Montie Goodin, a member of the museum board who was born in the Goodnight house in 1931, two years after Goodnight's death, said that Goodnight had no concept of his own importance: "It didn't matter who you were, he invited all in."

Goodnight is  presented as a good and decent man.
J. Frank Dobie, who knew Goodnight, is quoted in Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle as having said: "I have met a lot of good men, several fine gentlemen, hordes of cunning climbers, plenty of loud-braying asses and plenty of dumb oxen, but I haven't lived long enough or traveled far enough to meet more than two or three men I'd call great.
This is a word I will not bandy around.
To me, Charles Goodnight was great-natured."

Other views have been expressed.
In Time-Life's 1973 publication The Cowboys, the author states (p. 62): "Goodnight was no better than the rest.
Once when his wife expressed shock at some vigilante hangings ('I understand', she exclaimed, 'they hanged them to a telegraph pole!')
Charlie replied quietly, 'Well, I don't think it hurt the telegraph pole.'
What she didn't know was that the victims had actually been strung up with Goodnight's full approval."
The men hanged were caught in the act of murder and cattle rustling.

The western-themed sculptor Grant Speed's depiction of Goodnight is housed in the Square House Museum in the city of Panhandle.
In 2010, another of Speed's sculptures of Goodnight sold at auction for $5,400.
Montie Goodin, a member of the museum board who was born in the Goodnight house in 1931, two years after Goodnight's death, said that Goodnight had no concept of his own importance: "It didn't matter who you were, he invited all in."
Goodnight is  presented as a good and decent man. J. Frank Dobie, who knew Goodnight, is quoted in Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle as having said: "I have met a lot of good men, several fine gentlemen, hordes of cunning climbers, plenty of loud-braying asses and plenty of dumb oxen, but I haven't lived long enough or traveled far enough to meet more than two or three men I'd call great. This is a word I will not bandy around. To me, Charles Goodnight was great-natured."
Other views have been expressed. In Time-Life's 1973 publication The Cowboys, the author states (p. 62): "Goodnight was no better than the rest. Once when his wife expressed shock at some vigilante hangings ('I understand', she exclaimed, 'they hanged them to a telegraph pole!') Charlie replied quietly, 'Well, I don't think it hurt the telegraph pole.' What she didn't know was that the victims had actually been strung up with Goodnight's full approval." The men hanged were caught in the act of murder and cattle rustling.
The western-themed sculptor Grant Speed's depiction of Goodnight is housed in the Square House Museum in the city of Panhandle. In 2010, another of Speed's sculptures of Goodnight sold at auction for $5,400.
Charles Goodnight