THE WILD HORSE GANG-- The beginning and the golden era of the gang
Wild Horse was a medicine man from the Goyáálé tribe, who formed the Wild Horse gang in 1882 in retaliation to the brutal attacks led by the US cavalry. While he had never been a violent man, one can only take so much mistreatment for so long before reaching their breaking point, and after the murder of his wife and two children in a raid that occurred while he and the other men of his camp had left to trade in a nearby town, Wild Horse became fueled with the need for revenge. The seeds of rebellion were sown and the Wild Horse gang was formed with Wild Horse himself as the leader, and his friend Kuruk as second in command.The first job the Wild Horse gang pulled was an attack on a nearby military outpost, killing the men who had led the raid against their people. Despite the odds, the raid was a success and soon, tales of their victory began to spread around the west. From a small gang of around six men, their numbers soon began to grow as more and more members were recruited from various tribes throughout the southwest region of the United States.
The gang’s success continued as they robbed trains, banks, and anything that would hit the government where it hurt. In 1886 Wild Horse found two kids in the middle of the New Austin desert dying of thirst and alone. They had escaped from one of the Indian boarding schools and were trying to find their way home, but had gotten lost in the process. Without a second thought, Wild Horse took them in and raised them as his own children, thus Ahote and Sialea-lea became his adopted son and daughter. They were taught how to navigate the arid landscape so they’d never be lost, how to hunt so they’d never starve, how to craft medicine so they would never fall ill, but most importantly, how to fight so they would never be helpless. Both harbored a bone to pick with US government, much like Wild Horse himself, and while it was never expected of them to formally embrace the outlaw lifestyle, the need to get revenge had not quieted after their escape from under the government’s thumb. By the time their childhood mischievousness had grown into teenage rebellion and impetuousness they were robbing trains and raiding outposts just like the rest of the gang.
The tales of Wild Horse were largely exaggerated and often twisted to fit the narrative of the lawless wild west. Soldiers exchanged stories of the gang’s fierceness in battle, recruiters used their crimes as ways to sway young men to the call of taming the west, and mothers warned their children of a band of over a hundred bloodthirsty savages so they wouldn’t stray too far from home. Yet like most of the myth surrounding the west, the stories about the gang were far from the truth. For even in their rebellion the gang adhered to their own strict moral code: do not kill innocents, do not spill blood needlessly, and above all remember who you were fighting for.
They were less a gang, and more of a family truth be told, and even though times were tough, and would only get more difficult, there was never a doubt over the bonds that held them together. Wild Horse trusted each and every one of his members, and was a fair leader. There were no lies or empty promises in his camp and as a result, the gang respected him immensely. As a father to Ahote and Sialea-lea, he was loving, and fair, and kind. He was no great manipulator, or ruthless and cruel like some of the other gang leaders at the time, but truly a good man who was trying to make a difference.
