John Chisum: Frontier Cattle King

by Bill O'Neal

Overview

John Chisum was a legendary figure of the Old West cattle frontier. At thirteen he migrated with his family from Tennessee to the Republic of Texas. During the 1850s Chisum recognized opportunity in the fledgling range cattle industry, and within a few years his herds numbered in the tens of thousands. Chisum soon owned more cattle than any other individual in America, and his Jinglebob herds were the only cattle in the West known by an earmark rather than by a famous brand.

Chisum was a true pioneer, seeking open range grass farther and farther and still farther to the west. During three decades on a succession of frontier ranches, Chisum endured Indian raids, stock thievery, drought, financial reverses, and the murderous Lincoln County War. Chisum had courage, a taste for adventure, a shrewd head for business, and he confidently operated his risky frontier profession on an enormous scale.

His last ranch was the biggest, stretching for 200 miles along the Pecos River and grazing as many as 80,000 head of Jinglebob cattle. He built a headquarters complex worthy of a cattle king, relishing the role of host to one and all. After thirty spectacular years as a western rancher, Chisum died at sixty, just as his beloved open range was being enclosed by barbed wire. But he was known throughout cow country as the "Jinglebob King," the "Cattle King of the Pecos," and the "Cattle King of the West."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681791135
Publisher:	Eakin Press
Publication date:	03/09/2018
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.37(d)

About the Author

Bill O'Neal currently is serving his sixth year as State Historian of Texas. As an ambassador for Texas history, Bill travels constantly across the Lone Star State, providing programs at schools and universities and a variety of historical events. He is a past president and fellow of both the West Texas Historical Association and of the East Texas Historical Association. Bill is the author of more than 40 books, as well as 300 articles and book reviews. His most recent writing award, the A. C. Greene Literary Award, was presented at the 2015 West Texas Book Festival in Abilene. In 2012 Bill received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Wild West Historical Association, and in 2007 he was named True West Magazine's Best Living Non-Fiction Writer. Bill has appeared on TV documentaries on TBS, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, CMT, A&E, and the American Heroes Channel Series, Gunslingers. During a long career at Panola College in Carthage, Texas, his most prestigious teaching award was a Piper Professorship, presented in 2000. In 2013 Panola's new dormitory was named Bill O'Neal Hall, and in that same year he received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from his alma mater, Texas A&M University at Commerce. Bill's four daughters all have entered the field of education, and he is the proud grandfather of seven grandchildren

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Chapter One Introduction to a Cattle King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter Two Cow John Becomes a Texas Cattleman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Chapter Three In Search of Open Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter Four On to the Pecos Frontier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter Five Rustlers and Other Cow Country Criminals . . . . . . . . . . .48

Chapter Six Cow Country Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter Seven Chisum and the Lincoln County War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter Eight Simpaticas: Housekeepers and Other Lady Friends . . . .100

Chapter Nine The End of the Chisum Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Chapter Ten Remembering a Cattle King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Author Bio  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164