Rowdy Yates

Rowdy Yates is a main character featured in the Rawhide series. A former corporal in the Confederate States Army and veteran of the American Civil War, Yates served as a the ramrod to trail boss Gil Favor during seasons 1-7, until taking over as trail boss for the eighth and final season. He was portrayed by Clint Eastwood.

Biography
Yates was likely born sometime 1845 in the southwestern Texas. At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Yates enlisted with the Confederate States Army at the age of only 16, eventually attaining the rank of corporal. He was eventually captured by Union Army forces and confined to a POW camp for the remainder of the war. Following his release, he accepted work driving cattle and took on a position as a 'ramrod', or the second-in-command. His duties included tending to cattle and keeping the cattle drivers in line and on task.

Appearances
Yates makes his first appearance in the first season episode Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon, in which he personally tackles the outlaw Dallas Storm during an escape attempt and agrees to accompany Favor in escorting the wounded Marshal Wilt Jackson and his prisoners to trial in Fort Craig, New Mexico.

Next, in Incident at Alabaster Plain, Yates runs into his former comrade-in-arms Buzz Travis at his wedding, but it is interrupted by Ward Mastic, the murderous step-son of Travis' new father-in-law. Yates and Favor assist in bringing Mastic and his gang to justice.