Sherman McMaster

Sherman McMaster was an American frontier figure who moved between roles as a cowboy, outlaw associate, and frontier law enforcement operative in the late 19th century. Best remembered for his tangled association with the Dodge City and Tombstone, Arizona Territory scenes, McMaster figures in the story of the Earp Vendetta Ride and the final disintegration of the Wild Bunch era. His life intersects with a network of figures and institutions that shaped the closing of the American Old West.

Early life and background

McMaster was born in Indiana in the 1850s amid the national aftermath of the American Civil War and the westward migrations that characterized postbellum United States expansion. Contemporary records indicate he learned horsemanship and marksmanship in Kansas and Missouri, regions shaped by conflicts like Bleeding Kansas and railhead towns such as Dodge City and Fort Worth, Texas. During these formative years he encountered itinerant cowboy circuits, trail routes, and cattle drives linked to firms that supplied booming markets in Texas and the Great Plains.

Outlaw activities and association with the Wild Bunch

Accounts from period newspapers and later recollections place McMaster in the orbit of outlaw groups active on the plains and in the Southwest, including loosely affiliated bands often labeled the Wild Bunch. These groups included personalities connected to Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, and the network of rustlers and train robbers that operated along the Union Pacific Railroad and in territories such as Wyoming and New Mexico Territory. McMaster’s name appears in reports alongside figures from Sweetwater County and Johnson County, and his reputed criminal acts—cattle theft, horse rustling, and stagecoach interference—mirror the activities attributed to contemporaries like members of the Hole in the Wall Gang. His mobility from Kansas to Arizona Territory placed him within overlapping social circles that included Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and regional sheriffs.

Service as lawman and Tombstone period

Despite reports of outlaw activity, McMaster also served in capacities that brought him into law enforcement circles. In the early 1880s he arrived in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, a boomtown driven by silver mining at the Chiricahua Mountains and the nearby Mammoth Mine. There he associated with a constellation of frontier figures: Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday, and others engaged in the contested control of saloons, gambling houses, and mining claims. Sources suggest McMaster acted as a town posseman, scout, or deputy at times, working with Pima County authorities and local constables to counter lawlessness linked to outlaw gangs moving through the Arizona Territory and New Mexico Territory. His dual reputation—both suspect and enforcer—reflects the fluid identities common in places like Dodge City and Tombstone.

Involvement in the Earp Vendetta Ride

Following the assassination of Morgan Earp in 1882 and the assault on Virgil Earp, a small group led by Wyatt Earp embarked on what became known as the Earp Vendetta Ride to pursue those they held responsible, including members of the Cowboys (outlaw band), a Cochise County faction. McMaster is listed in contemporaneous reports and later memoirs as part of Wyatt Earp’s posse during this period, riding with figures like Doc Holliday and Sheriff Johnny Behan’s adversaries. The factional violence of the Vendetta Ride intersected with territorial marshals, posses, and federal interest in the Arizona frontier; participants moved through areas such as Tombstone, Contention City, and into parts of New Mexico Territory and Sonora, Mexico. McMaster’s role—whether as a marksman, scout, or intermediary with other outlaw contacts—underscores the ambiguous loyalties that characterized many frontier actors who shifted between criminal and quasi-official roles.

Later life, death, and legacy

After the Vendetta Ride and the dispersal of many participants, McMaster drifted back into broader western circuits, appearing in records tied to Colorado and the Rocky Mountain mining towns where former outlaws and lawmen sought work. Reports indicate he was killed in Gunnison County, Colorado, in 1892, a fate shared by many contemporaries whose lives ended violently or in obscurity. The historical image of McMaster has been shaped by newspaper dispatches, witness statements, and the mythmaking surrounding figures like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, producing varying portrayals in biographies and popular histories. Modern scholarship situates McMaster among the liminal figures of the American Old West—individuals who navigated overlapping networks of outlaw bands, mining interests, railroad expansion, and frontier justice. His story appears in studies of Tombstone, Arizona, the challenges of territorial law enforcement, and the cultural legacy of the Earp saga, influencing interpretations of frontier violence in works addressing the Wild West and Western memory.

Category:People of the American Old West Category:Outlaws of the American Old West Category:Arizona Territory history