The town marshal of Abilene in 1870 was Tom "Big Bear" Smith, who was murdered and decapitated on 11/2/1870. He wounded one of his two murderers, who were caught and served a life term. His successor was famed lawman 'Wild Bill' Hickok in 1871.
At one point Sheriff Trimble, played by Edgar Buchanan, is musing about leaving his job and says, "Maybe I could go back to dentistry". Prior to becoming an actor, Buchanan had been a dentist.
Although barbed wire was invented in France in 1860 and a double-wire version was invented in and patented by the inventor in 1865, it wan't until 1873, when four large-scale firms in the US began to turn it out, that the wire became widely accessible.
Born on 10/14/1890 in Denison, TX, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander-in-chief of allied forces in western Europe during World War II, considered Abilene, KS, to be his hometown, as he grew up there.
Based on novel Trail Town by Ernest Haycox. A prolific western writer Haycox wrote amongst other works the short story Stage to Lordsburg which was filmed as the classic Stagecoach in 1939.
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