December 12: Charles Goodnight Dies

December 12: Charles Goodnight Dies

Charles Goodnight was a trailblazer of several kinds. Born in Illinois in 1836, Charles moved to Texas when he was 9 years old. In 1857 he joined the Texas Rangers and later joined the Confederate army to fight in the Civil War. Following the war, he began herding cattle along what came to be known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail, while simultaneously inventing the chuckwagon as a means to provide nourishment to the cowboys along the trail. The trail eventually went as far north as Wyoming, following his partner, Oliver Loving’s death. In 1876, he preserved a herd of plains bison, some of which were eventually introduced to Yellowstone in 1902.  In 1880, he founded the Panhandle Stockman’s Association, in an effort to improve breeding methods and to reduce the threat of outlaws. Larry McMurtrey’s Lonesome Dove was loosely based on the lives of Goodnight and Loving.

A two-page letter from Goodnight regarding the Journal of Heredity sold for $862.50 in 2007, along with a letter written by Harey Carey regarding a possible purchase of buffalo herd.

In 2010, a bronze statue of Goodnight by artist Grant Speed sold at auction for $5,400.

Charles’ Colt .45 went up for auction in 2012, along with shipping records, and was estimated to go for upwards of $20,000, but met a final hammer price of $25,000.

As a special little treat for you, please enjoy Ian Tyson’s song, Charles Goodnight’s Grave below.