Cowboy is a hired hand who herds and cares for cattle and horses that belong to a ranch owner. The cowboy usually does this job on horseback.
In the United States, cowboys won fame in the West during a period that lasted from about 1865 to about 1885. During that time, cowboys tended great herds of cattle on vast stretches of unfenced land called the open range. They also took cattle on long trail drives to railway stations for shipment to Eastern markets. But by 1890, ranchers of the West needed far fewer cowboys. The use of fences and the spread of farms had put an end to the open range, and expansion of the railroads had eliminated the long trail drives.
The cowboys of the brief open-range period gained a reputation for bravely facing danger and hardships. They became heroes to many Americans. They came to stand for the frontier virtues of courage, independence, and self-reliance. Cowboys found their work difficult, dangerous, and—at times—even dull. But exciting tales of cowboy life became part of American folklore. Many of the most popular novels, motion pictures, and television programs have been about cowboys.
Most cowboys of the American open-range period were young men. Cowboy work was not considered a suitable job for women. About the only way a woman could have worked as a paid ranch hand would have been to dress in men’s clothing and pretend to be a man. But women often performed the work of a cowboy on family ranches.
The United States has cowboys today, as do other countries with livestock industries. In Argentina and Uruguay, for example, cowboys are called gauchos << GOW chohs >> .
This article focuses on the history of the cowboy in the United States. For a description of the life of a modern American cowboy, see Ranching.
A cowboy’s gear
American cowboys copied much of the equipment, techniques, and language of Mexican cowboys, who were called vaqueros << vah KAIR ohs >> . The big sombrero worn by Mexican cowboys became the American cowboy hat. La reata << lah ray AH tuh >> , the rope in Spanish, became the lariat used by cowboys to rope cattle. Even the word vaquero became buckaroo, another English word for cowboy. The cowboy fashioned much of his clothing and equipment from leather made from cowhide.
His clothing
served useful functions. For example, the wide brim of a cowboy hat kept rain, snow, and sun off the cowboy’s face. The air space in the hat’s deep crown kept the cowboy’s head cool. A cowboy could use his hat to fan a fire, to signal to other cowboys, and to scoop up water from a stream.
A coat got in a cowboy’s way, so he wore one only in bitterly cold weather. Instead of a coat, most cowboys wore a vest over their shirt. The vest had pockets to hold such items as a watch, tobacco, and a few coins. Most ranch hands carried a yellow oilskin raincoat called a slicker tied to the back of their saddle. Some of them put on a long canvas or linen coat called a duster as protection against dust and wind.
A cowboy wore seatless leather trousers called chaps << pronounced SHAPS >> over his regular trousers, which were made of wool, canvas, or denim. Chaps protected his legs from thorny brush and cactuses and from rubbing against the saddle. Chaps were adapted from chaparajos << shah pah RAH hohs >> , the trousers worn by the vaqueros.
Cowboy boots had high, tapered heels to keep a rider’s feet from slipping through the stirrups. Their tapered toes prevented a cowboy’s foot from catching in a stirrup if he fell from his horse. A cowboy who fell or got thrown might be dragged along the ground if he could not quickly free his foot from the stirrup.
The spurs that cowboys fastened to the heels of their boots helped them control a horse. Each spur had a small spiked wheel at the back called a rowel. Rowels varied in size. The cowboy pressed the rowel against the horse’s side to guide and control the animal. A cowboy with a few extra dollars might treat himself to a pair of spurs decorated with fancy silver inlays.
A cowboy tied a bandanna, or neckerchief, around his neck. He could pull the bandanna over his nose to filter out dust. Leather gloves protected a cowboy’s hands from rope burns. Some cowboys preferred to wear protective leather cuffs instead of gloves.
His horse.
Cowboys spent most of their time in the saddle. Horses not only enabled cowboys to cover great distances but also helped them control the cattle. Some cowhands owned their own horse. But on the job, most cowboys rode horses that belonged to the ranch owner. Each cowboy had a string of mounts assigned from the ranch’s horse herd. The work was hard on a horse, so a cowboy changed mounts frequently throughout the day.
Cowboys rode horses called mustangs or broncos. Mustangs were descended from horses that Spanish explorers brought to North America in the 1500’s. Some of the Spanish horses escaped, ran loose, and multiplied. By the mid-1800’s, bands of mustangs roamed the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. These small, swift horses made excellent “cow ponies.” They had great strength, and they seemed to sense what a cow would do next. Today, the quarter horse has become the cowboy’s favorite mount because of its quickness, agility, and “cow sense.”
