John Chisum

John Simpson Chisum (1824 to 1884) was an American cattle baron who built one of the largest ranching operations of the nineteenth century frontier, earning the title Cattle King of the Pecos. Born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, and raised in Texas, he worked as a building contractor and county clerk before entering the cattle business in 1854. He was among the first to drive herds west into the New Mexico Territory, where he claimed grazing land along the Pecos River by right of occupancy and eventually ran more than 100,000 head of cattle from ranches in the Bosque Grande region and Lincoln County. After the Civil War he partnered with Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving to drive cattle to Fort Sumner and Santa Fe, supplying the United States Army and mining communities in Colorado. His business interests drew him into the Pecos War and the Lincoln County War, where he opposed the commercial monopoly known as the House and was linked to figures such as Alexander McSween, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He died in 1884, and his heirs sold the land and properties to settle debts.