Lonesome Dove Poll....The Real Cowboys. By Erma Thrask

Salutations! Goliath has asked me to render this essay on the "Second Most Awesome character from LONESOME DOVE" which was a mini-series broadcast

several years ago. The winner was "Woodrow" Call, Gus McCrae's partner and theleader of the expedition to drive a herd of cattle and horses from Lonesome Dove Texas (on the border with Mexico) to the wild open spaces of Montana. Close behind was "Deets" with additional votes going to "Miss Lorena", Jake Spoon and Newt.

But, it is clear that Call was the favorite. And I wonder such a man should hold such fascination for the Goliath Audience. Call's chief characteristics are that he works hard, is very proud, abstentious in his behavior and possesses unflagging courage. He has NO sense of humor to speak of. But, I think what makes Call so 'awesome' is that without him there could be no

Augustus McCrae.

Of course Lonesome Dove is only a movie, but what the original author, McMurtry did was

take his story from the real history of Texas, the King Ranch, the Texas Rangers and especially

Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. (Such Scandalous last names!!) . Deets was based on a real black cowboy, Boze Ikard and here is a very nice and informative article about the true historical figures upon which the show was based written by

Diane Alden of Newsmax.com

Goodnight and Loving

Come gather 'round me boys,
And I'll tell you a tale,
All about my troubles
On the old Chisolm Trail ...

In the history of the West gunfighters and ne'er-do-wells got most of the glory and most of the ink. The History Channel does four efforts on outlaws and lawmen for every one they do on the parade of people who were not so notorious.

The fact is the outlaws and lawmen were not THE story of America or the West. Ordinary and not-so-ordinary men and women are the real story.

There have been all kinds of cowboys and cattlemen over the years. They included Teddy Blue Abbott, Bose Ikard, Britt Johnson, John Chisholm, WJ Wilson, John Chisum, Bill Pickett, Jim Foley, Grant Kohrs, Granville Stewart, and the King family of Texas.

If you ever read Larry McMurtry's “Lonesome Dove” or saw the made-for-TV movie of the same name, you have the gist of the story of Charlie Goodnight and Oliver Loving.

Goodnight kept meticulous records, correspondence and diaries. If ever there was a true man and spirit of the West, it was Charles Goodnight. His exploits have been made the basis of most Western movies of the last 100 years.

Goodnight was born on March 5, 1836, in Macoupin County, Ill. He moved his family to Milam County, Texas, in 1845 with his stepbrother John Sheek, taking a herd of cattle from the Brazos River to the Keechi Valley, Palo Pinto, Texas.

Goodnight also served as a guide to the Texas Rangers. He participated in the 1860 raid that retrieved Indian chief Quanah Parker's mother from the Comanches. The John Ford-John Wayne epic "The Searchers" was based on the Elm Creek Raid and subsequent events, wherein Goodnight played a major role.

In 1867, Charles Goodnight met the famous cattle drover Oliver Loving. Loving had been driving cattle for years before he met Goodnight. A former Confederate soldier, he was a religious family man with nine children. At the time the two met, Loving was 24 years older than Charles Goodnight, but the two men hit it off instantly and became partners in the cattle business.

In J. Marvin Hunter's "The Trail Drivers of Texas," Goodnight wrote about his friend:

"Oliver Loving, senior, is undoubtedly the first man who ever trailed cattle from Texas. His earliest effort was in 1858 when he took a herd across the frontier of the Indian Nation or "No Man's Land," through eastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri into Illinois. His second attempt was in 1859; he left the frontier on the upper Brazos and took a northwest course until he struck the Arkansas River, somewhere about the mouth of the Walnut, and followed it to just about Pueblo where he wintered."

He continued: "In 1867 we started another herd west over the same trail and struck the Pecos the latter part of June. After we had gone up this river about one hundred miles it was decided that Mr. Loving should go ahead on horseback in order to reach New Mexico and Colorado in time to bid on the contracts which were to be let in July, to use the cattle we then had on trail, for we knew that there were no other cattle in the west to take their place."

Their first cattle drive was organized from Fort Belknap, Texas, to the Pecos River and up to Fort Sumner, N.M. This route became known as the "Goodnight-Loving Trail." At Fort Sumner 8,000 starving Indians were gathered together. The cattle that Goodnight and Loving had been taking to Colorado were bought by the Army to feed the Indians instead.

If you remember "Lonesome Dove," you will remember the scene where Gus McRae and the old man are caught in an Indian attack. Well, that attack happened pretty much the way the movie depicts.

WJ Wilson (one-armed Wilson) was the person who accompanied Loving to scout out the territory before the cattle were to be driven to Ft. Sumner on a contract they had with the Army to feed the Indians. They left Goodnight and the rest of the men with the cattle. Goodnight had made Wilson and Loving promise to travel only by night lest the Comanches attack. But Loving was in a hurry and did not listen to Wilson or Goodnight.

