'Cowboy', where did the name come from?

[Ol Gabe]

Well Pards & Pardettes,
I was asked this question on another forum and gave my standard answer about how the term was used to describe young boys herding cows, a given, but that it developed into the nomenclature where it covered a broad base of jobs on the range out West and today means anyone working with cattle, horses, etc.
I've seen it in print in historical works written in the 1880's about the Rev War when young men called 'cowboys' were herding cows down the lanes to get them out of the way of the oncoming British Troops. Later it became popular to call the rough fellers that herded cattle out West the same thing in Dime Novels, but do you know of any other significant historical works where the term was used early on?
This will hopefully bring out some interesting comments and verifications.
Best regards and good reading!
'Ol Gabe

[Ornery Orr]

Men used to walk along behind the cattle and prod them along with a stick hence the name "cowpoke".  The term cowboy was actually used to describe the rough men that worked with cattle and some folks wanted military intervention to actually get these men under control.  The cowboy didn't have the glorious recognition at first.  Once dime novels and much later some movies started coming out, the cowboy became a much respected individual.

This was the jist that I got from Bob Boze Bell on the western channel this morning anyway.

[Major 2]

Here in Florida, the use of Cowboy is more 20th Century.
In the 19th century and early 20th. Cow Hunter or Cracker ( because of the bullwhips they carried sound)
Was the norm.

Just like in the west there were range wars, rustling, gun fights , free rangers & huge spreads.
There are some real good reads on the subject.

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[French Jack]

In most of the period writing I have seen, 'cowboys' was not really used much.  It was much more common to refer to the men as 'drovers' or simply 'hands', or 'riders'.  "vaqueros' were the southwest counterparts. 
The most notable reference to 'cowboys' was in applying the term to the band of 'cattle traders' or the rough bunch headed up by Curly Bill Brocius and the Laugherys.
I sort of gathered from a few remarks from my grandfather, who was a rancher in Montana in the 1880's, that the term was not well thought of, and could lead to a physical argument.

[44caliberkid]

Vaquero is spanish for cow man, cattle man , et al.  So probably it partially originated from that. The old spanish vaqueros used lances, long spears, to urge and guide the cattle along, and later waved the colorful sashes that they tied around thier waists as they rode next to the cattle to get them to turn. The sashes eventually just became decorative with American cowboys.
   Like French Jack said, the term "cowboy" was probably not commonly used till the dime novel adventure stories of the late 1880's and into the 90's.

[Big Hext]

Even among the current crop of working hands, "cowboy" is not a term to be used without caution.
"We ain't playin' at this, boy.. this is real work." or so was the quote the first time I addressed one of the hands at our roundup many, many years ago. 

Adios,

[Silver Creek Slim]

I just read about this in "The Westerners" by Dee Brown. I will bring the book tomorrow so I can quote from it. But, I will write now what I can remember.
During the Revolutionary War, loyalist "cowboys" would hide in the brush and ring a cowbell to lure a Yankee in to kill him. The Yankee would be going into the brush to get the cow for food. So, the term "cowboy" was not a good term.
When Charles Goodnight setup in the cattle business he called his workers "boys". Over time it morphed into "cowboys". As Goodnight aged, he forbid his "cowboys" from cussin', card playing, drinkin' spirits, etc. on the job. So, at the end of a drive, the "cowboys" would go "paint the town red", which didn't help the reputation of the "cowboy".

Slim

[Silver Creek Slim]

As I promised, below is a quote from the aforementioned book.

Slim

‘To care for them over such an extensive range,’ Goodnight said, ‘we employed a little army of men called “cowboys”.’ In his early years, he had always called them ‘boys’, the word ‘cowboys’ not being easily accepted in the West. Since the time of the American Revolution, there had been a taint of disrepute about the word ‘cowboys’, it being an appellation used by revolutionaries to I describe supporters of King George III: ‘The cowboys were the worst kind of Tories; they went around in the bushes armed with guns and tinkling a cowbell so as to beguile the patriots into the brush hunting for cows.’ The first hostelry for trail drivers in Kansas was called the Drover’s Cottage, and the drovers were called Texans (or Rebels if they were confronted by their recent enemies, the Yankees). By the late 1870s ‘cowboys’ was coming into general use, however, and Goodnight like everyone else began to use the word.
...
As Goodnight grew older, he also grew cranky in his ways, treating his cowboys like children. He forbade them to gamble, to drink liquor, to use profanity, or even to play cards in the bunkhouses. He particularly disliked mumbletypeg, a game played by flipping a knife into the ground, and in his efforts to stop it, he asked the Cattlemen’s Association to ban mumbletypeg completely in the Panhandle. This restrictive regimen imposed by Goodnight may explain why his cowboys had such a reputation for wildness when they reached Dodge City after a long trail drive.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I'd be wild, too!

[Silver Creek Slim]

I'd be wild, too!

I wouldn't doubt that. 

Slim