Mustangs had to be tamed before cowboys could ride them. A wild horse would leap, kick, and twist to remove anything on its back. To break (tame) a mustang, a cowboy had to get on its back and whip the animal each time it bucked. Most mustangs soon learned that disobedience meant pain and thus began to obey the cowboy. The highly skilled riders who cured mustangs of bucking earned the title—and extra pay—of broncobusters. A few horses could never be broken and were called outlaws. In time, ranchers bred mustangs with other horses to produce a larger and less wild animal.
His rope.
All ranch hands had to become skillful at throwing the rope or lariat, the cowboy’s most important tool. One end of the lariat was knotted to form a small eye, called a honda. The other end of the rope slipped through the honda to form a large, adjustable loop. A cowboy kept a coiled lariat hanging from his saddle, ready for quick action. In addition to roping a cow, cowboys also used a lariat to pull cattle out of the mud, to tie up horses, and to drag wood to a campfire. As a prank, a cowboy might rope one of his friends or toss a loop at a coyote or even a grizzly bear.
Cowboys adopted the roping techniques of the Mexican vaqueros. To rope a cow, some cowboys wrapped the end of the lariat around their saddle horn. The practice is called dally roping. The term comes from the Spanish words dar la vuelta, which mean to take a turn.
A cowboy whirled the loop of the lariat overhead and then tossed it in front of the cow’s onrushing feet or over its head. The cowboy’s horse then stopped dead, the loop tightened, and the cow fell to the ground.
His saddle
was a cowboy’s most prized possession. Every cowboy owned a saddle, even though not all cowboys owned a horse. A saddle had to be well made to hold up under constant use, and a cowboy selected his saddle carefully. After long use, it became well fitted to the cowboy’s own body. A cowboy would sell his saddle only when he was totally broke and down on his luck.
Many saddles had a large horn in front, which a cowboy used for dally roping. The high cantle (back of the saddle) supported the cowboy’s lower back and made all-day rides more comfortable. One or more cinches (broad leather straps) around the horse’s belly held the saddle firmly in place.
His firearm.
Cowboys sometimes carried a revolver with six chambers known as a six-shooter. Most of the time, however, a cowboy did not carry a gun. A gun was a nuisance to a man on horseback. It added extra weight and got in the way. Besides, few cowboys had much money to spend on bullets for practice, and a cowboy needed practice to become a good shot. The famous gun duels between cowboys are mostly the creation of novelists and filmmakers.
On a trail drive, a cowboy kept his gun tucked in his bedroll, which was carried on a wagon. On the range, some ranch hands carried a rifle or carbine (short, lightweight rifle) strapped to their saddle. A gun was useful for killing rattlesnakes, shooting a horse with a broken leg, and turning back stampeding cattle. In town, a cowboy might strap on a gun to look impressive when he had his picture taken. But to maintain peace and public safety, town officials often took away a cowboy’s gun when he arrived and gave it back to him when he left.
The life of a cowboy
Hard work and danger filled the cowboy’s life. The animals he tended often got into trouble. Cowboys had to pull cattle from quicksand and ease them out of barbed wire fences. They had to nurse sick and injured cattle and help cows as they gave birth. When dust storms or snowstorms caused cows to drift away from their range, cowboys had to drive the animals back.
Each day, a cowboy faced the risk of broken bones, disabling accidents, and even death. Because cowboys worked far from towns or medical care, they had to doctor themselves most of the time. Untamed horses often threw riders, and a bad fall could easily break a man’s leg. An improperly set bone could leave a cowboy with disabilities for life. If the cowboy’s hand got caught between the rope and the saddle horn when he was dally roping, he could lose his thumb or a finger. A mean horse might race under a low branch to unseat a rider. A kick from a horse could kill. A cowboy could be trampled to death in a stampede.
In general, cowboys led a lonely life. Most ranches lay far from even the smallest town. A cowboy could go for weeks without seeing anyone but the few hands he worked with. In cow country, men far outnumbered women, so the odds of finding a wife were poor. Two events broke the monotony of a cowboy’s life on the ranch—the roundup and the trail drive.
