Updated Tuesday, July 12, 2005
The movement west was filled with adventure, tragedy, and romance. Authors, playwrights, screenwriters, and others have painted a popular version of life on the western frontier, the reality was more harsh, and more rewarding than many realize.
For many the west offered a chance for a better life. Just as those early settlers came from Europe chasing their dreams those that looked to the mountains were also chasing dreams, or running away from nightmares.
Ned Huddleston, a.k.a. Isom Dart
Ned Huddleston, a.k.a. Isom Dart, was born into slavery. When the Civil War broke out Ned, being owned by an Arkansas plantation owner, was forced into the service of The Confederacy as an officer's orderly. At sixteen years of age he ran off (and who could blame him). Like many runaway slaves he found refuge in Mexico where he worked as a rodeo clown, but after the war he returned to the United States. Ned fell in with the wrong crowd when he joined up with a some horse thieves known as the Tip Gault Gang. One day a local rancher, along with his private posse, nearly wiped out the gang during a blazing gun battle that lasted for hours. Fortunately, for Ned, he wasn't in camp, and learning of the fate of his colleagues he concluded that it wasn't a bad time to not only change scenery, but his name as well. Thus began the life of Isom Dart.
As Isom Dart, Ned settled in Oklahoma Territory, but he returned to old habits and began stealing horses again. He was captured by a county sheriff, but during the trip back to justice the saved the sheriff's life and earned his loyalty, and testimony at his trial. Ned was acquitted, and then went straight. For a period of time he worked as a horse breaker, and soon had saved enough to buy a small horse ranch, but he remained a wanted man.
One morning, standing outside his cabin, Ned was bushwhacked. From the rocks surrounding his cabin Tom Horn, a white bounty hunter, shot him dead and claimed the reward. Horn also shot and killed Ned's old partner, Matt Rush, another black man, and claimed that reward too. Three years later Tom Horn was hanged for the murder of a fourteen year old boy.
The famous Rough Rider charge 
during the Spanish-American War may
have never happened. It seems that 75% of the Rough Riders horses had to return to Florida
due to a storm, however, units of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, had already secured the
position and were making camp. Opps.
Many black men pursued a military career after the Civil War. During the Spanish-American War--the 9th and 10th Negro Cavalry, known since 1866 as the Buffalo Soldiers, distinguished themselves in the charge of San Juan Hill in Cuba. Additionally, the 25th Negro Infantry took part in the Battle of El Caney, capturing a Spanish fort. Black troops were among the first sent to the war. They participated in campaigns in Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
From most accounts it is estimated that 25% of the western cowboys were African-American while another quarter were Mexican-Indians. They broke the horses, tended the herds, and navigated the cattle drives. Many of these black men married native women, settled small plots of land, and established new towns.
Black cowboys were not uncommon. 
They were, in fact, commonplace. But, by not sharing
these historical facts with black youngsters the school systems have
successfully added to the misconceptions associated with black Americans, their
history, and most certainly their future.
Native women were often the choice of black cowboys looking to settle down and
start families. 
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