Wyatt Earp and Billy Clanton who threatened to kill the Earps on several occasions. The conflict escalated over the next year, culminating in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881 in which the Earps and Doc Holliday killed three of the Cowboys. In the next five months, Virgil was ambushed and maimed, and Morgan was assassinated. Wyatt, Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, and others formed a federal posse which killed three of the Cowboys whom they thought responsible. Wyatt was never wounded in any of the gunfights, unlike his brothers Virgil and Morgan or his friend Doc Holliday, which only
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral came to each other's aid. Virgil Earp thought that some of the Cowboys had met at Charleston, Arizona, and taken "an oath over blood drawn from the arm of Johnny Ringo, the leader, that they would kill us." Among the lawmen involved in the O.K. Corral shooting, only Virgil had any real experience in combat, and he had far more experience than any of his brothers as a sheriff, constable, and marshal. The Earps' work as lawmen was not welcomed by the Cowboys, who viewed the Earps as badge-toting tyrants who ruthlessly enforced the business interests of the town. In