TSHA | Loving, Oliver

On September 25, 1867, Oliver Loving, American pioneer rancher, died of gangrene poisoning after suffering an injury to his arm in an Indian attack. Loving and Charles Goodnight were responsible for the Loving-Goodnight cattle trail. Their story was fictionalized in Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. An excerpt from the article:

"In the spring of 1867 Loving and Goodnight returned to Texas, ready to start a new drive. The third drive was slowed by heavy rains and Indian threats. Loving went ahead of the herd for contract bidding. He took only Bill Wilson, a trusted scout, with him. Although he told Goodnight that he would travel at night through Indian country, Loving became impatient and pushed ahead during the day. His careless action brought an Indian attack in which he was seriously wounded. The weakened Loving sent Wilson back to the herd, eluded the Indians, and with the aid of Mexican traders reached Fort Sumner, only to die there of gangrene on September 25, 1867. Before Loving died Goodnight assured him that his wish to be buried in Texas would be carried out. After a temporary burial at Fort Sumner, while Goodnight drove the herd on to Colorado, Goodnight had Loving's body exhumed and carried home. Stories differ as to who accompanied the body back to Weatherford, but he was reburied there in Greenwood Cemetery on March 4, 1868, with Masonic honors."