For the men who became ranchers and cowboys, the West offered a place where success was measured by talent and skill, not the color of one’s skin. Consider this story of an unlikely friendship across the racial divide.
Charles Goodnight was a former Confederate soldier who returned to cattle ranching in Texas after the Civil War (1861–1865). Initially, Goodnight drove his cattle to places across the South where they were sold as food for Indigenous peoples. In 1866, Goodnight and his partner, Oliver Loving, were the