Myths of American History 4

The American cowboy is one of the most beloved images. We see this tall blond taciturn man riding with a herd of cattle, and think of him as the embodiment of the American ideals of freedom, strength, and endow him with all virtue.

Although there were surely tall blond cowboys, there were also black ones,
Mexican ones, and many cowboys were actually Indians.

Following the American Civil War and the expansion of the cattle industry, former soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy came west, seeking work.

A significant number of ex-slaves were drawn to cowboy life, in part because there was not quite as much discrimination in the west as in other areas of American society at the time.

Will Pickett

and John Ware

are only two names of Black cowboys who played significant roles in the development of the culture, and both became popular and successful rodeo champions.

A significant number of American Indians were already working as cowboys.

Tom Threepersons was a gunslinger, law man, rancher; his life so interesting and complex that it was his refusal why he did not appear in early movies or have biographies written about him.

Many of the early vaqueros were Indians who had been trained to work for the Spanish missions in caring for the mission herds. “Indian Cowboys” were common place in the old west, especially in the areas which had first been settled by the Spanish.

Cowboys ranked low in the social structure of the period, and there are no firm figures on the actual proportion of the racial make-up.

Census records suggest that about 15% of all cowboys were of African-American ancestry ranging from about 25% on the trail drives out of Texas, to very few in the northwest.

Most cowboys came from lower social classes and the pay was poor. The average cowboy earned approximately a dollar a day, plus food, and, when near the home ranch, a bed in the bunkhouse, usually a barracks-like building with a single open room.

On the trail, cowboys often slept in the open around a fire.
  Once the cattle were transported, the cowboys paid, the relationship between them and the ‘boss’ was at an end.

Some might return to the ranch, some remain in town until time for another cattle drive.

All over the world where cattle are kept are versions of cowboys, from South America to Australia it is often the
same kind of lonely hard life.

Although American westerns make great meat of it, in most cases, the Indians did not attack the cattle drives, some charged tolls to cross their land, but the idea of attack and stealing of cattle was not acceptable save for renegades.

The ‘old west’ only lasted about forty years; from 1840 to 1880. After the west became civilised, when there were many towns, and railroads, the number and length of cattle drives began to diminish.  The number of cowboys became less and less.

Wild West Shows and rodeos became the venues for the various skills that had once been of use in the cattle drives.