Across The Fence: Charley Nebo, a cowboy just passin' through

The original of the Charley Nebo photograph belongs to historian Robert G. McCubbin and in a handwritten script across the top is titled: "The Genuine Cowboy Captured Alive."

Charley Nebo is the cowboy on the left and beneath his image is written: Chas Nebo Prop'r Nebo's Horse Ranche ("Cottonwood Charlie.") Written on the photograph beneath the gentleman standing beside Charley is "Nick Geni" (Here the corner of the photo has been torn off leaving the partial word, "Half Br.") On the back of the photo is written, M. Finch, Hay Springs, Nebr.

Charley Nebo did spend time in Nebraska but he was, in fact, just passing through. The young man with Charley, rudely labeled "Half Breed" is in fact Nicholas Janis, who was a descendant of Joseph Antoine Janis, an early day trader and interpreter at Fort Laramie. The Janis family has a long and notable history among the early settlers of Wyoming and Dakota Territories and the Oglala Sioux of Pine Ridge.

Charley Nebo was a cowboy and though his life was one of adventure and daring no one wrote his story. There are no ballads written about Charley Nebo and few remember his name.

Unlike others of the era who left behind wildly embellished tales of their life on the plains, Charley was illiterate and only later in his life did he relate any of his stories as he participated in a series of '"round robin" letters that were being circulated among such noted pioneers as Charles Goodnight, Edmund Seymour, William E. Hawks and Nebraska rancher, and author, Edgar Beecher Bronson who wrote that Charley was "as fine a cowman who ever forked leather." Charley's daughter, Maude, wielded the pen that recorded Charley's words as he responded to the inquiries of these men whose lives had, on occasion, crossed trails. Many of these letters are located in the Edmund Seymour Papers in the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center. Charley's story is told in these letters, written between 1914 and 1920, and scattered in bits and pieces of western writings as well as several public documents.

Charlie Nebo was born in March 1842. His father was from England and his mother was from Belle River, Ontario, Canada.

Around 1861, Charley immigrated from Canada to the United States and took work as a steamboat freighter in Saginaw, Mich. Two years later, as the Civil War continued, Charley joined up with the Union Army in Company M of the First Regiment of Michigan Volunteer Engineers and Mechanics.

In April 1864, while serving with General Sherman's troops near Chattanooga, Tenn., Charley was wounded at the Battle of Bridgeport. The wound was not life threatening but did result in constant pain and restricted mobility of his left arm.

Charley was honorably discharged on Nov. 22, 1865, but reenlisted in early 1866 with Company F of Michigan's 19th Regiment. He came west in 1869 attached as a teamster with the 37th Infantry to Fort Stanton in the New Mexico Territory. During a campaign against the Comanche, Charley was riding the wheel mule that was hauling the Regiment's artillery piece and was thrown. The fall, a week before the end of his enlistment, broke Charley's left leg. Charley was discharged on Feb. 14, 1869, and at 27 years of age drifted into the Texas Panhandle and became a part of the booming cattle business.

It was during this time that Charley came to know Charles Goodnight and his partner Oliver Loving. Charley also served a year-long term as Texas Ranger, Frontier Division, from June 1874 to June 1875 with a rank of Second Corporal. When Charley received his honorable discharge from the Rangers he returned to Uvalde, Texas, where he continued his trade as a stockman.

Apparently Charley's skills as a cowboy took him to New Mexico in 1878 where he worked as a foreman for John Chisum's cattle empire. It was there that Charley became well acquainted with a young man by the name of William Bonney and in his later letters, wrote frequently about his friendship with "the Kid," saying that [he] "...stayed with me all the winter of 1878..." Later Charley wrote, "He wasn't the ruthless bad fellow that Western history has made him out to be."

One of Charley's fellow cowboys, Ike Fridge, wrote of an incident at the Chisum Ranch when Charley shot a man for killing a Mexican boy's dog out of pure meanness. The act riled Charley so much that he went for his gun but the dog killer was quicker and shot Charley, the bullet creasing Charley's forehead.

