Red Ghost

Back in the old days in the Southwest, life was tough and often filled with new and frightening experiences. Strange, spooky rock formations abound throughout the land. In some places, it is as desolate as the moon, and in others, the vastness of the open spaces is quite intimidating. Spanish and Native American legends and superstitions were part of the pioneer history, along with the goblins,  pixies, demons, and devils settlers brought with them from various European countries. But sometimes, legends sprang up around factual historical events.

One example is the Red Ghost. One day in 1883, a woman was found trampled to death. Huge tracks and clumps of dull, red fur were found around the poor woman's broken body. A few weeks later, a large creature crashed into the tent of two sleeping miners, again leaving behind giant footprints and red hair. 

More sightings occurred in the area until finally, a former slave from North Africa recognized the beast as a camel. They named the creature the Red Ghost. One day, a pair of miners spied the Red Ghost grazing along a dusty draw. One of the men shouted at it and as they watched, something fell from the camel’s back as it ran away. When the prospectors went to investigate, they discovered it was a human skull. For years afterward, people would catch sight of the camel with its headless rider, sending chills down many spines. 

In 1883, a farmer finally shot and killed the camel while it was raiding his garden. Although the beast had finally shed the skeletal bones of its rider, it still wore the saddle and tack.

This incident has a basis in recorded historical events. In the late 1850s, the military was attempting to develop a supply route from Texas to California, but they found mules and horses were not suited for the rough, dry terrain. They sent an officer to the Middle East to learn about and purchase a group of camels. The military then tested the beasts on the Texas to California route. They were pleased with the result, but the Civil War began before more could be done and the camels were simply turned loose in the desert. For many decades afterward, settlers were startled by visions of camels in the deserts of southern Arizona, California, and Nevada.

So who was the headless rider carried by the Red Ghost? According to legend, he was one of the soldiers who tested the camels on the first expedition. Although nobody would testify at the time, years later, an old soldier who was a member of the camel brigade, told his doctor a story and swore to its truth shortly before he died. The tale he told was that one of the men was afraid of the beasts and had a hard time learning how to ride one. His fellow soldiers securely tied him to the saddle to help him learn. Then they smacked the critter on the rump sending him plunging off into the desert. Though his "friends" pursued him for several days, they never caught up with their unlucky comrade, who died still tied to the saddle.

The last documented sighting of a wild camel in the Southwest took place in 1934 by several men prospecting in the desert. They came upon a relatively recent dead camel body and took a picture of it. Newspapers took up the story and stated that the last American camel was dead. However, unverified sightings continue even today, including visions of the Red Ghost and his headless rider, whose apparitions apparently still roam the deserts of the Southwestern U.S.

The Men of Lonesome Dove

When Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving first met, they became friends right away, but little did they know that together, they would alter the history of the American West. 

Charles Goodnight (historical photo)

Charles was born on March 5, 1836, in Illinois, the fourth child of Charles and Charlotte Goodnight. His father died of pneumonia when Charles was five and his mother soon married a neighbor, Hiram Daugherty. His step-father decided the family would take advantage of the opportunities offered by the nation of Texas so in 1845, Charles rode bareback on a horse named Blaze for 800 miles to their new home in central Texas. Charles was always proud of the fact he was born the same year the Republic of Texas was formed and arrived in Texas the same year Texas became of part of the United States. This journey was a turning point for Charles as he learned how to ride a horse, how to track, and how to hunt to provide food during their travels. He wanted to be a cowboy from this point on.

Unfortunately, Charlotte was left a widow for the second time when Hiram died in in 1853. Available women were rather hard to find in frontier Texas and it wasn't long before Charlotte found a new husband, the Reverend Adam Sheek. The Reverend was a widower himself and he brought into the union his son, John Wesley. Charles and John quickly became fast friends.

Reverend Sheek's brother-in-law owned the neighboring CV ranch. Charles and John  entered a deal in 1856 to take care of the ranch and they would receive every 4th calf born to the herd as payment. Charles and John dedicated themselves to learning everything about the cattle ranching business and in 4 years, they had 180 head of their own. 

