Most people know Pensacola has plenty of history.
But did you know one of the Old West’s most notorious gunmen was captured right here?
John Wesley Hardin was wanted in Texas, accused of killing more than twenty men, and had spent years staying one step ahead of the law. He changed his name, built a new life, and tried to disappear.
He chose Pensacola.
That proved to be a mistake.
On a summer afternoon in 1877, Texas Rangers and local officers closed in as Hardin boarded a train at the Pensacola depot. Guns were drawn. A shot was fired. One man was killed—and the long hunt for John Wesley Hardin came to a violent end.
How did a feared Texas gunman wind up living quietly in Florida? Who discovered his true identity? And what happened when the law finally cornered him?
Join me for the next Sweet Tea Murders LIVE:
Wanted in Texas, Captured in Pensacola
John Wesley Hardin
Thursday, August 27, 2026 6:00 pm
Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center, 117 E. Government Street in downtown Pensacola
It is a story of murder, aliases, betrayal, Texas Rangers, and a dramatic confrontation at a Pensacola railroad station.
The Old West came to Pensacola—and Pensacola sent it home in handcuffs.
