Cowboys Were Never the Lone Rangers Hollywood Portrayed
The image of the solitary cowboy riding into the sunset is pure fiction. The lone cowboy is an American myth. Cattle were always driven by a group of drovers. Cowboys worked in teams of 10-12 men during cattle drives, each with specific roles like trail boss, chuck wagon cook, and wranglers. The actual life of a cattle herder was one of grinding monotony. These men relied on each other for survival during dangerous months-long journeys across hostile territory. The romantic notion of the independent cowboy was Hollywood’s creation, not historical reality.
The True Face of Cowboys Was Far More Diverse Than You Think
Directors not only misrepresented cowboys as being almost entirely white (though a quarter of them were black and many others were Hispanic) but also filmed wildly inaccurate representations of the profession itself. Modern census data shows the most common ethnicity among cowboys is White, which makes up 62.2% of all cowboys. Comparatively, 26.8% of cowboys are Hispanic or Latino and 4.8% of cowboys are Black or African American. Black cowboys in the American West accounted for up to an estimated 25% of cowboys “who went up the trail” to participate in cattle drives from the 1860s to 1880s, estimated to be at least 5,000 individuals. The diverse makeup of cowboy crews was normal, not exceptional. About a quarter of all cowboys were African Americans, and even more were at least partially Mexican.
Cowboy Culture Actually Started With Mexican Vaqueros
Americans did not invent cattle raising. This tradition was learned from the vaquero, a Mexican cowboy. The entire cowboy tradition originated from Spanish colonial ranching methods introduced in the 16th century. What’s more, the cowboy culture didn’t even originate in the United States; it came from a style of ranching introduced by Spanish colonists in the 16th century and adopted originally in Mexico, where cattle ranchers and herders were known as “vaqueros.” By the late 19th century, as many as one in three cowboys were Mexican. American cowboys learned everything from lassoing techniques to horse training from these experienced Mexican ranch hands. The iconic cowboy hat, chaps, and spurs all came from vaquero traditions, not American innovation.
Most Cowboys Never Fired a Shot in Anger
Though most cowhands carried firearms on the trail (knives were more practical), they did so primarily to dispatch snakes, coyotes and other animals. Most cow towns, however, had prohibitions against carrying guns within city limits. Contrary to legend, the typical cowboy was not a skilled marksman. The lariat, not the gun, was how the cattle drover showed his mastery. Gun battles between cowboys and outlaws were extremely rare events. Ironically, most cattle outfits frowned on and often fired cowhands for fighting, drinking or gambling, precisely the exploits that appear commonplace on-screen. Cowboys were hired hands whose job was moving cattle, not gunfighting. Ranch owners couldn’t afford to lose valuable livestock to shootouts.
The Famous “Cowboy vs Indian” Battles Were Mostly Fantasy
Cowboys rarely fought with Indigenous peoples, and certainly not to the extent shown in Western movies. Tension did exist between ranchers and Native Americans, but cowboys normally avoided potentially hostile encounters (they were more inclined to let soldiers deal with that). Native Americans, meanwhile, didn’t ambush pioneer wagon trains nearly as much as we are led to believe — they mainly tolerated wagon trains and were more likely to trade than attack. Between 1840 and 1860, Native Americans killed 362 emigrants (and even more were killed by emigrants). Cowboys and Native Americans often worked together on ranches, with some tribes providing skilled horsemen to cattle operations. The constant warfare portrayed in movies was largely invention.
Derby Hats Were More Popular Than Stetsons
Perhaps more surprising, the era’s most popular hat wasn’t the iconic Stetson, but the derby (aka bowler), since Westerners, like their Eastern brethren, resided mostly in towns. The Stetson didn’t come onto the market until 1865, and the original hat didn’t look like the iconic Stetsons we know today (it had a high top and was missing the crease in the crown typical of cowboy hats). A more common choice among Old West cowboys was the derby hat, also known as the bowler hat, partly because it didn’t blow off easily in strong winds or while riding a horse. Famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy wore bowler hats in their most well-known photographs. The wide-brimmed Stetson only became standard later, after extensive marketing campaigns.
Being a Cowboy Was a Dead-End Job With Terrible Pay
In fact, cowboying was a lonely, dirty, smelly, low-paying and perilous profession that left many of its practitioners broken old men—if they were fortunate enough to live that long. The average wage for a white American cowboy between 1880 and 1930 was $1 per day, Michael Grauer, curator of cowboy culture at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma, told ABC News. Blacks made slightly less and Hispanics even less. Most cowboys worked seasonally during cattle drives, then faced unemployment for months. Work was very difficult. The workdays lasted fifteen hours, much of which was spent in the saddle. There was no retirement plan, no healthcare, and constant risk of injury or death.
