The new town of Kearney Junction, Neb., was platted in 1871 when the grade for the new Burlington & Missouri River Railroad connected to the Union Pacific. Tracks were finally finished to the junction in September of 1872, and stockyards were built to receive cattle in the coming year.

Nineteen miles to the southeast, the town of Lowell had a head start with tracks reaching the town on June 8, 1872.

As the end-of-track, Lowell became the central shipping point for cattle reaching central Nebraska. The town boasted four saloons with a healthy dose of cowboys, gamblers, and roughs on its bustling streets.

Lowell and Kearney shared the burgeoning cattle market throughout 1873 with a greater shift to Kearney in 1874. With the decommission of Fort Kearny in 1871, 100 square miles of military reservation was opened to grazing without interference from settlers. Settlement was not allowed until 1876. As one observer noted, “here, free of ‘nesters’ the cattle could graze until turned over to northern buyers.”

When Fort Kearney closed, the denizens of old Kearney City naturally moved across the Platte River to “The Junction,” providing Kearney with the perfect “cowboy resort” atmosphere. Unfortunately, Kearney Junction citizens were not prepared for the celebrations of the Texas cowboys. The Nebraska press more commonly called them “bullwhackers” or “herders.”

When Texan herders decided to celebrate, drinking and gambling with wild rides through the streets and shooting in all directions was the order of the day. Trouble began when the local newspaper “went for them,” with critical commentary, suggesting greater restrictions on their revelry should be put in place. The town even erected a wellbarred, stout jail that was dubbed the Blue Eagle Hotel.

The public censure only antagonized the Texans. They made a point of expressing their displeasure whenever in town. Yelling at the top of their voices, citizens were threatened, frightening everyone within sight. On several occasions officers made arrests resulting in small fines, but that was no deterrent.

Finally at the end of the shipping season most of the herders left for home. Six herders remained in camp on an island in the Platte River south of Kearney. Three of them rode into town on Thursday, Oct. 15, 1874. The usual “hoorah” commenced throughout the afternoon until evening when the men retired to Hattie McDonald’s place. By that time, Marshal Daniel Bricker called on the citizens to back his play to control the herders. The makeshift militia was later organized as the Kearney Guards.

Billy Bland had stepped outside Hattie’s place just as Marshal Bricker arrived. The marshal, backed by his citizen army, surprised Bland with an order to “surrender and consider himself a prisoner.”

Quick as thought, Bland pulled his pistol and fired an errant shot, alerting his friends inside. Rushing out with guns blazing, the Texans made for their horses and swung into the saddle, as the citizens opened up with a hot volley of lead. Tom Peeler was hit in the neck, taking off a portion of an ear. A bullet ripped through the leg of Billy Bland, but all three made it out of town escaping through a hail of bullets.

The next day Marshal Bricker led a posse to the herder’s camp where he arrested the wounded Peeler. Billy Bland had apparently seen them coming and escaped to the town of Lowell where friends took him in.

Newspapers exaggerated the story, giving the impression that a horde of Texans had invaded the town. They were in fact dealing with a handful of Texans. On Saturday afternoon Oct. 15, citizens gathered at Morse’s Hall anticipating trouble from “the daring and defiant desperadoes;” all three of them! The citizen militia surrounded the saloon where the Texans were drinking and ordered the herders to leave town. Given the circumstances, the Texans understandably saddled up and headed south.

Once across the tracks, the Texans determined to return to “take the town.” The Texans dashed into the town “enacting the old scenes over again.” They threatened the lives of the citizens, and swore they had come to take the place. A volley of lead erupted from the army of citizens unseating Texas Spence just as he turned to fire his pistol. “Junebug” took a bullet but managed to stay in the saddle. After Texas Spence fell to the ground, the angry citizens surrounded him and severely beat him. He “passed in his chips” a few hours later.

Junebug was later arrested. Authorities wired Nebraska Governor Robert Furnas for arms, ammunition, and troops to defend the city. But the war was over. There were only two Texans left to threaten the town and they had decided that home sounded pretty good after surviving the great Kearney War on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st RD, Geneseo, KS. Phone (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.