Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

The Gunfight at the O.K.

Corral is a gunfight that takes place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, and is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the American Old West.

The gunfight, believed to have lasted only about thirty seconds, is fought between the outlaw Cowboys Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and his brother Frank McLaury, and the opposing lawmen Virgil Earp and his brothers Morgan and Wyatt Earp, aided by Doc Holliday acting as a temporary deputy of Virgil.

Cowboys Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne run from the fight unharmed, but Ike's brother Billy Clanton is killed, along with both McLaurys.

Lawmen Holliday and Morgan and Virgil Earp are wounded.

Only Wyatt Earp comes through the fight unharmed.

The fight has come to represent a time in American history when the frontier was open range for outlaws opposed by law enforcement that was spread thin over vast territories, leaving some areas unprotected.The gunfight is relatively unknown to the American public until 1931 when author Stuart Lake publishes what has since been determined to be a largely fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, two years after Earp's death.

Lake retells his story in a 1946 book that director John Ford develops into the movie My Darling Clementine.

After the movie Gunfight at the O.K.

Corral is released in 1957, the shootout comes to be known by that name.

Since then, the conflict has been portrayed with varying degrees of accuracy in numerous Western films and books.Despite its name, the gunfight actually occurred in a narrow lot six doors west of the rear entrance to the O.K.

Corral on Fremont Street, and also in the street.

The two opposing parties are initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart.

About thirty shots are fired in thirty seconds.

Ike Clanton files murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday but they are eventually exonerated by a local judge after a 30-day preliminary hearing and then again by a local grand jury.On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp is maimed in an assassination attempt by the outlaw Cowboys, and on March 18, 1882, they assassinate Morgan Earp.

This leads to a series of further killings and retributions, with federal and county lawmen supporting different sides of the conflict, which becomes known as the Earp Vendetta Ride.

No related events match the current filters.