The Porum Range War was a

range war A range war, also known as range conflict or cattle war, is a type of usually violent conflict, most commonly in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the American West. The subject of these conflicts was control of " open range", or range land fr ...

that happened in the town of Porum in Muskogee County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

between large ranch owner Judge Thomas Luther Hester and the Davis and Starr families. May 15, 1912 October 9, 2020 The feud began due to alleged rustling activities committed by the latter on Hester's TLH Connected Brand, which led to ambushes, gunfights, and the burning of property, leaving 30 people dead. The range war has since been a largely forgotten, but infamous event in Oklahoma, said to rival even the more iconic

Lincoln County War The Lincoln County War was an Old West conflict between rival factions which began in 1878 in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, the predecessor of the state of New Mexico, and continued until 1881. The feud became famous because of the p ...

.Porum Range War
/ref>Conley, Robert J. (2007). ''A Cherokee Encyclopedia''. University of New Mexico Press. pp. 225. ISBN 978-0826339515

Background

The feud had its origins in the 1880s when John Porum Davis migrated to Oklahoma, bringing with him four of his sons who were mixed-blood

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

s: Cicero, Sam, Jack and Bob. A pioneer, John built a small community in a range area called the Porum Gap. The community was merged with the

Midland Valley Railroad The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was a railroad company incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelp ...

in 1903, giving birth to a town that was named after John, known as Porum. January 16, 2021 However, the settlement of the Davis family was in direct conflict with the area that Judge Hester used for his livestock. The farms of the Davis family and the

open range In the Western United States and Canada, open range is rangeland where cattle roam freely regardless of land ownership. Where there are "open range" laws, those wanting to keep animals off their property must erect a fence to keep animals out; th ...

intermixed, and there became a dispute between cattle that belonged to them and to Judge Hester. As the Davis family continued to grow and prosper, Judge Hester began to believe that the family was stealing from his own herd, using a brand that was similar to his. At the same time, the Starr family, who was also of Native American blood, came into the area and sided with the Davis. Outlaw

Belle Starr Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr (February 5, 1848 – February 3, 1889), better known as Belle Starr, was an American outlaw who gained national notoriety after her violent death. She associated with the James–Younger Gang and other outlaws. ...

was a member of this family. To protect his property, Judge Hester began charging Davis repeatedly in court for

rustling Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination ...

activities. Also, he and his allies formed the Anti-Horse Thief Association, a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

group, to combat the "Davis Gang".The Bloody Porum Range War
/ref>

War

The first victim of the war was Cicero Davis, who was shot and killed outside his own home in 1906 by an alleged former colleague named Mack Alford. A few days later Alford was shot and killed. The next person killed was Harvey Lindsey, who was drowned in North Folk by several armed men. Another man, named Spivey, was also killed, allegedly by the Davis. Soon, other smaller ranching families joined the war on the side of the Association. Besides the murders, barns were also burned, including those belonging to enemies of the Davis such as the Pierce, Martins, and Price clans. In addition, Sheriff Jim Work was killed on the orders of Bob Davis.

Battle of Porum

In May 1911, a group of thirty masked vigilantes, rode to the home of the Starr family, determined to kill Jack Davis and Pony Starr, after Jack had sent a sheriff to investigate Hester's ranch in the account of twenty cattle stolen. Upon seeing the group, Pony Starr and Joe Davis (Jack's son), ran back inside the house and grabbed their rifles. A fierce shootout commenced between the two parties, which lasted for 10 minutes, and ended in the retreat of the vigilante group, and the deaths of between 3 and 8 men and the wounding of many more. One of those killed was Judge Hester's son, Cliff.

Assassination attempt on Jack Davis

One afternoon, while outside his ranch house, Jack was shot upon by multiple men. The ambush left Jack with a crippled arm. A week later, Jack discovered two of his assailants outside of the

Commercial National Bank Commercial National Bank was a bank formed in Charlotte, North Carolina, on 18 February 1874, which was a predecessor to the American Commercial Bank which then helped form North Carolina National Bank. NCNB changed their name to NationsBank in ...

. This time, now prepared, Jack fired at the two with a Winchester rifle, killing one and wounding the other. The wounded man, McCullugh, survived.

Aftermath

Many of the feuding families began leaving Porum throughout the years, eventually leading to the war's undramatic close. Joe Davis ran away from an investigation concerning the Battle of Porum, becoming a criminal in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

who robbed trains and banks before authorities finally nabbed him in 1916 and sent him to a penitentiary at

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Leavenworth is located on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the site o ...

References

{{Reflist Conflicts in 1906 Range wars and feuds of the American Old West Feuds in the United States 20th-century conflicts Wars involving the Indigenous peoples of North America