Johnson County War Lyrics - Chris Ledoux

Headed for Wyoming in 1882, a woman, a team and a wagon 

Gonna make our dreams come true 

Settled in the foothills of the big horn mountain slope 

Life is sweet, we lived on the meat of the deer and the antelope 

We cut house logs upon the mountain with the team we hauled 'em down 

Peeled 'em and we stacked 'em up for a house and bought some ground 

Traded for some cattle, turned 'em out on the open range 

The skies were blue, we never knew how things were gonna change 

Oh, Powder River, you're muddy and you're wide 

How many men have died along your shore? 

When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side 

There's no middle ground in this Johnson County war 

Well the neighbors stopped by yesterday while I was outside choppin' wood 

They filled me in on a local news, ain't none of it sounded good 

Said, there had been some cattle stealin' by some no count outlaw bands 

We'd all been branded rustlers by the big ranchers of this land 

Well, it was us against the cattlemen and the years just made it worse 

First the drought and then the tough winter 

Johnson County had been dealt a curse 

Then there came the story about the two dry gulch attacks 

Ranger Jones and John Tisdale had been both shot in the back 

Oh, Powder River, you're muddy and you're wide 

How many men have died along your shore? 

When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side 

There's no middle ground in this Johnson County war 

Then, last night at supper time riders stopped by chance 

They said cattleman and their hired guns just burned the Kaycee Ranch 

Two men had died this mornin', shot down in the snow 

Now the vigilante army was on the march to Buffalo 

Well the County was in an uproar and every man saddled up to ride 

Caught the cattlemen at the TA Ranch and surrounded all four sides 

We hailed the house with bullets and swore they were gonna pay 

But the cavalry came across the plains and once again they saved the day 

Well, they marched 'em off to Cheyenne, no one went to jail 

The cattlemen were all turned loose and the hired guns hit the trail 

And I guess the only justice wasn't much to say the least 

Last winter me and mine ate mighty fine on the cattle baron's beef 

Oh, Powder River, you're muddy and you're wide 

How many men have died along your shore? 

When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side 

There's no middle ground in this Johnson County war 

There's no middle ground in this Johnson County war