The Bone Wars: Paleontology’s Greatest and Most Destructive Rivalry

In the late 1800s, two of America’s most brilliant paleontologists—Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope—waged a decades-long war of ego, sabotage, and discovery that transformed our understanding of dinosaurs while nearly destroying both men. The Bone Wars (1877–1892) gave us iconic dinosaurs like Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and Allosaurus, but at a cost of smashed fossils, ruined careers, and scientific fraud that haunts paleontology to this day.

The Rivals

Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899)

Position: Professor at Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History
Background: Nephew of wealthy philanthropist George Peabody, whose money funded his career
Personality: Cautious, methodical, politically connected, and ruthless
Strengths: Institutional backing, deep pockets, large teams of field collectors
Weaknesses: Rarely visited field sites personally; relied on others to find fossils

Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897)

Position: Independent scientist, affiliated with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia
Background: Born into a wealthy Quaker family; largely self-funded
Personality: Brilliant, impulsive, prolific, and combative
Strengths: Exceptional scientific intuition; often worked in the field himself; published at extraordinary speed
Weaknesses: Impulsive descriptions, financial recklessness, made enemies easily

How It Started: From Friends to Enemies

The Early Friendship (1860s)

Marsh and Cope initially respected each other:

They met in the 1860s and exchanged correspondence about fossils
They named species after each other (a sign of scientific respect)
Both were passionate about vertebrate paleontology at a time when the American West was yielding remarkable fossils

The Elasmosaurus Incident (1868)

The friendship shattered over a humiliating mistake:

Cope described a new marine reptile, Elasmosaurus, but placed the head on the wrong end—on the tail instead of the neck
Marsh publicly pointed out the error
Cope was mortified and tried to buy back every copy of his paper to destroy the evidence
This public embarrassment transformed their relationship into bitter, lifelong enmity

Whether Marsh or another scientist first noticed the error is debated, but the damage was done. The rivalry that followed would consume both men for the rest of their lives.

The War Begins (1877–1892)

The Western Gold Rush for Bones

In 1877, spectacular fossil discoveries in Colorado and Wyoming ignited the full-scale Bone Wars:

Morrison, Colorado: Schoolteacher Arthur Lakes discovered enormous bones and contacted both Marsh and Cope
Como Bluff, Wyoming: Railroad workers found a rich fossil site and contacted Marsh
Garden Park, Colorado: Fossils were discovered near Cañon City

Both men scrambled to secure exclusive access to these sites, beginning an arms race of fossil collection.

Tactics and Sabotage

The competition quickly turned ugly:

Spying:

Both men hired spies to infiltrate the other’s field camps and report on discoveries
Workers were bribed to switch allegiances
Coded telegrams were used to communicate discoveries secretly

Sabotage:

Marsh’s workers allegedly dynamited fossil sites after excavation to prevent Cope from collecting anything they missed
Cope’s workers were accused of the same
Fossils were sometimes deliberately destroyed rather than risk the rival getting them

Claim-jumping:

Both men rushed to publish descriptions of new species before the other could, sometimes based on fragmentary evidence
They filed legal claims on promising fossil territory to block each other
Workers were poached from rival teams with offers of higher pay

Rush to publish:

The competition drove both men to publish at reckless speed
Cope published 1,400 scientific papers in his career—a record that stood for over a century
Marsh published fewer papers but described more species
Both men described species from inadequate specimens in their haste to beat the other, leading to many names that are now considered invalid

The Public War

The rivalry spilled into the public arena:

In 1890, Cope gave an interview to the New York Herald accusing Marsh of plagiarism, incompetence, and stealing government fossils
Marsh fired back with his own accusations
The resulting newspaper scandal damaged both men’s reputations and embarrassed the scientific community
Government funding for paleontological surveys was cut as a result

What They Found: The Dinosaur Discoveries

Despite the ugliness of their methods, the Bone Wars produced an extraordinary scientific legacy:

Marsh’s Major Discoveries

Dinosaur	Year	Significance
Allosaurus	1877	Dominant Jurassic predator
Stegosaurus	1877	The iconic plated dinosaur
Diplodocus	1878	Classic long-necked sauropod
Triceratops	1889	The three-horned icon
Apatosaurus	1877	Giant sauropod (the “Brontosaurus” controversy)
Ceratosaurus	1884	Horned Jurassic predator
Barosaurus	1890	Long-necked diplodocid

Marsh also described numerous other species, including early mammals, pterosaurs, and toothed birds (Hesperornis, Ichthyornis) that supported Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Cope’s Major Discoveries

Dinosaur	Year	Significance
Camarasaurus	1877	Common Jurassic sauropod
Coelophysis	1889	Early Triassic predator
Dimetrodon	1878	Iconic (non-dinosaur) Permian predator
Dryptosaurus	1866	Early theropod discovery
Amphicoelias	1878	Possibly enormous sauropod (disputed size)
Monoclonius	1876	Early ceratopsian

Cope also described numerous fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals from across geological time.

