Guns of the Wild West (How the West Was Won)

Learn About the Guns that Brought America West

Carving a single nation out of a massive continent is not easy. The British, German, and Scots-Irish settlers that disembarked on the Eastern Seaboard of America needed to find a way West to unlock the full potential of their new country. Their first challenge was to find a way across the great mountain ranges of the East, including the mighty Appalachians. The mountain men were the first Americans to carve pathways through the mountains to the West. Beyond these massive peaks lay the Indian tribes forming a human barrier to western expansion.

War with the indigenous peoples was quickly followed by conflict with Mexico as the American settlers fought for the lands of Texas and the Southwest. These military campaigns gradually drove the Frontier westwards. Ultimately, the country was united from the Jersey shore to the Pacific. Every mile of this American territory had been hard fought for, often using the firearms featured in this book. The guns featured date from the century between 1800 and 1900. Not only was this the most fascinating period in Frontier expansion, but also in gun design and manufacture.

Guns of the Wild West also explores how the Civil War resulted in an explosion of both firearms technology and in the American population's familiarity with guns and shooting. This created a potent cocktail that exploded into the truly "Wild" West.