Historian Answers Wild West Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

Historian Mark Lee Gardner joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the Wild West era. Who was the most dangerous outlaw in the old west? What did folks use for toilet paper way back then? How accurate is the depiction of life in the old west in "Red Dead Redemption 2?" Old west historian Mark Lee Gardner covers these questions and plenty more on Wild West Support.

0:00 Yeeeehaaaw!
0:13 The most dangerous outlaw in the Old West
1:09 What is a 49er?
1:29 Which film did it better?
2:38 Music of the Wild West
2:54 “Hit it, Vance!”
4:18 Did the Old West have stricter guns laws than we have now?
5:09 Old West saloon drink menu
5:43 Hats of the Old West
6:58 When did the “Old West" officially end?
7:30 How many buffalo were there?
8:49 Annie are you Oakley?
9:36 Billy The Kid pics
11:27 Black cowboys: Yes
12:16 Branding cattle
13:19 Popularity of the 10 gauge shotgun
14:36 How accurate is Red Dead Redemption?
15:20 Old West literacy rates
16:42 TP of the Old West
17:47 An interesting aside about outhouses
18:14 Shootout etiquette
19:04 Old West cuisine
20:05 Mark’s fave gunslinger
20:42 What was there to do in a saloon?
21:47 Old West deep cuts
22:39 Saloon doors: why?
23:26 Toughest native tribes
24:24 How Custer took the L at Little Big Horn
25:58 Navajo blankets of the 1800s
27:02 When did the Old West start?
28:36 Play us out, fellas.


Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: Josh Bane
Editor: Philip Anderson
Expert: Mark Lee Gardner
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Freddie Ochoa
Sound Mixer: Brad Dunn
Production Assistant: Noelle Aguilar
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Jason Malizia
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Special Thanks: Vance Gardner


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[mwighty]

I love how he just keeps pulling in resources below the desk like he’s got Wild West Santa’s sack down there

[hanging-at-the-hanged-man]

I love how he has a violin player he can summon

[DoritoJet]

This is a real historian. He mixes fun with actual information such a great and interesting way to teach not only accurately but engagingly.

[stevenreedwebercooks]

One of the better historians WIRED has hosted. This man came prepared with props, and visual guides and was ready to answer the questions. Truly a model other historians should strive to replicate if hosted to answer questions to such a large audience.

[AkaHugo]

That bro Vance sliding into the frame is amazing.

[BeauTylerMakesMusic]

Wired, please bring this gentleman back. He's one of the best guests you've ever had.

[oohmyjooy]

As a European I'm always so amazed about how "recent" the wild west was. It just seems like a completely different era when comparing with cities like New-York during the same period or Europe. Its probably the effect of the non industrialisation I guess.

[PaperbackWizard]

There's a sort of running gag in the first "Young Guns" movie. Everyone keeps describing Billy the Kid as lefthanded, and then, near the end of the movie, he reads a newspaper story about himself and just frowns and says "I ain't a lefty".

[tunaburn]

I love how he doesnt try and frame it as some beautiful perfect time. He even admits the Native Americans were fighting to protect their families. I trust this guy.

[flummoxd]

That is without a doubt the single most awesome intro on any Tech Support ever.

[DarkElfDiva]

Here's another little tidbit: He talks about the Spanish cowboys, the Vaqueros. That term was Americanized and became the word we know as "Buckaroo."

[growingstruggle]

There better be a second part Wired! This episode was fire

[Lobo.paciente]

9:14 When Sitting Bull saw Oakley perform, he was so impressed by her sharpshooting skills that he adopted her as his daughter, giving her the Lakota name "Watanya Cicilla" which means "Little Sure Shot."

[purplepandaluvs]

As an indigenous person, I feel like he failed to mention that people were also being paid by the government to slaughter tons of buffalo specifically to starve many surrounding tribes so they could wipe them out. If you look it up you can see many poachers being surrounded by towers of buffalo skeletons. And the sad part is they completely wasted the meat and coats of these animals as they were left to rot in fields. This was devastating as these tribes used every single part of the animal for survival and to see these animals die for absolutely nothing was heart breaking. That was a huge contributing factor to them going almost extinct.

[coolcatb]

That was TOO SHORT! I could listen to Mr. Gardner all day. Not only is the stuff he talks about SO INTERESTING, but he has a way of narrating that's just so entertaining, it's like a superpower. I would add some kind of campfire, and dim the lights a bit, sit down comfy, and listen. I can't imagine all the awesome stories Mr. Gardner has in his head. And I LOVE THE BANJO/SINGING BITS. Please bring Mr. Gardner and his violin playing sidekick back. PLEASE! 🥰

[TheHuskyK]

11:42 My great-great-grandfather was a black Buffalo soldier, 10th Calvary Regiment of the US Army. He was part of the rescue team to save lost soldiers during the Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877.

[cman]

Doc Holiday was a real OG. A man told him he’d kill him and he just taunts him and then shoots him. Weak, dying of TB, nothing to lose, still couldn’t get him.

[yael]

Never heard of this man before, but the moment he pulled out the banjo I was a fan for life

[pprot]

I love how much respect he gives to Native American peoples and their plight during this period, its very rare to see in any discussions around the Wild West, or colonial American history in general. Fantastic video!

[blargh]

i haven't seen a lot of WIRED, but this has to be one of the best episodes. I wish i knew this guy personally to hear a ton of old west stories all the time at bonfires.