NeDe WaDe (1852-1892), a.k.a Ned Christie

Ned was a famous Cherokee Statesman (back in the days when Oklahoma wasn't part of the U.S. but a foreign land owned, ruled and administrated according to Cherokee Law), an actual senator and advisor to chief BushyHead of the Cherokee Nation.

Perhaps his most moving fiction adaptation (as fair an adaptation in fiction as can be imagined, the Cherokee Nation depiction is very interesting) is the "Zeke & Ned" novel by Larry McMurtry.

Said to have been an exceptional shot (shooting tree branches under the squirrels picking them up as they fell to save meat), this giant of a man (6'7''), after having been wrongfully accused of murdering a marshall, stood up, during what would be remembered as 'Ned Christie's war', in the fort that he built for his home, for 7 long years, against wave after wave of "law" posses bent on capturing him.
He lost an eye in the fights.
The authorities even resorted to bringing an actual war canon all the way through Cherokee Nation and up the mountain to blow him out (but they couldn't shoot it with accuracy) so that they had to dynamite the whole house to finally get him to try and make for an exit.

At which point, they did shoot him down.

He was found innocent of his charges in a 1918 review of the case.

He embodies the rightful, pure struggle of old ways (bravery, honor, self awareness and pride) against the blurred morals of new virtueless moneyminded invaders.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Christie 

Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), Quintessential OUT-LAW-MAN

No need for introduction for this one. His life, name and exploits were used and referenced in countless movies, comic books, books, etc...

I will  eventually write something about the so called "Lawmen" of the Wild west era, probably when I have a bunch more of them drawn.
But Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp had to be the first one.

Tall (6'3''), dark dressed (mid-1860s puritan rage in fashion probably), he started as a pimp and a hustler (even made fake money), then Shotgun on a stage coach for the Wells Fargo, which really took guts at that time (since you made the only obviously worthy target of each robbery attempt), then ganged up with the fastest, sometimes meanest draws  in the west, into various outfits employed for security, extortion (one of the key concept for understanding 19th century american economics), etc...

Even a stint in Deadwood that did not last and THEN, Wichita, and THEN Tombstone and the O.K. Corral gunfight that made him famous.  

He is always represented as the untouchable "straight-as-an-arrow"grim cop with the unbelievable luck in one hand and the strength of righteousness in the other.

Truth is he was lucky to always be on the good side of the law when guns were drawn to be remembered.
He tried to downgrade the good image people built upon his and his fellow lawful vigilantes and felt quite remorseful of not being able to help portray a more nuanced wild west (he was more than a consultant  on the first "western" ever made, "the great train Robbery"  in 1903).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

Calamity Jane (1852-1903), Wanderer Extraordinary

What historians call a "Frontierswoman", she's best portrayed in the late HBO's Deadwood TV series, played by actress Robin Weigert.

Most of the other uses of Jane's references are very exaggerated and excentric whichever media is concerned. 
Hollywood's previous musical pseudo adaptation of her life and exploits (1953) or her tough/boyish depiction in the "Lucky Luke" franco-belgian western spoof comic books are too far from, we can only guess the complexity and nuances of her character in such a context as was hers, the 1860s american wild frontier, where most other girls were to be wives or whores, and the standards of mediamaking of those days might not have allowed her not to be a funny character. 

Emigrating West in 1865, she goes from hustling men for to learning to hunt and scout with them. She becomes a fine shot and starts scouting for the US Army. 
Upon saving her captain's life, she gets nicknamed "Calamity Jane". 

She was friends (in love) with Wild Bill Hicock, helped people escape bouts with natives, became a rancher, twice, had a daughter, worked on and on for a big well doing local Madame, worked a stint for Buffalo Bill's touring circus of the West, while drinking heavily all along which led to her death in a hut by a railway where she was eventually found. 

Tragic character, essential figure of  the Wild West era, who deserves her part in this little gallery.

There are others but ladies first so I tried to represent her during her transition between that dark eyed pretty kid and the stocky firm stone face woman she eventually became.    


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamity_Jane

Paperback Cover on Gunslingers

Research for Heroes of Westerns Anthology Book or Magazine cover (2011).

It could be... Billy the Kid.