Legends of The Old West

  Annie Oakley (August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926), born Phoebe Ann Moses, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's "amazing talent" and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar. Perhaps Oakley's most famous trick was her ability to repeatedly split a playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it could touch the ground, while using a .22 caliber rifle, at 90 feet (27 m). Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley +++++++++++++++++++++

  Tom Rynning was appointed second captain of the Arizona Rangers in 1902; the following year, he posed for this photograph. Rynning was in the U.S. Cavalry during the Indian Wars, where he was engaged in 17 battles across the West. He was a lieutenant in the Rough Riders and was appointed to lead the Rangers by Gov. Alexander Brodie, who was his lieutenant colonel in the Rough Riders. ============================

  Mary Fields was born a slave on this date in 1832. She was a Black entrepreneur and stagecoach driver. Fields was a gun-totin' female in the American Wild West who was six feet tall, powerful, and she carried a pair of six-shooters and an eight or ten-gauge shotgun. Mary became a U.S. mail coach driver for the Cascade County region of central Montana in 1895.  She and her mule, Moses, never missed a day, and it was in this aptitude that she became a legend in her own time, Stage Coach Mary!   ========================