Oliver Loving | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1812-12-04)December 4, 1812 |
| Died | September 25, 1867(1867-09-25) (aged 54) |
| Resting place | Greenwood Cemetery inWeatherford, Texas |
| Occupation(s) | Rancher, cattle driver |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Susan Doggett Morgan Loving (married 1833-1867, his death) |
| Children | 7, includingJames C. Loving |
Oliver Loving (December 4, 1812 – September 25, 1867) was an Americanrancher and cattle driver. Together withCharles Goodnight, he developed theGoodnight–Loving Trail. He was mortally wounded byNative Americans while on a cattle drive.
Loving County, Texas, theleast-populous county in the United States, is named in his honor.
Oliver Loving was born on December 4, 1812, inHopkins County, Kentucky.[1][2][3][4] His father was Joseph Loving and his mother, Susannah Mary Bourland.[2]
In 1833, he became a farmer inMuhlenberg County, Kentucky.[2][3] Ten years later, with his brother and his brother-in-law, he moved to theRepublic of Texas with their families.[2][3] In Texas, Loving received 639.3 acres (2.59 km2) of land in three patents spread through three countiesCollin,Dallas, andParker.[2][3] He farmed and, to feed his growing family, hauled freight in his early years as a Texan.[3]
By 1855, he moved with his family to the futurePalo Pinto County, Texas, where he ran a country store and ranched onKeechi Creek.[1][2] By 1857, he owned a thousand acres (4 km2) of land.[3] To market his large herd, Loving drove them out of Texas and in that same year he entrusted his nineteen-year-old son, Joseph, to drive his and his neighbors' cattle toIllinois up theShawnee Trail.[3] The drive made a profit of $36 head and encouraged Loving to repeat the trek successfully the next year with John Noble Durkee.[3]
On August 29, 1860, together with John Dawson, he started a herd of 1,500 towardDenver, Colorado to feed miners in the area.[3] They crossed theRed River, traveled to theArkansas River, and followed it toPueblo, Colorado, where the cattle wintered.[3] In the spring, Loving sold his cattle for gold and tried to leave for Texas.[3] However, theAmerican Civil War had broken out and the Union authorities prevented him from returning to the South untilKit Carson and others interceded for him.[3] During the war, he was commissioned to provide beef to theConfederate States Army and drive cattle along theMississippi River.[1][2][3] When the war ended, the Confederate government reportedly owed him between $100,000 and $250,000.[1][3] To make matters worse, the usual cattle markets were inadequate for the available supply.[1]
In 1866, having heard about the probable need for cattle atFort Sumner, New Mexico, where some eight thousandNative American Indians had been settled on a reservation, he gathered a herd, combined it with that ofCharles Goodnight, and began a long drive to the fort.[1][3] Their route later became known as theGoodnight–Loving Trail.[1][2][3] The two cattlemen sold beef to the army for $12,000 in gold, and then Loving drove the stock cattle on to Colorado and sold them near Denver, while Goodnight returned toWeatherford, the seat of Parker County, Texas, with the gold and also for a second herd. The two men were reunited in southern New Mexico, where they went into partnership withJohn Chisum at his ranch in theBosque Grande, about forty miles south of Fort Sumner. (Chisum's sister Nancy was married to Loving's cousin, B.F. Bourland and had known Chisum for many years.) They spent the winter of 1866-67 there and supplied cattle from the ranch to Fort Sumner andSanta Fe.[3]
He married Susan Doggett Morgan in 1833.[2][3] They had nine children.[2][3]
In the spring of 1867, Loving and Goodnight returned to Texas, ready to start a new drive.[1][3] This third drive was slowed by heavy rains and Native American threats. Loving went ahead of the herd for contract bidding, taking only Bill Wilson, a trusted scout, with him.[3] Although Wilson told Loving that he should travel at night through Native American Indian country, Loving pushed ahead during the day.[3] In aComanche attack, he was seriously wounded atLoving Bend on thePecos River.[3][4] The weakened Loving sent Wilson back to the herd, eluded the Indians, and, with the aid of Mexican traders, reached Fort Sumner, only to die there ofgangrene.[1] Before he died on September 25, 1867, Goodnight assured him that his wish to be buried in Texas would be carried out.[3][4] After a temporary burial at Fort Sumner, while Goodnight drove the herd on to Colorado, Goodnight had Loving's body exhumed and returned to Texas.[3] Stories differ as to who accompanied the body back to Weatherford, but he was reburied there in Greenwood Cemetery on March 4, 1868.[3][4] As a member of Phoenix Lodge No. 275 at Weatherford, Loving was buried withMasonic honors.[5]
Loving County, Texas, is named in his honor, as is the town ofLoving, New Mexico.[3][4] Additionally,Loving Bend on thePecos River is also named for him.[4] He has been inducted into theNational Cowboy Hall of Fame inOklahoma City, Oklahoma.[1][3] Also, his death was borrowed by novelistLarry McMurtry for hisPulitzer Prize-winning novelLonesome Dove. In the book,Augustus "Gus" McCrae is injured by Indian arrows and sends his companionPea Eye Parker to retrieveWoodrow F. Call. McCrae makes it to Miles City, but dies ofblood poisoning, despite having one of his legs amputated. Call, like Goodnight, brings him back to Texas to bury him.[citation needed] In 1958, he was inducted into theHall of Great Westerners of theNational Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.[6]
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