Wyatt Earp Wyatt Earp was a frontier lawman, gunfighter, gambler, miner, real estate speculator, and runner of saloons. He became a folk hero of the Wild West after becoming involved in a shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt Earp was born on March 19, 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois. He was Nicholas and Virginia Ann Earp’s third son. When Wyatt was 13 he tried multiple times to run away to the Civil War to join his brothers in the Union Army. Wyatt was caught every time. When Wyatt was 17, he left home and worked hauling freight. He also graded track for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1869, Earp’s family was living in Lamar, Missouri. Earp worked as Lamar’s constable after his father resigned from the job. In 1870, Wyatt Earp married Urilla Sutherland and was expecting a child. …show more content…
Wyatt was devastated and left his home in Lamar to live a life on the frontier. Wyatt spent the next six years at various saloons, brothels, and gambling houses. In 1876, he moved to Wichita, Kansas to help his brother, Virgil, who had recently opened a brothel. In Wichita, Wyatt helped a police officer catch a wagon thief and joined the police shortly after. Wyatt enjoyed working as a lawman and was eventually made the marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. In 1879, Wyatt went to Tombstone, Arizona with his brothers Virgil and Morgan after hearing that silver had been discovered there. Wyatt also went with Doc Holliday; a gambler friend that Wyatt had met in Dodge City. Wyatt Earp returned to his job as a lawman after failing to find any