The Junior Historian, Volume 30, Number 4, January 1970 Page: 1
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THE MAVERICKS OF TEXAS
by JIM SNELL
Bellaire High SchoolCCORDING to Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, a maverick is "an un-
branded animal, especially a
motherless or lost calf, customarily
claimed by the one first branding it" or
"a refratory or recalcitrant individual,
who bolts his party or group and initiates
an independent course."
A simple definition may attempt to
sum up the more specific connotations
of the word "maverick," but its stiff lan-
guage fails to encompass the details of a
romantic period of history, the true story
of a Texas pioneer, and the maverick
legacy which has functioned to preserve
the word "maverick" with some degree
of familiarity throughout the United
States.
Maverick cattle in Texas, were, in
actuality, calves, usually a year old (year-
lings) or older, which had remained un-
branded until spotted by a watchful cow-
man who proceeded to place his own
brand upon the calf.
One author who writes of the cattle
of Texas theorizes that the history of
mavericks dates to the days of Cort6z.
At this time, there were no fences, and
all cattle pastured together without re-strictions. The similar appearance of all
the cattle caused many cattle owners to
mistake or confuse the ownership of their
animals and wrongly estimate the num-
ber in their herds. Strangely enough, it
seems that these mistakes were almost
always overestimation of numbers and
cases of "mistakenly" claiming the larg-
est, strongest, and healthiest cattle for
their own. Consequently, states the au-
thor, the maverick and rustler found
their origin in the early cattle kingdom;
however, such cattle were not called by
this name until the period of the Civil
War in the United States.
The man for whom these cattle are
named has a legend and fame of his own.
His name was Samuel Augustus Mave-
rick. Maverick was born in South Caro-
lina, and in many ways, was typical of
the men who helped to build, defend, and
bring honor to Texas. George S. Perry
defines the word "maverick" as "a free
and rambunctious soul." The young
maverick seems to have been just that.
After graduating from Yale University
as a lawyer, he began to hear fantastic
stories about the wonderful place called
Texas and the adventure and action toi'
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 30, Number 4, January 1970, periodical, January 1970; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391408/m1/3/?q=%221964~%22: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.