The Bone Wars: The Bitter Rivalry Between Pioneering Paleontologists
The summer of 1868 marked a turning point in the young field of American paleontology. As a small group of scientists boarded a Union Pacific train for a sightseeing excursion through the newly-opened American West, one man among them was transfixed by the landscapes passing by the window. Othniel Charles Marsh, the first university professor of paleontology in the United States, knew that the arid, open terrain concealed a trove of prehistoric treasures waiting to be unearthed.
Marsh was convinced that the American West would yield the kind of fossil evidence needed to prove Charles Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution. “I felt that entombed in the sandy clays,” he recalled, “there must be hidden the remains of many strange animals new to science long waiting to be brought to life.” Little did Marsh know that his determination to uncover these lost worlds would set him on a collision course with another ambitious paleontologist, Edward Drinker Cope, in a bitter rivalry that would reshape the field of American science.
Cope and Marsh’s epic battle over dinosaur fossils in the American West has become known as the “Bone Wars,” a cutthroat competition that would last for nearly three decades. As the two rivals raced to stake their claims in the fossil-rich landscapes, they unearthed over 130 new species of dinosaurs and provided some of the first solid evidence supporting Darwin’s theory. But their insatiable ambition and relentless attacks on one another would also nearly destroy them both.
The Rise of the Gentleman Naturalists
The roots of the Bone Wars can be traced back to the 1860s, a time when the United States was still recovering from the aftermath of the Civil War. In the rapidly changing social and scientific landscape, a new generation of American scientists was emerging, including Edward Drinker Cope, a self-taught prodigy from Philadelphia.
Cope was part of the world of “gentleman naturalists,” a group of amateur scientists deeply devoted to understanding the natural world. Following in the footsteps of pioneers like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, these naturalists pursued their passions without the benefit of formal training or institutional support. Cope’s mentor, Joseph Leidy, was one of the first American paleontologists, having discovered the Hadrosaurus, the second known dinosaur skeleton found in North America.
Cope’s early years were marked by a deep fascination with science. As a child, he made detailed drawings of prehistoric marine reptiles like Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurs, and by his late teens, he had already gained admission to the prestigious Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. There, Cope honed his skills, organizing collections of fish and snakes and developing a passion for fossils that would shape the course of his career.
The Fracturing of a Friendship
Cope’s path would soon cross with that of Othniel Charles Marsh, a poor farm boy from rural New York who had been plucked from obscurity by his wealthy uncle, the philanthropist George Peabody. Peabody endowed a science museum at Yale College, where Marsh was installed as the institution’s first chair of paleontology in 1866.
In the early days, Cope and Marsh were friends, but a series of incidents would slowly drive a wedge between them. In 1868, Cope took Marsh to visit the quarry in New Jersey where the Hadrosaurus had been discovered, but Marsh soon made a secret deal with the quarry owners to have any new fossils sent directly to Yale. Cope was outraged, feeling that Marsh had betrayed his trust.
The final break came a few months later in Philadelphia, when Cope published his reconstruction of a prehistoric marine reptile, the Elasmosaurus. Marsh, a skilled anatomist, quickly realized that Cope had made a mistake in placing the skull on the wrong end of the skeleton. Cope’s mentor, Joseph Leidy, confirmed the error, and Cope was left mortified. As Marsh later wrote, “From that time he has been my bitter enemy.”
The Race to the West
With their friendship in tatters, Cope and Marsh set their sights on the untapped fossil fields of the American West. In the summer of 1870, Marsh led the first scientific expedition to the region, accompanied by a crew of students from Yale College. Their adventures, documented in the pages of Harper’s Monthly, captured the public’s imagination and cemented Marsh’s reputation as a skilled self-promoter.
Cope, meanwhile, was desperate to get in on the action, but the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, where he was based, lacked the resources to mount its own expeditions. Undaunted, Cope reached out to geologist and explorer Ferdinand Hayden, who agreed to outfit a fossil-hunting trip for him in Wyoming’s Bridger Basin Badlands.
When Cope arrived at the remote outpost of Fort Bridger, he found that Hayden’s survey crew had already moved on, taking the available horses and mules. Determined not to be deterred, Cope cobbled together a makeshift crew and set out into the desolate landscape, unaware that he was being watched by Marsh’s spies.
The Taxonomic Carpet-Bombing
In the Bridger Basin, Cope and Marsh, along with Joseph Leidy, began uncovering the bones of a truly bizarre creature – a massive, plant-eating mammal with saber-teeth and six horns. Eager to be the first to name this new species, the three scientists rushed to publish their findings, resulting in a chaotic mess of overlapping names and classifications.
“They were finding these same saber-tooth Hindu monsters and they just took a hold of their brains,” recalled paleontologist Bob Bakker. “They were rushing short papers into print, not well-thought-out papers. Neither of them read each other’s papers. Cope would name another species and Marsh would name five species. And pretty soon Cope and Marsh were ignoring Leidy’s work.”
This “taxonomic carpet-bombing,” as Bakker described it, would take decades to untangle, but it was only the beginning of the bitter feud between Cope and Marsh. As they continued to compete for fossils and the right to name new species, their rivalry descended into personal attacks, accusations of fraud, and even the destruction of each other’s discoveries.
The Rise and Fall of the Bone Wars
With the transcontinental railroad now connecting the East Coast to the West, the fossil-rich landscapes of the American frontier became a battleground for Cope and Marsh. Both men poured fortunes into their expeditions, driven by a relentless ambition to outmaneuver the other and solidify their place in the annals of science.
Marsh, in particular, leveraged his connections and institutional support from Yale to gain a distinct advantage. He ran a secretive operation at the Yale College Museum, keeping his vast fossil collection off-limits to fellow scientists. When the renowned British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley visited Marsh’s museum, he was awestruck by the wealth of evidence supporting Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, declaring Marsh “a conjurer” for whatever he produced.
While Marsh basked in this professional acclaim, Cope continued to fight for resources and recognition. The death of his father left him with a sizable inheritance, allowing him to finance his own expeditions and compete directly with Marsh. Their rivalry intensified, with Marsh even going so far as to order his collectors to destroy fossils to keep them away from Cope.
The bitter feud eventually spilled out of the scientific community and into the public sphere. In 1890, Cope launched a scathing attack on Marsh in the pages of the New York Herald, accusing him of plagiarism, incompetence, and fraud. The scandal caught the attention of politicians in Washington, who used it as an opportunity to cut funding for the U.S. Geological Survey, where Marsh served as the chief paleontologist.
Stripped of his government support and resources, Marsh’s career was effectively ruined. Cope, meanwhile, saw his health and finances deteriorate, driven to the brink by the long-running battle. Both men died within two years of each other, their legacies forever intertwined with the Bone Wars that had consumed their lives.
The Lasting Impact of the Bone Wars
Despite the personal toll of their rivalry, Cope and Marsh’s contributions to the field of paleontology are undeniable. Together, they unearthed more than 130 new species of dinosaurs, providing some of the first solid evidence supporting Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Their expeditions in the American West revolutionized the young science of paleontology and captured the public’s imagination, sparking a nationwide fascination with dinosaurs that continues to this day.
“They both were called by the beauty of the big game hunt,” said paleontologist Bob Bakker. “The big game hunt in deep time, and that’s a very special thing.”
While their bitter feud may have tarnished their reputations, Cope and Marsh’s legacy lives on in the countless discoveries that have since built upon the foundations they laid. As the The Lost Kingdoms blog continues to explore the mysteries and wonders of the ancient world, the enduring impact of the Bone Wars serves as a testament to the power of human curiosity and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
