Living Frontier History
The TA Guest Ranch is the site of the historic Johnson County War, and is a Smithsonian Institute National Historic Landmark. Open to the public year round, the TA Ranch is still a working cattle ranch and guest facility, featuring a restaurant, guest accommodations, and a conference center.
“On April 5, 1892, 52 armed men rode a private, secret train north from Cheyenne. Just outside Casper, Wyo., they switched to horseback and continued north toward Buffalo, Wyo., the Johnson County seat. Their mission was to shoot or hang 70 men named on a list carried by Frank Canton, one of the leaders of this invading force.
They surrounded Champion. For hours he fought the 50 men, wounding three. Finally, during the middle of the afternoon of April 9, 1892, the invaders torched the cabin, forcing him out and shooting him down.
By then, however, the countryside had been alerted, and men all over the area rushed to confront the invaders. The invaders holed up south of Buffalo at the T. A. Ranch. There, they were surrounded by local citizens—a posse that eventually grew to more than 400 men. The posse conducted a formal siege, no doubt led by the Civil War veterans among them.”
The Johnson County War: 1892 Invasion of Northern Wyoming
John W. Davis
via WyoHistory.org
