SPURS N SIX GUNS - Characters

Lachland, or Sandy as he is more commonly known was born in New Caledonia (what is now known as British Columbia) during the time when the Hudson's Bay Company controlled the fur trade of the entire North West Pacific. His father was a Chief Trader (making an income exceeding 360 pounds) and controlled his own individual post along the Columbia River just east of the company headquarters in Fort Vancouver.

Sandy's boyhood was mainly spent learning how to hunt, trap and survive in the wilderness from the mountain men and natives that frequented his father's post. Naturally his prim and proper, English mother did not approve of her son fraternizing with heathens and savages and so she took it upon herself to provide him a proper education. Much of his time during the day was spent in study or doing his chores, but when ever he had spare time, Sandy would journey down river and visit the Kootenay people (Sandy can speak Kootenai as well as South Slavey (Slavey Proper) known to its own speakers as Dené Tha an Athabaskan Language related to many other tribes. It is one of the Na-Dene languages spoken from northwestern Canada and Alaska south to the Rio Grande). They were a tribe related to the Flatheads of the Nebraska Territory. Some of his best friends were from the tribe, and he was accepted by their elders as one of them and taught the ways of their people. Teachings that would forever shape the boys life and influence the man he would become.

When Sandy was just becoming a man his world was turned upside down. The HBC was starting to lose their grip on the North West and his father who had made more than his fair share of the profits from the fur trade looked Eastward. The company's strangle hold of the region was broken by the first successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, thus clearing the way for thousands of emigrants. A few years later the States acquired full authority of Oregon Country and the Wilkens made their way to Quebec city where Sandy attended Bishop University.

Sandy spent five years learning the ways of the 'Easterners'. Though he was raised, British he considered himself New Caldonian, born of the new world. Never a day went by that he did not long to return to the wilderness and when his education was finished that's just what he did, despite the threats of his parents.

Now in his twenties, Sandy started working for the HBC as a surveyor and scout. His skills as a woodsman and knowledge of native languages combined with his formal education made him a valuable asset to the company. They sent him into the yet unexplored regions of the interior to seek out new cashes of fur and strike up relations with the natives of those areas. He believed that what he was doing was right, but quickly he realized how deceptive the company was. They buried his reports to discourage settlers from threatening their monopoly of the trade, not only impeding settlement but also threatening the lives of those natives in the areas rich with furs. Disillusioned, Sandy decided to travel down to the Oregon. With the HBC losing their grip on the region, their were rumors of 'Le commerce libre', free-trade and he wanted nothing more than to break the yoke of the Hudson Bay Company and work for himself. Set is own policies and honor the ways of the land taught to him by the Kootenay people. Unfortunately, a trivial disagreement in a saloon in Oregon City ended badly. Sandy had been forced to defend himself, knives were drawn, and one man was killed. Two others were seriously injured and the young man had no other choice but to flee from the law. He drove south, all the way to the New Mexico territory and there he considered trying to re-build a life for himself in a boomtown called, Shady Gulch.

(Breech-loading)
Calibre .52
Length 47"
Weight 8 3/4lbs
Weight of projectile 475 grains
Weight of charge 50 grains

The Sharps was the best single shot breech-loader of the period. While the Spencer and Henry were the best repeater's, historian's of the U.S Sharpshooter's say flatly that "The open sighted Sharps rifle was the best breech loading gun made during the war" it was a perfectly safe and reliable weapon, combining accuracy with rapidity just what a skirmish line needed for effective work.

It is a "falling block" design percussion rifle with breach loading. You open the breach by pulling the lever down; place the bullet into the barrel from behind, fill the chamber with black powder completely full, close the breach, place a cap on the piston, cock it an fire.

Normally there were used paper cartridges instead of loose black powder, where the black powder was inside a paper roll and the twisted end of the paper roll was cut off by the block when closing the breach. Later on, also metal tubes with a hole at the bottom (similar to cartridges) were used to hold powder an bullet, which was but still fired by percussion caps.

Each rifle cost $36.15 as standard, but with modifications the price was $43 which included a fly lock, double set triggers and the long angular bayonet with the socket fitting, instead of the sword bayonet which was found to be to heavy and cumbersome which was disliked and discarded.

The 44 Henry cartridge was comparable in power and competitive with military pistols, but was still under strength for military shoulder arms and buffalo hunting. The majority of Civil War military shoulder arms fired a bullet between 350 and 500 grains propelled by 40 to 60 grains of powder. Using modern reloading components, the 44 Henry load of a 200 grain bullet and 26 to 28 grains of black powder can be readily duplicated using the 44 Magnum cartridge case.

