Langford Peel


Langford M. Peel, also known as Farmer Peel was a gunman and gambler in the American Old West. According to his grave marker, Langford was born in Liverpool, England. At age 12 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with the approval and help of his mother and stepfather. At the age of 17, he enlisted as a bugler in "B' Company of the 1st US Dragoons under Captain Edwin Vose Sumner; Peel killed six Indians – three at the Battle of Coon Creek in 1846; 2 in 1850 at Fort Kearney Kansas and a sixth later and rose to rank of Sergeant. He traveled to Leavenworth, Kansas; Salt Lake City; Nevada; and eventually to Helena, Montana. There he was killed by John Bull, his former associate. The defendant was acquitted August 24, 1867. Bull was later involved in the stabbing of a railroad baggageman and also in 1874 was indicted in Omaha Nebraska for involvement with others on a robbery charge . In 1879, he had a faro game at the Sacramento State Fair; Bull was killed in Denver, Colorado on January 9 1882 by a fellow gambler Jim Bush.
Alleged by some sources to have been Harvard educated, Peel was known for always giving any opponent a chance in a gunfight.
Mark Twain, in his book Roughing It, refers to Peel as "Farmer Pease".