This document provides biographical information on several prominent black cowboys from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Canada. It discusses how black cowboys made up a significant portion of cowboys but were often relegated to more difficult jobs and faced racism. Figures profiled include Britton Johnson, whose story inspired the film The Searchers; Bill Pickett, a rodeo performer who invented bulldogging; Jesse Stahl, an acclaimed bronco rider; and John Ware, one of the earliest black cowboys in Canada who became a folk hero. The document highlights both the hardships these men faced due to racism and their considerable skills and accomplishments as cowboys.

1. BLACK COWBOYS

2.  QuentinTarantino's Oscar-winning Western, Django Unchained, is one
of relatively few Hollywood films depicting a black cowboy. In reality
there were many, some of whose stories were borrowed for films
starring white actors.The most common image of the cowboy is a gun-
toting, boot-wearing, white man - like JohnWayne, or Clint Eastwood.
But the Hollywood portrayal of theWildWest is a whitewashed version
of the reality. It is thought that, on someTexas trails, about a quarter of
cowboys were black. In the real OldWest, as opposed to the film
depiction, black cowboys were a common sight. "Black cowboys often
had the job of breaking horses that hadn't been ridden much," says Mike
Searles, a retired professor of history at Augusta State University. "Black
cowboys were also chuck wagon cooks, and they were known for being
songsters - helping the cattle stay calm," he says. Searles says his
research, which included poring over interviews with ex-slaves in the
1930s, suggested black cowboys benefited from what he calls "range
equality".

3.  "As a cowboy you had to have a degree of
independence," he says. "You could not have an
overseer, they had to go on horseback and they
may be gone for days." Life was, nevertheless,
harder for black cowboys than for their white
counterparts.Vincent Jacobs, 80, a former rodeo
rider who lives near Houston,Texas, recalls the
racism he faced when he was starting out.
"There would be separate rodeos for blacks and
whites," he says. "It was hard, real hard - they
would only let me perform after all the white
people had been led out of the arena."

4.  "Being a black cowboy was hard work,"
agrees 88-year-old Cleveland Walters, who
lives just outside the town of Liberty,Texas. "I
hate to think of the racism I went through.
When it was branding time, they'd put 20
cows in the pen and I was the one who had to
catch them and hold them down.The brander
was white - so in other words all the hard,
dirty work was done by the black cowboys."

5.  Not only did Hollywood ignore black
cowboys, it plundered their real stories as
material for some of its films.
The Lone Ranger, for example, is believed to
have been inspired by Bass Reeves, a black
lawman who used disguises, had a Native
American sidekick and went through his
whole career without being shot.

6.  The 1956 John Ford filmThe Searchers, based
on Alan Le May's novel, was partly inspired by
the exploits of Brit Johnson, a black cowboy
whose wife and children were captured by
the Comanches in 1865. In the film, John
Wayne plays as a Civil War veteran who
spends years looking for his niece who has
been abducted by Indians.

7. Britton Johnson??
 Britton Johnson was reportedly born in
Tennessee, Britt was a slave of Moses
Johnson, who owned land in the Peters
Colony (west of Dallas, inYoung County).
Unlike other slaves, Britt must have had some
education. He was able to read and write and
could manage basic accounting skills.

8.  Indians kidnapped Britt’s family, including his
wife and daughters, during the Elm Creek Raid of
October, 1864. His son was killed in that raid.
Some sources say that Johnson searched for his
family, and personally negotiated their release,
after living with the Comanche for a time. Other
sources say that friendly Comanches—
specifically Comanche chief Esahabitu (Asa-
Havey)— helped Britt by paying a ransom for the
Johnson family’s release. However it happened,
Britt’s family was released by the Comanche
during June of 1865.

