Location of originals unknown.
Fred G. S. Hesse was born in 1852 and came to the United States from England in the early 1870s. In the summer of 1876 he went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, from Texas with a herd of cattle belonging to the Frewen Brothers. Hesse settled on the 76 ranch and remained there as a foreman for the Frewen Brothers until Moreton Frewen sold his business due to the depression in the cattle industry. Hesse bought part of their stock and started his own enterprise on the 28 ranch (1890), becoming one of the most successful in the county. Both ranches were located on Crazy Woman Creek near the town of Buffalo, Wyoming.
Hesse was among the main participants in the Johnson County War. Along with the other cattlemen frustrated with the failure of the judicial system to prosecute cattle rustlers, Hesse decided to get rid of the rustlers directly. For this purpose a group of stockgrowers organized an armed raid on Buffalo. Two of the suspected cattle rustlers were murdered, after which the invaders surrendered to government troops. Hesse was arrested with the other invaders, but he was never convicted. He continued in the cattle business until 1906, when he started sheep-raising. He served on the Executive Committee of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, and as a member of the Highway Commission during 1927-1928.
Hesse died in 1929.
The collection contains correspondence, financial records, legal documents, clippings, cattle tallies, and writings relative to the Johnson County War. Correspondents include William Clarkson, E. E. Miller, E. W. Murphy, W. H. Rancer, the Big Horn Cattle Company, J. M. Ramsey, Charles H. Burritt, J. B. Menardi, Horace Plunkett, Frank A. Kemp, T. N. Matthews, J.B. Robinson, Louis L. Steele, and John Eddy. There are also financial records for the Robert Foote Company of Buffalo and Powder River, Wyoming.
The materials were microfilmed with little or no pre-arrangement of materials.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and the University of Montana--Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to the University of Montana.
[Name of document or photograph number], Fred G. S. Hesse Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
Loaned for microfilming by J. A. Gage, date unknown.
The original processors appear to have filmed the collection without substantial arrangement. In 2004, the collection was re-described.
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming holds two collections of Hesse's papers.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.