Select a title The Open Range Life for the Rancher's Wife The Vaquero Origins of the Texas Cowboy Lords of the Plains African American Cowboys Buffalo Soldiers on the Frontier The beginning of the Texas ranch and the emergence of the cowboy lifestyle, roundups, and trail drives. Go Read trail rider E.C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott's memoirs. Frontier wives were tough as nails and fought drought, disease, and loneliness to make the ranch a home. Go Read diary excerpts of frontier wife Susan Newcomb. Spanish influences in Texas arrived with the soldiers, missionaries, "vaqueros," and settlers who fanned out across the vast frontier. Go Talk like a "vaquero." Listen to cowboy talk in English and Spanish. The American colonization of Texas inevitably created war with the Comanche, the Lords of the Texas Plains. Go Watch video of Comanche Calvert Nevaquaya playing traditional Comanche flute music. Many ex-slaves as well as black men born after emancipation worked for Texas cattle companies, riding north to the so-called cattle towns or railheads. Go Read about the lives of four famous black cowboys. The Buffalo Soldiers were some of the first to defend the frontier and settlers from Indians' raids. Go View historical photos of Buffalo Soldiers.
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