William Hampton "Hamp, Wade" Blevins was the third son of Martin Blevins (also known as Old Man Blevins and Mart Blevins) and Mary L. Atkinson Blevins. Hamp was the first of four of their sons to be killed because of the Tonto Basin/Pleasant Valley Range War in northern Arizona. The entire range war story is very complicated and extended over many years with many people dying. It involved cattle rustling and range fights between the sheep growers "the woolies" and the cattlemen and their hired cowhands who were also cattle rustlers and hired guns.
In August 1887, with tension in Pleasant Valley being very high, Martin Blevins (the father) went out in search of some cattle that had been stolen. After a week of Martin missing and fearing that Martin had an accident or had been murdered, his son, Hampton "Hamp", three of the "Hash Knife" cowboys named John Paine, Tom Tucker and Bob Glasspie (the hired cowboys/cow punchers, hired guns working for the Tom Graham ranch), Robert Carrington and other un-named cowboys went out in search of Martin, but also in a mood of violence themselves, quoted as saying that "we are going to start a little war of our own".
According to Tom Tucker and other witnesses left alive after the Middleton Ranch incident, on August 10, 1887, the search group decided to go to the nearby Middleton Ranch for dinner (unwritten laws of hospitality on the range to provide meals to neighboring ranchers passing by). Unknown to the Blevins group there were men quietly concealed inside of the cabin watching the Blevins group's every move and their request for dinner was denied. What actually started the incident is not know, with each side blaming the other side with who drew their guns first. But as the Blevins group turned their horses around, gun fire erupted from the cabin causing confusion with horses rearing and colliding with each other. Hampton Blevins was shot in the head, fell from his horse and died, being the first white man to lose his life in the now bloody Pleasant Valley war. Next to die was John Paine. The remaining Blevins group scattered in many directions. Tom Tucker was shot in the lung but somehow survived his serious wounds. Bob Glasspie was shot in his hip, but he also survived.
The bodies of Hampton Blevins and John Paine were buried by friends a day or two after the battle near the Middleton cabin which had been burned down by someone unknown. And there they still lay in unmarked graves, exact location unknown.
Facts taken from many sources including the books:
Arizona's Dark And Bloody Ground, The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited by Earle R. Forrest, 1936
A Little War Of Our Own, by Don Dedera, 1988
Valley Of The Guns, The Pleasant Valley War And The Trauma Of Violence by Eduardo Obregon Pagan, 1960
In August 1887, with tension in Pleasant Valley being very high, Martin Blevins (the father) went out in search of some cattle that had been stolen. After a week of Martin missing and fearing that Martin had an accident or had been murdered, his son, Hampton "Hamp", three of the "Hash Knife" cowboys named John Paine, Tom Tucker and Bob Glasspie (the hired cowboys/cow punchers, hired guns working for the Tom Graham ranch), Robert Carrington and other un-named cowboys went out in search of Martin, but also in a mood of violence themselves, quoted as saying that "we are going to start a little war of our own".
According to Tom Tucker and other witnesses left alive after the Middleton Ranch incident, on August 10, 1887, the search group decided to go to the nearby Middleton Ranch for dinner (unwritten laws of hospitality on the range to provide meals to neighboring ranchers passing by). Unknown to the Blevins group there were men quietly concealed inside of the cabin watching the Blevins group's every move and their request for dinner was denied. What actually started the incident is not know, with each side blaming the other side with who drew their guns first. But as the Blevins group turned their horses around, gun fire erupted from the cabin causing confusion with horses rearing and colliding with each other. Hampton Blevins was shot in the head, fell from his horse and died, being the first white man to lose his life in the now bloody Pleasant Valley war. Next to die was John Paine. The remaining Blevins group scattered in many directions. Tom Tucker was shot in the lung but somehow survived his serious wounds. Bob Glasspie was shot in his hip, but he also survived.
The bodies of Hampton Blevins and John Paine were buried by friends a day or two after the battle near the Middleton cabin which had been burned down by someone unknown. And there they still lay in unmarked graves, exact location unknown.
