1853 Birth of a pistolero
Who would have thought that one of America’s most iconic Western gunmen was born in Canada? Bartlomew William Barclay “Bat” Masterson first saw the light of day on this date in 1853 in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, an English-speaking area of that largely francophone province. His Irish immigrant family moved to the USA and settled in Kansas.
In his late teens Bat took up buffalo hunting and while search for a herd of bison in traditional Indian territory in 1874 took part in the famous Second Battle of Adobe Walls. He, other hunters, and a wagon train of settlers found themselves under siege at a trading post in the Texas panhandle when they were attacked by a party of Commanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa warriors, 700 strong. After 5 days they were rescued by cavalry and they abandoned the post to be burned by the vexed indigenes.
Masterston then scouted for the Army for a time, killed a man in a gunfight over a woman, and settled in Dodge City where he became a lawman. His handiness with a pistol led to many a posse, the capture of outlaws, and association with some of the legends of the West. Bat was friends with Buffalo Bill Cody, Wyatt Earp, Soapy Smitth, and Doc Holliday.
In the 1880s Masterton dabbled in journalism, gambling, and theater ownership; his taste in women ran to other men’s wives, circus performers, and dance-hall girls. In 1902 he moved to New York where his colourful turns of phrase, love of boxing, and exciting adventures in the West led to him becoming a journalist. He became friends with Theodore Roosevelt who always had a soft spot and a government patronage job for a manly man. Masterton was also a timekeeper for some high-stakes boxing matches. He died, diabetic and overweight in 1921 in New York.
Though not as great a subject of popular culture as Buffalo Bill or Wyatt Earp, the figure of Bat Masterton appears in a number of movies, but most notably in an eponymous television series starring Gene Barry.
It’s funny, but the Canada/USA border has always been very porous. Even long before Canada was a gleam in Queen Victoria’s eye.
I’ve read that after one election, half the elected politicians in what was then Upper Canada had been born in the US. Today, the story is 1 of 7 Calgarians was born in the US.
Much of Upper Canada’s population was composed of families of what we call “United Empire Loyalists” (or “Tories” in American-speak) who fled after the Revolution. In the 19th century when American homesteading land was scarce Canada saw waves of immigrants from below the 49th who took up properties in the Canadian west. This included African Americans, one of whose descendants, Rueben Mayes, from North Battleford Saskatchewan, migrated back to the USA to star in the NFL. My maternal grandmother was a Franco-American related to Miss America 1925.