When the Civil War broke out, Charles served by joining the Texas Rangers and John enlisted in the Confederate army. Before leaving to serve, they carefully branded each cow and turned them loose to freely roam the wilderness until their return. Charles spent four years on the edge of the frontier protecting settlers from attacks by Kiowa and Commanche Indians. 

During this time, he became widely known for his bravery in engagements with the Indians and his tracking skills. He was tasked with tracking down the location of Cynthia Ann Parker, who had been captured by Commanche when she was 10-years old. By the time she was recaptured 25 years later, she was married to a Commanche warrior, had several sons and a daughter and remembered nothing about her former life. She was forcibly separated from her husband, the Commanche leader Quanah Parker and her sons, but was allowed to keep her infant daughter who she had been carrying in her arms when she was captured. Several times, Cynthia Ann attempted to run away to rejoin her husband and her tribe, but each time, she was caught and returned. Unfortunately, while still a baby, her daughter, Topsannah, died. Cynthia Ann, having lost her daughter and knowing she would forever be separated from her sons and husband, refused to eat and died of a broken heart. Later in life, Charles said it would have been better if she had never been found and regretted helping to bring her back to her white family.

John survived several battles during the Civil War and when it was over, returned home. He and Charles were surprised to find their herd had grown from 180 head to almost 5000 in the 4 years they were gone. They bought the remaining 2,000 cattle from the CV Ranch and rounded up another 1,000 unbranded strays to bring their herd to 8,000. It was about this time when John met a girl, fell in love and decided he wanted to work in town and be a family man instead of a rancher. Charles took over the herd by himself.

When Charles returned home after the Civil war ended, he renewed his close friendship with a neighbor, Oliver Loving. A few months later, in 1866, Goodnight and Loving decided that instead of taking their herds up north, which was being flooded with cattle and thus offered very little profit, they would head northwest to Colorado where there were many soldiers and few cattle. 

Oliver Loving (historical photo)

Oliver Loving was born December 4, 1812 in Hopkins County, Kentucky.  He became a farmer and married his childhood sweetheart, Susan Dogget Morgan in 1833. In 1843, Loving, his brother and sister and their families moved to Texas. Within a short time, he had acquired 600 acres of land in Dallas, Collin and Parker counties and became a successful farmer and freight hauler. In 1855, Loving sold his property and moved his wife and their seven children to what is now Palo Pinto County where he opened and operated a store near Keechi Creek. While still operating the store, he purchased more land and started cattle ranching. By 1857, he owned more than 1,000 acres and over 5,000 cows. He and his sons made three successful cattle drives to the fledgling town of Denver, Colorado, bringing 1,500 head at a time. 

In 1861, when war broke out, Loving was commissioned to provide beef for the Confederate army. By 1865, when the war was over, the Confederate government was disbanded owing him over $150,000. With his devastated finances and large family to provide for, he knew he had to come up with some way of making a comeback. Enter his friendship with Goodnight.

The two men together decided to partner and take 2,000 head of cattle to Fort Sumner, New Mexico where troops were guarding 400 Apache and 8,000 Navajo Indians after the 1864 Long Walks. Both the soldiers and Indians were desperate for food. Going to Fort Sumner meant they would have to drive their herd across the Texas Panhandle which was very dangerous due to bandits and the Commanche and Apache Indians who still roamed the lands. Goodnight though, calling on his years as a Texas Ranger, was familiar with dealing with the Apache and Commanche and realized it was better to offer them cattle in exchange for safe passage. They hired 18 armed cowboys to guard against bandits and to help with the drive. To help feed the men, Goodnight invented the chuckwagon by converting an Army surplus Studebaker wagon for more practical use on the long drive. The men arrived in Fort Sumner safely with most of their herd intact and after selling 1,200 head to the army, were paid $12,000 in gold. Loving decided to take the rest of the herd north to Denver while Goodnight returned with the gold to Ft. Worth to purchase another herd. Goodnight brought this second herd on the same path as before and the two men met up again in Fort Sumner to sell the herd. The trail blazed by the two men became the famous Goodnight-Loving Trail. 

