How the Bullwhip Tamed the American West
The simple bullwhip had a profound impact on the settlement of the American West.
When you think about “characters” in the history of the American West who do you think about? If you are a fan of this website, I’d bet you think of mountain men and cowboys. Oregon Trail emigrants also played an important role in 19th-century settlement. Miners were important as well. Don’t forget about the army. And last, but not least, as the West’s first inhabitants Native Americans certainly were important players in the story. Mexican vaqueros and traders were also very active in the southwest. Actually, the more “characters” you begin to name, the more you realize how many people were in the American West by the mid-1800s.
But one group of people almost always gets overlooked. They were the people, who perhaps more than any, allowed Anglo civilization to spread across the continent prior to the expansion of the railroad. They were the bullwhackers, and their tool was the bullwhip.
Before writing the book History of the West with Sam Payne: And the Wagons Rolled I was fortunate enough to read John Bratt’s book Trails of Yesterday. This excellent primary source chronicles John Bratt from his home in England, into the northern plains, and eventually the creation of his ranch and the 20th century. It really is an excellent book, and I highly recommend people interested in the time period read it. Although Bratt is most noted for becoming one of Nebraska’s first cattlemen, he got his start as a bullwhacker on the Oregon Trail. If you’ve read the History of the West books you know that I try and base events in the stories off real accounts. This seemed like a good way to get Sam Payne started in life. Little did I know how much I had yet to learn.
Bullwhacker referred to the men (and some women) who handled teams of oxen while hauling freight across the trails. There were also muleskinners that performed the same job except they used teams of mules instead. Bratt described the bullwhackers as a rough bunch, but they seemed like the type of men the job called for. Driving obstinate cattle that pulled several tons of freight across a sandy trail during all types of weather wasn’t a picnic. While the bullwhackers had a variety of tools that helped them get across the plains (wagons, Dutch ovens, revolvers) perhaps none were as iconic as the bullwhip.
In Trails of Yesterday, John Bratt describes bullwhips like this:
“I had rigged myself up in bullwhacker's garb blue flannel shirt, pair of pants, belt, cartridges, revolver, bowie knife, pair of heavy boots, broad-brimmed hat, and an up-to date bullwhacker's whip — three feet stock and twelve feet lash, with extra buckskin to repair the whip lash and make new poppers at the end of lash.”
So, according to one man, common bullwhips in 1866 had a three-foot handle with a twelve-foot lash. Here is another primary source showing a woman bullwhacker in 1887. Notice the long handle the bullwhip has.
Woman with a bullwhip driving a team of oxen in the Black Hills 1887. Image via wikicommons.
So bullwhips were the bullwhackers main tool, but how did that help “tame” the West? Well, here is where statistics get interesting.
And the Wagons Rolled takes place in 1860. By 1860 Colorado Territory had a population of over 34,000 people. Nebraska Territory had a population of over 28,000 people. New Mexico Territory had a population of over 93,000 people. Salt Lake City itself boasted a population of over 8,000 people as well. Once you begin to understand the numbers, the next thing to realize is that these people depended on inputs from the industrialized east in order to survive. The clothes they wore, the tools they used, the food they ate, and the materials they built with often came from the east. It’s important to note that not all people depended on these inputs, but many did to at least some extent. Miners, for example, were too busy mining to grow their own food, make their own clothes, and build their own tools. Instead, they just bought these things from traders and mercantiles. It’s fairly commonly understood that the people who became the wealthiest in the goldfields were the people selling the picks and shovels, and not the miners themselves.
With so many people needing goods there was a tremendous business opportunity. Many freighting companies were formed to capitalize on the opportunity. The greatest of these was probably the company of Russell, Majors, and Waddell. According to The Expressmen, by 1858 this company was heavily invested and dominating the plains. By this time, the company owned 3,500 wagons, drawn by 40,000 oxen, employed thousands of men, and contracted to haul over 25 million pounds of freight over two years…just for the army. When you realize Russell, Majors, and Waddell were not the only company you can see how crowded the trails were during this period before the railroad. Here is how one journalist from New York City described the scene in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1859:
“Such acres of wagons! Such pyramides of extra axletrees! such herd of oxen! such regiments of drivers and other employees! No one who has not seen can realize how vast a business this is, nor how immense are its outlays as well as its income.”
Freighting was HUGE business.
Now back to the bullwhip. These whips were the essential tool of the bullwhackers. It was the bullwhip that goaded the cattle forward when they were tired of pulling. It was the bullwhip that gave the freighters the control they needed from a distance. It was a simple tool, but without it, it would be hard to imagine how so much freight could have been moved.
Part of the History of the West books is about living history. Living history is about doing things people in history did. In this way, you can understand their lives better than any book can hope to describe. If you believe in the living history philosophy you can apply it and try your hand at the bullwhip.
Bullwhips have changed since the days John Bratt described them. These days, most are not made from leather, but rather more modern materials. Like anything, this material difference will alter the feeling of the bullwhip from those in the 1800s. However, the experience will be close enough you’ll develop the appreciation you are looking for. It would also be hard to justify a whip of over $1,000 just to get started. Instead, you can test the waters with a variety of choices under $125. On the other hand, you can actually make your own. Here is a video where one whip master shows how he builds his own whips.
Once you’ve got yourself a bullwhip, the next step is to learn to master a few of the basic cracks. Here are a few videos teaching you how to get started. If nothing else they should help you better understand the events in And the Wagons Rolled.
Hopefully these are enough resources to help you better understand the role bullwhackers played in the settlement of the American West. If you try your hand at some of the same cracks they used, with basically the same tool, you can better appreciate what life as a bullwhacker was like. While we often think of the more romantic western figures, it may have been the unsung freighter that changed the West as much as anybody.
