During the Civil War and later, tens of thousands of Longhorns belonging to cattle baron John S. Chisum grazed on this site, with his ranch headquarters ten miles east. Here in 1863-1865, Chisum not only ranched but also bought cattle to feed Confederate armies stationed west of the Mississippi River. Born in Tennessee, he came to the Republic of Texas in 1837 and, after serving a term as Lamar County clerk, began ranching in 1853. Seeking room to expand, he moved his well known Jingle-Bob herds to the Concho in 1863. Although he did not give his name to the famed northbound trail, Chisum's wartime cattle drives to Louisiana army camps were heroic, as the herds had to bypass or fight Indians, rustlers, and occasionally a Federal patrol, and Concho cattle had to swim the deep, cold Brazos River, where cowboys sometimes angered a heavy, wild bull to turn it on men and horses, while the river itself also killed men and horses. Even so, beef reached the Confederates. After the war, Chisum developed ranches in New Mexico and was a bystander in the Lincoln County Wars of Billy the Kid and other desperados.