Facts taken from many sources including the books:
Arizona's Dark And Bloody Ground, The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited by Earle R. Forrest, 1936
A Little War Of Our Own, by Don Dedera, 1988
Valley Of The Guns, The Pleasant Valley War And The Trauma Of Violence by Eduardo Obregon Pagan, 1960
William Hampton "Hamp, Wade" Blevins was the third son of Martin Blevins (also known as Old Man Blevins and Mart Blevins) and Mary L. Atkinson Blevins. Hamp was the first of four of their sons to be killed because of the Tonto Basin/Pleasant Valley Range War in northern Arizona. The entire range war story is very complicated and extended over many years with many people dying. It involved cattle rustling and range fights between the sheep growers "the woolies" and the cattlemen and their hired cowhands who were also cattle rustlers and hired guns.
In August 1887, with tension in Pleasant Valley being very high, Martin Blevins (the father) went out in search of some cattle that had been stolen. After a week of Martin missing and fearing that Martin had an accident or had been murdered, his son, Hampton "Hamp", three of the "Hash Knife" cowboys named John Paine, Tom Tucker and Bob Glasspie (the hired cowboys/cow punchers, hired guns working for the Tom Graham ranch), Robert Carrington and other un-named cowboys went out in search of Martin, but also in a mood of violence themselves, quoted as saying that "we are going to start a little war of our own".
According to Tom Tucker and other witnesses left alive after the Middleton Ranch incident, on August 10, 1887, the search group decided to go to the nearby Middleton Ranch for dinner (unwritten laws of hospitality on the range to provide meals to neighboring ranchers passing by). Unknown to the Blevins group there were men quietly concealed inside of the cabin watching the Blevins group's every move and their request for dinner was denied. What actually started the incident is not know, with each side blaming the other side with who drew their guns first. But as the Blevins group turned their horses around, gun fire erupted from the cabin causing confusion with horses rearing and colliding with each other. Hampton Blevins was shot in the head, fell from his horse and died, being the first white man to lose his life in the now bloody Pleasant Valley war. Next to die was John Paine. The remaining Blevins group scattered in many directions. Tom Tucker was shot in the lung but somehow survived his serious wounds. Bob Glasspie was shot in his hip, but he also survived.
The bodies of Hampton Blevins and John Paine were buried by friends a day or two after the battle near the Middleton cabin which had been burned down by someone unknown. And there they still lay in unmarked graves, exact location unknown.
Facts taken from many sources including the books:
Arizona's Dark And Bloody Ground, The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited by Earle R. Forrest, 1936
A Little War Of Our Own, by Don Dedera, 1988
Valley Of The Guns, The Pleasant Valley War And The Trauma Of Violence by Eduardo Obregon Pagan, 1960
In August 1887, with tension in Pleasant Valley being very high, Martin Blevins (the father) went out in search of some cattle that had been stolen. After a week of Martin missing and fearing that Martin had an accident or had been murdered, his son, Hampton "Hamp", three of the "Hash Knife" cowboys named John Paine, Tom Tucker and Bob Glasspie (the hired cowboys/cow punchers, hired guns working for the Tom Graham ranch), Robert Carrington and other un-named cowboys went out in search of Martin, but also in a mood of violence themselves, quoted as saying that "we are going to start a little war of our own".
According to Tom Tucker and other witnesses left alive after the Middleton Ranch incident, on August 10, 1887, the search group decided to go to the nearby Middleton Ranch for dinner (unwritten laws of hospitality on the range to provide meals to neighboring ranchers passing by). Unknown to the Blevins group there were men quietly concealed inside of the cabin watching the Blevins group's every move and their request for dinner was denied. What actually started the incident is not know, with each side blaming the other side with who drew their guns first. But as the Blevins group turned their horses around, gun fire erupted from the cabin causing confusion with horses rearing and colliding with each other. Hampton Blevins was shot in the head, fell from his horse and died, being the first white man to lose his life in the now bloody Pleasant Valley war. Next to die was John Paine. The remaining Blevins group scattered in many directions. Tom Tucker was shot in the lung but somehow survived his serious wounds. Bob Glasspie was shot in his hip, but he also survived.
The bodies of Hampton Blevins and John Paine were buried by friends a day or two after the battle near the Middleton cabin which had been burned down by someone unknown. And there they still lay in unmarked graves, exact location unknown.
Facts taken from many sources including the books:
Arizona's Dark And Bloody Ground, The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited by Earle R. Forrest, 1936
A Little War Of Our Own, by Don Dedera, 1988
Valley Of The Guns, The Pleasant Valley War And The Trauma Of Violence by Eduardo Obregon Pagan, 1960
