George Glenn
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
George Glenn George Glenn, son of Wash Glenn, was born into slavery in March 1850 and raised on the ranch of local cattleman Robert B. "Bob" Johnson. He was trained in ranching activities and as a trail cook. Following Emancipation, Glenn chose to stay on the Johnson Ranch as a cowhand. In the spring of 1870, Glenn accompanied Johnson on a cattle drive to Abilene, Texas. There, Johnson became ill and died. His body was placed in a metallic casket and temporarily buried in July 1870. Following the sale of the cattle, Glenn disinterred Johnson's body to drive it home in a wagon. Following the six-week trip, Johnson was re-interred next to his wife in the Columbus Cemetery. Glenn never made the trip to Abilene again. In 1872, he wed Lucy Conner. The couple established a homestead in Glidden and had at least one child. Glenn maintained a lifelong friendship with John Edward Folts, Texas Ranger, cattleman and nephew of Bob Johnson. Glenn was recognized for his bravery in traveling nearly 800 miles by wagon to bring his employer home. One of few African American members of the old trail drivers of Western America, Glenn was honored at the group's 1924 and 1926 reunions for his valor. An attendee at the 1924 reunion in San Antonio, noted Texas author and folklorist J. Frank Dobie interviewed Glenn, preserving the first-hand story of his famous trip for future generations. In 1931, at the age of 80, Glenn died of pneumonia at his home in Glidden. John Edward Folts once said of Glenn, "of such stuff were the old trail drivers, white and black, made…," and today Glenn is remembered for his bravery and loyalty, an example of the hard-working trail drivers of the late nineteenth century. (2003)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born into slavery in 1850 and raised on a Colorado County ranch, George Glenn trained as a cowhand and trail cook and stayed on the Johnson Ranch as a free man after Emancipation. On an 1870 cattle drive to Abilene his employer, Bob Johnson, died; after the herd was sold, Glenn disinterred the body and drove it nearly 800 miles home by wagon over six weeks for reburial. Honored decades later at Old Trail Drivers reunions and interviewed by folklorist J. Frank Dobie, he became one of the few Black members remembered by name from the great cattle-drive era.
Why it matters
Glenn's remarkable act of loyalty preserves the too-often-erased role of African American cowboys, who made up a large share of the drovers who built the western cattle trade.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
George Glenn grew up in Colorado County on the Texas coastal plain, in a ranching economy that depended on enslaved labor. Born into slavery in 1850, he learned cattle work and trail cooking as a young man, skills that were badly needed in the cattle country of South and Central Texas.
Emancipation and the end of the Civil War changed his legal status, but they did not end the hard economic reality of postwar Texas. The state was cash-poor and full of cattle. Back east and in the growing cities, beef sold for good money. The answer was the great trail drives: herds were pushed north for weeks or months to railroad shipping points, and from there the cattle went to Eastern markets.
Those drives needed skilled drovers, and a large number of the men who rode them were Black. Historians estimate that a substantial share of trail hands were African American, with many figures often putting it at around a quarter, though exact numbers are hard to pin down. For freedmen like Glenn, ranch work offered pay, mobility and a trade, even in a society that still put up hard barriers.
People & events
George Glenn, son of Wash Glenn, grew up on the ranch of Robert B. 'Bob' Johnson. After Emancipation he made a choice: he stayed on the Johnson Ranch, this time as a working cowhand. In the spring of 1870 he went with Johnson on a cattle drive to Abilene.
The drive turned tragic. In Abilene, Johnson fell ill and died. His body was placed in a metal casket and buried temporarily in July 1870. Glenn stayed on until the cattle were sold. Then, instead of going home empty-handed, he disinterred his employer's body, loaded the casket onto a wagon and started the long trip back to Texas. The journey took about six weeks and covered nearly 800 miles of rough country in the summer heat. At the end, Bob Johnson was laid to rest beside his wife in the Columbus Cemetery.
Glenn never made the trip to Abilene again. He married Lucy Conner in 1872, they set up a homestead in Glidden, and they had at least one child. He stayed lifelong friends with John Edward Folts, a Texas Ranger and cattleman who was Johnson's nephew. Decades later, the old trail drivers honored Glenn at their 1924 and 1926 reunions. At the 1924 gathering in San Antonio, the folklorist J. Frank Dobie interviewed him and recorded his story in his own words. Glenn died of pneumonia at home in Glidden in 1931, at 80. Folts summed him up: 'of such stuff were the old trail drivers, white and black, made.'
Its place in the American story
The popular picture of the American cowboy, built by dime novels and Hollywood westerns, has mostly been white. George Glenn's story helps correct it. Black cowboys were central to the cattle trade, and many began as enslaved ranch hands in Texas before riding the trails as free men. Glenn is one of the few whose name and story survived in detail.
That survival was no accident. The old trail drivers honored him, and J. Frank Dobie took the time to record his account. Most working cowboys, Black, white and Mexican alike, left no written record. Glenn's interview is a reminder of how much of American history depends on someone deciding a story is worth writing down.
His journey is also a story of loyalty and courage that doesn't fit easy categories. It took place in the uncertain early years after slavery, between two men whose relationship began under that system. Glenn's choice to bring Johnson home was remembered as an act of bravery, and his life invites us to think about the complicated human ties of the Reconstruction-era South.
If you visit
Columbus is a pleasant, historic county seat in Colorado County, and this marker makes a meaningful stop on a trip through the Texas coastal plain. Spend a minute picturing the end of Glenn's journey: a wagon rolling into town after six weeks on the road, bringing a man home to be buried beside his wife.
With Columbus Cemetery and the nearby community of Glidden connected to the story, the trip can extend beyond this marker. Visit respectfully, and keep in mind how far 800 miles by wagon really was in the summer of 1870.
Glenn's story fits naturally into a larger road trip through Texas cattle history, which also takes in the trail drive country to the west and the history of San Antonio, where the old trail drivers met. Bring the kids and tell them the story. A cowboy's loyalty and a six-week trip home is a tale that sticks.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · George Glenn
- · Robert B. "Bob" Johnson
- · J. Frank Dobie
- · John Edward Folts
Related events
- · Emancipation
Themes & tags
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