How Doc Holliday Became A Legend In The American West

Doc Holiday is one of the most memorable names in Arizona history. He is widely revered for his role in the gunfight at the OK Corral, but he wasn't always a gambling gunfighter. He started as a dentist, and after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, his life changed forever.

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Early Life

John Henry Holliday was born in Georgia in the 1850's to a middle-class family. His father was a veteran who had served during the Civil War and the Mexican-American War, and had also been elected mayor twice.

Holliday lost his mother at the age of 15 to tuberculosis, and that grief pushed him further into his education. In 1872, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Dental School, earning him the nickname "Doc".

His life as a dentist was short-lived, as he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. This diagnosis led him west, where he was told the dry air would help his illness. While moving, he ended up in Texas, where he developed a passion for gambling and met some unsavory people.

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Tombstone Courthouse. / Photo by Val Davidson/TSM

Dentist Turned Gambler

After being diagnosed with Tuberculosis, everything changed for Holliday. He moved to Dallas, Texas, after being told he only had a few months to live. At first, he used his schooling to get himself a job, but patients didn't want a dentist who had violent coughing fits, and eventually he had to find a new way to make money.

Holliday was a very intelligent man, and he used his intelligence to make it rich gambling. At this time in history, gambling was a very violent hobby, so Doc armed himself with a 6-shooter. It was with this gun that he would find himself skipping town after town over gambles gone bad and angry mobs. His life as a gambler led him to develop the nickname "The Deadly Dentist."

The Ok Corral

The gunfight at the Ok Corral lasted less than 30 seconds, but it defined Holliday's reputation forever. During his time in Texas, Doc had met and befriended Wyatt Earp and felt a strong loyalty to the lawman. Shortly after Holliday moved to Tombstone, intense rivalry began to brew between cowboys and local lawmen.

On October 26, 1881, Doc found himself alongside the Earp brothers as they faced off against the Clantons and McLaurys. Frank and Tom McLaury were killed during the gunfight, alongside Billy Clanton. Before dying, 19-year-old Billy shot Virgil Earp between the shoulders, grazed Holliday's hip with a bullet, and shot Morgan Earp through the leg. Doc had shot Billy in the stomach. Billy received two more fatal shots from the Earp brothers and died half an hour after the fight ended.

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Aftetmath

Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers spent some time in jail before being acquitted by a judge in November. It was ruled that the lawman acted out of a rational fear of further violence in town. Despite the ruling, the people of Tombstone didn't trust them anymore; they did commit homicide after all.

In April of 1882, Doc set out for a new life. He lived for another 5 years before ultimately dying in 1872. At just 36 years old, his tuberculosis caught up to him, and he passed away peacefully at Hotel Glemnnwood in Glennwood, Colorado.

Doc Holliday is a man whose legacy has been remembered for over 140 years. From dentist to gambler to gunfighter, Holliday's life is a complex story full of twisting roads and unfortunate tragedies.

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