Sherman McMaster (1853–1892) was an outlaw turned lawman, who was one of the six men involved in the

Earp vendetta ride The Earp Vendetta Ride was a deadly search by a federal posse led by Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp for a loose confederation of outlaw " Cowboys" they believed had ambushed his brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp, maiming the former and killing ...

Early life

Sherman W. McMaster was born in 1853 in

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 census. Located on ...

, the son of Sylvester W. McMaster. Not much is known of his life before heading out west, but he moved to Texas and became a Texas Ranger. He met "Curly Bill" Brocius, who was a prisoner under McMaster's Ranger division. In 1878

Curly Bill William Brocius (c. 1845 – March 24, 1882), better known as Curly Bill Brocius, was an American gunman, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of the Arizona Territory during the late 1870s and early 1880s. His name is lik ...

escaped from prison, allegedly helped by McMaster. Soon after, along with Brocius, Johnny Barnes, and

Pony Diehl Charles "Pony Diehl" Ray (possibly "Deal") was an Old West outlaw in the New Mexico Territory and Arizona Territory. He was accused by Wyatt Earp of having taken part in an attempt to kill his brother, Virgil Earp. Diehl was not tried due to a lac ...

, McMaster moved to Arkansas.

Life as an outlaw and gunfighter

McMaster worked for the Texas Rangers in 1878, the same year that he first met Brocius. By most accounts he was a good lawman, and was respected for his talents with a gun. In July 1880 he was suspected of stealing U.S. Army mules and two horses from a camp near Tombstone. He was also a suspect in a

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

robbery near

Globe, Arizona Globe ( apw, Bésh Baa Gowąh "Place of Metal") is a city in Gila County, Arizona, Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila C ...

. On February 24, 1881, two men robbed the stage traveling between

Globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model glo ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

. When they found that the Wells, Fargo & Co. strongbox was empty, they stole the U.S. mail.

(aka Charles Ray) and McMaster were suspects. In Tombstone, City Marshal

Virgil Earp Virgil Walter Earp (July 18, 1843 – October 19, 1905) was both deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone, Arizona City Marshal when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gunf ...

knew that McMaster was wanted for the robbery, but according to ''

The Tombstone Epitaph ''The Tombstone Epitaph'' is a Tombstone, Arizona, monthly publication that covers the history and culture of the Old West. Founded in January 1880 (with its first issue published on Saturday May 1, 1880), it is the oldest continually published ...

'' Virgil had received instructions from Pima County Sheriff Bob Paul to wait to arrest McMaster until Diehl was in custody. On September 10, 1881, Tombstone City Marshal Virgil Earp attempted to arrest McMaster, who resisted. McMaster fired several shots at Virgil before escaping. Some accounts have since indicated he was possibly working

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

for the Rangers to break up the outlaw Cowboys. By the time the clash between the Earps and the Cowboys came about, McMaster's allegiance was with the Earps. He played an important role in the vendetta. Once a member of the Cowboys (an outlaw gang), he later changed his views and sided with the Earps. He had, by all accounts, previously met and become friends with

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which la ...

and

Doc Holliday John Henry Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887), better known as Doc Holliday, was an American Old West, American gambling, gambler, gunfighter, and dentistry, dentist. A close friend and associate of Sheriff, lawman Wyatt Earp, H ...

Dodge City, Kansas Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier to ...

. He assisted Wyatt Earp in taking his

revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

on the outlaw gang for the death of Wyatt's brother,

Morgan Earp Morgan Seth Earp (April 24, 1851 – March 18, 1882) was an American sheriff and lawman. He served as Tombstone, Arizona's Special Policeman when he helped his brothers Virgil and Wyatt, as well as Doc Holliday, confront the outlaw Cochise ...

, and the shooting of his other brother

, all following the

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a thirty-second shootout between lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that occurred at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, ...

. Among the other participants in the Vendetta were Wyatt and his younger brother

Warren Earp Warren Baxter Earp (March 9, 1855 – July 6, 1900) was an American frontiersman and lawman. He was the youngest of Earp brothers, Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil, James, and Newton Earp. Although he was not present during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corra ...

, "Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson, and Texas Jack Vermillion.

Death

In a letter written to his father, Will McLaury wrote that McMaster had been killed by the Cowboys.

claimed in the Flood manuscript that McMaster had been killed in 1898 in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

while serving as a soldier in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cl ...

. However, official records do not list him as a soldier. A probate record filed by his siblings in 1906 listed his death in Colorado in 1892.

In popular culture

McMaster has been portrayed in almost every film about the Earps. Notably by

Monte Markham Monte Markham (born June 21, 1935) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, television series and on Broadway. Early life Markham was born in Manatee County, Florida, the son of Millie Content (née Willbur) and Jesse Edward Markham Sr., ...

, making his feature-length movie debut, in ''

Hour of the Gun ''Hour of the Gun'' is a 1967 Western film depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona ...

'', in which he is depicted as the sheriff of a neighboring county recruited by Wyatt Earp into the posse (a historical inaccuracy), by Todd Allen in ''

Wyatt Earp (film) ''Wyatt Earp'' is a 1994 American biographical Western drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Lawrence Kasdan, with Dan Gordon. The film covers the lawman of the same name's life, from an Iowa farmboy, to a feared marshal, to the ...

'' (which portrays him as a Tombstone deputy marshal working for Wyatt and Virgil), and by

Michael Rooker Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor known for his roles as Henry in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), Chick Gandil in '' Eight Men Out'' (1988), Frank Baily in '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), Terry Cruger in '' ...

in the 1993 film '' Tombstone'', in which he is portrayed as a member of the Cowboys who quits the gang in disgust to join Earp. In ''Tombstone'', he is portrayed as being killed by the Cowboys during the Vendetta, although that is also historically inaccurate. In all three films, he is called "McMasters".

Early life

Life as an outlaw and gunfighter

Death

In popular culture

References

Further reading