The Henry was a little tedious to load and a few shots rapid fire on a sunny summer day would make the barrel too hot to hold. The average man could shoot all 15 shots of the Henry rifle in about a dozen seconds. The Henry did not have a wooden stock at the front end to protect the shooter's hand from a hot barrel.


The Remington revolver permitted easy cylinder removal allowing a quick reload with a spare pre-loaded cylinder, an advantage over other revolver designs of the time. The cylinder-swap procedure consisted of setting the hammer at half-cock, unlatching and lowering the loading lever halfway, sliding the cylinder pin forward to the stop, removing the cylinder from the frame's right side, and installing the spare cylinder from the right side. A slight rotation of the top of the cylinder towards the right side of the frame during cylinder removal or installation aids in slipping the cylinder ratchet past or under the hand. Centering the cylinder in the frame and sliding the cylinder pin back to seated position, secures the cylinder. Returning the loading lever arm to latched position readies the revolver for firing.
The cylinder swap takes 12 seconds, or even less, depending on practice and skill. This entire process can be completed by the author of civilwarhandgun.com within 5 seconds, I am sure a soldier with practise could certainly do as well or much better! Modern 6 shot revolvers with speed loaders cannot do much better then this.

Name: Madison (Maddie) Keegan
Age: 20
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 130 pounds
Hair: Long, black, thick
Eyes: Bright blue
Skin tone: golden
Body type: athletic, curvy
Birthdate: August 28, 1845

Madison was born to an Irish father and a Scottish/Shawnee mother. Her father, Ian Keegan, had met her mother, Abigail Running Cloud in 1843. She was the child of a Scottish immigrant and Shawnee mother. After courting her and convincing her father that he could care for his only child, they were married. 2 years later, Madison was born.

Not long after Madison was born, Ian decided to move his family west to a boom town called Shady Gulch in Arizona where he panned for gold and with his Irish luck holding strong, he struck gold and they were able to fulfill their dreams. Ian and Abigail were able to start a horseranch. The going was rough, but with Ian's knowledge of horses and Abigail's gentle touch to them, within 3 years, they had a prospering ranch on 1000 acres of land. Ian made sure that Maddie knew how to ride, shoot, work a ranch as well as any man. Her mother taught her the ways of her grandmother's people and Maddie learned how to gentle horses and live off of what the land gave you. Most in the town thought she was wild, and to a point she was. Wearing men's jeans or split skirts and riding into town astride a horse instead of in a wagon. She always had her .22 rifle in it's holster on her saddle and a .38 six shooter at her hip. She was a beautiful girl with her golden skin, long black hair and her father's light blue eyes, but some in the town shunned her for her Indian heritage and others for her Irish. She usually ignored them and concentrated on those who were her true friends. She was quick to smile and just as quick to become angry. Her independent nature often got her into trouble but her father always told her to never change. Be who she was and the others would just have to live with it.

Maddie knew and loved the ranch and loved working with the horses that were brought in to be broken. She especially loved going out on the range and sleeping under the stars. The men that her father hired to help with the ranch were loyal to a fault as Ian was a fair man and his wife had a heart of gold. They all watched out for Maddie, especially Graham, the foreman. He'd come onto the ranch when Maddie was just a young girl and had watched her grow up to be the woman she was now. He was the uncle she'd never had and everyone who worked the ranch knew that if you crossed Maddie you crossed Graham and noone wanted to cross Graham, let alone Ian.

(More to come on the other NPC characters mentioned in Maddie's profile. Will put in where at in the west they are as soon as we all agree on where we are at. LOL )

Ethan "Tumbleweed" Dawson





Tracker/Cattle Rancher/Bounty Hunter
Born: 1824
Arizonia Territory
Age:37


Early in his life, young Ethan a boy traveling west with his father; his father is killed and scalped. A brutal killing by the notorious gang of horse theives, and their leader, half-Tongue. The Commancheros, a dangerous band of mexican outlaws. Ethan is captured and enslaved by them. While in mexico, Ethan meets a healer and visionary who will watch out for Ethan for the rest of his life. Ethan learns how to track and their ways of the Commaches. He learns to speak, shoot and hunt with a knife. He eventually grows up into a young man. Still enslaved he finds a way to escape and tells Crescencio the healer of his plan. Working together, Ethan escapes and plans to come back and track his fathers' killer later in life.


Years later
Quick shot, Ethan 'Tumbleweed' Dawson, a loner, tracker, bounty hunter and range-harden rancher, with his sidekick, Jake Brennen figured a way to make a living by driving cattle across the Arizonia Territory and sell it at a fancy price to the wealthy bankers in Coyote Hills. Once he gets his herd to his destination the Coyote River, his plans are to move to the way of the wild west coast.

