Many people have heard of the famous cattleman Oliver Loving and the just as famous Texas Ranger Charles Goodnight. It has even been rumored that the movie "Lonesome Dove" was loosely based on these two great men and the last cattle drive they ever went on.
Oliver Loving was born in Kentucky back in 1812. He was a farmer in Muhlenberg County until the time that he decided to move his family to the Republic of Texas. In Texas he had 639.3 acres of land that stretched across the counties of Collin, Dallas, and Parker. By the time 1857 rolled around he had increased his land holdings to 1000 acres and he was raising cattle on that land.
Because the cattle were needed in other parts of the country Loving began to drive them out of Texas with the aid of his son William. He drove his cattle up the Shawnee trail to Illinois where he received a profit of $36 per head. This encouraged him to repeat the drive yearly and to allow William to drive herds for neighbors as well.
In 1866 Loving heard that there was a great need for cattle in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He combined cattle with that of his friend and neighbor Charles Goodnight and they traveled the trail to deliver cattle to Fort Sumner. This route to Fort Sumner would eventually be called the Goodnight-Loving Trail.
The next year,Loving and Goodnight set out to Fort Sumner on another drive. This second drive to Fort Sumner would prove to be a bad decision for Loving. From the beginning the trip was plagued with foul weather and threats on Indian attacks. The cattleman were on guard and edgy. A few days before they reached Fort Sumner Loving and a scout were sent on ahead of the rest. Loving promised Goodnight that he and Wilson (the scout) would travel under the cover of darkness, but being impatient Loving reneged on this promise and traveled during the day.
The daytime travel drew the attention of some Comanche and Loving and Wilson were attacked. At the very beginning of the attack Loving was caught off guard and injured seriously. The two cattlemen sought refuge under an embankment and fought the Indians off from this position. Loving knew that they would have to help if they were going to survive so he sent Wilson to get help.
Loving remained under the embankment defending his position for several days, he had little to no food, and he lost a lot of blood. When the Indians left him he made his way in the direction of Fort Sumner, where a Mexican family found him and took him the rest of the way. His wounds developed gangrene, and he died a short time later.
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