Britt Johnson

"The Last Lull in the Fight" by Frederick Remington

(TSHA) JOHNSON, BRITTON (ca. 1840–1871). Britton (Britt) Johnson was born about 1840, probably in Tennessee.
He became a legend on the West Texas frontier after the summer of 1865, when he went out onto the Llano Estacado in pursuit of Indians who had kidnapped his wife and two children in the Elm Creek Raid of October 1864. Continued

Pompey Factor

(Wikipedia) ... After having lived in Mexico for the previous two decades, Factor and other Black Seminoles joined the US Army as Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts in August 1870, and served in the Red River War. On April 25, 1875, he was serving as a private by the Pecos River in Texas where, "[w]ith 3 other men, he participated in a charge against 25 hostiles while on a scouting patrol." A month later, on May 28, 1875, Factor was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the engagement. Two of the other men who took part in the charge, Isaac Payne and John Ward, both Black Seminoles, also received Medals of Honor. Continued

Crazy Fourth: How Jack Johnson Kept His Heavyweight Title and Put Las Vegas, New Mexico, on the Map

Jack Johnson

(Amazon) In 1912 boxing was as popular a spectator sport in the United States as baseball, if not more so. It was also rife with corruption and surrounded by gambling, drinking, and prostitution, so much so that many cities and states passed laws to control it. But not in New Mexico. It was the perfect venue for one of the biggest, loudest, most rambunctious heavyweight championship bouts ever seen. In Crazy Fourth Toby Smith tells the story of how the African American boxer Jack Johnson--the bombastic and larger-than-life reigning world heavyweight champion--met Jim Flynn on the Fourth of July in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Continued

Black Seminole scouts rescue commander from Comanches

Pompey Factor

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1875, three Black Seminole scouts earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action. Pompey Factor, Isaac Payne, and John Ward, along with their commander, Lt. John Lapham Bullis of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry, were pursuing a band of twenty-five or thirty Comanche Indians near Langtry. Continued

Redeemed captive begins trip home

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1866, Elizabeth Ann Carter Clifton finally began her six-week trip home after being a captive of Plains Indians for two years.
Her capture in the Elm Creek Raid in Young County was just one of a series of tragedies she endured during her life.
Born in 1825 and married at age sixteen, Elizabeth and her first husband, Alexander Joseph Carter, a free black, started a ranch near Fort Belknap in Young County. Continued

Bose Ikard dies

Bose Ikard

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1929, Bose Ikard died in Austin. Ikard, born a slave in Mississippi in 1843, became one of the most famous black frontiersmen and trail drivers in Texas.
The Civil War left Bose a free man, and in 1866 he went to work for Oliver Loving as a trail driver.
After Loving's death, Ikard continued in the service of Loving's partner, Charles Goodnight. The two men became lifelong friends.
Goodnight later commented that he trusted Bose Ikard "farther than any living man. He was my detective, banker, and everything else in Colorado, New Mexico, and the other wild country I was in." Continued

Bob Lemmons: The Most Original Mustanger

Bob Lemmons, Carrizo Springs, Texas.  (Dorothea Lange 1936, Library of Congress)

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1947, Bob Lemmons, whom J. Frank Dobie called "the most original mustanger," died in Dimmit County. Lemmons (sometimes spelled Lemons) was born about 1847 and came to Texas as a slave in 1854.
Lemmons's birth name is not known. After being freed, he came under the tutelage of Texas rancher Duncan Lemmons, who took the seventeen-year-old youth to work on his Eagle Pass ranch.
Out of respect for his new employer and friend, Lemmons adopted the rancher's last name. When Duncan Lemmons died, Bob worked in the Carrizo Springs area and eventually purchased his own ranch there. Continued

Buffalo Soldier Tragedy Memorial

Morton, Texas

"African American troops, known as Buffalo Soldiers, were vital in defending the Texas frontier. On July 26, 1877 Buffalo Soldiers from Co. A of the 10th Cavalry began to pursue a Comanche party. During the pursuit, the Comanches led the troops away from water holes as the expedition traveled through Cochran and other counties. After Several days without water, Capt. Nicholas Nolan led his dehydrated soldiers and remaining animals back to Double Lakes in Lynn County; they arrived on July 30, having gone 86 hours without water. Several soldiers left camp in search of water and four died during the expedition: Pvt. John H. Bonds; Pvt. Isaac Derwin; Pvt. John Isaacs; and Pvt. John T. Gordon. (2008)"

Bob Foster

(Wikipedia) Robert Lloyd "Bob" Foster (December 15, 1938 – November 21, 2015) was an American professional boxer who fought as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. Known as "The Deputy Sheriff", Foster was one of the greatest light heavyweight champions in boxing history.
He won the world light heavyweight title from Dick Tiger in 1968 via fourth-round knockout, and went on to defend his crown fourteen times in total from 1968 to 1974. Continued