John Baker Omohundro (July 27, 1846 – June 28, 1880), also known as "Texas Jack", was an American frontier
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
,
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
, and
cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
. Born in rural
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, he served the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. He later served as a civilian scout for the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
during the
American Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
.
Before his untimely death, Texas Jack became a legendary figure in the
American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
as a Western showman performing dramas on the stage throughout the country, and was immortalized in
dime novel
The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...
s published around the world.
Early life
Omohundro was born in
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
on the Pleasure Hill farm in
Fluvanna County, Virginia
Fluvanna County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,249. Its county seat is Palmyra, while the most populous community is the census designated place of Lak ...
, on July 27, 1846, to John Burwell and Catherine Baker Omohundro, of
Anglo-American
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
ancestry. He attended grammar school in Fluvanna and at an early age showed a strong skill in hunting and fishing.
At the start of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, Omohundro attempted to join his older brother, Orville, in the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
. He was twice refused for his age, but was allowed to serve as a courier at the headquarters of the Virginia Militia under Major General
John B. Floyd
John Buchanan Floyd (June 1, 1806 – August 26, 1863) was the 31st Governor of Virginia, U.S. Secretary of War, and the Confederate general in the American Civil War who lost the crucial Battle of Fort Donelson.
Early family life
John Buchan ...
. Because of his youth and knowledge of the countryside, he became known as the "Boy Scout of the Confederacy". In February 1864, at the age of 17, he successfully enlisted as a private in Company G of the
5th Virginia Cavalry
The 5th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.
The Virginia 5th Cavalry was organized in J ...
, part of the
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...
, and was soon serving directly in general
J. E. B. Stuart's command as a courier and scout. At the
Battle of Yellow Tavern
The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11, 1864, as part of the Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was detached from Grant’s Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond, ...
, he delivered a scouting report to Stuart only minutes before the general was killed in battle. During the
Battle of Trevilian Station
The Battle of Trevilian Station (also called Trevilians) was fought on June 11–12, 1864, in Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Union cavalry under Maj. ...
, Omohundro was wounded and admitted to the Confederate States General Hospital in Charlottesville on June 20, 1864. After recovering from his injuries, and a short leave home, he returned to his company and scouted under the command of General
Lunsford L. Lomax
Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (November 4, 1835 – May 28, 1913) was the fourth president of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and an officer in the United States Army who resigned his commission to join the Confederate Army at the outbr ...
. Following the
Third Battle of Winchester
The Third Battle of Winchester, also known as the Battle of Opequon or Battle of Opequon Creek, was an American Civil War battle fought near Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864. Union Army Major General Philip Sheridan defeated Confederate ...
, the 5th Virginia Cavalry was consolidated with the 15th Virginia Cavalry, where Omohundro scouted under General
Fitzhugh Lee
Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney Smi ...
during the last months of the war.
Cowboy, hunting, and scouting career
After the Civil War, Omohundro left Virginia at age 19 for Florida. After a short time, he moved on to Texas, arriving at the Taylor Ranch near
Brazos, where he began working as a cowboy participating in cattle drives, notably on the
Chisholm Trail
The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. The trail was established by Black Beaver, a Lenape guide and rancher, and his friend Jesse Chisholm, a Cheroke ...
. After one drive across Arkansas to a meat-poor Tennessee, he was given nickname "Texas Jack" by the locals. On another drive, Omohundro found a five-year-old boy orphaned after a Native American raid killed his family. He took the boy to safety in Fort Worth, and the boy later took the name
Texas Jack Jr.
Texas Jack Jr. (c. 1860 – 1905), who adopted the name of his rescuer and childhood protector, Texas Jack Omohundro, ran an international traveling Wild West Show and Circus.
Background
Not long after the American Civil War, while driving a h ...
in homage, going on to run the Texas Jack's Wild West Show and Circus in 1903 in South Africa.
In 1869, Texas Jack moved to
Fort Hays
Fort Hays, originally named Fort Fletcher, was a United States Army fort near Hays, Kansas. Active from 1865 to 1889 it was an important frontier post during the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century. Reopened as a historical park in 1 ...
, Kansas, where he met
California Joe Milner
Moses Embree Milner (May 8, 1829 – October 29, 1876), also known as "California Joe", was an American miner and frontier scout.
Biography
Moses Embree Milner was born in Stanford, Kentucky on May 8, 1829. At age 14 he moved west to St. Louis, ...
and
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement ...
, the latter being sheriff of Ellis County at the time. Later that year, Jack met and befriended
William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who was working with the 5th US Cavalry at
Fort McPherson
Fort McPherson was a U.S. Army military base located in Atlanta, Georgia, bordering the northern edge of the city of East Point, Georgia. It was the headquarters for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; the U.S. Ar ...