9.  As a black cowboy, who was now a free man
following the Civil War’s end, Johnson was
entrusted with trail responsibilities. In
January of 1871, he and his colleagues
encountered serious trouble from a Kiowa
raiding party.TheTexas State Historical
Association tells us what happened:

10.  On January 24, 1871, about twenty-five Kiowas
attacked a wagontrain manned by Johnson and
two black teamsters four miles east of Salt Creek
inYoung County. A group of nearby teamsters
from a larger train of wagons reported that
Johnson died last in a desperate defense behind
the body of his horse.Teamsters who buried the
mutilated bodies of Johnson and his men
counted 173 rifle and pistol shells in the area
where Johnson made his stand. He was buried
with his men in a common grave beside the
wagon road.

11.  Johnson’s fascinating story was turned-into a
novel by Alan LeMay in 1954. He called itThe
Searchers. John Ford, a movie maker, then
turned the novel into a film, starring John
Wayne. It was also called “The Searchers.”

12. Bill Pickett
 Willie M. "Bill" Pickett (December 5, 1871 - April
2, 1932) was a cowboy and rodeo performer.
Pickett's impae on a handbill advertising the
movie "The Bull-Dogger," released in 1921 byThe
Norman Film Manufacturing Company. Pickett
was billed as "the world's colored champion" in
"death-defying feats of courage and skill."Pickett
was born in the Jenks-Branch community of
Travis County,Texas. He was the second of 13
children born toThomas Jefferson Pickett, a
former slave, and Mary "Janie" Gilbert.The
family's ancestry was black, white and Cherokee
Native American.

13.  Pickett attended school through the fifth
grade, after which he took up ranching work.
He invented the technique of bulldogging,
the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and
wrestling them to the ground. Pickett's
method for bulldogging was biting a cow on
the lip and then falling backwards.This
method eventually lost popularity as the
sport morphed into the steer wrestling that is
practiced in rodeos today.

14. 
 In 1890 Pickett married MaggieTurner, a former
slave and daughter to a white southern
plantation owner.The couple had nine children.
Pickett and his brothers started their own
company, the Pickett Brothers Broncho Busters
and Rough Riders Association, to offer their
services as cowboys. Pickett also made a living
demonstrating his bulldogging skills and other
stunts at county fairs.

15.  In 1905, Pickett joined the 101 RanchWild West
Show that featured the likes of Buffalo Bill, Will
Rogers,Tom Mix and Zach and Lucille Mulhall.
Pickett was a popular performer who toured
around the world and appeared in early motion
pictures. Pickett was shown in a movie created
by Richard E. Norman. Pickett's ethnicity
resulted in him not being able to appear at many
rodeos. He often was forced to claim that he was
of Comanche heritage in order to perform.

16. Nate Love aka "Deadwood
Dick"
 Nate Love, also know as Deadwood Dick, was born a
slave inTennessee. He he had a love of the free and
wild life on the range. Soon he was known as a good
all around cowboy. Nate found aTexas outfit that
had delivered its herd and was preparing to go back
down toTexas.There were several good black
cowboys in the outfit. After sharing breakfast with
the crew, Nate asked the trail boss for a job.The
boss agreed if Nate could break a horse named Good
Eye, the wildest horse in the outfit. Bronco Jim,
another black cowboy gave Nate some pointers and
Nate rode that horse. He said later that it was the
toughest ride he had ever had.

17.  The work was very hard. Nate rode through hailstorms so violent
that only strong men could withstand them.The first time he met
hostile Indians, he admitted he was too scared to run. After going
through a number of such trials he adjusted to the ways of the
cattle country and could handle any problem, Nate had a forty-
five and he took every chance he could to practice with it and he
got very good with it.There came a time when he could shoot
better than any of his friends. Nate left theTexas Panhandle, and
rode into Arizona where he got a job working for an outfit on the
Gila River. He had ridden many of the trails of the southwest and
he believed that he was a capable cowboy. While in Arizona
working with Mexican vaqueros, he learned to speak Spanish like
a native and he became very good at reading brands.

