The Last Stand of Nate Champion

The Last Stand of Nate Champion

On the morning of April 9th, 1892, a small army of mercenaries surrounded a cabin up in Johnson County, Wyoming. Would be a.ssa.ssins were financed by wealthy cattle barons, outfitted with brand new w3apons, and promised $5 per day, along with a $50 bounty for every man they k1lled. And the very first name on their list, man holed up in that cabin I just mentioned, was 34 year old cowboy Nate Champion.

One man all alone against 50 hardened k1llers. And what happened over the course of the next 12 hours would go down as one of the greatest last stands in all of the Old West. One made all the more remarkable considering that Champion remained calm enough to grab a pencil and document the @ttack, even as his cabin was riddled with bull3ts.

More on that in just a moment, but first, just to put things into context, let’s go ahead and take a look at what was happening up there in Wyoming that ultimately led to such a lopsided standoff. You see, the cattle industry experienced one h3ll of a b00m following the Civil W4r. There was a ma.ssive demand for beef, back east, the millions of acres of gra.ssland out west just there for the taking, especially in Wyoming.

Where it soon spread, and it wasn’t long before some pretty serious money started pouring in. I’m talking investors from places like New York, Boston, and even as far away as London and Scotland, all looking to cash in on the cattle bonanza. As a result, by the 1880s, much of Wyoming was dominated by wealthy ranching operations, and in order to protect their interest, the cattle barons formed a little something known as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, or the WSGA for short.

These were some of the most powerful and well connected men in all of Wyoming, and they basically ran the territory as if it was their own private kingdom. They controlled the roundups, they managed the cattle shipments. Hell, they even employed their own agency of detectives to investigate stock theft. And when they weren’t conducting business, they would all gather at the Cheyenne Club, a posh gentlemen’s est4blishment where they all smoked cigars and drank brandy with their little pinky fingers sticking out. The acting governor was a member. So were senators and judges and even lawmen. Basically, if you held any type of power or influence in Wyoming back in the 1880s or 90s, there was a very good chance that you were either a member of the WSGA or you owed them a favor. There was just one problem though. All that land that the cattle barons were using to graze their herds did not belong to them. At least not legally.

In all actuality, it was still considered part of the public domain. And thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862, any adult citizen could claim up to 160 acres for next to nothing. All they had to do was build a dwelling, live on it for a few years, make a few improvements, and they owned it free and clear. And yes, this would be the same land that was also being used by the WSGA.

Unlike the homesteaders, the cattle barons did not file on it and they didn’t legally own it, but nevertheless, they felt as if it was theirs by right of occupation. So, when all those sellers, the smaller ranchers began flocking in and putting up fences, the cattle barons viewed it as a personal insult. Then came the c4tastrophic winter of 1886 and 87.

A series of blizzards dumped a whopping 16 inches of snow across the northern Great Plains. Temperatures plummeted to 40 below zero and in some areas up to 80% of the open range cattle ended up perishing. So much so that the following roundup of 1887 was grimly referred to as the great d1e up. Dire outfits went bankrupt while others just cut their losses by slashing wages laying off their hired hands.

And really, this is when the trouble was kicked into overdrive. I mean, all those out of work cowboys had to go somewhere, right? And rather than return home, many of them just filed claims on the land that their former employers had been using for free. So, in return, the cattle barons began blacklisting the cowboys and pretty much anyone else who dared to raise herds of their own.

They also changed the laws to rig the roundups so that the smaller operators couldn’t participate. And when all that still wasn’t enough, they just began accusing the competition of stealing cattle. And by competition, I do mean those smaller ranchers and homesteaders. Didn’t matter if you were guilty or not.

If you weren’t a member of the WSGA, or at the very least, if you weren’t doing their bidding, you were simply labeled a rustler. And as I’m sure you can imagine, it wasn’t long before things turned vi0lent. In late June of 1889, WSGA lynched a pair of homesteaders, one of whom was a woman, based on absolutely nothing but trumped up charges.

They just wanted her land, so they murd3red her. Skipping ahead to 1891, and a horse trader named Tom Wagner was likewise lynched by masked men. And then, not long thereafter, two additional small ranchers, John Tisdale and Orley Jones, were sh0t and k1lled as they were leaving the town of Buffalo. These were separate 4mbushes, by the way.

Tisdale was a former trail boss who had come to town to buy Christmas presents for his kids. Whoever k1lled him also sh0t his dog and his horses. As for Jones, he was just a young cowboy purchasing lumber to build a cabin for his new bride. His bull3t riddled body was found just 3 miles from where Tisdale was murd3red.

And yeah, this was the environment that Nate Champion found himself in during the early 1890s. Originally from Texas, Nate most definitely came from a tough stock. His father was sheriff of Williamson County, and one of his aunts drove her own cattle to market as far away as Kansas. And in time, I’m Champion would do the same, just trailing herds and working his way north to Wyoming.