On the ranch,
most cowboys watched over and protected the cattle as they grazed on the range. Cowboys also had to make and repair bridles, harnesses, and other equipment. The cattle the cowboys first tended were Texas longhorns. The cattle were named after their long horns, which had an average spread of about 4 feet (1.2 meters). Like mustangs, Texas longhorns were descended from Spanish animals that had gotten loose and multiplied. When early settlers from the East moved to the West, they found longhorn meat to be tough and stringy. They eventually bred longhorns with their Eastern stock to produce more tender meat.
On large ranches, cowboys slept in a bunkhouse apart from the ranch owner’s house. A bunkhouse had few comforts. Rows of bunks stood along the walls. Pegs on the wall held clothing and other equipment. After swapping stories or playing a few hands of cards, most cowboys went to bed, exhausted from the day’s work.
Before barbed wire fences came into use, cattle roamed freely on the open range. Cowboys called line riders worked out of small outposts called line camps that stood near the boundaries of a ranch. Each rider patrolled a certain area, watching for sick or stray cattle and for signs of cattle rustlers.
Barbed wire began to come into use in the West in the mid-1870’s. Cowboys then had the added job of building fences. They had to dig the postholes by hand and tightly string the wire with its many sharp points from post to post. Line riders became fence riders, who had to spot tears in the barbed wire and mend them. Fences kept the cattle from roaming freely to waterholes, so many ranches added windmills that pumped water into tanks. When the windmills broke down, cowboys had to fix them.
Cowboys worked almost every day, from sunup to sundown. Few cowboys got to town more than once a month, usually on payday. In town, a cowboy might drink and gamble away his pay in a saloon or gambling hall. Sometimes, a cowboy drank too much and got rowdy. He might land in jail for the night and have to pay a fine. But most town marshals were not too hard on cowboys. The merchants did not want to lose their business.
The roundup
took place each spring and fall. First, hands had to gather horses that had been grazing on the open range. Broncobusters would tame these mounts for work use. Then cowboys had to gather cattle from the range to identify and brand newborn calves. At the fall roundup, cowboys also selected the cattle to be sold for beef. They rode well-trained cutting horses among the cattle to edge out, or cut, an animal from the herd. 
On the open range, cattle from several ranches in a region grazed together, so herds became mixed. At roundup time, cowboys from all the ranches worked together to bring in the cattle. Crews of cowboys scattered over the range. They searched for cattle and drove them to a central point. Each rancher had a rep (representative), who looked after his interests in the roundup.
After a cowboy cut a calf out of the herd, he drove it to a fire, where branding irons were kept red hot. The cowboy pressed an iron against the calf. The burn that resulted left a permanent scar. Another cowboy counted all the branded calves so owners would know how many cattle remained after those to be marketed had been cut out.
A calf received the brand of its mother. Each ranch had its own brand, placed in a certain position on all its cattle. For example, a brand might be described as a cloverleaf placed right side, flank; or the letter R placed left side, jaw. Cattle owners registered their brands with local officials to discourage rustlers.
After branding a calf, cowboys might also make a knife cut in a cow’s ear for extra identification. When cattle were bunched together, it was hard to read their brands. But a cowboy could easily see an earmark.
After work each day at roundup time, cowboys from all the ranches got together to sing, tell tall tales, and trade gossip. At the end of most roundups, cowboys competed against one another to determine the best rider, roper, and broncobuster. The competition became known as a rodeo, the Spanish word for roundup.
The trail drive
was another major event in a cowboy’s life. A trail drive might last two or three months and cover as much as 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers). During the long drive, cowboys moved from 2,000 to 3,000 cattle to a railroad station for shipment to Eastern markets. They worked long days and sometimes well into the night.
Before the trail drive began, cowboys collected cattle from several ranches and turned them over to a trail boss employed by the ranch owners. The trail boss hired 10 to 12 cowboys to handle the herd during the drive. He also hired a wrangler and a cook. The wrangler, usually young and inexperienced, looked after the 50 or more horses needed on the drive.
The cook got the chuck wagon ready for the trail drive while the cowboys rounded up the herd. This large covered wagon had to carry enough food for the cowboys during the long drive. It also carried cooking utensils, drinking water, and the cowboys’ bedrolls. 
The tough, hardy longhorns were ideal for trail driving. They ate almost any kind of plant, and their long legs and big hoofs enabled them to travel great distances. Heat and hunger did not seem to affect them. Above all, longhorns could travel as long as three or four days between drinks of water. However, if the cowboys pushed them too long without water, they might stampede at the smell of an upcoming river.
