WHO WERE THE COWBOYS, AMERICAN WEST (1840-1895)

AMERICAN WEST (1840-1895)

WHO WERE THE COWBOYS:

The real Cowboys:

Many real cowboys were black ex-slaves.

They were highly skilled, and they could:

• Ride
• Shoot
• Lasso
• Wrangle
• Round up
• Herd
• Cross rivers
• `Turn` stampedes
• Scout
• Keep watch and drive off rustlers( no matter what the weather was.)

Life as a Cowboy:

In the winter Cowboys would hang around on The Ranch, or lived in `line camps`,taking daily rides to stop the Cattle `drifting` onto the open plain. In the spring, they would go `bog-riding` to haul out `mired` cows and then went on the `round up`. In the summer they went on the trail drives to market.

Cowboys lives were similar in many ways to the Native Americans lives:

• They were entirely dependent on the Natural…