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Regarding cowboys "packing iron," Philip Ashton Rollins in The Cowboy writes that considering the 2.25 pound weight of a Colt revolver and the additional weight of the ammunition, cowboys did not routinely carry firearms. "When one recalls also that the average cowpuncher was not an incipient murderer, but was only an average man and correspondingly lazy, then one realizes to be true the statements that the average puncher was unwilling to encumber himself with more than one gun, and often even failed to "go heeled" (armed) to the extent of "packing" (carrying) that unless conditions insistently demanded." |
| Cased ambrotype Bearded cowboy with stock whip on horseback Unknown photographer, ca. 1865 2003.079 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
From "The Cowboy,"
an anonymous poem, ca. 1884: "What is it has no fixed abode. Who seeks adventures by the load-- An errant knight without a code? The cowboy. Who is it when the drive is
done, |
| Undertaken between 1937 and 1939, the Slave Narrative Project of the Federal Writers' Project recorded the remembrances of elderly African Americans who had been born into slavery. Coming to Texas from Alabama as a slave in 1862, Tom Mills worked cattle in South Texas. Mills recalled, "When I got to workin' for myself, it was cow work. I done horseback work for fifty years. Many a year passed that I never missed a day bein' in the saddle. I stayed thirteen years on one ranch...I know when we used to camp out in the winter time we would have these old-time freezes, when ever'thing was covered in ice. We would have a big, fat cow hangin' up and we would slice that meat off and have the best meals. And when we was on the cow hunts we would start out with meal, salt and coffee and carry the beddin' for six or eight men on two horses and carry our rations on another horse.... When we camped and killed a yearlin' the leaf fat and liver was one of the first things we would cook. When they would start in to gather cattle to send to Kansas, they would ride out in the herd and pick out a fat calf, and they would get the 'fleece' and liver and broil the ribs. The meat that was cut off the ribs was called the fleece." |  |
| Cabinet photograph Young African American cowboy standing by his horse Unknown photographer, ca. 1890 2003.105 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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The bull whip was a long woven whip attached to a handle of hickory or white ash. At the butt each lash formed a loop and was frequently more than 1 inch thick. The lashes were from 18 inches to more than 10 feet in length and graduated in thickness to the tip. Many riders might use while trailing cattle. In the hands of an expert one rider could do as much work as two riders without whips. Philip Ashton Rollins in The Cowboy writes, "It could, at the wielder's choice, land anywhere, silently or with a pistol crack, and this with either the gentleness of a falling leaf or force sufficient to remove four square inches of...skin." |
| Cased tintype Cowboy wearing leather chaps and kid gloves and holding a bullwhip Unknown photographer, ca. 1890 2003.109 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
Rollins in The Cowboy enumerates various cowboy titles: "The cowboy was not always called 'cowboy.' He everywhere was equally well known as 'cowpuncher' or 'puncher,' 'punching' being the accepted term for the herding of live stock. In Oregon he frequently was called 'baquero,' 'buckaroo,' 'buckhara,' or 'buckayro,' each a perversion of either the Spanish vaquero,' or the Spanish 'boyero,' and each subject to be contracted into 'bucker.' In Wyoming he preferred to be styled a 'rider.' To these various legitimate titles, conscious slang added 'bronco peeler,' 'bronco twister,' and 'bronco buster.'" |
| S. Griggs was in his 20's when this photograph was taken. Among the items he wears are leather chaps and a "Mexican Loop" pattern holster with a plain cartridge belt with 3 integral loops securing the body to the skirt. Griggs later moved to Pike County (perhaps Griggsville), Illinois where he was a farmer. Named for Zebulon M. Pike, Pike County was formed on January 31, 1821. Griggsville was laid out in 1833 by Joshua R. Stanford, Nathan W. Jones, and Richard Griggs and named in honor of Griggs. Griggsville was organized in 1850. |  |