Stunned, Charley took a shot and hit him in the thigh then struck him over the head with the barrel of his Colt. The man staggered to his feet and proceeded to run away, firing back at Charley as he departed. Charley and several other nearby cowboys returned fire and killed him.

In 1917, Charley wrote to Edmund Seymour in reply to an inquiry as to Billy the Kid's death. Charley stated, "...I was in Nebraska when "Billie the Kid" was killed [July 1881] so only know the details from "hearsay." I tried to get him to come north with me but he said he wasn't afraid. ... He had a girl in Mexico."

Charley had gone north to Nebraska and settled just south of the South Dakota line where he owned the H3 ranch and raised horses. Charles C. Jameson, co-founder of the Spade Ranch, was also one of several cattlemen who participated in the letter-writing circle with Seymour. In his letters he spoke of Nebraska Sandhills Rancher, James Dahlman.

Dahlman was later elected mayor of Omaha. Jameson wrote: "Nebo was a great friend of Dahlman's and Nebo was at that time in the horse business and he was Dahlman's right hand man. He furnished a lot of the horses to fill the contract and did lots of the breaking ..."

Old Jules Sandoz also knew Charley and Mari mentions him in her book, "The Cattlemen" and gives a glimpse into Charley's love of horses and association with the descendants of the old French traders and their Sioux families.

Sandoz wrote: "In talking about fast horses and big racing runs in South Dakota. ... Cowboys from far beyond the region began to place bets, hoping to see a big run; particularly those from the Dakota ends of the Texas outfits like the Driskills, the Hashknife, Turkey Track, Flying V, and the old Chisum ranch hands who had followed the Jinglebob herd when it was sold north to Hunter and Evans – men like Johnny Riggs, Sheriff of Sheridan County which butted up against the Pine Ridge Reservation, and Charley Nebo and others who had their natural bent indulged by the gay and wagering ways around the old French trader families and their Indian relatives."

Charley was a top hand for Hunter and Evans on Blacktail Creek near Oelrichs, South Dakota. Nebraska rancher, Edgar Beecher Bronson, and author of "Reminiscences of a Ranchman, Cowboy Life on the Western Plains," sold his Deadman Ranch in 1882 to an eastern investment firm who sent their representative to close the deal.

The young man who was sent by the firm, Bartlett Richards, would become a well know cattleman in the Nebraska Sandhills. The three men, Bronson, Richards and Nebo had simultaneously arrived at the Niobrara station for the Sidney-Deadwood stage where Bronson, bound for Deadwood, introduced Nebo to Richards.

Bronson recalled: "We reached the station about sunset. And who should be there, to my great delight, but my staunch friend, Charlie Nebo, come up from the Hunter and Evans Ranch, twenty miles east, for his mail. Of course I told him of my sale, that I was leaving the country for good, and introduced and recommended to his kind offices my successor, Mr. Richards."

In 1885, Charley married 18-year-old Danish emigrant, Anna Sorenson. The Rev. McLaughlin, justice of the peace in Antelope Springs Township, Dawes County, Neb., conducted the ceremony.

The couple lived in Fall River County, S.D., where three children we born – Maude in 1890, Leonard in 1894 and Julia in 1902.

The Nebo family moved to Clackamas County, Ore., around 1908. Charley died on April 28, 1926, when he was 84.

On Feb. 17, 1917, Charley's daughter, Maude, wrote these lines for her father: "I have been a cowboy for over 40 years. Have driven herds of cattle from the Gulf of Mexico to Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. In one bunch we had over seven thousand steers. I have driven 'The Staked Plains' three or four times with big herds of cattle – 96 miles without any water in some parts of the journey. Am a veteran of the Civil War and an ex-Texas Ranger. Have had some exciting times in my career."

Charley Nebo was just a cowboy who made a quiet but lasting imprint on the history of Nebraska. However, he was only passing through.

M. Timothy Nolting is an award-winning Nebraska columnist and freelance writer. To contact Tim, email: [email protected]