14 Common Misconceptions about American History

13. Was the Wild West Really That Wild?

We’ve all been fed yarns of dueling cowboys, battling Indians, revolver-wielding outlaws and valiant sheriffs out in the Old West. It makes for exciting history lessons and movies, but it’s not really the way things went down. Look at the stats, and there were really only 12 recorded bank robberies between 1859 to 1900 in that region. The average murder rate within those frontier towns was about 1.5 per year – hardly a blood bath. Even the shootout at the OK Corral only had a death toll of three. Billy the Kid wasn’t as badass as these myths made him out to be.