The Deadliest Men

Kevin Coolidge

“When you have to shoot, shoot!—Don’t talk.”


Loyalty, honor and courage are among the many virtues of the warrior. Heroes fascinate and fill our lives, from the epics of Homer and “The Iliad” to Hollywood’s latest man of action. These men fight for their lives, survive terrible wounds, endure pain, make incredible escapes, and triumph over overwhelming odds. But how many such men have there been, really?

The Deadliest Men: The World’s Deadliest Combatants throughout the Ages by Paul Kirchner profiles forty “battle-glad” men and four “strife-eager” women, ranging from the glory hound Alexander the Great to a backwoods conscientious objector. There are gunfighters, a poetry spouting Viking, and even a professional baseball player.

Ty Cobb led the American League in batting, had a career average of .367, and was the first player voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he also intentionally spiked players, brawled with umpires, beat up hecklers, and pistol whipped a mugger so thoroughly that he couldn’t be identified at the morgue…the meanest man who ever played baseball.

Audie Murphy was only 5 foot 5 and 112 pounds when he signed up for WW II, but became the most decorated American combat soldier of the war, winning every award for valor. His portrait on the cover of Life magazine brought him to attention of Hollywood. He played himself in To Hell and Back, but the movie minimized his actual record of kills for reasons of taste…truly an army of one.

Miyamoto Musashi was a famed swordsman. In the absence of war, dueling was the only way for a samurai to gain renown. By controlling the time and circumstances of his duels, and arriving when he chose, Musashi fought over sixty duels and became Japan’s most notorious ronin. In addition to the sword, he practiced calligraphy, sculpture, and painting, and wrote A Book of Five Rings, a book of strategy still read today…a master of the pen and the sword.

James Bowie, born in the bayou of Louisiana, grew up wrestling alligators. He invested in land with money that he made importing smuggled slaves, and he was a Southern gentlemen with a penchant for fighting. The famous American fighting knife that bears his name was conceived when his gun misfired and he swore he’d never be without a reliable weapon again. He died at the Alamo. When his mother heard of his death she said, “I’ll wager no wounds were found in his back” …So, if you’re going to bring a knife to a gunfight….

Why did these individuals fight? Honor? Self-defense? Love of adventure? Some of these characters were born to privilege and wealth, some born in poverty, some were powerful men, and some were small of stature, but the call of battle called them all, and they answered…

The Good? The Bad? Or the Ugly? Shoot me an email at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com Miss a previous column? Never fear; they’re all stored here at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com Be sure to look for Hobo’s new book on his neighborhood’s meanest cats like Krazyshanks, Henry, and Velvet...