Nick Brumby Westerns

"Don't mess with Texas, boy, it's the last mistake you'll ever make."*
This is Texas Ranger James Hawkins, circa 1875. And that's a stare that would stop a bullet dead in its tracks.

We could use a few more like him, huh?

DID YOU KNOW? The cow ponies of the 1880’s were four-year-old mustangs that lived on the open range.
These hardy steeds survived on grass and rarely topped 12 to 14 hands.
This awesome artwork is by fantastically talented artist Clark Kelley Price.

DID YOU KNOW? The unclaimed body of outlaw Elmer McCurdy was embalmed and sold to a traveling carnival to be used as a sideshow exhibit!

Stagecoach robber Charles ‘Black Bart’ Boles For a man who wrote poetry, was deathly afraid of horses, and maintained an air of politeness and sophistication while robbing stagecoaches, Charles Boles seemed an unlikely choice as a highwayman.

For a man who wrote poetry, was deathly afraid of horses, and maintained an air of politeness and sophistication while robbing stagecoaches, Charles Boles seemed an unlikely choice as a highwayman.

nickbrumbywesterns.com/stagecoach-r...

A group of likely-looking polecats looking for trouble during the Lincoln County War. The War began in 1878 between two factions competing for profits from dry goods and cattle interests, and saw as much as a quarter of the population of Lincoln, New Mexico to be murdered over a 5-month-period.

Good rules 🤠

Charles Siringo (right) was one of the most famous Pinkerton detectives of the Old West. He worked for several Texas ranches, becoming a trail driver in 1876, and accompanying a herd of 2,500 Longhorns over the Chisholm Trail from Austin to Kansas.

Old timers washing and panning for gold near Rockerville, South Dakota, around 1889.
Prospectors roamed the length and breadth of the American West from the very earliest days of settlement.

This wonderful piece of art is by master artist Frank McCarthy and is called 'The Warning'.
I've never seen a painting I can hear and feel so much. I can hear the echoes of the horse's hooves as they clatter over the bare rock and skid down the gravel...

Love it.

She was six feet tall, carried a big gun, and had a wicked temper. 'Stagecoach' Mary Fields was the first African American woman to carry mail on a Star Route for the United States Post Office.

What a character. I love Old West history

I stand corrected- thank you!

Someone once tried to get me to tell a joke about a lariat.

"No sir," I replied, "You won't rope me into that."

I'm here all day *boom-tish!*

“Cowboys need nothin’ more than a hat, horse, and the will to ride.”
Were there rules to being a cowboy? No. But every cowboy, ranch hand, range boss, and cowpuncher knew there were basic principles by which everyone lived by.

Colt Single Action Army revolver It’s fair to say that no gun in the history of the Old West has left a mark as deep as the Colt Single Action Army revolver.

It was carried by Custer’s men at Little Big Horn, and is still being produced more than 150 years after its introduction. It’s fair to say that no gun in the history of the Old West has left a mark as deep as the Colt Single Action Army revolver.
nickbrumbywesterns.com/colt-single-...

"There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry." - Col. Custer
Custer and his chief scout, Bloody Knife, consult a map of Sioux country on their first campaign together in 1873. Custer's two Russian wolfhounds lay sprawled at his feet.

This wonderful painting of Blackfoot warriors on horseback is by legendary Western master artist Howard Terpning. Can you hear the horses snorting in the early morning air...
The Blackfoot were a fierce, warlike Native American nation which lived on lands of the northern Plains

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok and William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, in 1873.
Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill first met at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Hickok became Cody’s mentor during this time.

Native Americans did not communicate as we know it through writing. Instead, they told stories (oral histories) and created pictures and symbols.
Symbols were also used to decorate homes, were painted on buffalo hides, and recorded important events of the tribe.

A no-nonsense gentleman. With a beard as impressive as his, he probably never needs ammo for that blunderbuss.

This painting is called "Out of Prospects" by artist Meadow Gist. I keep expecting the gent in the picture to start speaking to me. The artist has done a fantastic job of capturing his humanity, his personality... you can tell he's tough, uncompromising, but he also has great sense of humor

Al Swearengen and his Gem Theater Pimp, pioneer, entrepreneur, Old West legend. Al Swearengen was all these and more. One of the most ruthless, violent and outrageous characters ever to grace the American Frontier, Swearengen thrived ...

Pimp, pioneer, entrepreneur, Old West legend. Al Swearengen was all these and more.
One of the most ruthless, violent and outrageous characters ever to grace the American Frontier, Swearengen’s Gem Theater was one of the most popular brothels in Deadwood.
nickbrumbywesterns.com/al-swearenge...

They sure didn't waste any wood on that coffin...
Reuben Houston Burrow (AKA Rube Burrow) was an infamous outlaw during the final years of the American frontier, and one of the most hunted men in the Old West since Jesse James.

"Many's the poor devil I've killed... & the time has been that I've been obliged to feed on some of 'em"
-Boone Helm, who often murdered & ate his traveling companions

He was hanged by vigilantes in 1864

Just a fraction of the 275 wagons of Col. David Stanley’s 1873 Yellowstone Expedition. This was one of the earliest photos ever taken in Eastern Montana. Departing from Fort Rice, south of Bismarck, were 1,530 soldiers, 353 civilians, and 27 scouts. Lt. Col. George Custer was second in command.

Yeah... about that.... fine in theory, but my horse is never quite fast enough to carry me out of trouble 🤣🐴

"The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man, and give some back." Al Swearingen, 'Deadwood'.
The TV show was fun, but this photograph is the REAL Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1876.
I could lose myself in this image for days, I tell you.

And here's me thinking the saying was 'all hat and no cattle' 🤣😂🤠🐂

This awesome painting is "Movin' Across" by extremely talented artist Donald Teague.

I can feel the cold water around my legs as I push the herd, across the river, and hear them bellowing in protest...

A lovely picture of William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody from 1873. Look at that detail!

Buffalo BIll tried everything - he was an Army scout, Pony Express rider, ranch hand, wagon train driver, town developer, railroad contractor, bison hunter, fur trapper, gold prospector, and showman.

I don't care if you call yourself cowboy, cowpuncher, buckeroo or vaquero - if you live by the code of the West then you're alright by me.