Bose Ikard

The North felted that the South had an unfair advantage because of their slave labor. African people were forced to work, from “can’t see in the morning until can’t see at night”, for no pay and no freedom! That’s cheap labor! and a advantage over the Northern States who had to pay for there labor.

Bose Ikard was taken to Texas by the slave-holding Ikard family when he was just a little boy five years old. He grew up on the frontier near Weatherford, Texas, where he learned to fight, ride, and rope. Skills that would help him in later life.

Bose worked for Oliver Loving, until Loving died after a fight with the Comanche people, then Bose went to work for Charles Goodnight.

In a book written by J. Evetts Haley, about Charles Goodnight: “Cowman and Plainsman”, Goodnight said, “Bose surpassed any man I had in endurance and stamina. There was a dignity, a cleanliness and reliability about him that was wonderful. His behavior was very good in a fight and he was probably the most devoted man to me that I ever knew. I have trusted him farther than any man. He was my banker, my detective, and everything else in Colorado, New Mexico and the other wild country. The nearest and only bank was in Denver, and when we carried money, I gave it to Bose, for a thief would never think of robbing him”.

It would take many, many pages to tell about all of the trails that Bose Ikard and Charles Goodnight rode together.

For more information on Bose Ikard, and other Black Cowboys check out “The Adventures of the Negro Cowboys”, by Philip Duram and Everett L. Jones and “The Black West” by William Loren Katz.