The
Johnson County War, also known as the
War on Powder River and the
Wyoming Range War, was a series of
range conflicts that took place in
Johnson,
Wyoming between 1889 and 1893. The conflicts started when cattle companies ruthlessly persecuted supposed rustlers throughout the grazing lands of Wyoming. As tensions swelled between the large established ranchers and the smaller settlers in the state, violence finally culminated in
Powder River Country, when the former hired armed
gunmen to invade the county and wipe out the competition. When word came out of the gunmen's initial incursion in the territory, the small-time farmers and ranchers, as well as the
state lawmen, formed a posse of 200 men to fight them back which led to a grueling stand-off. The war ended when the
United States Cavalry, on the orders of
President Benjamin Harrison, relieved the two forces.