Old Red

Little Isaac noticed that big old red steer was again walking beside him and his horse Strawberry. He had been doing that off and on all morning. He did it twice yesterday and several times the day before.

Little Isaac was on a cattle drive with his Uncle Nathan, the trail boss and owner of the herd of 1,856 big mature longhorn steers. They left Dog Town, about fifty miles south of San Antonio, Texas, ten days ago on March 3, 1868. Little Isaac’s mother had pleaded with Nathan McCord, her brother-in-law, to take her son with him on the cattle drive. Ever since his dad was killed by Indians last fall, Little Isaac was a problem for her. Nathan was reluctant to take him, since Little Isaac was small for his age and couldn’t do cowboy things, like rope a calf, like the other boys. Children like him were considered “slow” in those days. Also, he was taking a herd of mature longhorn steers to a new place called Abilene, Kansas where there was supposed to be stockyard pens and a train station for shipping cattle to Chicago. A man named Joseph G. McCoy had sent him a map last December on how to get there. Mr. McCoy also promised there would be cattle buyers there. Nathan figured it must be about nine hundred miles away. Uncle Nathan finally relented and agreed to take Little Isaac along.

From the first day on this drive, things were not going well with this large herd of old mossback steers. They didn’t want to leave their home range and go north. Things were not going well for Little Isaac either. The cowboys had been teasing and making fun of him because he was “slow”.

It was just after they passed San Antonio that Little Isaac noticed that the big red steer would walk beside him and Strawberry. Each day, it seemed like that big old red steer would walk along a little closer. Finally, one day it walked close enough so that Little Isaac could reach out and put his hand on the tip of his left horn. The steer didn’t seem to mind.

On the third day after Little Isaac had begun holding the tip of the steer’s horn, he got off his horse and the steer remained calm and let him touch him Uncle Nathan saw this and rode over to them and said: “Isaac, why don’t you take that big old steer and go up to the front of the herd and see if the other steers will follow you.” Little Isaac and the big red steer went to the front of the herd and started north up the trail and the herd followed. Little Isaac now called his new friend Old Red. So they went north, Little Isaac holding Old Red’s horn as they walked. The herd started making better progress each day with Little Isaac and Old Red in the lead. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was important.

After about a month or so they got to Doan’s store at the Red River crossing. The river was up and several herds were waiting for the river to go down so they could cross. After a day or so of waiting, there began to be problems keeping the herds separated and something had to be done.. Uncle Nathan said to Little Isaac:” Son, I know that you don’t know how to swim, but do you think that you and old steer could lead the herd across the river?” It was the scariest question he had ever heard, however he didn’t know how to say no. So they got the herd lined up, the cowboys stripped, and Little Isaac, naked and riding Strawberry, and Old Red walked up to the swollen river and stepped into the muddy waters. Little Isaac was terrified and clung to saddle horn with one hand and to Old Red’s horn with his other hand.. Soon, the horse and steer were swimming and he had to choose, either the saddle horn or Old Red’s horn to hold onto. He chose Old Red’s horns and rode the steer across the river to the far bank. The herd followed and crossed the fearful Red River without loss of life for either the cowboys or the herd. On the other side, after they had dressed, Uncle Nathan, with everybody watching, walked over to Little Isaac and shook his hand. It was the first time in his life that a man had treated him with respect. For the rest of the drive, Little Isaac was never teased again.

After two more months of long weary days and many rivers to cross, in late June they finally can see a little town in the distance and can hear a train whistle. It must be Abilene, Kansas. The cattle buyers come out to the herd and made a good offer to buy the herd from Uncle Nathan. So Uncle Nathan tells Little Isaac to take Old Red and lead the herd to the stockyard pens by the train station. Little Isaac asked one of the cowboys what was going to happen to the steers. The cowboy laughed and told him about the slaughter houses in Chicago.

The next morning, all the cowboys were paid and they headed to town to get a bath, haircut, shave, new clothes and see the town. Uncle Nathan went to the bank to settle up with the cow buyers. In the final agreement, the cow buyers said there was one less steer according to their count.

That afternoon, when Uncle Nathan returned to their camp outside of town, Little Isaac wasn’t there. When the cowboys came back from town, he wasn’t with them either. The cowboys said the last they saw him he was walking toward the stockyards. Uncle Nathan went back to town and to the stockyards. The workers there said they saw a small boy on a roam colored horse hanging around the pens before noon that day, but had not seen him since.

The next day when Uncle Nathan still could not find Little Isaac, all the cowboys started a search. In a few days, it was time to go back to Texas and they still could not find Little Isaac so they had to give up the search. Uncle Nathan, when he got back to Texas, dreaded having to tell his sister-in-law that her only son had disappeared and was presumed to be dead.

Late that fall, on a cold, dark and rainy Thanksgiving Day, at the McCord Ranch south of Dog Town, just as the family was sitting down to dinner, the yard dogs started barking. Uncle Nathan went to the front porch to see what all the commotion was about. Just beyond the yard gate, he could see the dogs were barking at someone on a roan colored horse that had his hand on the tip of the horn of a big red steer.

Cheers,

Acree