 SPOILER: The characters of Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call are  modeled after cattlemen Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight,  respectively. Upon the death of their scout, an escaped slave named  Bose Ikard, Goodnight carved a sign for his grave, just as Call does  for Joshua Deets. Loving died of blood poisoning from Indian arrows,  just like McCrae. Upon his death, Goodnight carried his body back to  Texas for burial, just as Call does for Augustus.