John Wesley Hardin, born on May 26, 1853, in Bonham County, Texas, and died on August 19, 1895, in El Paso, Texas, remains an infamous figure in the annals of the American Wild West. He is best known as a notorious killer and a remarkably fast draw gunfighter on the Texas frontier. During the tumultuous period between 1868 and 1877, Hardin claimed to have killed at least 21 men in a mix of gun duels and ambushes, cementing his deadly reputation in the history of the gunfighters of the era.
Hardin’s adolescence coincided with the Reconstruction era following the defeat of the Confederacy. Growing up in the aftermath of the Civil War, he developed strong anti-Black and anti-Union sentiments. In 1868, at the young age of 15, Hardin committed his first homicide, killing a formerly enslaved man. This violent act marked the beginning of his life as a gunslinger, characterized by gunfights, gambling, and heavy drinking. His career as a gunfighter saw him outdraw and kill at least eight Union soldiers and four Black policemen who were pursuing him on various murder charges, highlighting the violent and racially charged context of the post-Civil War Texas frontier.
His life on the run eventually led to his capture. While fleeing Texas, Hardin was apprehended at a train depot in Pensacola, Florida. He was then returned to Austin, Texas, for trial in September 1877. The legal proceedings resulted in a sentence of 25 years of hard labor in the state prison at Huntsville. However, Hardin’s time in prison did not entirely define his story. In 1894, he received a pardon and sought to transition to a more peaceful existence. He relocated to Gonzales, Texas, with his three children, his first wife having passed away while he was incarcerated. He remarried, but this union was short-lived, and Hardin soon left his second wife and moved to El Paso. In El Paso, he returned to a life of dissipation and theft, a stark contrast to the peaceful retirement he had initially envisioned.
His life of violence ultimately met a violent end. On August 19, 1895, John Hardin was standing at the bar in the Acme Saloon in El Paso when he was fatally shot in the back of the head. His killer was John Selman, Sr., a local El Paso policeman and known thief, with whom Hardin had a long-standing and bitter feud. Selman was subsequently tried for Hardin’s murder, but he was acquitted, further adding to the complex and often lawless narratives of the Wild West.
John Hardin’s legacy as a gunfighter is partly shaped by his own account of his life. His exploits and version of events were presented to the public in his autobiography, The Life of John Wesley Hardin as Written by Himself, published posthumously in 1896. This autobiography remains a primary source for understanding his life and perspective, though historians often view it with a critical eye, acknowledging its self-serving nature and potential exaggerations. Regardless, John Hardin’s name is forever etched in the history of the Wild West as one of its most notorious and deadly gunfighters.
