Talk:Charles Goodnight

"Wives" In the "personal life" section it only mentions him being married to Molly but then goes on to say "had his wives write letters". So was he married several times? If so that should be mentioned and if not this grammatical error should be corrected.

“Football” Why is the word “football” found twice in this article? I have never edited on Wikipedia; is this word inserted as vandalism? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mirzchua (talk • contribs) 05:31, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

Untitled
Charles Goodnight enlisted in the Frontier company of the Texas Rangers and was not a confederate soldeir. Haley's work and the Handbook of Texas will confirm this statement.

-prior post unsigned

The last assertion in the statement: Goodnight is also known for guiding Texas Rangers to the Indian camp where Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured, and for later making an incest with her son, Quanah Parker. has no references and is inflamatory. There is no Cynthia Ann Parker or Quanah Parker references to any incestuous relationship between them. And the addition of that statement, aside from defaming the Parkers, casts no relevant light on Charles Goodnight's life. Mdutch (talk) 22:54, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Never mind, It was BOT vandalism. "an incest" was "a treaty". Fixed now. Mdutch (talk) 23:05, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I have several points. First, in response to a statement above, anyone who served in a Frontier company or regiment, guarding the frontier from Indian attack, was enlisted in the armed forces of the Confederacy, and they were later eligible for a pension based on their Confederate service. Its a simple matter of historic fact. But, I wouldn't say that he "joined the Confederate States of America." I believe that only states "joined the Confederate States of America." The second point is that the article states that Goodnight is "the best known rancher in Texas," and then later says that he "is particularly known in Canyon and Amarillo." (First of all, I'm a big fan of Charles Goodnight, but I think that Captain Richard King is a better known "rancher in Texas." But, I don't think that a contest to see which rancher in Texas history is best known by the average pierced-nose, spiked haired, video-game playing twenty-something-year-old American voting citizen is a worthwhile endeavor. The most important rancher in Texas history may be a virtual unknown.) But, back to my point. On the one hand, the article says that he is the best known, and then it says that he is best known in Amarillo. So, my question is, which is he, a famous Texas rancher, or a local small town hero? Further, his career as a cattleman and frontiersman included much more than just the later years of his life operating out of his his ranch in the panhandle. He is also well-known in Palo Pinto, Texas, where he settled on his Black Springs Ranch in the 1850s, and from where he started the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail. Third, the article states that he "became a cowboy" in 1856. I'm not sure that I would word this quite this way. He didn't just wake up one day and "decide" to "become a cowboy" (instead of a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker). He had been raised in Texas in the 1840s and '50s and brought cattle with him to Palo Pinto County in 1856. I don't think there was any one point at which you could say that he "became a cowboy." Fourth, the highlighted link to the "Goodnight-Loving Trail" goes to an article about a song, not about the Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail. Fifth, the caption below the picture of the New Mexico Historic Marker states that the Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail "extended from the Texas Panhandle" and into Colorado, etc. The Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail started at Goodnight's ranch in Palo Pinto County, past Fort Belknap and down through Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River. From there it went up into New Mexico and then north to Colorado, etc. It never extended through the Texas panhandle. He undoubtedly trailed cattle from his later ranch in the panhandle, but I don't think that he trailed them south to Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos. Sixth, the article states that "following the war, he became involved in the herding of feral Texas Longhorn cattle." I just had to laugh here. I guess it is true, they can technically be called "feral" as they had been allowed to reproduce without branding during the several years of the war. But I don't think anyone has ever called them "feral" before. But, it was worth a good chuckle. Who wrote this? There are too many cooks stirring this pot. It reads like it was written by several people, each of whom was away from the switch when the other was tinkering with it. Ahhh, Wikipedia. "Feral" cattle - guhhaw. Seventh, they did not drive their cattle "northward" along the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail. They drove them westward, and even somewhat southwestward. Got a map? Eighth point: Goodnight did NOT "carry" the body of Oliver Loving back to Weatherford. He SENT the body of Oliver Loving from Fort Sumner back to Weatherford. He did not accompany it. The casket was packed in charcoal and encased in tin cans soldered together. See, this is what is wrong with Wikipedia. People can just write whatever they want. It is why I stopped "editing" long, long ago. People felt free to just come along and change history to whatever suited them.

PGNormand (talk) 01:48, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Note that the summary lists his place of death as Phoenix, Az but the article says he died in Goodnight, Tx. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Garyscoggin (talk • contribs) 07:17, 11 February 2020 (UTC)


 * I looked up the citation that supposedly supported Goodnight dying in Goodnight, Texas here . It said he died in Phoenix, Arizona. I found a lot of sources that support Phoenix, many more than support Goodnight. I will now adjust the article. See these sources though:


 * Goodnight Charles - Texas State Historical Association
 * Charles Goodnight - Humanities Texas
 * Inventory of the Charles Goodnight Correspondence
 * Spartacus Educational American History
 * Charles Goodnight - Legends of America
 * Charles Goodnight - Wild West History
 * Charles Goodnight - Know Southern History]

Religious affiliation
The article currently states that Goodnight joined the "Apostolic Church, Christian Conventions"—which brings up the questions: which was it, and what is the source for this information? I've inserted a request for a citation in the article. &bull; Astynax talk 17:12, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I've clarified and supplied a reference to the sect which he joined. &bull; Astynax talk 21:21, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Was Goodnight a murderer?
In my continuing (though erratic) research on Western history, I recently read The Cowboys, one of TIME-LIFE's "The Old West" books. The author (William H Forbis), a supposed expert on Western history, states that Goodnight was morally responsible for murder. On page 62 we read: "Goodnight was no better than the rest. Once when his wife expressed shock at some vigilante hangings ("I understand," she exclaimed, "they hanged them to a telegraph pole!") Charlie replied quietly, "Well, I don't think it hurt the telegraph pole." What she didn't know was that the victims had actually been strung up with Goodnight's full approval."

If this is true (though the book has text credits and a bibliography, there is no specific reference for this statement), it destroys the image of Goodnight as a gruff-but-kindly "spiritual" person. The author should look into this. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 15:52, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I would think that Time-Life would be enough of a reliable source, and certainly the view of the journalistic credentials of William H. Forbis make him a notable source (even if the National Cowboy Hall of Fame attacked the book as demeaning). Go ahead and insert the incident sourced to the The Cowboys and if there are other sources that dispute Forbis, we will hear about them. &bull; Astynax talk 19:59, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I've edited the article. This quote appears in at least two (apparently hagiographic) biographies of Goodnight, though without the spin Forbis puts on it (and without acknowledging the utter callousness of the remark). The lynching took place near a ranch where Goodnight and his wife were staying. It appears that, although Goodnight did not order the lynching, he knew of it and could have stopped it. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 14:33, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Incomplete and possibly misattributed chuckwagon sentence
In the section on William T. Hagan's assessment of Goodnight, there is the mysterious sentence "Goodnight's invention of the chuckwagon, the original version drawn by twenty oxen and carrying provisions for eighteen men for a 600-mile drive.[10]" This sentence has no verb. Furthermore the next sentence is in the same section but seems to have wandered off the topic of Hagen's assessment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Felsenst (talk • contribs) 20:26, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Possible copyright problem
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