The
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a 30-second
gunfight between an
outlaw group of
Cowboys and lawmen that is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the
American Wild West. The gunfight took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in
Tombstone,
Arizona Territory. It was the result of a long-simmering feud between Cowboys
Billy Claiborne,
Ike and
Billy Clanton,
Tom and
Frank McLaury, and opposing lawmen: town Marshal
Virgil Earp, Assistant Town Marshal
Morgan Earp, and temporary deputy marshals
Wyatt Earp and
Doc Holliday. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. Ike Clanton, who had repeatedly threatened to kill the Earps, claimed he was unarmed and ran from the fight along with Billy Claiborne. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt Earp was unharmed. The fight has come to represent a period in American Old West when the frontier was virtually an open range for outlaws, largely unopposed by law enforcement, who were spread thin over vast territories, leaving some areas unprotected.