But...His partner, Jake Brennan goes ahead to make the deal with the bankers and never returns. Knowing something has happened to his partner, Ethan decides to go and investigate. He leaves the herd with three trusted cowpokes and rides on stopping in Shady Gulch first for some supplies before continuing on to Coyote Hills east of Shady Gulch.

Stopping in at Sally's saloon, Ethan sips his rum and overhears about his partner being gunned down the day before by three dunken hoodlums. Ethan turns around to see the comment made by a fella in a tall black hat sitting with a bottle at the table, cash in front of him , playing cards. The fella hasn't shaved in a while and stinks. He's got a badge on his shirt that surprises Ethan as he knows there's no lawman in the part of of Arizonia for nearly 60 miles.


Ethan turns back to the saloonkeeper and quietly asks, who is that? The saloonkeeper replies why thats Mr. John McIntire hoodlums, they own the town. Ain't noone brave enough to take him on. Ethan comments, "there was a fella that came in 'bout four days ago...kind of short, heavy set had a strange limp...Oh that fella was gunned down by his henchmen, day before last."

Ethan stands up and finishes his rum...thank ya... and begins to walk out of the saloon when one of John McIntire's goons blocks the door.

"Mister you ain't wantin no trouble so just stand away from that door...I'll git on my horse and ride away, Ethan says.

This is one conflict ethan knows will continue another day with the local self-appointed lawman, John McIntire and his claim-jumping henchmen that owns the town of Shady Gulch. Ethan has heard of him, and that iron wagon he runs to and from Shady Gulch but he didn't know that John McIntire also a theiving cattle baron...runs the town. Inside the ironclad stagecoach is the gold mined in Shady Gulch worth thousands.

Born: June 16, 1829

Goyahkla was born to the Bedonkohe band of the Apache, near Turkey Creek, a tributary of the Gila River in the modern-day state of New Mexico, then part of Mexico, but which his family considered Bedonkohe land. His grandfather had been chief of the Nedni Apache (Ndé’indaaí or Nédnaa’í meaning 'Enemy People'). He had three brothers and four sisters.
Goyahkla’s parents raised him according to Apache traditions. He married a woman from the Chiricahua band of Apache when he was 17; they had four children. On March 6, 1858, a company of 400 Mexican soldiers from Sonora led by Colonel José María Carrasco attacked Goyahkla's camp outside Janos while the men were in town trading. Among those killed were Goyahkla's wife, Alope, his children, and his mother. His chief, Mangas Coloradas, sent him to Cochise's band for help in revenge against the Mexicans. It is the Mexicans who name him Jerome. This appellation stemmed from a battle in which, ignoring a deadly hail of bullets, he repeatedly attacked Mexican soldiers with a knife, causing them to utter appeals to Saint Jerome .

The first Apache raids on Sonora took place during the late 17th century. To counter the early Apache raids on Spanish settlements, presidios were established at Janos (1685) in Chihuahua and at Fronteras (1690) in northern Opata country. In 1835, Mexico had placed a bounty on Apache scalps. Two years later Mangas Coloradas or Dasoda-hae (Red Sleeves) became principal chief and war leader and began a series of retaliatory raids against the Mexicans. Apache raids on Mexican villages were so numerous and brutal that no area is safe.

While Goyahkla says he is not a chief, he is a military leader. As a Chiricahua Apache, this meant he is one of many people with special spiritual insights and abilities known to Apache people as "Power". Among these are the ability to walk without leaving tracks; the abilities now known as telekinesis and telepathy; and the ability to survive gunshot (rifle/musket, pistol, and shotgun). Goyahkla was wounded numerous times by both bullets and buckshot, but survived. Apache men choose to follow him of their own free will, and offered first-hand eye-witness testimony regarding his many "powers". They declared that this is the main reason why so many choose to follow him (he was favored by/protected by "Usen", the Apache high-god). Goyahkla’s "powers" are considered to be so great that he personally paints the faces of the warriors who follow him to reflect their protective effect. Goyahkla has a notorious reputation for consistently urging raids and war upon Mexican Provinces and their various towns, and against American locations across Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas

WEAPONS:
Lance

SHARPS MODEL 1859 RIFLE



(To be continued)

Samual McCabe
Born: in Bizbee, Arizonia
Age: 31

Second Oldest

Roy N. McCabe

Born: in Tuba City,
Age: 27

Youngest of three brothers

John McIntyre
Born: 1810
Age 51
Occupation: Cattle Baron and Self-appointed Lawman of Shady Gulch