| An article in the February 27, 1887 Democratic Leader in Cheyenne, Wyoming reads: "The cowboys of the far West have a language of their own which no 'tenderfoot' may attain until he has served his novitiate. They call a horse herder a 'horse wrangler,' and a horse breaker a 'bronco buster.' Their steed is often a 'cayuse,' and to dress well is to 'rag proper.' When a cowboy goes out on the prairie he 'hits the flat.' Whiskey is 'family disturbance,' and to eat is to 'chew.' His hat is a 'cady,' his whip a 'quirt,' his rubber coat a 'slicker,' his leather overalls are 'chaps' or 'chapperals,' and his revolver is a '45.' Bacon is 'overland trout' and unbranded cattle are 'mavericks.'" | Tintype S. Griggs, Kansas cowboy Unknown photographer, ca. 1880 2003.117 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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"Bill Nye on Cowboys," an article in the February 18, 1888 issue of the San Marcial Reporter in San Marcial, New Mexico reads: "The genuine cowboy is not always beautiful, but he is conversant with his business, knows every brand in his district at least and who owns it, is brave where bravery is most needed, that is in the discharge of his duty. To stand watch all night in a blizzard and hold a band of restless, bellowing cattle from stampeding, to ride all the next day half asleep in his saddle, to fall occasionally from his pony when the latter makes a mistake and steps into a prairie dog village, or to have a collar bone broken when fifty miles from a physician, are some of the features of cowboy life which the boys who run away from school to cross the Missouri do not know." |
| Stereograph A Cattle Round-up in Arizona Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1934 [ca. 1890] 2003.130 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
In a December 14, 2003 article entitled "America: Rogue State?: An essay on our coming war..." at wastedirony.com the unidentified author writes, "The problem with America as a rogue gunman, sorry, lone gunman, is that we can't do it alone. American leaders were smart enough after World War II to realize (mostly) that international agreements were necessary to keep the peace and prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Bush and his cabinet have forgotten this. The more we act like a cowboy, the more the rest of the world is going to want to get a pair of six-guns as well." |
| J'Nell L. Pate describes a typical routine of a "Stockyards Cowboy" in the 2000 book, The Cowboy Way, edited by Paul H. Carlson. At a stockyards sometimes hundreds of workers were employed "to unload animals from railroad cars, drive them to pens, feed and water them, and clean up the pens. Folks working for any of such businesses were simply called 'yard hands.' Other livestock workers included muleskinners or wranglers who worked with the horses and mules, cattle raisers' brand inspectors, men dipping animals for ticks..., veterinarians..., weighmasters, telegraph operators, and reporters for livestock market newspapers." |  |
| Stereograph Compressed Beef - Cattle shipping scene, Montana, U.S.A. Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1904 2003.136 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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Giles Fraser in his article "Never Trust a Christian Cowboy: To rally support for war on Iraq, George Bush presents himself as both lone ranger and good samaritan," published on October 23, 2002 by the Guardian/UK, wrote, "The cowboy represents a popular point of reference in American culture and has been drawn upon by successive US politicians to justify both domestic and foreign policy...Likewise, war itself is often viewed through the prism of the movie cowboy mythology. Here is the plot of an archetypal western movie: the hero comes to town, though the community does not fully accept him. Some evil threatens to overwhelm the town. Initially, the hero tries to avoid getting involved. However, after exercising much restraint and so as to protect the community, the hero is forced to square up to the villains. Gun in hand, and at considerable personal risk, the hero kills the villains and makes the town safe. The hero leaves town. This is the paradigm against which war against Saddam is being considered. From Bush's perspective, the resistance of the international community to the war on Iraq is therefore to be expected - it's part of the script. So too, perhaps, is Bush's notorious inarticulacy. For the cowboy is essentially a man of action, not talk. The image of the lone gunfighter who is suspicious of fancy talk and who acts fearlessly to defeat the forces of evil is the defining mark of a certain sort of US national pride." |
| Stereograph A Cowboy Camp on the Western Prairies Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1934 [ca. 1890] 2003.137 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
