Maverick

   Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870) was a lawyer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a prominent citizen of San Antonio, and the owner of 385,000 acres in the state. His name became part of our language after he accepted 400 head of cattle as a settlement of a claim. Maverick had no ranch experience, so he turned over the herd to a hired hand, who allowed the cattle to graze unbrandcd, according to a letter from W. A. Seidel, Sr. of Knippa Falls, Texas, a friend of a grandson of Maverick, and published in the Wall Street Journal in July 1977. The cattle roamed, especially the calves. Neighboring cattlemen took advantage of the situation; they branded the strays with their own brands and then simply added them to their herd. And so, even though Maverick subsequently sold his depleted herd, unbranded cattle came to be known as "mavericks," and such cattle could be claimed by any rancher.

   By extension, in general usage today, a maverick is an unorthodox individual, a masterless person, who deviates from the customary way of doing things, refusing to be branded, so to speak, thus taking an independent stand. It may apply to anyone who has no particular attachment for a place or a group of people, or, in politics, to a person who does not acknowledge party leadership or whose cause is unsupported by his constituency. He is, to borrow a popular phrase, "swimming upstream."