John Wilson "Texas Jack" Vermillion (1842-1911) was an American gunfighter of the Wild West.
Biography[]
John Wilson Vermillion was born in Russell County, Virginia in 1842, and he served in the Confederate States Army under Joseph Wheeler and Nathan Bedford Forrest during the American Civil War before moving to Indiana, Missouri, Dodge City, and Tombstone after the war. He knew the Earps and Doc Holliday from his time in Dodge, and Virgil Earp made him a special policeman on 22 June 1881. He and Turkey Creek Jack Johnson took part in Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday's "Vendetta Ride" of 1882, during which they tracked down the Cochise County Cowboys and killed Curly Bill Brocius and Johnny Ringo. In 1883, Vermillion fought in the Dodge City War and was wanted for killing a card cheat, and he was mistakenly nicknamed "Texas Jack" for his Southern heritage and "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out Jack" for shooting out a man's eye. In 1890, he permanently relocated to Virginia, settling at Big Stone Gap in Wise County and working as a Methodist preacher. He died peacefully in his sleep in Washington County in 1911.