Death Stalked Cowboys More Than Movie Villains
“Death was never far from a cowboy,” writes Patrick Dearen in Saddling Up Anyway, the author’s no-holds-barred history of the vocation. But unlike in the movies, a cowboy’s demise was far more likely to come at the horns of stampeding steers than at the hands of hostile warriors. One of the greatest fears was the stampede, which could result in lost or dead cattle or cowboys. River crossings killed more cowboys than gunfights ever did. Disease, snake bites, and accidents with horses or cattle were the real killers on the trail. Weather exposure during harsh winters or scorching summers claimed many lives. The romantic notion of dying with boots on in a heroic gunfight was pure Hollywood fabrication.
The Term “Cowboy” Was Originally a Racial Slur
Originally, White cowboys were called cowhands, and African Americans were pejoratively referred to as “cowboys.” African American men being called “boy” regardless of their age stems from slavery and the plantation era in the South. Some experts have even argued that the term “cowboy” was first used exclusively to describe Blacks, as white owners often referred to Black slaves as “boys” — a derogatory term. The word gradually lost its negative connotations and became universally applied to all cattle herders. By 1849 “cowboy” had developed its modern sense as an adult cattle handler of the American West. This linguistic evolution reflects the complex racial dynamics of the American frontier that popular culture often ignores.
Black Cowboys Faced Extra Duties and Discrimination
Black cowboys were usually assigned horses with “wild behaviors” and they had to train them to be ridden. Typically, African American cowboys had more than one duty. For example, a Black cowboy that was a trail cook would be expected to cook, hunt deer and wild turkey, perform on the trail by singing or playing a musical instrument. Despite the existence of all-Black trail outfits, Black cowboys rarely attained a rank higher than trail cook or chuckwagon. Regardless of ability, Black men were constrained by having to negotiate with White men who might refuse to respect the authority of a Black trail leader. Denied opportunities to become a foreman or range manager, many Black cowhands trained White counterparts, with others settling land with their own cattle. This systemic discrimination persisted even in the relatively egalitarian world of cattle ranching.
Gun Duels Almost Never Happened
Quick-draw gun duels are a staple of Western dime novels and movies, typically with two steely-eyed gunfighters facing off in a dusty street while nervous locals watch from saloon doors and dirty windows. Historical records show that formal duels between cowboys were virtually nonexistent. Most shooting deaths resulted from drunken arguments, accidental discharges, or crimes of passion—not honorable face-offs at high noon. Law enforcement records from cattle towns like Dodge City and Abilene show remarkably few gunfight deaths considering their reputations. The romanticized “Code of the West” demanding formal duels was another Hollywood invention that bears no resemblance to frontier reality.
Cowboys Spent More Time Drinking Than Fighting
Upon reaching Abilene, the cattle were sold. Then it was time to let loose. Abilene had twenty-five saloons open all hours to service incoming riders of the long drive. After months on the trail eating beans and hardtack, cowboys blew their wages on alcohol, gambling, and entertainment in frontier towns. Most violence occurred during these drunken sprees, not during dramatic showdowns with outlaws. Cowboys were more likely to get arrested for disturbing the peace than for heroic gunfights. The typical cowboy’s idea of excitement was a bath, a shave, and getting thoroughly drunk—hardly the stuff of epic Western legends.
The Golden Age of Cowboys Lasted Only About 20 Years
The classic era of open-range cattle driving lasted from roughly 1865 to 1885, when railroad expansion and barbed wire fencing ended the need for long cattle drives. For those riding the range, however, the wide-brimmed Stetson proved more popular—so much so that by the 1920s the John B. Stetson Co. was churning out some 2 million hats a day. By the 1890s, most of the frontier was settled, and cowboys became ranch hands on fenced properties rather than trail drivers. The Wild West period that dominates American imagination was incredibly brief compared to the centuries of mythology it inspired. Most “cowboys” worked in an industrialized cattle industry, not the romantic open range of popular culture.
Modern Hollywood Created the Cowboy Myth We Know Today
“I blame Hollywood,” Grauer said. “It’s like Harvey Weinstein but for the whitewashing of the cowboy. Not that it comes down to one particular person, but it was Hollywood that did that.” Such fabrications were driven by figures from the earliest American adventure novels, notably Natty Bumppo, the buckskinned protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales.” Following in Cooper’s footsteps came dime novelist Ned Buntline (real name Edward Zane Carroll Judson), who in 1872 hired Buffalo Bill and fellow scouts Wild Bill Hickok and Texas Jack Omohundro to star in his stage melodrama “Scouts of the Prairie.” The experience inspired Cody to launch his globetrotting Wild West arena production, featuring factual and made-up vignettes starring Buffalo Bill and his cast of soldiers, sharpshooters, stage drivers, cowboys and Indians. These early entertainments established cowboy stereotypes that Hollywood amplified and spread worldwide, creating myths that persist today.
What would you have guessed about the real cowboys? The truth behind America’s most enduring legend reveals a story far more complex and diverse than any Hollywood Western ever dared to tell.
