Bill D -

"Old farts with grizzled beards having learned philosophical discussions about the afterlife!" ???

In reality, it's quite possible. When books were scarce, the only ones available were "good" ones. The few people who could read were often in pretty great demand to read/recite, and it is not too much of stretch to think that some of these old desert rats could quote a fair amount of Shaky.

Check out the transcript for Clipping 2 – Jim Bridger in the Taylor collection at the Smithsonian, or see the original . The Taylor clippings date to about 1880 – not all that long after the battle.

While it's true that most towns of any size might have several saloons, they'd usually also have an "opera house" almost as soon as they put a roof on the church.

(Front page for the Taylor Album, in case you're interested.)

John