In the spring of 1867, Goodnight and Loving decided to make another cattle drive to Denver. Due to bad weather, flooding rivers, and extremely muddy trails, the herd was moving slowly and knowing other ranchers were also driving their cattle to Denver, Loving decided to ride ahead to secure a written contract before the other ranchers flooded the market and drove down the prices. Goodnight, knowing the dangers that lay ahead, made Loving promise to only travel at night. Taking their trusted one-armed scout, Bill Wilson, with him, Loving set out. Feeling that traveling at night was slowing them down too much, the two men began riding day and night. 

Oliver Loving grave

Unfortunately, coming over a rise in the land, they encountered a raiding party of 100 Commanche. Spuring their horses, they made their way to the banks of the Black River and took shelter there. By then though, Loving had been shot in the arm and side. Feeling himself getting weaker, he sent Wilson back to Goodnight for help. Wilson gave both of his pistols and most of his ammunition to Loving and carrying only a rifle, slid into the river's waters and safely floated past the Indians in the dark.  Loving held off the Indians the next day, but feeling his life was drifting away due to his wounds, he decided there was nothing left for him to do except try to escape. Just like Wilson had done, he silently slipped into the river and floated past the unsuspecting Indians. The next morning, the Commanch discovered what he had done and began to track him. Miraculously, he managed to evade the Indians for three days and nights and when he sensed they had left, probably because they thought he must be dead, he started following, limping and often crawling, the trail he helped blaze. Fortunately, a small group of Mexican traders came across him, gave him water and for a gold coin, put him in a wagon and brought him to Fort Sumner. 

Wilson, half-starved, barefoot and pursued by wolves, eventually made it back to Goodnight and the herd. He told them what had happened and where he had left Loving. He also reported he had shot and killed the Indian that wounded Loving. He said one Indian had crept through the weeds coming within several feet of them, but just as he was about to rise up and shoot, the men saw a large rattlesnake strike the Indian and he ran away. 

With several of the cowboys, Goodnight raced to the location reported by Wilson only to find Loving was nowhere to be found. After searching for 2 days, the men returned to the herd. Several days out from the fort, Goodnight learned from a passing cowboy that Loving was in the town being treated but the doctor was incompetent. He rushed ahead of the herd to find gangrene had set in his friends arm. To save his life, the arm needed to be amputated, but the doctor had never performed one and was too scared. Goodnight dispatched a rider to Santa Fe to bring back an experienced doctor, but it was too late. Loving died on September 25th, but before succumbing, he made Goodnight promise to bury him back in Texas, "where I can be at home rather than lie in alien soil." 

Goodnight and his cowboys had to finish the drive to Colorado so they fashioned a large tin casket out of soldered together oil cans, placed Loving's wooden casket inside the tin casket, filled the tin casket with charcoal and buried it in the local cemetery. After the cattle were sold in Denver, Goodnight and the cowboys returned to Fort Sumner, disinterred Loving and followed the Goodnight-Loving Trail, returning him to Texas. On February 8, 1868, with his family and many friends and cowboys in attendance, he was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford.

Over the next few years, Goodnight continued to prosper by driving cattle north. In 1870, he married his long-time sweetheart, the beautiful Mary Ann (Molly) Dyer, a Weatherford school teacher. They never had children of their own, but they adopted a boy named Cleo Hubbard, the son of their long-time housekeeper. Cleo would later inherit most of the Goodnight fortune. 

Charles and Molly's headstone
in the Goodnight Cemetery

In 1876, Goodnight partnered with an Irish investor, John Adair, and established the JA Ranch in Palo Duro Canyon. By the summer of 1878, the ranch encompassed nearly a million acres with over 100,000 head of cattle and a small herd of buffalo. Later, when the wild buffalo almost became extinct, this herd became the nucleus of the current Texas State Bison Herd located in Caprock Canyons State Park, the last native herd out of the estimated 60 million buffalo that once roamed across the southern plains. 

