Wyoming attorney John W. Davis retells the story of the West’s most notorious range war. Having delved more deeply than previous writers into land and census records, newspapers, and trial transcripts, Davis has produced an all-new interpretation. He looks at the conflict from the perspective of Johnson County residents—those whose home territory was invaded and many of whom the invaders targeted for murder—and finds that, contrary to the received explanation, these people were not thieves and rustlers but legitimate citizens. The broad outlines of the conflict are familiar: some of Wyoming’s biggest cattlemen, under the guise of eliminating livestock rustling on the open range, hire two-dozen Texas cowboys and, with range detectives and prominent members of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, “invade” north-central Wyoming to clean out rustlers and other undesirables. While the invaders kill two suspected rustlers, citizens mobilize and eventually turn the tables, surrounding the intruders at a ranch where they intend to capture them by force. An appeal for help convinces President Benjamin Harrison to call out the army from nearby Fort McKinley, and after an all-night ride the soldiers arrive just in time to stave off the invaders’ annihilation. Though taken prisoner, they later avoid prosecution. The cattle barons’ powers of persuasion in justifying their deeds have colored accounts of the war for more than a century. Wyoming Range War tells a compelling story that redraws the lines between heroes and villains.

Located in east central Georgia, Johnson County was established from the already existing counties of Washington, Emanuel, and Laurens. It was created on Decemner 11, 1858, and was the 129th county to be organized in the state. From its inception, the county has been home to a hardworking and spirited people who are loyal to their neighbors and unyielding in their sense of civic and patriotic duty. It is their story that is celebrated, in word and image, within the pages of this treasured volume. Over 200 photographs from the archives of the Johnson County Historical Society, the Wrightsville Headlight, and the Johnson Journal shed light upon bygone days in the county, when residents lived and worked at a pace set by nature rather than technology. Readers will return to a hallowed time in a young and optimistic America, when the South was full of charming small towns and communities where no one knew a stranger. Teeming with faces of the past, this visual journey will pique the interest of anyone who has ever called the county home and will warm the hearts of those who remember the Johnson County of yesteryear.