CHAPTER ONE GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL In 1881 one of the most famous shootouts in history occurred in Tombstone Arizona Virgil Earp was the town marshal He recruited his brothers Wyatt and Morgan as deputies They fought outlaws in Tombstone Their friend Doc Holliday joined them in the shootout On the other side were the McLaury and Clanton brothers These brothers were part of an outlaw gang called the Cowboys The Earps had made many claims against the Cowboys Among them was Tombstone Arizona made the O.K. Corral gunfight site a tourist attraction
that the Cowboys were illegally armed Only sheriffs and marshals could have weapons in Tombstone On October 26 1881 the Earps and Doc Holliday faced the Cowboys outside the O.K. Corral There were likely at least eight men in the standoff The lawmen warned the Cowboys to put down their weapons They refused A gunfight erupted In less than a minute three men from the gang were dead MANIFEST DESTINY John O'Sullivan coined the term Manifest Destiny in an 1845 magazine article Manifest Destiny was a somewhat widely held belief that the United States was destined to expand west across the continent This belief was used to justify obtaining more land and relocating Native American tribes Holliday and two of the Earp brothers were wounded But they had protected the 7,000 people of Tombstone from outlaws This is how the story of the O.K. Corral is often told But the
UNITED STATES EXPANSION Before Europeans arrived in North America Native Americans lived there Over time the European countries claimed the native peoples land The United States eventually took control of the land through wars treaties and purchases The map below shows the United States expansion Why do you think the United States wanted this land How does the map help you understand the events of westward expansion Original United States 1783 Louisiana Purchase from France 1803 Purchase of Florida from Spain 1819 Annexation of Texas 1845 Area acquired from the Oregon Treaty after disputes with Great Britain 1846 Area acquired from Mexico after the Mexican American War 1848 Gadsden Purchase from Mexico 1853
