page_title: Cochise County in the Old West
section_title: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
hierarchical_section_title: Cochise County in the Old West / Notable shootouts / Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
caption_attribution_description: English: Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881.Clearly visible at the photo center is the Grand Hotel (the large black and white structure at center-left), which burned in the great fire of 1882. The view is from south of Tombstone, looking north, from the Toughnut Mine.
context_page_description: Cochise County in southeastern Arizona was the scene of a number of violent conflicts in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West, including between white settlers and Apache Indians, between opposing political and economic factions, and between outlaw gangs and local law enforcement. Cochise County was carved off in 1881 from the easternmost portion of Pima County during a formative period in the American Southwest. The era was characterized by rapidly growing boomtowns, the emergence of large-scale farming and ranching interests, lucrative mining operations, and the development of new technologies in railroading and telecommunications. Complicating the situation was staunch resistance to white settlement from local Native American groups, most notably during the Apache Wars, as well as Cochise County's location on the border with Mexico, which not only threatened international conflict but also presented opportunities for criminal smugglers and cattle rustlers.
  Factional hostilities emerged as soon as American settlers began arriving in southern Arizona in large numbers in the 1860s and 1870s.
context_section_description: On October 26, 1881, town marshal and Deputy U. S. Marshall Virgil Earp led his brothers and deputies Wyatt and James along with Doc Holliday in a confrontation with five outlaw Cowboys:  Wesley Fuller, Tom and Frank McLaury, Billy Claiborne and Ike Clanton. The Cowboys were armed in violation of a city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town. This shootout became famous as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
  Wes Fuller, Ike Clanton, and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight unharmed, but Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. It took place at about 3:00 pm on October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory of the United States. Although only three men were killed during the gunfight, it is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West.
  Despite its name, the gunfight began in a 15–20 feet (4.6–6.1 m) wide empty lot or alley on Fremont Street, between C. S. Fly's lodging house and photographic studio and the MacDonald assay house. The lot was six doors east of an alleyway that served as the O.K. Corral's rear entrance. The two opposing parties were initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart. About thirty shots were fired in thirty seconds. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed. Frank and Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton were killed; Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday were wounded and survived. Ike Clanton filed murder charges against Doc Holliday and the Earps and after a month-long preliminary hearing they were exonerated.
  The Earps and Doc Holliday were charged by Billy Clanton's brother, Ike Clanton, with murder but were eventually exonerated by a local judge after a 30-day preliminary hearing and then again by a local grand jury. The so-called cowboy faction allegedly targeted the Earps for assassination over the next six months, which led to a series of killings and retributions, often with federal and county lawmen supporting different sides of the conflict. The series of battles became known as the Earp Vendetta Ride. The Earps and Doc Holliday left Arizona and the Cowboy element was less of a threat from that point forward.
caption: Tombstone, Arizona in 1891
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