Cowboy’s Lament: A Life on the Open Range (review)

Frank Maynard (1853–1926) claimed to be the author of the earliest Western adaptation of the song “The Cowboy’s Lament,” also known as “The Streets of Laredo.” The tune originated as a late-eighteenth-century Irish ballad about a dying soldier who regretted his unruly ways. Once imported to America, the song’s central character changed to a promiscuous woman. Cowboys knew the new version, “The Dying [or Bad] Girl’s Lament,” as “The Whore’s Lament.” Maynard told a journalist in 1924 that he was the first to make a cowboy the primary subject when he altered the words in the winter of 1876. Maynard printed his version, “The Dying Cowboy,” in a book of poetry that he self-published in 1911. Maynard’s version differs from the most common lyrics.

Cowboy’s Lament does much more than discuss Maynard’s purported authorship of the song of the same name. Compiled, edited, and introduced by Jim Hoy, director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University in Kansas, Cowboy’s Lament presents Maynard’s previously unpublished memoirs, his poetry, and examples of some newspaper articles he wrote shortly before his death. Maynard’s writings tell of his life as a Plains cowboy during the 1870s. Hoy’s preface invites the reader inside the inspiration and research process that academics unfortunately often hide from readers. Hoy worked with members of Maynard’s extended family to learn about the cowboy with literary ambitions. “Here was the real thing, a working cowboy’s memoirs during the very heart of the era of the open range,” Hoy writes of his excitement upon discovering Maynard’s work: “Not a fence does he mention nor a gate does he open.” (xvi) Hoy argues Maynard’s account is important because he worked as a trail driver, the celebrated cowboy of popular culture, and also as a less-often romanticized herder that looked after the herd on the open range as the cattle awaited shipping.

Reading tales of the Wild West drew Maynard to the Plains. He roamed as a cowboy from the spring of 1872 until his marriage in the spring of 1881. Maynard and his wife subsequently moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he worked as a carpenter. Maynard’s desire to share his adventures with a wider audience led him to write the materials in Cowboy’s Lament. Although he failed in his efforts to get published for a large audience during his lifetime, he did achieve some local notoriety.

Family members described Maynard as a quiet man; however, talented prose and colorful language fill all six chapters of his memoirs with recollections of the privations, excitement, and danger of life on the range. Maynard describes well-known events such as the grasshopper plague of 1874 and the herders’ ongoing conflict with settlers. Maynard mentions several violent incidents, most of which he did not witness but which involved someone he knew.

Most of Maynard’s stories unfold in western Kansas. Maynard recalls one trip to Texas. In the third chapter of his memoirs, Maynard tells of his experiences with an outfit that he joined in March 1872 that delivered ponies from Kansas to Texas for use on the Chisholm Trail. Maynard fled from his unscrupulous employer and did not stay long in Texas. The chapter includes Maynard’s description of the vicinity around Jacksboro.

Cowboy’s Lament is delightful to read. It provides scholars with access to another published primary source and would be a wonderful gift for western history enthusiasts.