Nathan D. "Nate" Champion (29 September 1857-9 April 1892) was an American rancher who led the Wyoming homesteaders' opposition to the Wyoming Stock Growers Association's claiming of unbranded cattle in the Johnson County War of 1889-1893.
Biography[]
Nathan D. Champion was born in Leander, Texas in 1857, and he was raised in Round Rock. He became a cowboy and worked his way north to Wyoming, where he worked on several ranches before building his own homestead. In 1892, the powerful Wyoming Stock Growers Association hired fifty killers from Texas to eliminate alleged rustlers in Johnson County, Wyoming, and Champion was targeted, as he had organized small ranchers to organize a competing roundup. He was besieged by a posse of 200 men at his KC Ranch, killing at least four vigilantes and wounding several others, while keeping a poignant journal throughout the siege. That night, the besiegers set his ranch on fire, forcing Champion to charge at the posse with pistol and rifle in hand. He was killed by 28 bullets fired by four men.