00:00Born in 1841, Clay Allison became a Confederate cavalryman and one of the notorious gunfighters
00:06of the American Wild West.
00:08Allison was born on a farm in Wayne County, Tennessee.
00:12When the Civil War began, he joined the Confederate Army.
00:16He was discharged early because of an old head injury, but later returned to military
00:21service with the 9th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, where he served under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
00:27Allison remained with Forrest's Cavalry until the final days of the war, eventually
00:32surrendering alongside him in Alabama in 1865.
00:35After the war, Allison headed west.
00:38He worked as a cowboy and was reportedly involved with the Good Night Loving Trail.
00:43For a time, he lived in both New Mexico and Texas, where he developed a reputation as
00:49a particularly dangerous figure.
00:51Newspapers eventually gave him a chilling nickname, the Wolf of the Ouachita.
00:57Allison was connected to several killings and became involved in numerous violent incidents,
01:02many of them reportedly occurring when he was drinking.
01:06Later in life, he married, settled into ranching near Pecos, Texas, and appeared to leave much
01:13of his violent past behind.
01:14But his life ended in a bizarre accident.
01:18On July 3, 1887, Allison was transporting supplies when he fell from his freight wagon.
01:25One of the wagon's wheels passed over him, breaking his neck and killing him.
01:30He was only 45 years old.
01:32A man who had survived the Civil War and earned a reputation as one of the Wild West's most
01:38dangerous gunfighters ultimately died not in a shootout, but beneath the wheel of his own wagon.
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