The Old Chisholm Trail: A Cowboy/Western Ballad

 

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Introduction

“The Old Chisholm Trail” is considered the most authentic of all the cowboy ballads—a true product of the cowboys themselves, reflecting with wry humor on the hardships of the cattle drive. It was sung from Mexico to the Canadian border, with hundreds of verses passed on in oral tradition or composed on the spot. Although the subject of the song is personal—the cowboy’s life on the trail—the setting of the cattle drive itself, as well as some of the specific references in the texts, point also to many aspects of the cultural and historical context of the song.

How the Trail Began

By the end of the Civil War, the Union and Confederate soldiers had consumed most of the beef east of the Mississippi. But far to the West, vast herds of longhorn cattle roamed the plains of Texas. Descended from Spanish Andalusian cattle brought to New Spain in the 16th century, large herds of longhorns had supported the Spanish missions, which were among the earliest ranches in what later became the state of Texas. The traditions of the vaqueros tending these herds—from roundups and branding, to terms like lariat, lasso, chaps and bandannas—would later be adopted by the American cowboys.

After the Texas revolution against Mexico in 1836, many cattle were left to wander on the open range; With little human contact, their numbers grew into the millions, but the cattle routes to the East—through Missouri, Arkansas and eastern Kansas—had been closed due to a deadly cattle tick fever.

With the advent of the transcontinental railroad, a Chicago entrepreneur named Joseph McCoy envisioned a new way of getting Texas cattle to Eastern buyers. McCoy persuaded the Kansas Pacific Railroad to add a siding at Abilene, Kansas, on the edge of the quarantine area. He built a series of holding pens and set about convincing the ranchers in southern Texas to drive their cattle north to the trailhead. Surveyors followed a wagon route that had been laid out in 1865 by frontier trader Jesse Chisholm to connect his trading posts in Wichita and the Indian Territory.

The son of a Scottish father and a Cherokee mother, Chisholm spoke 14 languages and served as an interpreter and mediator for the Republic of Texas, the United States, and a number of Indian nations. The route between his trading posts was known first as “Chisholm’s Trail” and the whole trail north from San Antonio was eventually called the Chisholm Trail. Note: For more complete background information, see “The Old Chisholm Trail” score, pages 2 – 5.

Activity

What do you notice about the tempo of this song?” Play the recording of “The Old Chisholm Trail” https://kodalycollection.org/song.cfm?id=1079

Listen to the recording again with the score projected, and invite students to sing along on the chorus. Then notice the quote from the singer below the score, where he talks about when they would sing this song (when racing their horses). Would this affect the tempo of the song?

Project the map of Old Chisholm Trail from the Texas State Historical Association

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/3f/a7/b83fa7154610a4f4f58167ba4e928e19.jpg

This trail was created to move cattle from Texas north to Kansas, for transport to the east, because most of the cattle there had been consumed by the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Due to a deadly cattle tick fever, the pre-Civil War routes to the East—through Missouri, Arkansas and eastern Kansas—had been closed. The trail was approximately 800 miles long, and it’s estimated that over 9 million cattle traveled this trail within 17 years. 

The typical cattle drive included about 2,500 cattle, with about one cowboy for every 200 cattle. A trail boss rode ahead, scouting out camping areas with grass and water. Two “point men” rode alongside the herd, setting the pace of the column. Further back, more riders kept the herd from wandering or turning back. By this means over two thousand cattle could be kept in a compact line two or three miles in length. At the end of the procession were the cook, driving a chuck wagon pulled by oxen, and the wranglers, herding the extra horses. At a pace of twelve to fifteen miles a day, the drive from Texas to Kansas could take three months.

Share photos of cowboys from the Library of Congress

Cowboys on horseback, Texas, 1901 https://www.loc.gov/resource/det.4a09142/

Cowboys at lunch, Texas panhandle, 1904 https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a46588/

Racing to dinner https://www.loc.gov/item/2014647413/

Extension activity

Students can hear more cowboy songs at https://kodalycollection.org/collection.cfm, including a variant of “Old Chisholm Trail” which has more verses about experience on the trail. Search by subject: occupation, sub-subject: cowboy & western.

Students can compare songs based musical characteristics such as tempo, form (verses only, verse-chorus, verses with refrain) and meter (6/8, 3/4, 2/4), and based on lyrics (use of language and imagery). Individually or in groups, they choose their favorites and provide reasons for their choices.

For additional information

Ellen Terrell’s Library of Congress blog “Honoring African American Contributions: African American Cowboys on the Western Frontier” suggests that 25% of cowboys were Black.

https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2020/10/african-american-cowboys/