Editing Riding shotgun

{{Short description|Person next to the driver, turned into a game}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox phrase
| title         = Riding shotgun
| image         = Indians Attacking a Stage-Coach BAH-p243.png
| caption       = The driver is holding the whip with the [[shotgun messenger]] on his left.
| origin        = A [[bodyguard]] riding alongside a [[stagecoach]] driver (derived from "[[shotgun messenger]]")
| meaning       = {{Unbulleted list|
* Sitting next to the [[driver (person)|driver]] in a moving [[vehicle]]
* Giving support or aid to someone
}}
| coined_by     = Alfred Henry Lewis (1905)
}}

"'''Riding shotgun'''" was a phrase used to describe the [[bodyguard]] who rides alongside a [[stagecoach]] driver, typically armed with a [[break-action]] [[shotgun]], called a [[coach gun]], to ward off [[bandit]]s or hostile [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]s. In modern use, it refers to the practice of sitting alongside the [[driver (person)|driver]] in a moving [[vehicle]]. The coining of this phrase dates to 1905 at the latest.<ref name="sunsettrail">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Alfred Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/sunsettrail00lewigoog/page/n373 |title=The Sunset Trail |publisher=[[A. L. Burt Company]] |year=1905 |location=New York |pages=349 |language=en |author-link=Alfred Henry Lewis |access-date=March 30, 2018 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The expression "riding shotgun" is derived from "[[shotgun messenger]]", a colloquial term for "express messenger", when [[stagecoach]] travel was popular during the American [[American frontier|Wild West]] and the [[Colonialism|Colonial]] period in [[Australia]]. The person rode alongside the driver. The first known use of the phrase "riding shotgun" was in the 1905 novel ''The Sunset Trail'' by [[Alfred Henry Lewis]].<ref name="sunsettrail" /> 

{{Blockquote|Wyatt and Morgan Earp were in the service of The Express Company. They went often as guards—"riding shotgun," it was called—when the stage bore unusual treasure.|author=Alfred Henry Lewis|title=''The Sunset Trail''|source=Chapter 14}}

It was later used in print and especially film depiction of stagecoaches and wagons in the [[Old West]] in danger of being robbed or attacked by [[bandit]]s. A special armed employee of the express service using the stage for transportation of bullion or cash would sit beside the driver, carrying a short [[shotgun]] (or alternatively a [[rifle]]),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fradkin |first=Philip L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QILdMe7lYXgC |title=Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West |date=April 24, 2002 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-743227-62-9 |location=New York, New York |language=en |oclc=893160059 |author-link=Philip L. Fradkin |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> to provide an armed response in case of threat to the cargo, which was usually a strongbox.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Agnew |first=Jeremy |title=The Old West in Fact and Film: History Versus Hollywood |publisher=[[McFarland & Company, Inc.]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-786468-88-1 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=17 |language=en |oclc=817224898}}</ref> Absence of an armed person in that position often signaled that the stage was not carrying a strongbox, but only passengers.<ref name="phrases">{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Gary |title=Riding shotgun |url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/riding-shotgun.html |access-date=May 1, 2010 |work=The Phrase Finder}}</ref>

==Historical examples==

===Tombstone, Arizona Territory===
On the evening of March 15, 1881, a Kinnear & Company [[stagecoach]] carrying US$26,000 in [[silver bullion]] ({{inflation|US|26000|1881|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) was en route from the boom town of [[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]], [[Arizona Territory]] to [[Benson, Arizona]], the nearest freight terminal.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=O'Neal |first1=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KLrfdOrI78C&pg=PA180 |title=Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-806123-35-6 |location=Norman, Oklahoma |pages=180 |language=en |oclc=1066549530 |access-date=April 14, 2011}}</ref> [[Robert H. Paul|Bob Paul]], who had run for [[Pima County, Arizona|Pima County]] Sheriff and was contesting the election he lost due to [[ballot-stuffing]], was temporarily working once again as the Wells Fargo shotgun messenger. He had taken the reins and driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a well-known and popular man named Eli "Budd" Philpot, was ill. Philpot was riding shotgun.

Near [[Edward Landers Drew#Biography|Drew's Station]], just outside [[Contention City, Arizona|Contention City]], a man stepped into the road and commanded them to "Hold!" Three cowboys attempted to rob the stage. Paul, in the driver's seat, fired his [[shotgun]] and emptied his [[revolver]] at the robbers, wounding a cowboy later identified as Bill Leonard in the groin. Philpot, riding shotgun, and passenger Peter Roerig, riding in the rear [[rumble seat|dickey seat]], were both shot and killed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Willis |first=Warren F. |date=2008 |title=Tombstone, AZ |url=http://silverstateghosttowns.com/tombstone-az.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324044531/http://silverstateghosttowns.com/tombstone-az.html |archive-date=March 24, 2012 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |website=Silver State Ghost Towns}}</ref> The horses spooked and Paul wasn't able to bring the stage under control for almost a mile, leaving the robbers with nothing. Paul, who normally rode shotgun, later said he thought the first shot killing Philpot had been meant for him.<ref>{{cite web |title=Home Page |url=http://historyraider.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208143417/http://historyraider.com/ |archive-date=February 8, 2011 |access-date=February 11, 2011 |website=History Raiders}}</ref>

When [[Wyatt Earp]] first arrived in Tombstone in December 1879, he initially took a job as a stagecoach [[shotgun messenger]] for [[Wells Fargo]], guarding shipments of silver bullion. When Earp was appointed Pima County Deputy Sheriff on July 27, 1881, his brother [[Morgan Earp]] took over his job.<ref name="wgbh">{{cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/wyatt-transcript/ |title=WGBH American Experience: Wyatt Earp, Complete Program Transcript |date=January 25, 2010 |publisher=[[PBS]] |number=2 (season 22) |access-date=September 10, 2017 |archive-date=January 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130081133/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/wyatt-transcript/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Historical weapon===
When [[Wells, Fargo & Co.]] began regular stagecoach service from [[Tipton, Missouri]] to [[San Francisco]], [[California]] in 1858, they issued shotguns to its drivers and guards for defense along the perilous 2,800 mile route.<ref name="pmo">{{cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Spencer |date=June 2004 |title=Revival Of The Coach Gun |url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/1277346.html?page=1 |magazine=[[Popular Mechanics]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930024328/http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/1277346.html?page=1 |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |access-date=March 18, 2007}}</ref> The guard was called a [[shotgun messenger]] and they were issued a [[Coach gun]], typically a 10-gauge or 12-gauge, short, double-barreled shotgun.<ref name="Peacemakers">{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=R. L. |title=The Peacemakers: Arms and Adventure in the American West |publisher=Book Sales, Inc. |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-785818-92-2 |location=New York |pages=121, 197, 244 |oclc=566819978}}</ref>

==Modern usage==
The term has been applied to an informal [[game]], typically played by younger people. When 3 or more people are getting into a vehicle, the first person to say "shotgun" determines who rides beside the driver. Specific rules used vary. <ref>{{Cite web |title=The Official Rules for Calling Shotgun |url=https://www.shotgunrules.com/ |access-date=October 25, 2017 |website=ShotgunRules.com}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [[Coach gun]]
* [[Drive-by shooting]]
* [[Shotgun messenger]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:1900s neologisms]]
[[Category:1905 quotations]]
[[Category:English-language idioms]]
[[Category:American cultural conventions]]
[[Category:Car games]]
[[Category:Wyatt Earp]]
[[Category:Bodyguards]]
[[Category:Coaches (carriage)]]