Hello everyone hope you're all doing well!

I was watching Gunsmoke of all things, I know not an accurate retelling of the west, but it did prompt a question; Was the wild west Era as vicious as they say?

And if not does know why it was depicted as being so violent, like what was it derived from?

I'm assuming there's some grain of truth to some of the stories.

Thank you to everyone in advance who takes the time to read this and answer, have a wonderful day! 😁