Bose Ikard was born a slave in Summerville, Mississippi, in June 1847 according to the best available evidence.
It is likely that his slave master, Dr. Milton Ikard, was his father and his mother was a slave named “King.” The Ikard family, slave and free, made the sojourn to Texas in 1852 and settled in western Parker County on the Comanche-Kiowa frontier.
As an adolescent, Bose was introduced to the dangers of Indian raids and the requirements of cowboy life.