John Simpson Chisum
A Story for the Movies
When I was a kid, we would all do our chores, and do extra to save enough money for a Saturday matinee at the Luez Theater in Bolivar. This was a place were all the guys hung out and watched cowboy movies, eat popcorn and tried to hold hands with some girls if we were lucky. (You had to watch out for Miss Luez, she didn’t allow that kind of stuff.) But the “Big Screen” cowboys were what we like that most. John Wayne was always one of my favorites. You can ask my wife today… rarely one of his movies is on TV that I don’t watch it. My story today is not about John Wayne or a movie. It is about the real life of one Wayne’s best movie characters.
John Simpson Chisum (August 15, 1824 ~ December 23, 1884) was born on his grandfather's plantation near Cloverport in western Tennessee. When he was 13, his parents settled in the growing community of Paris, Texas. Apparently he had no formal education but worked at odd jobs. At 28 he became county clerk and began speculating in real estate in the surrounding counties. For reasons of health he wanted work outdoors as a rancher, so two years later he formed a partnership with Stephen K. Fowler of New York, who invested $6,000 in cattle, with Chisum agreeing to manage the enterprise for a share in the profits. They placed stock on a range north of present Fort Worth and applied for a land patent. By 1860 Chisum evaluated his half interest at $50,000.
When Texas joined the Confederacy in 1861, Chisum, exempt from military service, became a beef supplier for the troops in the Trans-Mississippi Department. At the close of the war he was among the first to drive Texas cattle into eastern New Mexico to sell to the military and Native American reservations. This became the famous “Chrism Trail.” He had a thousand head near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1867. He made an agreement with Charles Goodnight to deliver additional herds to that point to be driven northward by Goodnight's trail hands. Chisum became a New Mexico resident and established a series of ranches along the Pecos River for 150 miles. In 1875 he won the contract to furnish beef to all agencies for Native Americans in Arizona Territory. He employed a hundred cowboys and gunmen to protect his herds of 80,000 head from cattle rustlers and Indians. He became known as the "Pecos Valley Cattle King."
With two other men he established the Lincoln County Bank in Sante Fe, but the murder of one led to an outbreak of violence. Chisum was a business associate of Alexander McSween, a principal figure in the Lincoln County War with money, advice, and influence behind the scenes; he played a role in the dispute between the opposing factions of cattle farmers and business owners. When Lewis Wallace, a Civil War veteran, Indian fighter, and author of “Ben Hur ~ A Tale of the Christ”) took office as Governor of New Mexico on October 1, 1878, he proclaimed an amnesty for all those involved in the bitter feud. However, after Billy the Kid surrendered to the authorities, he was told he would be charged with the killing of Sheriff William J. Brady.
Billy the Kid escaped from custody and went to see Chisum. Billy had earlier worked for Chisum and believed he was owed $500. Chisum refused to pay, claiming that he had given Billy horses, supplies, and protection over the years in lieu of payment. Billy the Kid responded by promising to steal enough cattle to make up this sum. Billy's gang also stole from other cattlemen and became a serious problem in Lincoln County. Billy’s gang included Dave Rudabaugh, Billy Wilson, Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre.
In 1880, Chisum was involved in getting Pat Garrett elected as sheriff of Lincoln County. Garrett immediately attempted to deal with the problems being caused by Billy the Kid. In December 1880, Garrett shot dead two of the Kid's gang, Tom O'Folliard and Charles Bowdre. Soon afterwards Dave Rudabaugh and Billy Wilson were captured by Garrett. Pat Garrett also killed Willaim Bonney, "Billy the Kid" on July 14, 1881 .
Chisum went to Eureka Springs, AR to treat a huge lump on his neck. It was cancerous, and they could do little to help him. When John Chisum died in Eureka Springs on December 23, 1884, he was unmarried and left his estate worth $500,000 to his brothers Pitzer and James. Earlier in his live while living in Bolivar, Texas, he lived with a young slave girl named Jensie and had two daughters with her. The relationship is described in the book, "Three Ranches West." Chisum had an extended family living with him at the South Springs ranch in Roswell, NM and this family, along with hired help, often numbered two dozen at the main ranch headquarters. Chisum's niece Sallie Chisum, the daughter of his brother James, became a beloved figure in the area where she lived until 1934. Both she and her uncle John are honored by statues to their memory at Roswell and Artesia, New Mexico.
Chisum’s story has been portrayed several times on film. Some of the prominent performers to play him include John Wayne in Chisum (1970), Barry Sullivan in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), and James Coburn in Young Guns II (1990). I am sure others will play him again and again. Men and stories like his just don’t go away.
Ken Savage
January 11, 2011