18.  In the spring of 1876, Nate Love's outfit received orders to deliver
three thousand steer to Deadwood City in the DakotaTerritory.
They arrived July 3rd.The town was getting ready for the 4th of
July.The mining men and gamblers had gotten together and
organized a contest with $200 prize money. Nate said that six of
the dozen men in the contest were Black. Each black cowboy was
to rope, throw, tie bridles, and saddle a mustang in the shortest
possible time.The wildest horses were chosen for this event.
Nate roped, threw, tied bridles, saddled, and mounted his
mustang in exactly nine minutes.The next competitor took
twelve minutes and thirty seconds. In the rifle and Colt events,
shooting at 100 and 250 yards with 14 shots, Nate placed all of his
shots in the bulls eye and 10 of the 12 pistol shots in the bulls eye.
Nate Love was the obvious winner and along with the prize
money, the town gave Nate the title of "Deadwood Dick".

19. Jesse Stahl
 Jesse Stahl, a Black cowboy legend!The birth of Jesse Stahl
in 1879 is celebrated on this date. He was an African-
American cowboy and rodeo star.
FromTennessee, Stahl, an inductee into the Cowboy Hall of
Fame in Oklahoma City, was a major saddle bronco rider.
Although exceptionally talented, Stahl who had a brother
Ambrose seldom placed higher than third at the major
rodeos mainly because he was Black. At one rodeo where
he'd clearly bested his competitors, Stahl was awarded
second place. Perhaps to mock the judges, he rode a
second bronco while facing backward. A spectacular ride by
black Stahl, on a previously un-ridden bucking horse called
"Glass Eye" was one of the highlights of the show.

20.  He repeated his triumph by riding another notorious
bucker, "Tar Baby," backwards with a suitcase in his
hand. Srahl retired in 1929 and was probably the
most famous Black cowboy of all time.Another
black cowboy,Ty Stokes, and Jesse Stahl rode a
bucking horse seated back to back it was what was
called "a suicide ride."The total attendance in 1912
was 4,000. Some rodeo enthusiast consider Jesse
Stahl the greatest of all bronco riders; neither is
surprising when one considers that approximately
five thousand black cowboys rode the cattle trails in
the 19th century.

21. John Ware
 JohnWare (c. 1845 to 12 September 1905) was
the best known black on the early Canadian
Prairie. Born into a South Carolina slave family
young John was often forced by the slave master
to take part in organized fights between young
black males. With the end of the CivilWar came
freedom,Ware left the Carolina’s bound for
Texas. Finding work near FortWorth he began
his career as a cowboy and became skilled with
horses and the lariat.

22.  JohnWare arrived in southernAlberta, Canada in 1882,
bringing the first 3,000-head of cattle for the NorthWest
Cattle Company from Idaho. Born into slavery on a cotton
plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina, the second
youngest of 11 children, and when he gained his freedom
after the American CivilWar he left forTexas.There he
became a cowboy and learned the skills of a rancher. Due to
his large stature (over 6 feet and 230 lbs.) and dedication to
hard work he was able to work his way up to Canada driving
cattle. After his arrival in Calgary,Ware continued to work
for the NorthWest Cattle Company which had formed the
Bar-U Ranch near Longview, Alberta south-west ofCalgary.
As a ranch hand he was paid a daily rate with room and
board included. Riders were allowed to sleep in bunks
above the warm kitchen.

23.  In 1884 he went to work at the Quorn Ranch on the Sheep River,
owned by members of the Quorn Hunt Club in Leicestershire,
England, with a cattle herd and imported Irish hunters from
Ireland.Ware’s position in charge of the horse herd manifested
his stature in the ranching community. In late May 1885,Ware, as
representative of the Quorn, accompanied a hundred riders, five
hundred horses and fifteen chuck-wagons from Fort Macleod on
one of the last big spring round-ups to comb the entire foothills
country from the Montana boundary north to Calgary.The
Macleod Gazette observed: “John is not only one of the best
natured and most obliging fellows in the country, but he is one of
the shrewdest cow men, and the man is considered pretty lucky
who has him to look after his interest.The horse is not running on
the prairie which John cannot ride.” (2 March 1892. Macleod
Gazette (Fort Macleod, [Alta])

24.  Another incident on the 1885 round-up found
Edward J. F. Hills, an English gentleman and
novice cowboy, who was taken under the
wing by John Ware. Hills wrote letters home
ofWare’s reputation as “the best rough-rider
in the North-West,” and ofWare’s personal
kindness in helping him master range-land
skills.

