The expansion of the Western frontier at the height of its golden age was a unique and exciting era of human existence. It was one full of lawlessness, vastly untouched landscapes, the great outdoors, and the gradual technological progression of humanity as the turn of the century approached. This magical, simpler time in history shaped modern American ideals and values. It also ingrained into the heart of America the beautiful humbleness of living off the land in a quiet and peaceful stretch of nature. The joys of raising your own family and livestock, as well as enjoying the simplicities of farm life out on the great American frontier was the highlight during this time.

There is a vastly diverse combination of canyons, hot-sand deserts, green pastures, snow-capped mountains, wet marshes, and Mountain Yarns and Prairie Tales – campfires, scenery, and all.

On the darker side of the Wild Wild West, it was the famed era of cowboys and Native Americans. It was the time where outlaws and lawmen, famous family feuds, train and bank heists, gunslingers and bounty hunters, and the infamous gangs and bandits who roamed the lawless deserts and robbed and murdered their way into infamy. 

Here are 5 of the most significant historical figures, duos, and gangs of the Wild West. 

The Wild Bunch 

The infamous gang and their antics in hijacking stagecoaches, stealing horses, and pulling bank robberies put them on the pedestal. Members of the bunch included Harry “Sundance Kid,” Kid Curry, and Butch Cassidy. One famous story of theirs says that they stole sixty-five thousand useless, unsigned bills from a train (to their complete shock). They even sent an excellent old-fashioned selfie to a bank they had just robbed, along with a thank you letter for the stolen money they ran off. 

Billy the Kid 

Alternating in and out of prison, Billy the Kid spent most of his childhood committing crimes and evading law enforcement. He has fled several times from jail. Billy was already a wanted murderer at this point. In New Mexico, he was active in the Lincoln County War, where he suspected of killing several men.

In 1878, the governor of New Mexico offered a deal to Bill, where he will get immunity if he surrendered. However, once they got him in jail, the District Attorney turned on Billy, but he could escape again. Three months later, however, while breaking into a house at night, Billy was shot and killed by an officer. Two shots were fired, hitting him in the chest with the first bullet piercing his heart. 

Black Bart 

Charles E. Boles was born sometime in 1830, in New York. In his youth, he migrated to California to attempt to strike gold at the gold rush height. He had no success in mining, so he then turned to a life of crime to get by instead.

A majority of the gold mined from California was transported by Wells-Fargo stagecoaches around the mid-1850s. Since they often traveled through secluded regions, they were easy targets for thieves. The famous story of his first robbery involved tricking a stagecoach into thinking he had an army of backup with rifles waiting in the bushes. Bart then hacked open the safe with an ax and escaped with the gold on foot.

When the stagecoach driver returned to the area, they found out there weren’t any rifles at all. They merely were sticks tied to the bush branches. He continued a life of stagecoach robberies until he was finally caught and got six years in Sab Quentin Prison. 

 Jesse James 

Jesse was a popular a bank robber, train robber, and a common bandit. His intentions, however, were mainly all about vengeance. His intense desire to get back at Northern soldiers who brutally terrorized and interrogated his family for information at his own house was his driving force. He assembled a posse of bandits, and together they ravaged northern businesses. They were the James-Younger Gang.

The year 1865 marked the first bank robbery ever recorded in the United States. The gang had taken $15,000 from the First National Bank in Liberty, Missouri. After becoming famous and having hefty bounties on each of their heads, Jesse got the help of his cousins Bob and Charlie Ford. However, Bob’s only interest was in the bounty on Jesse’s head. He shot him in the back of the head to claim the bounty.