{{Short description|American rancher, cattle drover, cattle breeder, banker and philanthropist (1837–1919)}} {{Infobox person | name = Christopher Columbus Slaughter | image = C c slaughter.jpg | caption = Slaughter in a 1925 publication | birth_name = | birth_date = February 9, 1837 | birth_place = Sabine County, Republic of Texas | death_date = {{death date and age|1919|1|25|1837|2|9}} | death_place = Dallas, Texas, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas, Texas, U.S. | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = Larissa College | employer = | occupation = Rancher, cattle drover, cattle breeder, banker, philanthropist | title = Colonel | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = {{plainlist| * Cynthia Anna Jowell * Carrie Averill }} | children = 9, including Robert Lee Slaughter | parents = George Webb Slaughter<br/>Sarah Mason | relatives = John Bunyan Slaughter <small>(brother)</small><br/>William B. Slaughter <small>(brother)</small><br/>Ira P. DeLoache <small>(son-in-law)</small> | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = {{Flag|Confederate States of America}} (1861–1865) | branch = Confederate States Army | service_years = 1861–1865 | rank = Colonel }} }} '''Christopher Columbus Slaughter''' (also known as '''C. C. Slaughter''' or '''Lum Slaughter'''; February 9, 1837 – January 25, 1919) was an American rancher, cattle drover, cattle breeder, banker and philanthropist in the American frontier. After serving in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861–1865, he came to own 40,000 cattle and over one million acres of ranch land in West Texas. He became the largest taxpayer in Texas, and used his wealth to endow Baptist institutions. He was known as the "Cattle King of Texas".
==Early life== Christopher Columbus Slaughter was born on February 9, 1837, in Sabine County, Texas.<ref name=joan>{{cite web|last1=Perez|first1=Joan Jenkins|title=SLAUGHTER, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsl01|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=January 4, 2016|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref><ref name="libtexas">[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ttusw/00142/tsw-00142.html C. C. Slaughter Cattle Company: An Inventory of Its Records, 1912-1964, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library], Texas Archival Resources Online</ref><ref name="deathofcattleking">[http://www.tshaonline.org/day-by-day/30452 Death of "Cattle King" touches off family financial scandal, January 25, 1919], Texas State Historical Association</ref><ref name="acgreene">A. C. Greene, ''Sketches from the Five States of Texas'', College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1998, pp. 87-88 [https://books.google.com/books?id=XeSi31_W8H4C&dq=%22lum+slaughter%22&pg=PA88]</ref> His father, George Webb Slaughter (1811–1895), was a Baptist minister and rancher; his mother was Sarah (Mason) Slaughter (1818–1894).<ref name="joan"/><ref name="avalanche">Tanner Laine, [http://lubbockonline.com/stories/061500/spe_061500004.shtml U Lazy S Ranch left indelible mark on history of South Plains tackles massive chore], ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'', June 15, 2000</ref> At the age of twelve, he took up cattle handling on the Sabine River and the Trinity River.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="acgreene"/> He moved to Freestone County, Texas in 1852 with his family.<ref name="joan"/> Later, he drove timber from Anderson County to Dallas County, where he sold it.<ref name="joan"/> He also processed wheat in Collin County, Texas and sold it in Magnolia, Anderson County.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="acgreene"/> Meanwhile, he was educated by private tutors at home and later at the defunct Larissa College in Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas.<ref name="joan"/>
==Career== In 1857, Slaughter became a rancher with his father in Palo Pinto County, Texas, where they owned 15,000 cattle.<ref name="libtexas"/> They sold beef to Fort Belknap and local Native American reservations.<ref name="joan"/> During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, he served as a colonel in Terry's Texas Rangers of the Confederate States Army (C.S.A.).<ref name="libtexas"/> Together with Charles Goodnight, he helped rescue Cynthia Ann Parker.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="williamthagan">William T. Hagan, ''Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle'', Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012, p. 10 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BcKHBx26fekC&dq=%22lum+slaughter%22&pg=PA10]</ref>
Shortly after the civil war, Slaughter explored Mexico with Goodnight and four other companions.<ref name="williamthagan"/> However, the expedition came to an end as he was accidentally wounded by a gunshot.<ref name="williamthagan"/> Later, he became a cattle drover on the Chisholm Trail in Kansas.<ref name="libtexas"/><ref>Wayne Gard, ''The Chisholm Trail'', Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979, p. 104 [https://books.google.com/books?id=fxmP6zVeBRQC&dq=%22C.C.+Slaughter%22&pg=PA104]</ref> In 1873, he founded ''C. C. Slaughter and Company'', a cattle breeding firm.<ref name="libtexas"/> Four years later, in 1877, he purchased the Long S Ranch, one of the largest ranches in West Texas.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="libtexas"/><ref name="avalanche"/> That same year, he cofounded the ''Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association''.<ref name="libtexas"/> In 1873, he co-founded the City Bank, later known as City National Bank.<ref name="joan"/> He served as its vice president of 1881.<ref name="joan"/> Meanwhile, the town of Slaughter, Texas in Midland County, Texas was named after him in 1882.<ref name=slaughterhandbooktown>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Julia Cauble|title=SLAUGHTER, TX|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvsyq|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|date=June 15, 2010|access-date=January 4, 2016}}</ref> In 1884, Slaughter established the American National Bank, later known as the American Exchange National Bank, now part of First National Bank.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="libtexas"/>