25.  By 1890Ware had his own spread on the Red Deer River,
known as the “Four Nines” with his own registered cattle
brand as he had taken some of his wages in cattle.Ware
had almost given up on finding a wife in Alberta, as there
were few black people in the area, and when he heard the
Lewis family had moved in with a daughter of marriageable
age he borrowed a wagon to visit the new arrivals. Once
there he took the family for a ride in the country, but
unfortunately a storm blew up and the team was struck by
lightning. No one in the wagon had been injured, but the
team of horses were dead. It is reputed thatWare simply
shook his head and said, “Now I’m going to have to break in
a new team” and proceeded to drag the wagon back to
Lewis farm by himself.*

26.  He married theToronto-born Mildred Lewis March 2,
1892. By 1900 they had five children, two daughters
and three sons. In 1902 his first home on the Sheep
River near Millarville was destroyed by the spring
flood, then rebuilt on higher ground. Soon the arrival
of more settlers signaled the end of the open range,
and JohnWare moved his family and 300-head of
cattle 90 miles east of their old home to a location
near Brooks.This location was near the banks of the
Red Deer River and a stream now known asWare
Creek (located west of Dinosaur Provincial Park
where the originalWare cabin has been preserved).

27.  They prospered, their cattle herd growing to 1,000 head,
with Mildred doing the bookkeeping for the ranch and
teaching her children to read and write.Ware popularized
steer wrestling which would later become a highlight of the
Calgary stampede. Mildred died of pneumonia and typhoid
in the spring of 1905 and a grieving John sent his children to
stay with Mildred's parents in Blairmore. On September
11th,Ware was killed when his horse tripped in a badger
hole and fell on him. His funeral held September 14, 1905 at
the Calgary Baptist Church was the largest Calgary had ever
seen. People from all over Alberta and British nobility came
out to bid farewell to Alberta’s legendary black cowboy.

28.  “In an era where roughness, dishonesty, bullying, and lawlessness
seemed normal, Mr.Ware showed honesty, skill, hard work, and
decency. He was known as, ‘a man of unquestioned honesty and
agreeable nature...[who] boasted the rare distinction of never
having been thrown from a horse. At rough-riding and roping he
was an expert’” (Turner, 1950, pg. 461)*
Ware’s regional folk hero status centres on his remarkable
horsemanship, strength, good-natured humour and general
kindness, his loyalty to friends and neighbours, and his
willingness to take novice cowhands under his guidance.Ware
was a man of action and few words: an attribute shared by the
heroes of the cowboys of the frontier. John and MildredWare’s
children had no descendants.Their last surviving daughter,
Nettie, obtained an honourary doctorate from the University of
Alberta in 1982 for her work on the pioneer history of the
province. Nettie died on her ninety-sixth birthday in March 1989.

29. James Pierson Beckwourth
 James Pierson Beckwourth, born James Beckwith and
generally known as, Jim Beckwourth (April 26, 1798[1] or
1800 Frederick County,Virginia – October 29, 1866 or 1867,
Denver, ColoradoTerritory) was an American mountain
man, fur trader, and explorer. A mulatto born into slavery in
Virginia, he was freed by his father (and master) and
apprenticed to a blacksmith; later he moved to the
AmericanWest.As a fur trapper, he lived with the Crow
Nation for years. He is credited with the discovery of
Beckwourth Pass, through the Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
Mountains, between present-day Reno, Nevada, and
Portola, California, during the California Gold Rush years,
and improved the BeckwourthTrail, which thousands of
settlers followed to central California.

30.  In 1864 Beckwourth was hired by Colonel John M.
Chivington of theThird ColoradoVolunteers to act as a
scout for a campaign against the Cheyenne and Apache.
The territory's campaign resulted in the Sand Creek
Massacre, in which the militia killed an estimated 70-163
friendly Cheyenne men, women and children who had
camped in an area suggested by the previous commander
of Fort Lyon and flew an American flag to show their status.
Outraged by the massacre, the Cheyenne banned
Beckwourth from trading with them.Well into his 60s by
then, Beckwourth returned to trapping.The US Army
employed him as a scout at Fort Laramie and Fort Phil
Kearny in 1866.

