Tombstone, near the Mexican border, had been…

Tombstone, near the Mexican border, had been formally founded in March 1879 with a population of just one hundred, but had grown extremely rapidly after silver was discovered in the area.

Three of the Earp brothers—James, Virgil, and Wyatt—had arrived, along with their wives, on December 1, 1879, when the small town was mostly composed of tents as living quarters, a few saloons and other buildings, and the mines.

Virgil Earp had been given the job of Deputy U.S. Marshal for the region around Tombstone only days before his arrival.

In June 1881, he had become Tombstone's town marshal (or police chief).

In late 1881, Tombstone has more than seven thousand citizens, excluding all Chinese, Mexicans, women and children residents.

The largest boomtown in the America southwest, the silver industry and attendant wealth have attracted many professionals and merchants who have brought their wives and families; with them have come churches and ministers, bringing a Victorian sensibility; they become the town's elite.

By 1881 there are fancy restaurants, a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, an opera house, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, alongside one hundred and ten saloons, fourteen gambling halls and numerous brothels, all situated among a number of dirty, hardscrabble mines.

In the summer of 1880, brothers Morgan and Warren Earp had also moved to Tombstone.

Wyatt had arrived hoping to have left "lawing" behind and had brought a stagecoach, only to find the business was already very competitive.

The Earps then invested in several mining claims and water rights.

The Earps, who are Republicans and Northerners, have come into conflict with Frank and Tom McLaury and Billy and Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo, Curly Bill Brocius, and others.

Ike is prone to drinking heavily and has threatened the Earps numerous times.

They are part of a group of loosely organized smugglers and horse-thieves or "Cowboys", outlaws who had been implicated in various crimes.

At this time during the 1880s in Cochise County, it is an insult to call a legitimate cattleman a "Cowboy."

Legal cowmen are generally called herders or ranchers.

The Cowboys are a loosely organized band of friends and acquaintances who team up for various crimes and come to each other's aid.

Virgil Earp thinks that some of the Cowboys had met at Charleston, Arizona, and taken "an oath over blood drawn from the arm of Johnny Ringo, the leader, that they would kill us.'

The Cowboys are Southerners, especially from Texas, Confederate sympathizers, and largely Democrats.

Though not universally liked by the townspeople, the Earps tend to protect the interests of the town's business owners and residents, although Wyatt had helped keep a Cowboy from being lynched after he had accidentally killed Tombstone Marshal Fred White.

Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan is generally a friend to the interests of the rural ranchers and Cowboys.