, and Jack was hired as a scout and trail guide during the
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
. Special permission had to be obtained as the US government did not generally permit the employment of ex-Confederate soldiers. During the
Battle of Summit Springs
The Battle of Summit Springs, on July 11, 1869, was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army under the command of Colonel Eugene A. Carr and a group of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers led by Tall Bull, who was killed during the engag ...
, Texas Jack captured his well-known white horse from Indian Chief
Tall Bull
Tall Bull (1830 - July 11, 1869) (''Hotóa'ôxháa'êstaestse'') was a chief of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. Of Cheyenne and Lakota parentage, like some of the other Dog Soldiers by that time, he identified as Cheyenne.Hyde 1968, p. 339.
He was sho ...
.
Texas Jack moved to Cottonwood Springs, Nebraska, where, aside from his work as a scout for the government, he made a lucrative living leading hunting expeditions for American and foreign parties, which were popular at the time. Notably, Texas Jack, together with Cody, led the highly publicized royal hunt of 1872 with
Grand Duke Alexei of Russia and several American military figures, including General
Philip Sheridan
General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...
, General
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
, and Colonel
James W. Forsyth
James William Forsyth (August 8, 1834 – October 24, 1906) was a U.S. Army officer and general. He was primarily a Union staff officer during the American Civil War and cavalry regimental commander during the Indian Wars. Forsyth is best ...
.
Later in 1874, Texas Jack guided the
Earl of Dunraven
Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (usually referred to as Earl of Dunraven) was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 February 1822 for Valentine Quin, 1st Viscount Mount-Earl. Quin had already been created a Baronet, of Adare ...
though
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
and Geyserland.
In 1876, Texas Jack led
Sir John Rea Reid and his party on a hunt around the
Bighorn Mountains
The Bighorn Mountains ( cro, Basawaxaawúua, lit=our mountains or cro, Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua, label=none, lit=bighorn sheep's mountains) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a nort ...
and
Sweetwater country.
Acting
In December 1872, Omohundro and Cody debuted the first
Wild West show
Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of c ...
, ''Scouts of the Prairie'', in Chicago written and produced by
Ned Buntline
Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr. (March 20, 1821 – July 16, 1886), known by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, and writer.
Early life and military service
Judson was born on March 20, 1821, in Harpersfield, New Yo ...
. Texas Jack's performance was well-received by critics and featured the first rope act performed on the American stage. The show starred
Giuseppina Morlacchi
Giuseppina Antonia "Josephine" Morlacchi Omohundro (October 8, 1836 – July 23, 1886) was an Italian American ballerina, dancer, and actress. She introduced the can-can to the American stage.
Biography
Morlacchi was born in Milan in 1836 an ...
, a dancer and actress from
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, who was performing in the theater circuit with her Morlacchi Ballet Troupe when she was invited to join ''Scouts of the Prairie'' with the group. She and Texas Jack fell in love and were married on August 31, 1873, at
St. Mary's Catholic Church in Rochester, New York.
In 1873, Buntline left, and Wild Bill Hickok joined the group to headline in a new play called ''Scouts of the Plains''. Hickok did not enjoy acting, often hiding behind scenery, and in one show, he shot the spotlight when it focused on him. He was released from the group after a few months.
Desiring a lighter tour schedule, Texas Jack parted ways with Cody, and in 1877, he formed his own acting troupe in St. Louis, known as the Texas Jack Combination featuring Morlacchi,
Arizona John Burke
John M. Burke (1842 – April 12, 1917), also known as "Arizona John" and "Major John M. Burke" was an American publicist, manager, and press agent. He is best known for his association with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Early life
John M. ...
,
Modoc War
The Modoc War, or the Modoc Campaign (also known as the Lava Beds War), was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc people and the United States Army in northeastern California and southeastern Oregon from 1872 to 1873. Eadweard Mu ...
scout
Donald McKay
Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting clippers.
Early life
He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County, on Nova Scotia's S ...
, trick-shot Maud Oswald, and several Sweetwater and Warm Spring Indians. In May of that year, he debuted ''Texas Jack in the Black Hills'', written by Harry Seymour, to rave reviews.
Other plays the combination performed included ''The Trappers Daughter'', ''Life on the Border'', and ''The French Spy''.
Dime novels
In the late 19th century,
dime novels
The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...
depicting frontier life were becoming common, and Texas Jack became a popular subject of these stories. The dime novels, printed on inexpensive wood pulp paper and costing five to ten cents each, were published weekly or monthly. One of the first of these novels was titled ''Texas Jack; or The White King of the Pawnees'', written by Ned Buntline, and first appeared in 1872. Texas Jack's popularity grew as he was featured on covers by publishers including Beadle's New York Dime Library, the Nickle Library, Log Cabin Library, DeWitt's Ten Cent, Street and Smith, and others. Many of these stories were written by the prolific author
Prentiss Ingraham
Colonel Prentiss Ingraham (December 28, 1843 – August 16, 1904) was a colonel in the Confederate Army, a mercenary throughout the 1860s, and a fiction writer.