Vickie C. on September 22, 1999 posted text about a vision she had on write-the-vision.net entitled, "Jesus is a cowboy?!!!" She wrote in part, "I saw Jesus standing, very tall of stature He was, in front of the sanctuary, (right in front of the piano)...Jesus was swinging over His head a large rope lasso or lariat, just like a cowboy!...and very expertly too. I saw it was a red rope. Suddenly, He threw His rope / lariat over the congregation....a person reached their arms up and grabbed His rope, and He had this one 'caught' then..." |
| Darrell Arnold in his article "The Cowboy Image" on www.cowboymagazine.com, Summer 2000, writes, "The man on horseback has, throughout history, stood literally and figuratively above other men. It is the horse that has made that so. Indeed, ranchers contend that one of the reasons they continue to try to struggle on in the cow business is because it gives them the opportunity to get horseback as often as possible. The horse is an extension of the true cowboy. The authentic cowboy does not exist if he is not capable of performing the working cowboy's horseback tasks. If he's not horseback, a man who works cows is just a farmer." |  |
| Stereograph Among the 30,000 cattle at Sierra Bonita Ranch - roping a yearling, Arizona Underwood & Underwood, New York, New York, ca. 1900 2003.142 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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Will James in his 1925 book, Cowboys North and South, writes about the makings of a cow-horse. "A month or so before the round-up wagons pull out, the raw bronc (unbroke range horse) is enjoying a free life with the 'stock horses' (brood mares and colts)....He's cut out with a few more of his age and put into a small round corral - a snubbing post is in the centre - and showed where, according to the rope marks around it, many such a bronc as him realized what they was on this earth for. The big corral gate squeaks open and in walks the long lanky cowboy packing two ropes; one of them ropes sneaks up and snares him by the front feet just when he's making a grand rush to get away from it. He's flattened to the ground and that other rope does the work tying him down. A hackamore is slipped on his head while the bronc is still wondering what's happened, and from the time he's let up for a sniff at the saddle he's being eddicated...." |
| Photographic postcard An Introduction to Civilization W. T. Ridgley Calendar Co., Great Falls, Montana, 1907 2003.144 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
The Denver Daily Times in its July 19, 1872 issue asks the question, "Have you ever seen the boys at work breaking broncos? If you have not, a fiendish delight is in store for you. Get out on some ranch where a half dozen of this sweet breed of equines are undergoing this process. They take to it kindly - and they will take to you, if you happen to get within striking distance of their fore or hind legs. They have excellent teeth, too, as a 'torn, but flying,' pair of pants in our groaning wardrobe, sadly attest. And then, after a bronco, is 'well-broken,' and you buy him and take him home, he reminds you, in a variety of delightful ways, that he has not forgotten - will never forget - his natural instincts." |
| In his Dallas Morning News article, "Lost in Translation: When It comes to cowboys, it's time to set outsiders straight on movies, politics and the real thing," posted on www.philly.com on March 14, 2003 writes, "The yammering class in Europe - politicians, journalists, pundits and the like - lately has taken to referring to President Bush as a 'cowboy'...When these people say Bush is a 'cowboy,' they aren't being nice. They say he's a 'bellicose cowboy.' They mutter about 'cowboy-style unilateral action'...The 'cowboys' these folks have in mind are from old movies...But Europe's favorite movie 'cowboy' is John Wayne. The Duke. And it's the Duke who most often makes veins pop out on European foreheads whenever the president appears on television." |  |
| Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth report in their September 24, 2002 San Francisco Chronicle article, "Gore Blasts Bush's 'cowboy' Iraq policy," that Al Gore said, "'after Sept. 11, we had enormous sympathy, goodwill and support around the world'...Gore later told reporters the Bush administration had been guilty of a 'do-it-alone, cowboy-type reaction to foreign affairs,' saying 'there's ample basis for taking off after Saddam, but before you ride out after Jesse James, you ought to put the posse together.'" | Carte de Visite Finely dressed Montana man wearing long coat and hat Unknown photographer, ca. 1890 2003.163 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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