31.  While guiding a military column to a Crow band in
Montana, Beckwourth complained of severe
headaches and suffered nosebleeds, most probably
the result of a severe case of hypertension. James
Beckwourth returned to the Crow village, where he
died on October 29, 1866, with unstoppable nose
bleeding.William Byers, a personal friend and the
founder of the Rocky Mountain News, claimed the
Crow had poisoned Beckwourth, as the tribe felt
they could not trust him because of his involvement
in the Sand Creek Massacre. Byers had no
supporting evidence, which made the claim pure
speculation.

32.  In the 2015 filmThe Revenant, an un-named African-
American is depicted, as part of Ashley's 100. Since the
chronology of events in the life of Hugh Glass was changed
slightly for the film, it is unclear if the African-American
shown was intended to be James Beckwourth, Edward
Rose, a lesser known black mountain man, or simply a
representation of the wider acceptance and equality of
blacks on the western frontier that gave rise to historical
figures like Beckwourth. Hugh Glass' legendary return, after
being abandoned and left for dead, occurred in 1823, and
Beckwourth did not join the expedition until 1824.
However, there was an intervening period of time, between
the return of Glass and his confrontation with Bridger and
Fitzgerald, that did occur subsequent to 1824, that was
changed in the film for the sake of brevity.

33. Ned Huddleston aka "Isom
Dart"
 Ned Huddleston (also known as Isom Dart) was born
into slavery in Arkansas in 1849. His reputation as a
rider, roper and bronco-buster earned him the
nicknames of the “Black Fox” and the “Calico
Cowboy.” He was also a notoriousWyoming
Territory outlaw. In 1861 twelve-year-old Huddleston
accompanied his owner, a Confederate officer, into
Texas during the CivilWar. After being freed at the
end of the war Huddleston headed for the southern
Texas-Mexico border region where he found work at
a rodeo, became a stunt rider and honed his skills as
a master horseman.

34.  Huddleston straddled both sides of the law. For a
time he and a young Mexican bandit named
Terresa survived as rustlers stealing horses in
Mexico and selling them inTexas. Huddleston
later joined a cattle drive heading northwest to
Brown’s Hole in the Colorado-Wyoming area
around 1871.The 6’2” Huddleston briefly found
success mining gold and silver then claimed his
partner cheated him out of his earnings.

35.  After a tumultuous love affair with a Shoshone Indian woman in 1875,
Huddleston joined the infamousTip Gault Gang, a cattle and horse
rustling outfit of southeastern Wyoming. After narrowly escaping death
he went further west and started a new life as a hard-working man. He
changed his name to Isom Dart and made a living as a bronco buster.
Isom Dart later returned to Brown’s Hole around 1890 and established
his own ranch, but local cattlemen suspected he had built up his ranch
herd from cattle he’d rustled from their ranches.The ranchers hired the
notorious range detective,Tom Horn, to punish Dart. Horn ambushed
and killed Isom Dart on October 3, 1900 near Brown's Hole. Public
opinion was (and continues to be) divided about Dart's guilt. Some
Brown's Hole residents mourned his death, claiming Dart was killed by
cattleman who wanted his land and cattle.They saw Dart as a good-
hearted, talented horseman and a top bronc stomper. Others believed
he never completely relinquished his life of cattle rustling and thus
remained a menace to the community.

36. Bass Reeves
 Bass Reeves-One of the first African American
Deputy U. S. Marshals west of the Mississippi,
Reeves served in IndianTerritory for 32 years.
During this time he killed 14 outlaws and
served warrants on over 3000, including his
own son who was wanted for murder. After
Oklahoma statehood in 1907, Reeves worked
as a patrolman for the police department in
Muskogee, where "reportedly no crimes were
committed on his beat."

