09/24/2025
Many people know of the “County Seat Wars” that occurred across the Old West as the area was being settled and counties were being created. From West Virginia to Washington state, individuals and mobs fought to take control of the governmental offices and property to have the right to be the county seat. In many cases, people were injured and even killed in these disputes. It was important, because being the county seat would likely insure the community would grow and thrive, providing quality of life for the residents and surrounding area.
One of the more infamous disputes was in Kansas, involving the communities of what would become Gray County. Over the course of six years, 1887 to 1893, control of the county seat went back and forth between the communities of Cimarron, Montezuma and Ingalls. There were frequent occasions of bribery, forgery in the voting processes and interference with other stakeholders outside the boundaries of the county, including Asa Soule, a millionaire from New York and Bat Masterson, an infamous law enforcement officer. On October 31, 1887, the vote gave the county seat to Cimarron. In 1889, the county records were still being housed in Ingalls and there was pressure to get them moved to Cimarron.
On January 12, 1889, men from Ingalls and Dodge City came to Cimarron to get the last of the papers to take back to Ingalls. They entered the courthouse in the first block of south main street and got what they needed. As they were loading the wagon, a gunfight ensued. What resulted was a heavy barrage of gunfire from both sides, resulting in many wounded and one death. John Wesley English was shot and killed during the battle and is now buried at Cimarron Cemetery. He was married to Clara and they had two very young children. She eventually remarried and moved away, but J.W. English remains at our cemetery, proof of the violence that was a part of settling the frontier of Kansas and the United States. His obituary follows:
Obituary – The New West (Cimarron, Kansas) January 17, 1889, p. 4
DEATH OF J.W. ENGLISH.
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of J.W. English in this issue, who died at the hands of the invaders that came into the city last Saturday morning.
Mr. English was a man of great integrity, and came to this city from the eastern part of the state almost four years ago, since which time he had devoted his entire attention and energies in making a pleasant home for himself and family, and the general up building and progress of Gray County and Western Kansas. Mr. English resided on a tract of land about one half mile east of this city and has done more to develop the resources of western Kansas than any resident in Gray County.
In the death of Mr. English Cimarron does not only loses an honest, upright, and highly honored citizen, whose character is unblemished, and a man possessing great public spirit, but his family suffers the loss of a kind and affectionate husband, and the care and sympathy of a true and tender father. His character is unquestioned by all, and never in any way connected with the county seat fights, and a more conscience just an upright man then Mr. English have never been numbered among the citizens of any community. He was a kind, true and courteous to his associates at all times, and has always been looked upon as a modle (sic) man.
J. W. English was a nursery man in early Cimarron, Kansas, and one of it's leading citizens. Mr. English was killed in the Gray County Seat War between Cimarron and Ingalls on January 12, 1889. The battle was the largest gunfight ever to take place in a municipality since the Civil War, and certainly the largest in Old West History, with over 1600 shots being fired.
Sources
Diggin’ History, Posted March 28, 2014; http://historydepot.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/feudin-and-fightin-friday-county-seat-wars/
Find a Grave
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9362466/john-wesley-english?_gl=1*kkcv96*_gcl_au*MTgxMzk0MDE3OS4xNzU0OTQwMTY4*_ga*MTkyMjI2OTY0LjE3NTQ5NDAxNjk.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czllM2ZhMWRmLTcyMDItNDE2ZC05OGFjLTk0ZWRkMGIyYzc2ZCRvMTgkZzEkdDE3NTg3NDM4MDEkajUwJGwwJGgw*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czllM2ZhMWRmLTcyMDItNDE2ZC05OGFjLTk0ZWRkMGIyYzc2ZCRvMTkkZzEkdDE3NTg3NDM4MDEkajUxJGwwJGgw
The New West Newspaper
https://www.newspapers.com/article/cimarron-new-west-jw-english-obit-1889/181260170/?xid=637
