The Wild West Extravaganza

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

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

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

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

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