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The story of Charlie Beaumont

  Charlie was born June 6, 1844, the oldest son of Robert C. and Elnora Bowman.  The Bowmans had moved from the Virginia Territory about 1820 to Calloway County, Kentucky where they had a small farm raising corn, cotton, and tobacco for their own use.  Mr. Bowman raised some of the finest horses in Southwestern Kentucky, and Charlie learned to ride early in life, and by the time he was ten, his horsemanship was superb.  He attended a one-room school where it was the common for all to graduate their education in the 8^th grade.   When the Civil War started in 1861, Charlie was seventeen, and the following year he enlisted in the 3^rd Kentucky Mounted Infantry.

  The Confederacy had the advantage in the early part of the war by having the best cavalry units and leaders.

While serving under Captain Isaiah Duncan, Charlie met a Corporal named John G. Wade who lived just one county west of his home. During Charlie’s boyhood, he and his dad had blown stumps with dynamite and that experience came in handy during the war years, where several times he was called upon to blow up bridges to cover their movement in another direction as when they crossed into Indiana in the Jeb Stuart raid.

   Their unit fought several engagements along the Blue Ridge mountains and into the area near Kennasaw, Georgia.  John Wade’s father was a Rally Captain which (since Kentucky was a neutral state, and the federals called any help to either side illegal).  He supplied guns, horsed and recruited men to the confederacy.  As the war came to a closing point in 1865, the south had exhausted most all its resources, spent most of its money, and a lot of units were near starving.  Following Lee’s surrender, the South was broke, its soldiers came home to almost unbearable conditions, many homes burned out, and between northern soldiers and carpetbaggers ,most cupboards were bare.  John Wade invited Charlie to come live with them since Mr. Wade had over 2000 Acres and could use his talent with explosives in clearing the fields of stumps.

   There were many slaves both in the north and the south, and slavery being outlawed, landowners had to tell the slaves their choice was either stay in their former location & quarters, working on shares, or leave to find work wherever they could.  Mr. Wade had over 100 slaves, and after being told this, several chose to stay on, some left, but two demanded that they be given money and horses.  A very heated argument followed, and Mr. Wade, his five sons and Charlie told them to leave.

   As most were either going into the home, or walking away, these two former slaves came after Mr. Wade, one with an ax, the other with a large Corn knife.  Sam Wade, one of the sons, cut down the one with the ax with his shotgun killing him instantly, and Charlie killed the other with his Colt 1860 revolver.

  Since both knew they would be hung for killing a black, they both took the only good horses and headed south.  Several weeks later, they were just south of Macon, Georgia and met a family named Harris where a wagon train was being formed to head to Texas. 

   There was a lot of days spent crossing the major rivers, and nearly a year later, they arrived in Liberty County, Texas,  just west of the Trinity River. 

   Several families chose to establish their homes there but the Harris family stayed for nearly a year before going on west to around Hillsboro, just north of Waco, Texas.

   Charlie turned toward Beaumont where he got a job building roads & bridges.

During the war years, he had gotten the nick-name of Nervous Charlie because of a slight stutter in his speech.  This was far from the truth because Charlie had nerves of steel, and extremely steady hands, becoming expert in explosives.  He even carried nitroglycerin several times when needed, and was never shook or nervous doing it.  But again because of his slight stutter, he was mistaken for a nervous person and the nick-name “Nervous Charlie” stuck.

   As Charlie was running from the law, It seemed a good time to also change his name,  Beaumont being kind of like Bowman, he became Charlie Beaumont for good.

  There was considerable cattle in the area, so when not in the work of building, he did drove cattle.  First just short trips toward the towns in that area, but his hankering to see the country turned him toward Hillsboro and his friend Sam Wade.

   Sam and one of his younger brothers James L. Wade were discussing the land that could be settled around Fort Stockton.  Sam was content where he had just built his home ranch, but James talked Charlie into traveling to Ft. Stockton for a look see.

  That area was wide open, but had a lot of Comanche and Apache in the area of the Glass Mountains.   They decided to stay, and started building a ranch immediately.  Over the next few years, they settled 32 sections of land, and grazed a very large herd of cattle.

   Charlie was finally at peace, far away from the killing fields of the Civil War and the explosion of battle, loving the feel of a good horse under him, and the open sky overhead, peaceful nights around the fire, and true friends.

   But having the desire to see more of the west, he hired on a large cattle drive going to Abilene.   After that, and a year or so later, he found his way to a peaceful place called Pine Ridge where a couple of his friends had built a fort, small town, Wells Fargo office, saloon, lake, and he thought he’d stay a while until his desire to see the open range hits him again.  

Nervous Charlie is a fictional person, just a typical cowboy, but most of the story is true events.  Captain James Andrew Wade was my great-grandfather.  He did own over 2000 acres in Graves County, Kentucky, His sons John and Sam did fight in the Civil War. And following their return, there was slaves who did intend to kill him and were shot, and that is how John went to Georgia, and Sam to Hillsboro, Texas

In my younger days, I did in fact help my Pa blow stumps on our farm, and during my marine days following the Korean war, I did hold nitroglycerin on my lap, transporting it from a bunker to a place where it was used.

  Pine Ridge, where Charlie ended his story is a single-action shooting club in western Indiana, with friends like Preacher, his wife Calamity Sue, Miss Kitty, and Black Feather, and Battlefield Bonnie.

 I hope this story is good enough to print in the Cowboy Chronicles.

Many Thanks

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Last modified: 10/29/08