The Indians attacked and the two men took shelter in a river redoubt, where they held off warriors for hours. Finally, the Indians wanted to parley and Loving stood up to see where they were. A brave shot him and the arrow went through his arm and into his side.

Wilson's descriptions of the events that follow are in the historical records kept in Texas' Cushman Library and other Texas Historical Society documents:

"When I went down the river about a hundred yards, and saw an Indian sitting on his horse out in the river, with the water almost over the horse's back. He was sitting there splashing the water with his foot, just playing. I got under some smart-weeds and drifted by until I got far enough below the Indian where I could get out. Then I made a three days' march barefooted. Everything in that country had stickers in it. On my way I picked up the small end of a teepee pole which I used for a walking stick.

The last night of this painful journey the wolves followed me all night. I would give out, just like a horse, and lay down in the road and drop off to sleep and when 1 would awaken the wolves would be all around me, snapping and snarling. I would take up that stick, knock the wolves away, got started again and the wolves would follow behind. I kept that up until daylight, when the wolves quit me. About 12 o'clock on that last day I crossed a little mountain and knew the boys ought to be right in there somewhere with the cattle. I found a little place, a sort of cave, that afforded protection from the sun, and I could go no further. After a short time the boys came along with the cattle and found me."

Loving had been picked up by some Mexican vaqueros and taken to Ft. Sumner. By the time Goodnight arrived, Loving was in a bad way. The wound in his side had healed, but the doctor refused to amputate the arm, in which gangrene had set in. Goodnight and Wilson had to coerce the doctor to amputate the arm, but it was too late to save Loving. Oliver Loving asked Goodnight to provide for his family and to return his body to Weatherford, Texas, where he wanted to be buried.

Goodnight kept his promise. The 600-mile trip was probably the longest funeral procession of all time. It was made famous in "Lonesome Dove" when Captain Call takes Gus McRae's body back to Texas from Montana.

The African-American character of Deets in "Lonesome Dove" is based on a real black cowboy, one of many who worked for Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving over the years.

Bose Ikard was born a slave and went West to work for Oliver Loving in 1866. He worked for Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving when they were partners. When Loving died, he remained a steadfast friend and employee to Charles Goodnight.

Following his work in the cattle drives, Ikard settled in Weatherford, Texas. He and his wife, Angeline, were the parents of six children. He died in 1929 at age 85. Goodnight had a granite marker erected at his grave.

Goodnight wrote about Ikard:

"Bose surpassed any man I had in endurance and stamina. There was a dignity, a cleanliness and reliability about him that was wonderful. His behavior was very good in a fight and he was probably the most devoted man to me that I ever knew. I have trusted him farther than any man. He was my banker, my detective, and everything else in Colorado, New Mexico and the other wild country. The nearest and only bank was in Denver, and when we carried money, I gave it to Bose, for a thief would never think of robbing him: Bose Ikard served with me four years on the Goodnight-Loving Trail, never shirked a duty or disobeyed an order, rode with me in many stampedes, participated in three engagements with Comanches, splendid behavior. ... Bose could be trusted farther than any living man I know."

Goodnight was responsible for saving one of the few remaining buffalo herds. He and his wife developed a passion for the animals. One of the loves of his life was cross-breeding cattle and buffalo and getting "cataloes." Charlie also created a wildlife sanctuary that replaced his passion for cattle drives in his later years.

The definitive work about Charles Goodnight was written by J. E. Haley: "Charles Goodnight, Cowman and Plainsman," 1942. The tales in that book were later the basis for such Western classics as "The Searchers," "Red River," "Sons of Katie Elder" and, of course, "Lonesome Dove."

Actor Barry Corbin lives in Texas. A fan of Western history, particularly Texas history, Corbin put together a one-man show a few years ago. It depicts Charles Goodnight on the last day of his life.

Corbin described Charles Goodnight: "In any part that you do, there is an honesty to your character and you have to get in touch with that. In the case of Goodnight, it's easy because his core of honesty extended all the way out to surface."

"Charlie Goodnight's Last Night" is a microcosm of an era marked by loyalty and devotion to personal codes. "What is important today about Charles Goodnight is the man's unshakable belief in right and wrong," says Corbin. "He lived by a code, which most people on the frontier did. And that's almost unheard [of] today."

"It's a story about a man who is a symbol of what we need to be reminded about where we came from. This is a man of absolute loyalty and a man of absolute conviction about right and wrong, north and south."

"People today are hungry for heroes. They're hungry for people who know what direction they're going in, what needs to be done, what their mission in life is. That's because we don't know anyone like that. We're all just drifting with the wind."