37. George Fletcher
 George Fletcher was born in 1890 in St. Mary’s, Kansas.
Fletcher came west on the old OregonTrail from Missouri
with his family at the turn of the 20th century, nearly 30
years after the last pioneers used the OregonTrail.The
Fletcher family settled in a small western town of
Pendleton, Oregon. Fletcher built friendships and
relationships among the local American Indians on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation in EasternOregon.The tribes
adopted Fletcher as one of their own. He learned about the
tribes’ culture and language, and most importantly their
horsemanship, all of which the federal government did not
want the Indians to practice on the reservation, because
the government believed the Indians should be farmers and
Christians to survive in today’s world.

38.  Fletcher entered his first rodeo event at a Fourth
of July Celebration in Pendleton, Oregon, which
he placed second in the bronco busting contest.
This was to be the initial beginnings of what
would become the Pendleton Round-Up in 1910.
In 1911, Fletcher made the Saddle Bronc Finals at
the Pendleton Round-Up, which became known
as the controversial finals and was the first time
that Jackson Sundown, a Native American, John
Spain, a European American, and George
Fletcher, an African American, competed for a
WorldTitle in rodeo.

39.  Sundown was the first to ride in the finals and his
bucking horse charged into the one of the
Round-Up judge’s horses and he tumbled from
the horse. Sundown was not awarded a re-ride
because of the interference with the judge’s
horse. John Spain rode second and he made a
good ride, but there was a claim of a foul, that he
had touched the horse with his free hand.The
Round-Up judges scored his ride despite the
protest from the crowd of a foul.

40.  Fletcher was the last to compete. He made an
outstanding ride and brought the cheering
crowd to its feet, but the judges requested
another horse for Fletcher.The crowd grew
restless as Fletcher mounted his second horse for
the finals.The horse bucked wildly with Fletcher
before the grandstands and the crowd roared its
approval.Within a few minutes after Fletcher’s
ride the Round-Up judges announced, “Spain
first, Fletcher second, and Sundown third.”

41.  A dissatisfied SheriffTilTaylor took Fletcher’s
hat, tore it into pieces, and sold the pieces to the
protesting crowd of thousands.The Sheriff
awarded the money to Fletcher, as their
Champion, the People’s Champion, and wished
for him to have a championship saddle like the
one awarded to John Spain. Fletcher served in
World War I, where he was wounded and ended
his career in rodeo. He worked as a ranch
cowboy until his death in 1973.

42. Dangerfield Newby
 Dangerfield Newby (1815 – October 16, 1859) was the oldest of
John Brown's raiders, one of five black raiders, and the first of his
men to die at Harpers Ferry,Virginia. Born into slavery in
Fauquier County,Virginia, Newby married a woman also
enslaved. Newby's father was Henry Newby, a landowner in
Fauquier County. His mother was Elsey Newby, who was a slave,
owned not by Henry, but by a neighbor, John Fox. Elsey and
Henry lived together for many years and had several children,
although interracial marriage was illegal inVirginia. Dangerfield
was their first child. Dangerfield Newby, his mother and his
siblings were later freed by his father when he moved them
across the Ohio River into Bridgeport,Ohio. John Fox, who died
in 1859, apparently did not attempt to retrieve Elsey,
Dangerfield, or any of his siblings. Dangerfield's wife and their
seven children remained in bondage. A letter found on his body
revealed some of his motivation for joining John Brown and the
raid on Harpers Ferry.

43.  Dangerfield Newby's wife, Harriet Newby, was
the slave of Jesse Jennings, of Arlington or
Warrenton,Virginia. She and her children were
sold to Louisiana after the raid. Newby had been
unable to purchase the freedom of his wife and
seven children.Their master raised the price
after Newby had saved the $1,500 that had
previously been agreed on. Because all of
Newby's other efforts had failed he hoped to free
them by force. Harriet's poignant letters, found
on his body, proved instrumental in advancing
the abolitionist cause. Newby was six foot two.

