Ike Clanton, the Cochise Cowboys, and Their Near Decade-and-a-Half Terror Reign

By Larry Nader
Published October 24, 2023

While “Ike Clanton and the Cochise Cowboys” may be an excellent name for a country music band, it wasn’t exactly a Sunday concert in the park for Cochise County in the late 1800s. We are all familiar with the historical event in Tombstone, Arizona, in October 1881, which solidified the town’s name in America’s Old West history and has a story that Hollywood and print publications have recounted many times over the last near century and a half. However, let’s look closer at the life of Ike Clanton, the leader of the Cochise County Cowboys (following his father’s passing), and how the Clanton family went from being ranchers to cattle rustlers and murderers. We will also examine what occurred with Ike during the O.K. Corral gunfight and his eventual death at the hands of Springerville Constable and Range Detective Jonas “Jake” V. Brighton in April 1887.

Joseph Isaac “Ike” Clanton was born in Callaway County, Missouri, in 1847 to Newman Haynes Clanton (AKA Old-Man Clanton) and Mariah Sexton (Kelso) Clanton. He was one of seven children in the family. Clanton’s father worked various jobs as a day laborer, gold miner, and farmer. Several years after Mariah died in 1866, the family moved to Arizona.