By the Numbers

Metric	Marsh	Cope
New dinosaur species named	~80	~56
Total new vertebrate species	~500	~600
Total publications	~300	~1,400
Valid species (still recognized today)	~30	~25

Many of their hastily named species have since been synonymized (recognized as duplicates of the same species) or declared invalid due to insufficient material. The rush to name species faster than the rival led to enormous taxonomic confusion that took a century to resolve.

The Brontosaurus Problem

One of the Bone Wars’ most enduring confusions involved Brontosaurus:

1877: Marsh describes Apatosaurus ajax from fragmentary remains
1879: Marsh describes Brontosaurus excelsus from a more complete skeleton—a separate, larger species
1903: Paleontologist Elmer Riggs determines that Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus are the same genus. By the rules of taxonomy, the first name published wins, so Apatosaurus takes priority and “Brontosaurus” is declared invalid
For 112 years: Scientists insisted “there is no Brontosaurus”—it’s Apatosaurus
2015: A detailed study by Emanuel Tschopp and colleagues re-examined the specimens and concluded that Brontosaurus is actually different enough to be a separate genus after all

So Brontosaurus is back—but the century of confusion originated directly from Marsh’s hasty Bone Wars naming practices.

The Human Cost

Financial Ruin

Cope spent his entire family fortune funding his paleontological work. By the early 1890s, he was essentially bankrupt, forced to sell parts of his fossil collection to survive. He died in 1897 at age 56, surrounded by fossils in his cramped Philadelphia home
Marsh fared better financially thanks to his Yale salary and Peabody connection, but his spending on field expeditions and political conflicts left him in financial difficulty by the 1890s. He died in 1899 at age 67

Destroyed Fossils

The most tragic legacy of the Bone Wars was the deliberate destruction of fossils:

Sites were dynamited after excavation
Fossils were smashed rather than left for the rival to collect
Hasty, careless excavation techniques destroyed specimens that more careful work could have preserved
An unknowable number of scientifically valuable fossils were lost forever

Scientific Damage

Dozens of invalid species names created decades of taxonomic confusion
Poorly documented localities made it impossible to determine where many specimens were found
The public spectacle damaged the reputation of paleontology as a serious science
Government funding for paleontological surveys was reduced as a result of the scandal

The Legacy: What the Bone Wars Gave Us

Despite the destruction and personal tragedy, the Bone Wars had enormously positive effects on paleontology:

Before the Bone Wars (pre-1870)

Only 18 named dinosaur species in North America
Public awareness of dinosaurs was minimal
Paleontology was a genteel, slow-moving field

After the Bone Wars (post-1892)

Over 140 new dinosaur species named (even accounting for invalid ones, dozens are still recognized)
Public fascination with dinosaurs exploded—museums began mounting spectacular skeletons
The American West was established as the world’s richest source of Jurassic dinosaur fossils
Techniques for large-scale fossil excavation were pioneered
The competitive pressure drove genuine scientific progress, even if the methods were questionable

Museum Legacies

The collections amassed during the Bone Wars form the core holdings of two of the world’s greatest natural history museums:

Yale Peabody Museum (Marsh’s collection): Home to Marsh’s original Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Apatosaurus specimens
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (Cope’s collection): Houses Cope’s original specimens and papers

The Deathbed Challenge

In a final act of competitive defiance, Cope reportedly left instructions for his brain to be measured after death—challenging Marsh to do the same, believing his brain would prove larger (and therefore superior). Marsh apparently declined the challenge. Cope’s skull remains in the collections of the University of Pennsylvania.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who “won” the Bone Wars? A: Marsh is generally considered the “winner” by the numbers—he named more dinosaur species, more of his names remain valid, and he had more institutional backing. However, Cope was arguably the more brilliant scientist, and his theoretical contributions to vertebrate paleontology were more influential. Both men paid enormous personal costs.

Q: Did they ever reconcile? A: No. The rivalry lasted until Cope’s death in 1897. Marsh died two years later. There’s no record of any reconciliation or softening of hostility between them.

Q: Could this happen today? A: Modern paleontology has safeguards that prevent the worst abuses: peer review, institutional oversight, regulations protecting fossil sites on public land, and collaborative rather than competitive norms. However, competition for high-profile discoveries still exists, and debates over naming priority can still be heated.

Q: What happened to their field workers? A: Many of the actual fossil hunters who did the dangerous, backbreaking field work are now obscure figures. Workers like William Harlow Reed, Benjamin Franklin Mudge, and Charles H. Sternberg (who worked for Cope) were skilled paleontologists in their own right but are largely forgotten in the shadow of their famous employers.

The Bone Wars remain one of the most dramatic stories in the history of science—a tale of genius, ego, and mutual destruction that paradoxically produced some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 19th century. The dinosaurs that Marsh and Cope pulled from the American West—Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Diplodocus—became the icons that define our image of dinosaurs to this day.