Nate Champion

In reality, Champion was simply a small rancher who stood up against the big cattlemen's practice of claiming all unbranded young cattle on the range.

[1] He is celebrated for his heroic stand in his besieged cabin and for a heartfelt letter written at the time describing the events.

His father served as sheriff of Williamson County for while his Aunt Hattie Cluck drove her own cattle to market in Abilene, Kansas in 1871.

Historian Richard Maxwell Brown refers to the events in Wyoming as part of a wider "Western Civil War of Incorporation."

The large ranches, concerned about this practice, forbade their employees from owning cattle and aggressively defended against rustling.

The large companies began to aggressively appropriate land and control the flow and supply of water in this area; they justified these excesses on what was public land by using the catch-all allegation of rustling, and vigorously sought to exclude the smaller ranchers from participation in the annual roundup; apparently agents of the larger ranches killed several alleged rustlers.

Two passers-by noticed the ruckus and rode to Buffalo, where Johnson County Sheriff William "Red" Angus raised a posse of 200 men and set out for the "KC Ranch".

During the siege, Champion kept a poignant journal which contained a number of notes he wrote to friends while taking cover inside the cabin.

[1] The following day the posse led by the sheriff besieged the invading force at the "TA Ranch" on Crazy Woman Creek.

Frantic efforts to save the besieged invaders ensued, and telegraphs to Washington resulted in intervention by the President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison.

The Sixth Cavalry from Fort McKinney was ordered to proceed to the "TA Ranch" and take custody of the invaders and save them from the posse.