Jesse James. Billy the Kid. Butch Cassidy. When these bold men walked into town with six-shooters in their holsters, most people fled quickly. That is, except for the lawmen willing to take them on. Although lawmen and outlaws stood for very different ideals, they did share one thing in common—gunfighting.

The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters

Standoffs, saloons and sunsets spring to mind when one envisions the rough and tumble of the early days of the American frontier. Indeed, the golden period of the American West produced some of the most notorious badmen and bravest lawmen in American history, many of whom have become legends. Some rogues are familiar: John Wesley Hardin (who, it is said, killed more than 40 men), William Bonney (Billy the Kid), Wild Bill Hickok, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Others are not so well known but were no less dangerous...