Slaughter became known as the "Cattle King of Texas".<ref name="joan"/><ref name="libtexas"/><ref name="deathofcattleking"/><ref name="baylorhealth">{{Cite web |url=http://media.baylorhealth.com/channels/Historical/photos/Christopher-Columbus-Slaughter |title=Baylor Health Care System: Online Newsroom: Christopher Columbus Slaughter, 1837-1919 |access-date=2014-08-03 |archive-date=2014-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028142252/http://media.baylorhealth.com/channels/Historical/photos/Christopher-Columbus-Slaughter |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="houston">Meredith Simons, [http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2010/01/today-in-texas-history-cattle-barons-death-ignites-family-feud/ Today in Texas history: Cattle baron’s death ignites family feud], ''Houston Chronicle'', January 25, 2010</ref> Indeed, by 1905, he owned 40,000 cattle and oversaw over a million acres of land in West Texas by 1905.<ref name="libtexas"/> He bred Shorthorns with Herefords.<ref name="avalanche"/> His ranches included portions of Howard County, Dawson County, Borden County, Martin County, Castro County, Lamb County, Hale County, Lynn County, and Cochran County.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="avalanche"/><ref>John R. Wunder, ''Working the Range: Essays on the History of Western Land Management and the Environment'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1985, p. 90 [https://books.google.com/books?id=cP5I-rh8xmgC&dq=%22C.C.+Slaughter%22&pg=PA90]</ref> For example, he owned the Long S Ranch, but also the 25,000-acre Lazy S Ranch and the 17,000-acre Zavala Ranch, formerly part of the Mallet Ranch, as well as the Whiteface Ranch near Lubbock, Texas.<ref name="deathofcattleking"/><ref name="avalanche"/><ref name="texastechmallett">David J. Murrah, ''Oil, Taxes, and Cats: A History of the Devitt Family and the Mallet Ranch'', Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 2001, pp. 69-70</ref> For years, he was the largest taxpayer in Texas.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="avalanche"/>
Slaughter served as president of the United Confederate Veterans.<ref name=texascemeteries101>{{cite book|last1=Harvey|first1=Bill|title=Texas Cemeteries: The Resting Places of Famous, Infamous, and Just Plain Interesting Texans|date=2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, Texas|isbn=9780292734661|oclc=704706943|page=101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J360E4TIImkC&q=%22united+confederate+veterans%22+slaughter&pg=PA101|access-date=January 4, 2016}}</ref> He also served as vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a member of the executive board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.<ref name="baylorhealth"/> Additionally, he served on the Texas Baptist Education Commission in 1897.<ref name="libtexas"/> In 1904, he established the Baylor Hospital of Dallas in 1904, and he went on to serve on its board of trustees.<ref name="libtexas"/><ref name="baylorhealth"/> He was also a donor to the Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium and the Nurses' Home and Training School.<ref name="baylorhealth"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://media.baylorhealth.com/channels/Historical/photos/C-C-Slaughter-Breaking-Ground-on-the-Memorial-Sanitarium |title=Baylor Health Care System: Online Newsroom: 1904 - C.C. Slaughter breaks ground on the Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium |access-date=2014-08-03 |archive-date=2014-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810032008/http://media.baylorhealth.com/channels/Historical/photos/C-C-Slaughter-Breaking-Ground-on-the-Memorial-Sanitarium |url-status=dead }}</ref> It has been known as the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.<ref name="acgreene"/> Additionally, he served on the board of trustees of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.<ref>Keith E. Durso, ''Thy Will be Done: A Biography of George W. Truett'', Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2009, p. 91 [https://books.google.com/books?id=gweW67kz1_AC&dq=%22C.C.+Slaughter%22&pg=PA91]</ref>
==Personal life== Slaughter married Cynthia Anna Jowell (1849–1876) in 1861, at the beginning of the civil war.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="libtexas"/><ref name="acgreene"/><ref name="baylorhealth"/> They had five children.<ref name="libtexas"/><ref name="baylorhealth"/> He then remarried, to Carrie Averill (1861–1928) in Emporia, Kansas in 1877, and they had four children.<ref name="joan"/><ref name="libtexas"/><ref name="acgreene"/><ref name="baylorhealth"/>
In 1910, he became crippled after he broke his hip.<ref name="joan"/> He also had a debilitating loss of eyesight.<ref name="joan"/>
==Death and legacy== Slaughter died on January 25, 1919, in Dallas, Texas.<ref name="deathofcattleking"/> He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas. Shortly after his death, his son Bob Slaughter accused his uncle Bill Slaughter (C.C.'s brother), who managed the Long S Ranch, of trying to sell the Western S Ranch in Hudspeth County, Texas to Mexican ranchers, even though the ranch belonged to his son.<ref name="deathofcattleking"/><ref name="houston"/> As a result, Bob shot his uncle; this resulted in a US$3 million slander suit filed by the uncle against his nephew Bob.<ref name="deathofcattleking"/><ref name="houston"/> By 1921, his heirs divided his Long S Ranch and other land holdings, and sold them.<ref name="texastechmallett"/>
One of his daughters, Nelle (Slaughter) DeLoache, married Ira P. DeLoache (1879–1965), the real estate developer who founded Preston Hollow.
==Secondary sources== *Clarke, Mary Whatley. ''The Slaughter Ranches and Their Makers''. Austin: Jenkins, 1979. *Murrah, David J.. ''C. C. Slaughter: Rancher, Banker, Baptist''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981; 2nd edition published by the University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Find a Grave|18064}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughter, Christopher Columbus}} Category:1837 births Category:1919 deaths Category:People from Sabine County, Texas Category:People from Palo Pinto County, Texas Category:Military personnel from Dallas Category:Confederate States Army officers Category:Ranchers from Texas Category:American cattlemen Category:Bankers from Texas Category:Southern Baptists Category:19th-century Baptists