Darnell Buchanan

TL;DR version Poor Family Enlisted at 17 Fought for 10 years Joined cattle drives spent 10 years roaming the west now feels useless with all the changes like fences and trains

Darnell Buchanan, or ""Buck"", was born in the southern Appalachian Mountains in 1843. Coming from a poor family, he spent his childhood working on his father's farm. In 1861, at the age of 17, Buck hesitantly enlisted in the Confederate army, assigned to a cavlary unit for his natural aptitude with dealing with horses. After saving the life of his captain, Buck was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was trained heavily in mounted combat. With the Confederate surrender at the Battle of Washington in 1871, Buck returned home, but soon grew restless, and headed west to Texas.

It was there that once again his way with horses landed him a job with the cattle drives, first as an assistant wrangler, and taking over the job as wrangler as time went by. As the bombastic 1870's came to a close, the west began to change, with more and more land beginning to be fenced off, and less and less open territory, less sense of freedom, and more civilization that encroached, bringing with it more towns and technology like trains, with which a bad experience led to Buck developing a mild fear of the contraptions. Eventually, fences and trains eliminated the need for long cattle drives, and Buck suddenly was out of work.

But as the world moved on around him, Buck seemingly couldn't, and so once again he did what he was good at. He rode. Heading west until the food, money, and finally whisky ran out, Buck slowly trotted into town on the back of his palamino Morgan, he regarded the sign post he passed by, noting the name of the town: Brimstone. Maybe here he can find work, food, liquor, and hopefully some belonging.

In 1884, Darnell was hired on at the Rocking C ranch not long after arriving, clinching the position as a wrangler after stopping the ranch's cattle from stampeding while in the middle of a fistfight with a rival rancher. As time passed, Darnell fell into more and more of the day to day business of the ranch, a testament to his improving skills and self-education. At some point in late 1884, Darnell was nearly mortally wounded by an assassin that shot him as he left the Jumpin' Jack Saloon. He recovered, and remains at the Rocking C to this day.