During the trail drive, the cowboys had to keep the cattle together and headed in the right direction. They rode point (ahead of the herd), drag (behind), and flank (at the sides). Cattle sometimes panicked when crossing a river and began swimming in circles. Thunderstorms or any other sudden noise could frighten jittery cattle into stampeding. To stop a stampede, the cowboys would put themselves in danger by racing in front of the herd. They would then wave their hats and fire their guns in the air to turn back the lead cattle.
The drive stopped each day just before sunset at a spot that had been selected by the trail boss. The ideal place was one with good grass and water. After the cattle grazed for a while, the cowboys herded them into a tighter group that was easier to control at night. Cowboys took turns watching the herd through the night. They often sang as they circled the herd because they thought their singing kept the cattle calm.
After the cattle finally settled down for the night, the cowboys ate supper. Their meals on the drive consisted mainly of beans, bacon, and biscuits. A cowboy slept next to a saddled horse so that he could quickly ride if the cattle stampeded during the night.
At the end of the trail drive, the cowboys arrived in a cow town, where they loaded the cattle on a train after the herd was sold. A cowboy usually wanted a shave and a haircut first and then a bath and clean clothes. Next, he wanted a good meal. After that, he was ready to celebrate in the nearest saloon. Cowboys received their wages at the end of the drive. Most of them spent their pay in a few days and then headed back to the ranch.
History
The growth of the cattle industry.
The U.S. cattle industry boomed after the American Civil War (1861-1865), creating a huge demand for cowboys. When the war ended, a cow cost from $4 to $5 in Texas, and millions of them roamed the open range, untended for years. At the same time, Easterners wanted beef and were willing to pay from $40 to $50 a head. Texas cattle owners, seeing the big profits to be made, hired cowboys to drive cattle northward to the nearest railroad station for shipment to the East.
In 1866, cowboys drove thousands of cattle to the railroad station in Sedalia, Missouri, in the first major trail drive. But angry farmers with shotguns along the way persuaded cattle ranchers to find another route for future drives. The farmers objected to having cattle trample their fields. They also feared that “Texas fever,” a disease carried by longhorns, would infect their livestock.
In 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad reached Abilene, Kansas, which lay west of farming country. That year, the Chisholm Trail opened. It ran about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from southern Texas to Abilene. The Western Trail opened in 1876, after farmers settled beyond Abilene. It ended west of Abilene, in Dodge City, Kansas. Abilene and Dodge City became prosperous cow towns.
By about 1870, ranchers had discovered that cattle could survive the cold winters in the northern Great Plains. Ranches quickly sprang up in what are now Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Dakotas, which had few settlers at that time. Cowboys moved north.
The mid-1880’s marked the end of the glory days of the cowboy. Cattlemen eager for higher profits overstocked the ranges, and cattle prices plummeted. Extremely harsh winters killed hundreds of thousands of cattle. Ranchers, able to fence off their ranges with barbed wire, hired fewer cowboys. Railroads extended all the way to the West Coast. Thus, in most of the West, the roundup and the long trail drive became a part of history.
The early cowboys.
Frontiersmen who had moved to the West learned many of the skills of roping and herding from Mexican cowboys in Texas. There have probably never been more than 100,000 cowboys in the United States at any one time. Historians estimate that probably about a fourth of the early cowboys in the United States were Mexican or Mexican American vaqueros, and another fourth were African Americans. Some Mexican cowboys had remained in Texas after Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, and after Texas became a U.S. state in 1845. Many Black cowboys moved to the Western frontier after the Civil War. Others had been enslaved on Texas ranches before the war. Hispanic and Black cowboys often faced discrimination from white cowhands, ranchers, and others.
Many Westerners looked down on cowboys as rough, rude, and uncivilized. But writers in the East portrayed cowboys as heroes. Popular books and magazines as well as newspapers told of the joys of life on the open prairies of the West. Young men in the East read these fanciful tales and wanted to gallop on horseback and sleep under the stars. Some of them headed west to become cowboys. They quickly learned that life on the range held far more hard work and boredom than romance and excitement. But exciting tales of cowboy life remained a part of American folklore.
Cowhands today
continue to work on ranches and tend cattle, but their numbers have greatly decreased from the golden age of the late 1800’s. They still work hard for low pay. They still must know how to rope and ride and must work long hours in any kind of weather. But they often use machines for many jobs, such as digging holes for fence posts. Propane gas, not wood, often heats branding irons. Modern cowboys travel in pickup trucks, transport cattle by trucks, and use helicopters and drones to search for stray cattle.
