John Henry Holliday whom many in the old west would come to know as “Doc” Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia on August 14, 1851.http://www.docholliday.info/timelineb.htm He lost his mother, Alice Holliday to tuberculosis, the same disease that would eventually take his life, when he was fourteen years old. His father, Henry Burroughs was a confederate soldier and respected member of the community who made sure his son had a quality education.http://www.americanwest.com/pages/docholid.htm John Holliday's education and subsequent apprenticeship ultimately resulted in him earning a Doctor of Dentistry Degree from Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. http://www.docholliday.info/bio.htm

Doc Holliday's struggle with Tuberculosis soon forced him to do two things, move to the warmer, dryer climates of the western United States and depend more on gambling than his dental practice in order to make a living.http://www.docholliday.info/bio.htm As a professional gambler, and being a man who was slight of build, Doc Holliday learned quickly to protect himself with weapons. His weapon of choice was a Colt Thunder Revolver, though he also had a reputation for being quite adept with a knife. It is reported by many sources that Doc would not hesitate to vigorously defend himself with either weapon though doing so often necessitated him leaving town on short notice.http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-docholliday.html

Doc wound up in Fort Griffin, Texas in 1877 where he met his two closest friends in life, Wyatt Earp and Big Nose Kate.http://www.docholliday.info/timelineb.htm Wyatt Earp was a Kansas lawman on the trail of an outlaw with whom Doc had prior dealings. The two strong personalities became instant friends, joining forces again in Doge City, Kansas, and eventually Tombstone, Arizona.http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-docholliday.html Doc's relationship with Kate Elder was more tumultuous. Kate was a saloon girl and prostitute who had risked her life for Doc on at least one credible occasion. Doc never forgot her acts of kindness, but was also never able to settle down with he for more than a short length of time. The move to Tombstone was one they made together.http://www.docholliday.info/bio.htm

It was in Tombstone, Arizona where Doc Holliday had his most historic adventure, known as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He, Wyatt Earp and his brothers engaged in a brutal showdown with several members of the notorious outlaw gang known as the Cowboys. In very quick fashion three of the five Cowboys lay dead. Everyone else was wounded with the exception of Wyatt Earp. Doc sustained a flesh wound in his hip.http://www.americanwest.com/pages/docholid.htm Shortly after this battle Morgan Earp was assassinated and Virgil Earp was maimed. With two of his brothers incapacitated U.S. Marshall, Wyatt Earp recruited Doc Holliday and several others to hunt down members of the Cowboys. Over the next several months nearly twenty Cowboys had been killed and many more fled the territory.http://www.docholliday.info/timelineb.htm

Eventually, the tuberculosis caught up with Doc Holliday. He died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado on November 8, 1887 at the age of thirty-six. His friends Wyatt and Kate were close at hand.http://www.americanwest.com/pages/docholid.htm