When destitute, starving Indians led by Quannah Parker came to hunt and raid the Palo Duro area, Goodnight made treaty with them by promising and delivering 2 beeves every other day if they would not disturb the JA herd. He made good on his word and the Indians never took any of his herd. By 1880, the area began suffering from numerous cattle rustlers and horse thieves. The Texas Rangers were notified, but being short-handed, they replied they would get there when they could. Goodnight said never mind, he would take care of the problem himself. He established the Panhandle Stockman's Association near Mobeetie and immediately began applying vigilante justice to the area's outlaws and rustlers. Within a couple of months, the cattle rustling and horse stealing had ceased.

Goodnight's grave marked by cowboy bandanas
left by admirers

Forseeing the end of the open range, Goodnight sold his interest in the JA Ranch and established his own ranch of 25,600 acres in what eventually became the community of Goodnight, Texas. On December 27, 1887, he and Molly moved into the ranch house he built and he spent his time raising cattle, farming, and taking care of the herd of buffalo he had brought with him from the JA Ranch.  After his wife passed away in April, 1926, he continued to live in the home they had shared. In late 1926, Goodnight became very ill, but was nursed back to health by Corinne Goodnight (a distant cousin), a 26-year-old nurse. On March 5, 1927, the 91-year-old man shocked family and friends by marrying Corinne. He had been obsessively dedicated to Molly from the first time he met her and Corinne was young enough to be his great-grandaughter so it was a total shock to all. The couple shocked everyone again a few months later when they sold the ranch house and bought a home in Clarendon, Texas. In 1929, on the advice of doctors, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona for Goodnight's health. It didn't stop his decline and he died on December 12, 1929. His body was brought back to his Palo Duro ranch in Goodnight and he was buried in the Goodnight Cemetery next to his beloved Molly.

Bose Ikard was born into slavery in Mississippi in either 1843 or 1847 (no records exist and Bose stated he didn't know which year he was born). In 1852, he moved with his master Dr. Milton Ikard to Texas where Bose grew up to become a ranch hand and all-around cowboy. The war left Bose a free man and after becoming aquanted with Oliver Loving, he hired on as a tracker and guide for the Goodnight-Loving cattle drives. He soon won the respect of both men and became so trusted, he often served as their banker, carrying thousands of dollars in cash and gold until it could be deposited in their bank. There was never a difference of even one dollar less than what he had been intrusted with. After Loving was killed, Bose stayed on with Goodnight for four more years.

Bose Ikard
(historical photo)

The two men were life-long friends and after Bose got married to a woman named Angelina in 1869 and settled down in Weatherford, Texas, Goodnight visited him every chance he got and always brought presents, often cash, for the Ikard family. Bose and Angelina had a long and happy marriage, becoming parents to six children. Bose died on January 4, 1929, just 11 months before the death of Goodnight, and was buried near his old friend, Oliver Loving, in Weatherford's Greenwood Cemetery. 

When Goodnight was told of his death, he stated that he trusted Bose Ikard "farther than any living man. He was my detective, my banker, and everything else in Colorado, New Mexico and any other wild country I was in." Goodnight purchased a granit marker for Bose's grave and had it inscribed with an epitaph for his old friend - "Bose Ikard served with me four years on the Goodnight-Loving trail, never shirked a duty or disobeyed an order, rode with me in many stampedes, participated in three engagements with the Commanches, splendid behavior. - C. Goodnight" High praise indeed from a man of Charles Goodnight's stature.

The fictional characters Augustus McCrae, Woodrow Call and their right-hand man Joshua Deets in the award-winning book Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and the mini-series by the same name (nominated for 18 awards and winner of 7 Emmys and 2 Golden Globes) was modeled after these three uncommon men; Oliver Loving, Charles Goodnight, and Bose Ikard.  

Bose Ikard grave marker