EDUCATORS’ PERSPECTIVE
National Park Service; Richard Collier, photographer
Front of the original TA Ranch house, located approximately 14 miles south of Buffalo, Wyoming.
drew up a list of as many as 70 Johnson
County residents slated for assassination.
The regulators 2 planned a surprise assault
on Buffalo where they would first do away
with Sheriff Angus, his deputies and the
Johnson County commissioners. They
would then fan out, find and dispose of the
rustlers on the list. In their righteous indignation,
the invaders assumed that the good
people of Johnson County would rise up
and join them in the purge. However, the
locals were upset and frightened about the
cold-blooded murders of Tisdale and Jones.
Most believed that the big Johnson County
cattlemen were behind those murders.
WSGA members provided over
$100,000 to fund the expedition. Wolcott
was chosen to lead the invasion with Irving
as second-in-command. Wyoming Governor
Amos W. Barber was kept abreast of
the plans and played an important role by
sending a telegram prior to the invasion
instructing the Wyoming National Guard
to only follow orders directly from the
governor and ignore any requests for help
from local authorities. Wyoming Senators
Joseph Cary and Francis Warren were also
apprised of the plan.
A train was sent to Texas where more
than 20 gunmen had been hired. Horses
and “enough ammunition to kill all the
people in the state of Wyoming” were
purchased in Colorado. The train rolled
into Cheyenne, and the passenger car containing
the Texans was quickly coupled to
a special train loaded with horses, wagons
and gear. Several of the WSGA ranch
owners—along with their ranch foremen
and hired hands—boarded the train in
Cheyenne. A few WSGA stock detectives,
including Frank Canton, also joined the
group. According to Davis, 52 men were
on the train.
Smith wrote, “The famous train, the
‘secret,’ ‘mysterious’ invasion special, got
away from Cheyenne in the late afternoon
of Tuesday, April 5, 1892, amid a flurry of
rumor and speculation. While the leaders
congratulated themselves that their
preparations had gone unobserved, the
train’s departure was undoubtedly one
of the worst-kept secrets in the history of
the West.” As the train made its way to
Casper, the telegraph wire to Buffalo was
cut by WSGA operatives.
The train arrived in Casper before dawn
the next day, and the regulators began the
112-mile trek to Buffalo. Things quickly
went awry when a spring blizzard hit. The
force slogged along for two days before
reaching the TTT Ranch about 65 miles
from Casper. Mike Shonsey, who had
been scouting the route ahead, rode back
to the TTT with news that 15 rustlers were
staying at the nearby KC Ranch. Some
of the group wanted to push on to Buffalo
ignoring Shonsey’s news, but Wolcott
chose to attack the KC.
Shortly before midnight on April 8, the
regulators headed to the KC Ranch for an
early morning raid. They surrounded the
cabin where Nate Champion, Nick Ray
and two overnight visitors were sleeping.
They quickly apprehended the two visitors
when they came out of the cabin. Ray
stepped outside to check on the visitors
and was felled by one of the Texans. He
dragged himself toward the cabin door
where Champion soon appeared firing at
the invaders. Champion helped Ray back
to the cabin and proceeded to hold off his
attackers for most of the day. The invaders
decided to set the cabin on fire to force
Champion out. They accomplished this
by ramming a burning wagon up against
the cabin. The ensuing fire forced Champion
to flee in his stocking feet, a Winchester
rifle in one hand and a revolver
in the other. 3 As he headed south toward
a ravine, two Texans hiding there quickly
gunned him down. Champion lost his
life, but by singlehandedly holding off the
invaders for several hours, he allowed time
for a number of locals who witnessed the
standoff to sound the alert in Buffalo. The
element of surprise had vanished. 4
Nevertheless, the invaders pushed on
arriving at the TA Ranch, 5 about 14 miles
south of Buffalo, on the morning of April
10. The next morning, they began their
final push to Buffalo, but they retreated to
the TA Ranch after learning that Sheriff
Angus was headed their way leading a
group of 250 armed men. Instead of supporting
the invaders, the citizens of Johnson
County rose in anger to repel them.
8 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2020 | www.MoAF.org