I think we all know the story of Billy the Kid, or at least some version of it. Billy the Kid is one of our country’s most notorious outlaws, creating a legend that has been told countless times. Even though every version of the story is different, ...
Americana
The Sad Fate of the Man Behind the Legendary Colt Walker Revolver
Two of the most iconic words in the world of gun collecting are “Colt Walker.” Only 1,000 of the revolvers were ever made for the US military, and only 100 more were made for civilians. Of those, only about 10% survived. That scarcity has propelled ...
‘River Dave’ Skips Court, Potentially Saves Camp From Another Fire
David Lidstone, a famous hermit who lives on the Merrimack River in New Hampshire, where he’s better known as River Dave, was arrested in December 2021 for trespassing in an ongoing dispute with the owner of the land where he’s been living for ...
Lincoln Shot a Spencer Rifle With the Gun’s Designer on the National Mall
When Christopher Miner Spencer died in January 1922 after 88 years of life, he’d accomplished quite a lot. The inventor had filed multiple patents over his long career for a number of firearms, among other things. He even produced some of the ...
The Unceremonious Death of Samuel Colt
On Jan. 10, 1862, Samuel Colt passed away at his home in Hartford, Connecticut. He was one of the wealthiest men in America, with an estimated worth of $15 million ($413 million today). Death cares little about money, though. Colt died at the ...
Virtual Reality YouTube Series Puts Viewers in Civil War Trenches
A 2015 survey from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that half of all Americans are unaware of when the Civil War took place. In an innovative effort to educate Americans and promote deeper understanding of that ...
Reader’s Choice: The 10 Biggest Free Range American Stories of 2021
This was a good year for Free Range American. We grew by hundreds of percentage points in every conceivable metric and covered a wide range of topics (and controversies) other outdoor media sites were afraid to touch. We broke the news on an ...
Warts and Beauty Marks: The Homestead Act and the Making of America
The United States is referred to as “The Land of Opportunity,” and while “opportunity” has long been the focal point of that phrase, there was a time when “land” was the opportunity. On May 20, 1862 — smack dab in the midst of the Civil War — a piece ...
How the American Civil War Changed Santa Claus
Ask any kindergartener what Santa looks like, and they’ll probably tell you he has a red suit, a big, round belly and a long, white beard. The classic Christmas song “Must Be Santa,” written in 1960 by Mitch Miller, describes him in even greater ...
Washington Crossing the Delaware in 1776 Was a Last Resort
Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, is undoubtedly one of the most “America, fuck yeah!” paintings that depict any part of the American Revolution. In recent years, the painting of George Washington crossing the ...
How a Depleted Utah Silver Mine Almost Started a War With England
Local rumor has it that the Emma Silver Mine in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon almost started a war with England in the 1870s. Located near the Alta Ski Area (of 2002 Winter Olympics fame), the Emma Mine consists of a large tunnel bored ...
Everything You Know About the Boston Tea Party is Probably Wrong
Everyone knows about the Boston Tea Party, right? King George III of England levied yet another tax on the American colonists, this time on the most basic and necessary commodity of tea. It was the last act before the kettle of revolution began to ...
Anne LaBastille Was A Badass Woman of the Woods
As far as writers go, you don't find many routinely perched in a canoe floating in the middle of a lake with a typewriter balanced on their knees and a German Shepherd perched at the other end of the boat, but that's how you were likely to find Anne ...
Oliver Winchester and Sam Colt: Innovators and Lousy Gunmakers
The Winchester name is one of the best-known firearm brands in the world. Its namesake, Oliver Winchester, oversaw the evolution of the lever-action rifle and its rise to fame as “The Gun That Won the West.” When the company’s patriarch passed away ...
Blood & Feathers: Wildlife Conservation and Fashion’s Lust for Birds
The stench of death loomed. Bombs exploded. Shots echoed along the street. Last words were forced from blood-stained lips, “Sophie dear! Don’t die! Stay alive for our children!” War dawned on the horizon. Gavrilo Princip steered Europe into conflict. ...
