Wyatt Earp was born at Monmouth, Illinois on March 19, 1848. He came to California with his family in 1864. Along the way they encountered Indians at Fort Laramie. He also went on a
buffalo hunt with Jim Bridger at Bridger's Fort. When he arrived in California, Earp became a driver for the Banning Stage Line. By 1868 he had his stage line and was working for Charles Chrisman, hauling provisions for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1870, he returned to Monmouth, where he married a girl named Willa Sutherland. Sadly, she died a few months after their marriage from typhus. Earp moved on to Lamarr, Missouri, where he worked as the town Marshall for a year.
Over the next three years he spent much of his time hunting buffalo. He met Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson, and many other characters during that time. In April 1875 he became deputy marshal at Wichita, Kansas. He had many run-ins with criminals there, one of them the notorious John Wesley Hardin. After that, he became deputy marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. Once deputized, Earp hired several other deputies. He hired his brothers Morgan and Virgil, Bat and Jim Masterson, Joe Mason, and Neal Brown to help him keep order. He made a few rules for the towns rowdies. They were to keep their horse play on the south side of town and they would be left alone. But if they crossed the line, they could expect to be carted off to jail. He also kept loaded guns at strategic locations about the town so he would always be ready to take care of a problem.
In 1876, he left Dodge City and headed for Deadwood, in the Dakota Territory. He went there to prospect, but most of the good spots had been taken. For a short time, he made a living
protecting Wells Fargo shipments. Then he drifted to Texas where he worked as a cattle detective. While hunting for rustler Dave Rudabaugh, he met Doc Holliday. In April 1877, he
went back to Dodge City. By then, he was enjoying a reputation as a tough lawman. He was able to get the gunman Clay Allison to back down and leave town without resorting to violence. That
summer an anonymous horseman tried to take Earp out of the picture. But Earp, always quick on his feet, ducked the shots and killed the rider.
The following year, Earp came close to losing his life again. A large group of Cheyenne Indians had passed near the town and some of the townsfolk figured they would go out and kill a few.
