Who were the first cowboys in America

The word cowboy immediately conjures up images of the arid, sunlit plains of the midwest, the dry heat of Texas and Arizona, big-brimmed hats and dusty mid-calf boots. But long before these Western heroes graced the horizon with their silhouettes, another brand of cowboy was mucking it up in the swamps. The original cowboy. The Florida cowboy.

Back in the early 1500s, nearly 350 years before cattle herding became commonplace in the plains, the Spanish attempted to cultivate the wilds of Florida’s bogs to no avail. Soon admitting failure, they traveled back to Spain, but left horses and heads of cattle behind to make room on their ships for the treasures they had acquired in North America. On return trips, however, the Spanish brought more cattle with them. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, in 1565 (with the "help" of native labor) the Spanish set up ranches—well before the Mayflower pilgrims were even born. By 1700 there were more than 30 ranches set up along the Florida Panhandle, which had become so successful at cattle-raising they had even begun exporting the animals to Cuba.

These cattle required local young men to tend them and keep them safe. Called vaqueros, these were not only the first cowboys in America, but are widely believed to be responsible for the first “cowboys and Indians” fights, when Native Americans attacked herds in revenge for trampling their lands.

In 1763, after the English won the Seven Year’s War, the British settlers of Florida took over ranching in the region, turning it into a thriving business model. These cowboys eventually fashioned a 12-foot-long threaded leather whip which cracked fiercely when used, earning them the name Crackers—and further separating them from the Western cowboys to come, who would use lassos. The ranchers used these whips to corral the Cracker cows, a distinct breed with long horns and large feet. Both Cracker horses and Cracker cows are relatively small, 700 and 600 pounds respectively. But this didn’t prevent the cows from becoming an important source of food for soldiers during the Civil War.

Cracker Cows, c. 1929 // Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

In fact, in 1861, small militia groups made up primarily of Crackers formed the “Cow Cavalry” which protected the ranches and plantations of Florida from Union soldier raids. Some say that Florida’s greatest contribution to the Civil War was the food its ranches provided Confederate troops, which the Cow Cavalry kept secure.

In the years after the war, the Crackers took over central Florida, allowing their herds, consisting of 5,000 to 50,000 head of cattle, to roam free along the marshy terrain. Their horses began to further adapt to the area, growing even smaller, with lighter heads and a more agile gait. The Cracker horses are now Florida’s official horse, and the species, which teetered on the brink of extinction in the 1980s, now numbers in the thousands in the Sunshine State.

Before highways tore through the state's dense shrubbery and wild trails, the Cracker horses let the Florida cowboys ride all day in 100-degree weather, their coats and skin more impervious to insect attacks than that of their main rival, the Quarter horses.

Cracker horse // Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

“They’re very good working horses because they have so much endurance," says Florida rancher and cowboy Bobby Hall. "They’ll be going all day and a lot of the Quarter horses will give out by noon."

Yes, the Crackers are still herding on their ranches to this day, and Florida does a booming cattle business because of it. It is the third largest beef producer east of the Mississippi. Their association is a robust organization with support from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It oversees the registration of purebred Cracker horses, provides information on buying, selling and breeding Cracker horses, and assists in the preservation of this quiet wealth of Floridian history.

1519–1700s After the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519, ranches were established and stocked with cattle and horses imported from Spain. Landowners mounted native Indians on well-trained horses and taught them to handle cattle. By the early 1700s, cattle ranching had spread north into what is now Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico and south to Argentina. The native cowboys were called vaqueros (from the Spanish word for cow) and developed roping skills, using braided rawhide reatas (the root word for lariat). Starting in 1769, a chain of 21 Franciscan missions eventually stretched from San Diego to San Francisco, marking the beginning of California’s livestock industry.

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Mid–1700s to 1820s Livestock production flourished in California and the Southwest, but few markets existed for end products such as meat, hides, and tallow (for making candles). By the mid-1700s, long trains of pack mules would transport these products to Mexico City and return with supplies. American ships began servicing California ports in the early 1800s and traded for the same materials. For the first time, ranchers had local markets for their animals. Huge roundups were held to collect cattle, and the hard-riding vaqueros controlled the chaos. Known for expert horsemanship and roping skills, vaqueros were said to only dismount for a chance to dance with pretty girls.

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Early and mid-1800s Ranching ceased to be a strictly Hispanic profession as more Americans poured into once Mexican-held lands (especially after the Mexican/American War, 1846–48). The Anglo newcomers adapted to the vaquero style, and many settlers intermarried with the old Spanish ranching families. The 1849 gold rush brought even more people to California, which increased the demand for beef. Californios rode ponies that had been trained in a hackamore, swung a big loop with their hand-braided rawhide reatas, and took a wrap called a dally (from the Spanish dar la vuelta, to take a turn) around high saddle horns for leverage when roping cattle.

Late 1800s As the livestock industry expanded, these horsemen found work in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii, taking their equipment and livestock-handling techniques with them. Cowboys in Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada remained strongly Hispanic (“buckaroo” comes from vaquero), including the use of a center-fire rigged saddle, in which rigging is situated below the centerpoint of the saddle; a long reata; and silver-mounted spade bits. Trail-driving Texans adopted many of their techniques from Mexican vaqueros, carrying their methods with them north through the Plains states and leading to a subculture of single, itinerant men who worked at ranches.

| Read More: Lost Skills of the Buckaroo

Today As long as cattle are raised in big American pastures, the legacy of the vaquero will endure. The early Mexican techniques for handling cattle can be seen throughout the modern livestock industry, like whenever a cowboy cinches a saddle on his horse, straps on chaps (from chaparreras, Spanish for leather leggings), competes in a rodeo (from rodear, Spanish for to surround), or ropes a horse from his remuda (from remudar, Spanish for exchange). Even branding migrated north from Mexico. On the Pacific Coast and on Nevada ranches, buckaroos still carry long ropes (nylon these days), ride slick-fork saddles, and use silver-mounted spade bits and spurs.

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