Hiram Maxim: The Right Place, Right Time, Right Gun to Change History
The United States is often called the “Land of Opportunity,” but for Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, that wasn’t exactly the case. This week marks the 105th anniversary of his death, and the story of his life is a remarkable one full of near successes and ...
Mount Up: The American Range Wars Of The Wild West
The Wild West of lore ended a little after the turn of the 19th century, but it didn’t go down without a fight. As civilization made its final push into the West, farmers and ranchers had a war over whether the region would be open range or ...
Smith and Wesson Founded Their Gun Company 165 Years Ago, Not 169
Smith & Wesson is one of the oldest gunmakers in the United States, but exactly how old depends on who you ask. According to Smith & Wesson’s website and official story, the company began in 1852 when Horace Smith and D. B. Wesson decided ...
Photos: What Old West Life Was Really Like in Tombstone, Arizona
Thanks to television shows like Deadwood and every movie that falls under the genre heading of "Western," we have a particular version of what life was like in towns like Tombstone, Arizona, in our American pop-culture collective mind. Of course, ...
Annie Oakley: A Legend Who Taught Thousands of Women to Shoot
Annie Oakley learned how to shoot young. She developed it as a practical skill to help feed her family when she was 8 years old in 1868 and she was still known as Phoebe Ann Mosey. Oakley often repeated a story about that very first shot outside her ...
Sitting Bull Has Great-Grandson in South Dakota, DNA Test Confirms
If you want to find out if the milkman is your dad, Maury can help you out. If you’re trying to learn about all the branches of your family tree, there are a bunch of genealogy websites that will connect the dots you need connecting. But if you want ...
Horace Smith, Half of Smith & Wesson, Was Born 213 Years Ago
The names “Smith” and “Wesson” sound as natural together as Lewis and Clark or Tom and Jerry. The S&W brand has been a mainstay of the modern gun world practically since it began in the 19th century. It can be easy to forget the gun-building ...
1947 Texas City Disaster: The Deadliest Industrial Accident in US History
On the morning of April 16, 1947, a fire broke out in the hold of a cargo ship docked at the Port of Texas City. Crowds of spectators gathered to watch firefighters work and to watch oddly colored smoke plume from the ship. Then, in an instant, they ...
Forest Service Retires Last Cobra Attack Helicopters Used for Wildfire Ops
The sound of rotor chop fills the sky, sending choking-thick smoke in tight-whipped swirls. Fire cracks and races furnace-hot below, consuming trees, vegetation, and structures, chasing animals, and forcing people to run panicked with what little ...
Mountain Man Seth Kinman: A Legendary Hunter with Presidential Pals
The early 19th century was an era of explorers, hunters, tall tales, and the mountain man. No one personifies all of that better than Seth Kinman. If you've never heard of him, sit back and get ready for a hell of a story about a legendary hunter, ...
More American Monsters: 5 Creepy Creatures Made in the USA
The United States is a large and diverse nation with a rich tapestry of folklore to call its own. Some of it is mystical and whimsical, some of it is terrifying. While a few local legends that make the ol’ neck hair stand on end have roots in other ...
Quill Master Hand Crafts Gear The Native American Way
A lot of people think of beadwork as being the quintessential Native American decorative art, but long before Europeans brought glass beads to these shores, tribal artists were crafting beautifully decorated clothing and objects. The media they ...
Teddy Roosevelt Ran a Suppressor on Three of His Hunting Rifles
The 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, liked guns, and he liked to shoot. He famously quipped: “I don’t know how to shoot well, but I know how to shoot often.” The architect of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation ...
American Monsters: 5 Terrifying, US-Made Original Horrors
You’re alone on a country road covered in fog with no phone and no gun. The piercing cry of something — not animal, not human — sounds in the distant darkness. A chill runs through your veins as your mind conjures up images of cursed forest-dwelling ...
What Happened to William Clark After the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
William Clark may be best remembered for his pivotal role as half of the team behind the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but the 30 years of his life that bookended his time with the Corps of Discovery were just as exciting. In addition to charting a ...
