Editing Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (section)

=== Earps versus Cowboys ===
[[File:VirgilEarp.jpg|thumb|165px|Virgil Earp, wounded during the gunfight, was later ambushed by the Cowboys]]
[[File:Wyatt Earp portrait.png|thumb|165px|Wyatt Earp took matters into his own hands when the Cowboys who ambushed Virgil and murdered Morgan went free]]
The interpersonal conflicts and [[feud]]s leading to the gunfight were complex. Each side had strong family ties. The brothers James, Virgil, Wyatt, [[Morgan Earp|Morgan]], and [[Warren Earp]] were a tight-knit family, working together as lawmen, [[pimps]], and saloon owners in several frontier towns, among other occupations, and had moved together from one town to another. Virgil served in the [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War]] and in 1877 became a police officer in [[Prescott, Arizona|Prescott, Arizona Territory]]. He followed that with a job as a night watchman before he became a constable. Wyatt had held jobs as either a guard or police officer in the cattle-drive towns of [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]] and [[Dodge City, Kansas|Dodge City]], 
[[Kansas]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wyatt-earp-dropped-from-wichita-police-force|title=Wyatt Earp dropped from Wichita police force|website=HISTORY}}</ref>

James, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp, together with their wives, arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879, during the early period of rapid growth associated with mining, when there were only a few hundred residents.<ref name=linder2005>{{cite journal |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/earpaccount.html |editor-first=Douglas |editor-last=Linder |year=2007 |title=The Earp-Holliday Trial: An Account |access-date=April 14, 2011 |publisher=University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1023000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113175200/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/earpaccount.html |archive-date=January 13, 2011 }}</ref> Virgil was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal shortly before he arrived in town. In the summer of 1880, Morgan and Warren Earp also moved to Tombstone. Wyatt arrived hoping he could leave "lawing" behind. He bought a [[stagecoach]], only to find the business was already very competitive. The Earps invested together in several mining claims and water rights.<ref name=burns/>{{rp|180|date=November 2012}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wyattearp.net/arrival.html |title=Wyatt Earp History Page |access-date=January 9, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112064055/http://www.wyattearp.net/arrival.html |archive-date=January 12, 2014 }}</ref> The Earps were [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and [[Northern United States|Northerners]] who had never worked as cowmen or ranchers.

The Earps quickly came into conflict with [[Frank McLaury|Frank]] and [[Tom McLaury]], [[Billy Clanton|Billy]] and [[Ike Clanton]], [[Johnny Ringo]], and William "Curly Bill" Brocius, among others. They were part of a large, loose association of cattle smugglers and [[horse thief|horse thieves]] known as the Cowboys, outlaws who had been implicated in various crimes. Ike Clanton was prone to drinking heavily and threatened the Earp brothers numerous times.<ref>{{cite book |first=Wilcox |last= Victoria |title= The World of Doc Holliday: History and Historic Images |location= United States |publisher= TwoDot |year= 2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1cBEAAAQBAJ |page=120|isbn= 9781493048298 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/earpaccount.html|title=An account of the events leading up to, and including, the trial (preliminary hearing) of the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday for their roles in the 1881 shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.|website=law2.umkc.edu}}</ref>

Tombstone resident George Parson wrote in his diary, "A Cowboy is a rustler at times, and a rustler is a synonym for [[Outlaw|desperado]]—[[bandit]], outlaw, and horse thief." The ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'' wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [are] the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country ... infinitely worse than the ordinary robber."<ref name=linder2005/> During the 1880s in Cochise County, it was an insult to call a legitimate [[cattleman]] a "Cowboy".<ref name="stone"/> The Cowboys teamed up for various crimes and came to each other's aid. Virgil thought that some of the Cowboys had met at [[Charleston, Arizona|Charleston]] and taken "an oath over blood drawn from the arm of Johnny Ringo, the leader, that they would kill us."<ref name="historynet"/>