Documents 15.2 and 15.3 Cowboy Myths and Realities: Two Views
Cowboy Myths and Realities: Two Views
William F. Cody, known as “Buffalo Bill,” had been a real-life bison hunter in the American West and an army scout in the Indian wars of the 1860s and 1870s. Drawing on his authentic adventures and his heroism, Cody helped romanticize the figures that populated the American frontier, especially the cowboys, through his Wild West shows, a poster from which is shown here. The diary entries of George C. Duffield present a more mundane description of cowboy life. Duffield drove cattle on the open range in 1866 from Texas, where they were bred, to Iowa, where they went to market.
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| 15.2 | Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, 1893 |
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| 15.3 | George C. Duffield | Diary of a Real Cowboy, 1866 |
12th
Hard Rain & Wind. Big stampede & here we are among the Indians with 150 head of Cattle gone. Hunted all day & the Rain pouring down with but poor success. Dark days are these to me. Nothing but Bread & Coffee. Hands all Growling & Swearing—everything wet & cold. Beeves [steers] gone. Rode all day & gathered all but 35 mixed with 8 other Herds. Last Night 5000 Beeves stampeded at this place & a general mix up was the result.
13th
finished separating our Cattle & Moved up 4 miles. Very warm day—
14th
Last night there was a terrible storm. Rain poured in torrents all night & up to 12 AM today. Our Beeves left us in the night but for once on the whole trip we found them all together near camp at day break. All the other droves as far as I can hear are scattered to the four winds. Our Other Herd was all gone. We are now 25 Miles from Ark River & it is Very High. We are water bound by two creeks & but Beef & Flour to eat, am not Homesick but Heart sick. . . .
16th
Last night was a dark Gloomey night but we made it all right. Today it is raining & we have crossed Honey creek & am informed that there is another creek 6 miles ahead swimming. Twelve o clock today it rained one Hour so hard that a creek close by rose 20 ft in the afternoon. All wet.
Source: George C. Duffield, “Driving Cattle from Texas to Iowa, 1866,” Annals of Iowa 14, no. 4 (1924): 253–54.
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