“...that is why the fighting, especially in Missouri and Kansas, paved the way for the Western gunfighter that followed”
I enjoy Western history and have often wondered about the origins ow Western lawlessness on the frontier. Lots of movies and tv shows showed the connection of individuals and gangs to the Civil War, but I had never thought about as the primary cause. It makes sense.
As the years passed, the west matured, the young gunslingers aged out or were killed, and serious lawmen moved in to create order.
Most of the lawlessness was straight out competition over powerful economic contests. Nearly all of Wyoming s based in land use between large interests and small operations. Tombstone was another one. Lincoln County War was over competition for the lucrative contracts for supplying Fort Stanton. The Royal Gorge War was better two railroads wanting the same narrow route.
The list is endless.
And the young soldiers from the civil war found employ there. But they were not really the cause of much.
And the high noon fast draw concept was almost unknown. There were one or two such duals in the entire west. The hundreds of these in movies and TV are a modern invention.
I have seen many reports that the “lawless West” was really just a fiction, where a slight few egregious examples were amplified far out of proportion, particularly by Hollywood later on.
At least in towns, people understood very well they needed protection from both bandits and Indians, and had police forces or deputies in their communities who were ready with arms to protect the peace. Often too, the people in these new towns had some other strong social connection - a common religion or church, for example.
Western states once had the strongest protections of property. For example - it was very common to have laws protecting people against “inverse condemnation” - government was held responsible, and had to compensate, if private property was “taken” by negligence of government - for example, not controlling riots or mobs. It was a great financial incentive for governments to keep the peace.
We need to bring such laws back.
Just look at Minneapolis, Oakland and DC in 2020 - marxist Governments actually encouraged mob destruction of private property.