Joseph "Cowboy" McCoy (December 21, 1837 – October 19, 1915) was a 19th-century entrepreneur known for promoting the transport of Longhorn cattle from Texas to the eastern United States. Early life Joseph Getting McCoy was one of eleven children born to Mary (née Kirkpatrick) and David McCoy. He was born on 21 December 1837 in Sangamon County, Illinois. The McCoy family were farmers. Joseph went to school, including one year at Knox College. He went into business as a stockman, breeding and selling mules. A big financial break came for McCoy in 1861 when he sold a stockcar-load of mules in Kentucky. Delivery requiring transport over five different rail lines, the experience was also an important lesson in rail logistics that would serve him in his major career venture six years later. The venture sufficiently established him that he was able to propose to Sarah Epler, a neighbor. The earnings from the Kentucky sale allowed McCoy to expand both the diversity and the national reach of his livestock dealings. Transporting cattle In the 1860s, cattle ranchers in Texas faced difficulties getting their longhorn cattle to market. Kansas homesteaders objected to the cattle crossing their land because the cattle might carry ticks which could spread a disease called Texas Fever (or Spanish Fever) fatal to some types of cattle. The disease could make a Longhorn sick, but they were hardier stock than the northern cattle and Longhorns seldom died from the disease. McCoy himself said of the disease: In 1868 a great number of cattle arrived in Kansas and the mid-west from Texas; appx. 40,000. With them came a tick born disease called "Spanish Fever". The local shorthorn breeds were seriously affected and in some towns the loss of the cattle was almost 100%. The result was a great predice against Texas cattle in Eastern Kansas and Missouri. McCoy expected that the railroads companies were interested in expanding their freight operations and he saw this as a good business opportunity. McCoy built a hotel, stockyard, office and bank in a little village along the Kansas Pacific Railway (currently the Union Pacific). This village became known as Abilene, Kansas - one of the first cow towns. McCoy's plan was for cattle to be driven to Abilene from Texas and taken from there by rail to bigger cities in The Midwest and the East. Abilene sat near the end of the Chisholm Trail