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One of the most prominent images of the Old American West is that of the fearsome rivalry between Cowboys and Indians. It is a Hollywood favorite, and many American film legends have played the rough cowboy role. However, history tells a slightly less dramatic story.

Most scuffles between Native Americans and other parties occurred against U.S. military forces. Fighting between cowboys and American Indians mostly took place during the occasional raid in which the American Indians would attempt to gather some resources from the cowboys’ camps. Most of these conflicts ended with little violence.

The romanticized film role of the gun-slinging cowboy is a fictitious one. A traditional cowboy was simply a laborer who spent too much time working with livestock to consider battling any American Indians. Also, many of the traditional cowboys of the Old West were actually American Indians. This was especially the case from the mid-1800s on because the U.S. government started encouraging assimilation of American Indian populations into the rest of the residents of the American West.

Clearly, the film industry has taken some liberties with historical relationships. While the occasional scuffle between cowboys and American Indians did occur, the conflict was brief and usually ended with the cowboy simply showing that he was armed.