John McIntire

Born in Ireland and mitrigated to America

Gunslinger that worked for the railroad and got big cash from taking care business before the railroad plowed through the the Missouri Territory. The railroad pushed toward the west coast and hired gunslingers to protect the interests of the railroad and its properties. In 1858, McInTyre had killed more than 150 men working for the east coast corporate office and while the railroad took over lots and acres of farm land for the railroad, McIntyre, stole herds of cattle from the dead men. He gained popularity with the men that followed him, raping the spouses and selling the kids to slave traders, apaches, and anyone who needed a slave. He decided to settle in the Arizonia territory when war broke out back east and the railroad stopped in progress toward the old west. Gold strike in Shady Gulch...he settled outside town, becoming a cattle baron and within in a year's time, he self appointed hisself the law and his men were deputized.

Jessica Rusch write-up to come...

Butch "Bones" Brown

Bones is a former undertaker turned alcoholic and gunfighter. Bones Brown is a thin, yellow skinned man in his early 40's but he looks much older. Bones has long stringy graying hair, he is tall and scary thin. Bones is a sour and gloomy man, he fights with a pistol in each hand and is a good shot with both. Bones is coming off a long stretch of drinking, petty crime and bad luck, he is traveling to see his friend Sandy Wilken to see an old friend and to maybe get a new lease on life.

Bones is looking for a second chance and looking to leave his colored past behind. Sandy does not know it yet but Bones is wanted in another territory for gunning down a man after a night of drinking. Bones himself is unclear on the details, but is haunted by the fact that he may have killed a man for no good reason.

Name: Chase Jones
Age:23
Height: 5'8"
Weight:175 lbs.
Hair:Black
Eyes: Green
Skin tone: Golden
Race: Scottish/Apache
Born: July 6, 1842

Chase was born to a Scottish immigrant and Apache mother and was brought up in both worlds. When Ian Keegan got his ranch going, Chase's father hired on as a ranch hand and moved his small family onto the land. His wife and Mrs. Keegan began close friends and Mr. Jones respected Ian Keegan...and that was saying a lot.

Chase grew up with Madison Keegan and would agree with anyone who accused her of being a hellion and a firecracker. She could shoot and ride was well as any man, except for himself. He had been trained in the trick riding arts of the Apache and not only could he shoot a variety of firearms, but he was damn good with the bow and knife.

Chase loved Madison like a little sister, but his heart belonged to Maddie's best friend Allison.

He had killed once and it's haunted him ever since but he'd do it again in a heartbeat. A man had attacked his father for being an Apache lover and was going to kill him if Chase hadn't come home when he did and shot the man dead. Ian Keegan helped his father hide the body and they never spoke of it since.

Chase is a good man who accepts both sides of his heritage. If he chooses you as a friend, he will defend you to his dying breath as if you were family.

William Haddock McCabe II
Born: 1832
in Nashville, Tenn
HT 6'5"
WT 156
AGE: 28




Known as Wild Bill


William Haddock McCabe II, oldest of five brothers moved from Nashville, Tenessee to start his young life on the western frontier fighting indians in the ongoing PLAINS WAR. He left four younger brothers to look after the farm and family.

October 1850 He joined the Army

December 1851, he becomes an Army officer

In August 31, 1854 - Captain William McCabe is sent to defuse a Brule` tribe dispute over a cow. He took 35 soldiers. Chief Conquering Bear of the Brule` tribe is killed, in dispute over the cow. The Brule` tribe kills 30 soldiers that day. CAPT McCabe (22) survived.

After his return, he is promoted to LT Colonel and reassigned to Colonel Harney's group.

In September 3, 1855 - Colonel William Harney uses 1300 soldiers to massacre an entire Brulé village in retribution for the killing of McCabe's 30 soldiers who were killed in retribution for the killing of the Brulé chief, Conquering Bear, in a dispute over a cow.

In June 1858, COL William H. McCabe is promoted to Chief of Scouts for the Third Cavalry during the Plains Wars.

In 1859, he became very ill and was released from military service. After his bout that almost killed him, he worked as a pony express rider for the stagcoach, Wells Fargo and settled in Slippery Gulch to study Law. His plan was to settle in Gads Hill, Missouri and become a US Marshal lawman. But with word of a new war against the south, his plan is put on the backburner. He rejoins the Army and is awaiting orders to take command of the fighting UNITED STATES REGULARS CO G 122d Infantry as COL McCabe, who had seen more action then the United States 1st regment Cavalry Soldiers.

Current 1861, William Wild Bill McCabe is in Slippery Gulch studying the law to become a US marshal.War breaks out between the North and the South and he rejoins the Army. He is currently awaiting orders to take command of the fighting UNITED STATES REGULARS CO.