In the annals of the American Old West, few episodes are as contentious and violent as the campaign waged by Wolcott’s Regulators. This feared band of gunmen and outlaws terrorized homesteaders in Wyoming during 1892, leaving a bloody trail that exposed the raw conflicts of a changing frontier. Their actions were a pivotal moment in the infamous Johnson County War, a clash driven by land, livestock, and power.
Years before the Regulators took up arms, Wyoming had become a battleground. Large cattle companies, often operating with vast tracts of land, found themselves increasingly at odds with the influx of homesteaders seeking to settle under the Homestead Act. This competition for land, water rights, and grazing areas escalated into bitter resentment. The cattle barons, fearing encroachment and rampant cattle rustling, began to ruthlessly persecute alleged rustlers. While some indeed engaged in theft, many innocent settlers were caught in the crossfire, viewed as mere competition by the powerful ranching interests.
The Formation of Wolcott’s Regulators and Their Mission
The spring of 1892 saw the escalation of this simmering conflict into open warfare. Frank Wolcott, a prominent member of the influential Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) and a former Major, decided to take drastic action. He orchestrated the hiring of approximately 50 experienced gunmen, including several notorious killers from Texas. Their objective was clear: to eliminate alleged rustlers in Johnson County and dismantle the burgeoning smaller stock associations formed by homesteaders, which threatened the dominance of the large cattle companies. This mercenary force, soon to be known as Wolcott’s Regulators, was essentially a private army deployed to enforce the will of the cattle barons.
On April 5, 1892, a substantial party comprising prominent cattlemen, five stock detectives (notably including Frank M. Canton), and 23 of the hired gunfighters, all under the command of Major Frank Wolcott, departed from Cheyenne. Their destination was Buffalo, Wyoming, deep within Johnson County. As they progressed beyond Casper, the Regulators began methodically cutting telegraph lines, a calculated move to prevent any alarms from being raised and to ensure their movements remained shrouded in secrecy.
A Trail of Blood: The Regulators’ Early Atrocities
The ruthless nature of Wolcott’s Regulators became tragically apparent early in their campaign. In one particularly heinous act, the Texas gunmen ambushed and killed nine trappers in Big Dry Creek, Wyoming, mistakenly believing them to be rustlers. For this brutal slaughter, they reportedly received a $450 bonus per man, a stark indicator of the values and incentives at play. This act underscored the indiscriminate violence that characterized their mission.
One of the most infamous crimes perpetrated by the Regulators was the double murder of Nathan Champion and Nick Rae on April 8, 1892. Champion, a respected homesteader and leader, had formed the rival Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers Association, making him a prime target for the powerful WSGA. The victims barricaded themselves in a ranch house on the KC Ranch, but Major Frank Wolcott relentlessly led his men in a vicious assault. After a prolonged siege, both men were killed. The killers then pinned a chilling note on Champion’s bullet-riddled chest:
