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Cattle Drive Heroes and Trail Bosses

Nat Love, the Black Cowboy and Author Who Called Himself Deadwood Dick

A formerly enslaved Tennessean spent two decades as a drover and left a memoir that historians read with care.

Who was Nat Love?

Nat Love was a Black cowboy and author, born into slavery in 1854 in Davidson County, Tennessee. According to BlackPast, he worked about 20 years as a drover, moving cattle and horses in the Texas Panhandle, Kansas, Arizona Territory and Dakota Territory. He published his autobiography in 1907 and died in Los Angeles in 1921.

The story below separates what outside sources document from what comes only from his own memoir.

Born into slavery, learning to ride

The Kansas Historical Society says he learned roping, herding and branding as a boy, and learned to read and write although laws forbade teaching enslaved people to read. He was freed at the end of the Civil War, and his father started a farm and died soon after.

The Kansas article says he won a horse in a raffle, gave half the sale money to his mother and, at age 15, took the rest and headed to Kansas. BlackPast gives 1869 as the year he left Tennessee for Texas.

Life on the cattle trails

In Dodge City, per the Kansas account, he looked for cowboy work and soon was driving cattle on the trails. Over the next two decades he worked herds across the Panhandle, Kansas, Arizona Territory and Dakota Territory. When the trail days faded, he became a porter on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in 1890 and held the job for fifteen years. He married Alice in 1889, and they had one child.

How did Nat Love become Deadwood Dick?

According to the Kansapedia article, one account says he earned the title by winning a shooting contest in Deadwood. BlackPast says he claimed the name and the respect of Deadwood citizens. Deadwood Dick was also a common character in dime novels: Edward L. Wheeler wrote more than thirty books about one in the 1890s, which Love claimed were about him.

The Kansas article calls the name common at the time. Historians therefore treat the origin story as his claim, not as proven fact.

The Key to Love's Story

Love left a firsthand account of a drover's life, and his book has to be read critically.

What the record supports:

  • He gained skills young, learning cattle and horse work as a boy in slavery.
  • He went to Dodge City looking for cowboy work and was soon on the trails.
  • He worked across regions, from Texas to Arizona to Dakota.
  • He wrote his own account in 1907, which gave him a voice most drovers never had.
  • He adapted when the trade ended by taking steady railroad work.
  • The caveat: BlackPast says the memoir contains numerous hyperboles and exaggerative claims.

What is unverified in his memoir?

Kansapedia notes that some episodes are presented as legend: that he was ambushed, captured by American Indians and spared for his bravery, and that a chief offered 100 ponies for his daughter's hand, which he refused before stealing a pony and riding off. The Kansas article is reader-contributed and does not assess the memoir's accuracy. The 1907 memoir is free on Project Gutenberg.

Legacy and further reading

Love died in Los Angeles in 1921. His book is a firsthand account of a drover's life, with the caveats above. More on trail history sits on the ranching pages of farm.FM, with a farm.FM story about cowboy history for more.

Timeline

  1. 1854Born in Davidson County, Tennessee, into slavery
  2. 1865Freed at the end of the Civil War
  3. 1869Leaves Tennessee for Texas and Kansas
  4. 1889Marries Alice
  5. 1890Becomes a Denver and Rio Grande Railroad porter
  6. 1907Publishes his autobiography
  7. 1921Dies in Los Angeles

Frequently asked questions

Who was Nat Love?

Nat Love was a Black cowboy and author born into slavery in Tennessee in 1854. He worked about 20 years as a drover across the Plains and Southwest and published a memoir in 1907.

Why was Nat Love called Deadwood Dick?

Love said he earned the name in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. One account credits a shooting contest. The name was also common in dime novels, so the origin is unverified.

Is Nat Love's autobiography reliable?

Historians caution that it contains hyperbole and exaggeration. Episodes like the Indian capture and the chief's offer of ponies are presented as legend rather than established fact.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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