44.  On 17 October 1859, the citizens of Harpers Ferry
set to put down the raid. Harpers Ferry
manufactured guns but the citizens had little
ammunition, so during the assault on the raiders
they fired anything they could fit into a gun
barrel. One man was shooting six inch spikes
from his rifle, one of which struck Newby in the
throat, killing him instantly. After the raid, the
people of Harpers Ferry took his body, stabbed it
repeatedly, and amputated his limbs

45.  His body was left in an alley to be eaten by
hogs. In 1899 the remains of Newby-plus
remains of nine other raiders-were reburied
in a common grave near the body of John
Brown in North Elba, NewYork.

46. Amos Harris
 Amos Harris, is said to have been Nebraska's first
negro cowboy. He was reported to weigh
between 250 pounds and 300 pounds, and was 6
foot 3 inches tall. He spoke 5 languages and it
was reported that he was born south of
Galveston,Texas, on the Brazos River, the son of
freed slave parents. He was known as "One of
God'sTrue Nobelmen". He carried a raw-hide
rope which he, himself, had braided. He was
considered to be one of the best ropers in the
Sandhills.

47.  Legend has it that he drove 5 herds of cattle up
formTexas over the ChisholmTrail to Nebraska
in 1878 as a member of the famous Olive crew.
He was reported to be only 15 when he started
this trade. It is reported that they dorve over
15,ooo head ofTexas cattle to the open range in
Custer county and along the Dismal River. From
here, Amos Harris began his colorful careet as a
cowboy in the central counties of Nebraska. It
was on one of these trips, that he brought and
sold cattle to the Ed Cook andTower Ranch at
Ainsworth.

48.  On the 1880 census he was listed as being in the
household of Ed Cook, for whom he was working at
the time around Ainsworth, Brown county and
around Blaine and Loup counties for various other
ranchers. It lists his birth year as 1852,and his
parents as being born inTennessee. His birthdate is
questionable, unknown even to himself. It was
known to be between the 1840's to the 1860's. He
was a very cheerful and happy man.The people of
the times, bankers, lawyers, lumbermen, editors,
farmers and other people with whom he had a
working relationship remembered his as
picturesque, courteous, friendly and happy.

49.  In 1897 he married a negoues, with whom he had
corresponded, Miss ElizaYoung, daughter of R.
Young of Bollus, Nebraska.They started their
married life on a ranch 18 miles north of Brewster on
the Calamus River.They remined on this ranch until
the turn of the century when they moved toValley
county where Eliza passed away in February of 1903.
Mr Harris later remarried to Elizabeth Jane Fears in
1908. He was 38 and she was 20. She later died
"under the surgeons knife",Amos was devastated. In
1904 Amos went toWheeler county and took a 400
acre claim west of Lake Erickson. He eventually lost
his ranch to a homesteader.

50.  When Amos would come to BrewsterCafe to eat, he
always came in the back door and ate with the cook
at the kitchen table. Meals were twenty five cents.
Amos had been brought up in this tradition from the
South. No information is readily available just how
Amos met his death, but with violence being such a
part of the west, it is rumored that Amos may have
died of "lead poisoning".One source states that he
died of natural causes. He started suffering small
strokes and was in ill health. He died 02-23-1911 at
about 65 years of age. He is buried at the Grand
Island cemetery.A tombstone, donated by the black
people of Grand Island was erected at his gravesite.

51. George Glenn
 GEORGE GLENN (1850–1931). George Glenn, black
traildriver, son ofWash Glenn, was born into slavery
on March 8, 1850, probably in Colorado County,
Texas. He was raised on the ranch of Robert B.
Johnson of Columbus and trained in ranching
activities and as a trail cook. After the CivilWar and
emancipation, Glenn evidently continued at the
Johnson ranch as a cowhand. In the spring of 1870 he
accompanied Johnson on a cattle drive to Abilene,
Kansas. At the Red River, when a fresh group of
cowhands displaced the original ones, Johnson and
Glenn continued with the new group to Abilene,
where they sold the herd.

