Dalton Defender Days

Festival Location: Coffeyville, KS, USA

Festival State: Kansas Festivals

Festival Type(s): Bizarre Festivals, Re-enactments

By: © Nelson Taylor 2009

Every October, on the weekend closest to the 5th, which was the day in 1892 that the infamous Dalton Gang tried to rob two banks at the same time in their own town (that's smart) and lost their lives, the town of Coffeyville put on Dalton Defender Days. But it is not a celebration of the Daltons, it's a celebration of the four citizens who took up arms against the Daltons and lost their lives.

Come meet some of the relatives of those brave men -- Lucius Baldwin, George Cubine, Marshall C.T. Connelly and Charles Brown -- or head to the Dalton Defenders Museum where you can see three saddles used by the outlaws, a single-action Colt 45 revolver carried by Bob Dalton, a sack used to carry the money from one of the banks, some of the gang's clothing, and even the threshold from the old First National Bank. Then you can go outside and witness a re-enactment of the events from that fateful day which left a total of eight dead and put Coffeyville on the map forever. The weekend itself, although, is entirely free and annually attracts about 5,000 people.