Biography
Prentiss Ingraham, the son of Rev. Joseph Ingraham (author of A Pri ...
. Omohundro wrote articles in newspapers across the country recalling his hunting and scouting stories, and is credited as having authored one dime novel titled ''Ned Wylde, the Boy Scout'' for Beadle and Adams in 1876.
In 1900,
Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a planta ...
wrote ''On the Wing of Occasions'', a series for the ''
Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'', that featured Texas Jack and the
Confederate Secret Service
The Confederate Secret Service refers to any of a number of official and semi-official secret service organizations and operations conducted by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Some of the organizations were under t ...
in a fictional plot to kidnap President Lincoln. At the time, the stories caused some outrage since it associated Texas Jack with
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...
, and after publication, Harris received several letters objecting to Texas Jack's portrayal and attempts to clear his name.
In 1906, Verlagshaus für Volkslitteratur und Kunst, Berlin, published a series of dime novels in German, titled "''Texas Jack, Der Grosse Kundschafter''" (Texas Jack, the Great Scout). Inspired by Omohundro, the stories are of the fictional Jack Hawkins, an orphan who becomes a scout and cowboy in the American West engaging in skirmishes with Indians and opium smugglers, while some stories are set during the
Mormon War and in
Maximilian's Mexico. In Germany, the novels were republished in three subsequent series, and they were translated into eight languages - French "''Texas Jack, la Terreur Des Indiens''" (Texas Jack, the Terror of the Indians), Swedish "''Texas Jack, Amerikas mest berömde indianbekämpare''" (Texas Jack, America's Famous Indian Fighter), Finnish, Danish, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Italian.
In 1966,
"Lion", a weekly
comic
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
by
Fleetway
Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...
, published a series about Omohundro titled "Texas Jack", which was released in the United Kingdom and Australia after earlier success they had with other Western-themed comics such as "Cowboy Comics", "Buffalo Bill", and "Kit Carson". Unlike earlier dime novels, they were formatted like comics, and the stories were illustrated using
panels. In 1972, the "Lion" comics were translated into Spanish and reissued with new cover art by the Rollán publishing house of Madrid for distribution in Spain.
Death and legacy
Texas Jack and Morlacchi settled in
with a home in downtown
Lowell and a small farm in
Billerica
Billerica (, ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.
History
In the early 1630s, a Praying India ...
. In the spring of 1880, after several performances in the region, the couple decided to sojourn in the silver-mining town of
Leadville, Colorado
The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...
. There, Omohundro became acquainted with
Horace Tabor
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
and briefly joined Tabor's Light Cavalry, a local militia formed to keep order in the newly founded town. A few months after arriving, Texas Jack contracted a cold, which developed into pneumonia, and he died weeks later. The funeral was well-attended, and he was given full military honors, with several military companies in attendance firing a
three-volley salute
The three-volley salute is a ceremonial act performed at military funerals and sometimes also police funerals. The custom originates from the European dynastic wars, in which the fighting ceased so that the dead and wounded could be removed. Af ...
as his flag-draped coffin was lowered into the ground. His final resting place is Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville. Shortly after Texas Jack's death, Morlacchi returned to their home in Lowell. She never toured again.
After several years, the grave fell into disrepair, and a traveling group of comedians raised funds to provide for its upkeep. In 1908, while passing through Leadville, Cody visited the cemetery and commissioned a granite grave marker for his old friend, mistakenly listing Texas Jack's age as 39 years.
In 1980, the Texas Jack Association was formed to preserve and promote Texas Jack's memory.
In 1994, Texas Jack Omohundro was inducted into the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 American West, Western and Native Americans in the United States, American Indian art works and Artifact (archaeology), ar ...
in the
Hall of Great Western Performers
The Hall of Great Western Performers is a Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. It is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and sometimes referred to as the "Western Performers Hall of Fame". It is a presentation that explo ...
.
References
Further reading
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External links
Texas Jack AssociationBuffalo Bill Center of the WestTexas State Historical AssociationPBS History Detectives Wild West Scrapbook believed to have belonged to Morlacchi
Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Frank Reade, Jr., with his new steam horse in search of an ancient mine– dime novel featuring Texas Jack
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omohundro, Texas Jack
1846 births
1880 deaths
19th-century American male actors
American cattlemen
American male stage actors
American frontier
American pioneers
American hunters
Bison hunters
Confederate States Army soldiers
Cowboys
Deaths from pneumonia in Colorado
People from Palmyra, Virginia
People of the American Old West
People of Virginia in the American Civil War
Wild West shows
American people of the Indian Wars