It’s there where he found employment with the big outfits and earned himself a reputation as a top hand. Everything was going great until he decided to file on a spread of his own, and that’s when the cattle barons accused him of being a rustler, just like everybody else. And in spite of eventually being dubbed the king of the cattle thieves, there is zero evidence that Nate ever stole a d@mn thing.

His biggest crime was simply starting a ranch of his own. That, and helping to organize the separate round up in direct defiance of the cattle barons. There’s a lot more involved. If you’d like to learn additional details, I would suggest checking out the series I did on Frank Canton in which I go very in depth on the Johnson County W4r.

I’ll drop a link down below. But long story short, WSGA would end up recruiting a small army of mercenaries with the express purpose of invading Johnson County and k1lling Chapman and the other leaders amongst the smaller ranchers. Guess they figured if they took out the leadership, everyone else would either fold or scatter.

And to make matters even worse, this invasion had the full backing of Wyoming’s political est4blishment, including the governor. Like I said, there’s a lot more involved, but in a nutsh3ll, this is how Nate Champion found himself under siege in early April of 1892. And by the way, this was not the first time that the cattle barons had tried to k1ll Champion.

Did I call him Chapman earlier? I For some reason, my brain just told me that I may have called him Chapman earlier. My bad. Anyway, the show must go on, right? So, the initial attempt on Champion’s life was actually 5 months prior on November 1st, 1891. That’s when a handful of g.unmen burst into Nate’s cabin while he was asleep and started shooting.

Champion miraculously managed to pull a pistol of his own from underneath his pillow and return fire, k1lling one of the @ttackers and forcing the others to retreat. Needless to say, on the second attempt, the k1llers would exercise a bit more caution. Rather than storm the cabin, they just waited until daybreak hoping that Nate would step outside.

Only thing is, Champion was not alone. Fellow cowboy Nick Ray was also with him there at the cabin, well as a pair of fur trappers who just happened to be pa.ssing through. Matter of fact, it was the fur trappers who were the first to step outside. Luckily for them, the mercenaries recognized that they were non combatants and let them go.

Nick Ray, however, would not be so lucky. As soon as he stepped outside looking to see what had become of the trappers, the k1llers opened fire and drilled him through and through. Ray managed to stagger back towards the cabin and collapsed near the doors. The rest of the invaders likewise started shooting. And what happened next would stun every man in attendance.

Braving a h3ll of g.unfire, Nate Champion appeared in the doorway, Winchester a blazing. And then, with bull3ts snapping all around him, he managed to run out, grab Ray, and haul him back inside to safety. And yeah, for the next several hours, the invaders just continued pumping round after round into the cabin, with Nate firing back sporadically just to keep them at bay and let them know that he was still alive.

And at some point during a lull, is when Champion grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper and began documenting the @ttack. I guess that at point, he knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive and just wanted to leave a record of what really happened. Quote, “It is now about 2 hours since the first sh0t.

Nick is still alive and they are still shooting all around the house. Boys, there is bull3ts coming in like h3ll.” Nate would continue shortly thereafter, writing, quote, “Nick is de@d. He d1ed about 9:00. I see smoke down at the st4ble and I think they have fired it. I don’t think they intend to let me get away this time.

Boys, I feel pretty lonesome just about now. I wish there was someone here with me so we could watch all sides at once.” Much to Champion’s surprise, his @ttackers soon began shooting at a wagon rushing by in the distance. According to Nate, quote, “It’s about 3:00 now. There was a man in a buckboard and one on horseback just pa.ssed.

They fired on them as they went by. I don’t know if they k1lled them or not. I seen lots of men come out on horses on the other side of the river and take off after them.” Now, unbeknownst to Chapman or Champion, god dammit, I’m going to keep calling him Chapman on accident. My bad. Uh but yeah, unbeknownst to Champion, the guy on the buckboard was a buddy of his named Jack Flag, another leader amongst so called wrestlers.

And luckily for Jack, he was able to escape and sound the alarm over in nearby Buffalo. In other words, the invaders had lost the element of surprise. This is very important as you’ll soon discover. For Champion, however, it was far too late. His fate was pretty much sealed. Quote, “Well, boys, they have just got through sh3lling the house like h3ll.

I heard them splitting wood. I guess they are going to fire the house tonight. I think I will make a break when night comes, if alive.” End of quote. And unfortunately for Nate, he was correct. Fire the house they would. The @ttackers ended up filling a wagon full of hay, setting it on fire, and then shoving it against the cabin while the others kept Champion pinned down with rifle fire.

The flames spread quickly as Nate jotted down his final note. “The house is all fired. Goodbye, boys, if I never see you again.” Sources do differ as to where exactly Nate fell or how many times he was sh0t before he gave up the ghost. All we know for certain is that he burst from the cabin, g.uns a blazing.

And moments later, he was de@d. We also don’t know how many of his opponents he took with him. According to one account, he only wounded two of them. Other sources claim that he k1lled as many as four and wounded several others. About the only thing everyone agrees on is that Champion went down f1ghting. Even the notorious Frank Canton, who helped orchestrate the entire @ttack, would admit as much as he gazed upon Nate’s lifeless body.

