Of course. And they ate them. And they may even have added them sometimes to their chili con carne (the full name of "chili"), creating a new concoction which may have been called chili con carne y frijoles. It was probably even delicious.Ogre09 said:
You don't think chuck wagons had dried beans?
But the result (then or now) is just not "chili" anymore. Just like grilled chicken in a tortilla is not a fajita.
I will happily eat chili with beans added to it. I just do not understand why people are so-opposed to using the correct name for something.