining towns like Virginia City, the first anti-opium laws in American history, and the truth behind certain movies like Tombstone and Wild Bill. We also dig into the history of cocaine in patent medicine, whether cowboys really smoked cannabis, Quanah Parker and his advocacy of peyote, Doc Holliday’s use of laudanum, and how Bayer marketed heroin as a cough remedy in 1898. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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About The Wild West Extravaganza
The Wild West Extravaganza is a weekly history podcast that brings the real stories of the Old West and American frontier to life. Each episode explores the legendary outlaws, gunfighters, lawmen, cowboys, Native Americans, and frontiersmen who shaped the West. From iconic names like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Geronimo to overlooked tales of shootouts, cattle drives, and wild frontier towns, this podcast delivers the drama, grit, and historical truth of Western history. Discover the legends and forgotten figures that defined the American West.
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