52.  Johnson fell ill and died at age thirty-six in Abilene in July 1870.
Glenn had his employer embalmed and buried in a metal casket
in the area.The following September he decided to bring
Johnson's body back toTexas for burial and had the casket
disinterred and placed in a wagon. Reportedly, Glenn traveled
alone with Johnson's body for forty-two days across three states,
to arrive in Columbus in November 1871. He did not continue as a
cowhand but maintained a lifelong friendship with his former
employer's nephew,Texas Ranger and cattleman John Edwards
Folts. Glenn's death certificate lists his occupation as "laborer."
He was honored as one of the handful of black members of the
OldTrail Drivers Association at the 1924 and 1926 annual
meetings. He married Lucy Conner on December 25, 1872, and
they had at least one child.Apparently Glenn resided the rest of
his life in Glidden, where he owned a homestead. He died there
of pneumonia on November 28, 1931, and was buried in
Columbus.

53. Mary Fields
 Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary and
Black Mary (c. 1832–1914), was the first African-
American woman employed as a mail carrier in
the United States and the second woman to
work for the United States Postal Service. Fields
stood 6 feet (182 cm) tall and weighed about 200
lbs (90 kg), liked to smoke cigars, and was once
said to be as "black as a burnt-over prairie." She
usually had a pistol strapped under her apron
and a jug of whiskey by her side.

54.  Born a slave in Hickman County,Tennessee,
around 1832, Fields was freed when American
slavery was outlawed in 1865. She then
worked in the home of Judge Edmund Dunne.
When Dunne's wife Josephine died in 1883 in
San Antonio, Florida, Fields took the family's
five children to their aunt, Mother Mary
Amadeus, the mother superior of an Ursuline
convent inToledo, Ohio.

55.  . In 1884, Mother Amadeus was sent to Montana
Territory to establish a school for Native
American girls at St. Peter's Mission, west of
Cascade. Learning that Amadeus was stricken
with pneumonia, Fields hurried to Montana to
nurse her back to health. Amadeus recovered
and Fields stayed at St. Peter's hauling freight,
doing laundry, growing vegetables, tending
chickens, repairing buildings and eventually
becoming the forewoman.

56.  The Native Americans called Fields "White
Crow" because "she acts like a white woman
but has black skin." Local whites did not know
what to make of her. One schoolgirl wrote an
essay saying: "she drinks whiskey, and she
swears, and she is a republican, which makes
her a low, foul creature." In 1894, after several
complaints and an incident with a disgruntled
male subordinate that involved gunplay, the
bishop ordered her to leave the convent.

57.  Mother Amadeus helped her open a restaurant in
nearby Cascade. Fields would serve food to anyone,
whether they could pay or not, and the restaurant
went broke in about ten months. In 1895, although
approximately 60 years old, Fields was hired as a
mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to
hitch a team of six horses.This made her the second
woman and first African American woman to work
for the U.S. Postal Service. She drove the route with
horses and a mule named Moses. She never missed a
day, and her reliability earned her the nickname
"Stagecoach." If the snow was too deep for her
horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes,
carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

58.  Fields was a respected public figure in
Cascade, and on her birthday each year the
town closed its schools to celebrate.When
Montana passed a law forbidding women to
enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted
her an exemption. After quitting the mail
route in 1901, 69-year-old Fields owned her
own laundry service and owned and operated
her own restaurant with the help of Mother
Amadeus.

59.  Fields died in 1914 at Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, but she
was buried outside Cascade. In 1959, actor and Montana native
Gary Cooper wrote an article for Ebony in which he said: "Born a
slave somewhere inTennessee, Mary lived to become one of the
freest souls ever to draw a breath, or a .38." In the 1976TV
documentary South by Northwest, "Homesteaders", Fields was
played by Esther Rolle, in the 1996TV movieThe Cherokee Kid,
Fields was played by Dawnn Lewis, and in the 2012TV movie
Hannah's Law she was played by Kimberly Elise. Fields appeared
as a character in five episodes of the television show Hell on
Wheels, and was played by Amber Chardae Robinson. Fields is
the subject of the song "Stagecoach Mary" by composer Michael
Hearst as part of his Extraordinary People project. Fields is also
played by Erykah Badu in the 2013 short western known asThey
Die By Dawn.