Quote, “He came out f1ghting and he d1ed game.” End of quote. He also bought time for his compadres. Remember the guy in the wagon, Jack Flag? Well, like I said, he did manage to reach Buffalo and sound the alarm. Johnson County Sheriff Red Angus then formed a posse comprised of around 200 very pissed off men.

And just like that, the h.unters became the h.unted. Nate’s k1llers were forced to seek refuge on a nearby ranch as they found themselves under siege for the next 3 days. And then, just as the sheriff and his posse were getting ready to blow them out with dynamite, that’s when the army showed up. Remember what I said earlier about the WSGA being politically connected? Apparently, one of their budd1es got in touch with the senator back east who woke up the d@mn president in the middle of the night begging him to send troops,

which he did. Sold1ers out of Fort McKinney. And what followed was nothing short of an outrage. Although the invaders were taken into custody, it was mostly for their own protection and they were able to pretty much come and go as they pleased. And when Johnson County tried to prosecute them for murd3r, all their money and political connections sought to it that the charges were dropped.

The Texans slipped home, the cattle barons returned to their ma.ssive estates, and not a single person was ever convicted of Nate Champion’s murd3r. One of the Texans g.unmen, guy by the name of George Tucker, later offered up a remarkably candid a.ssessment. “We were in Wyoming as paid a.ssa.ssins to the big ranchers.

We were brought there to murd3r men in violation of the law. Let no one mislead you by saying that we had the law on our side. We had the politics and the money, but not the law.” End of quote. Sounds a lot like what’s going on nowadays, right? There are just some people that almost seem untouchable. Instead of cattle barons meeting at the Cheyenne Club, you’ve got tech billionaires and hedge fund managers meeting at Davos.

And instead of buying off senators with cattle money, they’re buying them off with super packs and stock options. Instead of blacklisting cowboys, they lobby against labor protections and rights for workers. Their methods may be a little bit more polished, but the fundamental dynamic, small group of extremely wealthy and connected men using power to tilt the game in their own favor, that hasn’t changed one godd@mn bit.

And just like the WSGA, they are counting on the rest of us to feel like there’s nothing we can do about it. They’re just too big and we can’t possibly stand up to them. Or can we? Here’s the thing that they don’t want us to realize. There’s way more of us than there are of them. Nate Champion couldn’t take on the cattle barons all by himself.

Neither could Flag or Sheriff Angus. But together, combined with all of the small homesteaders, they did outnumber the rich cattlemen and their hired goons. So, did the voters of Wyoming who ended up kicking their a.sses out of office during the following election. And just like that, the power of the WSGA was forever broken.

Hell, by 1893, the once untouchable a.ssociation was even forced to open up its books to the smaller ranchers. And the cattle barons, despite all of their wealth and connection, are now remembered as the villains that they truly were, whereas guys like Nate Champion are still considered heroes. Sure, he may have lost the b4ttle, but it was his sacrifice that allowed the little guys to win the war.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that we all need to grab rifles and hole up in remote cabins, but I do think that we, just normal everyday people, we do have way more power than we think we do. So, with that in mind, how do we f1ght the modern day oligarchs in the same way that Nate Champion and his allies took on the cattle barons and the WSGA? First of all, we can stick together.

The mailman living next door, the accountant down the street is not your enemy just because they have slightly different political ideologies. Secondly, we can get off our a.sses and vote, and that does not mean voting on candidates based on what letter they have after their name. We got to actually take the time to see who’s giving them money and why are they giving them money? Who controls these people? And as far as the tech bros are concerned, we really do hold all the power.

Every subscr.i.ption that you cancel, every platform that you log off of, every small business you choose to support over something like Amazon, that sends a message. These men, despite their vast wealth, are not invincible. At the end of the day, they are entirely dependent on our attention and our money. And the moment we stop giving them both, the whole dirty system starts to fall apart.

Nate Champion didn’t have a super pack or a strong following on social media, and the cattle barons, for all their money and power, still couldn’t make the people of Wyoming forget what they did to him. History has a long memory, but so do we the people, especially when we decide to pay attention. And I guess that’s about all I’ve got on Ich Champion.

Thank you so much for joining me. Shorter episode today, my apologies, but I am trying something a little bit new. You know, there’s just some topics that we don’t always have enough information on to create a full length episode, but I do still think they’re important stories. So, going forward, I am just going to periodically drop a few of these shorter episodes, and they may even be shorter than this.

I’m talking just 10 minutes long. And I’m doing this, like I said, to not only cover topics that we don’t have a lot of information on, but it’s also a way for me to buy time to work on the longer stuff, like Wyatt Earp, which is coming soon. I promise. But yeah, just wanted to touch base with you, let you know what was going on, and uh yeah, thank you for all your support.

Be kind to one another, and until next time, adios.