The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as "Deadwood Dick"

by Nat Love, Brackette F. Williams (Introduction)

Thousands of black cowpunchers drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War, but only Nat Love wrote about his experiences. Born to slaves in Davidson County, Tennessee, the newly freed Love struck out for Kansas after the war. He was fifteen and already endowed with a reckless and romantic readiness. In wide-open Dodge City he joined up with an outfit from the Texas Panhandle to begin a career riding the range and fighting Indians, outlaws, and the elements. Years later he would say, “I had an unusually adventurous life.”

 

That was rare understatement. More characteristic was Love’s “I carry the marks of fourteen bullet wounds on different parts of my body, most any one of which would be sufficient to kill an ordinary man, but I am not even crippled.” In 1876 a virtuoso rodeo performance in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, won him the moniker of Deadwood Dick. He became known as DD all over the West, entering into dime novels as a mysteriously dark and heroic presence. This vivid autobiography includes encounters with Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid, a soon-after view of the Custer battlefield, and a successful courtship. Love left the range in 1890, the year of the official closing of the frontier. Then, as a Pullman train conductor he traveled his old trails, and those good times bring his story to a satisfying end.

Genres: History, Biography, Westerns, Nonfiction, American, Memoir, American History

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I first heard of Nat Love when I read Paradise Sky, by Joe Lansdale. Nat Love was the main character and narrator, and I didn’t think to look up if he was based on a real person until I was almost finished with the book. I was excited to find that not only was he a real person: he had also written an autobiography that was published in 1907.

Because of other time commitments, I started this in small installments, a chapter or two a day, which is a fine way to get through it. I decided to power through to the end today, and that worked fine too. Either way, it’s a short book.

I expected his 20 years as a cowboy to be the most interesting part of his life, but this section of the book was actually my least favorite. He was at his least likeable in this stage of his life, and he sounded like a boastful jerk in the chapters describing the cowboy life. The cowboy life was also a lot more repetitive than I was expecting, despite the adventures he encountered making trips back and forth across the country with large herds of cattle or horses.

I was much more interested in his childhood, where his descriptions reflected a deadpan humor that must have inspired Lansdale when he wrote his novel from Love’s point of view. I was also fascinated by his post-cowboy career as a Pullman porter once he was married, which was his way of settling down but still feeding his desire for adventure and travel. I related to the sentiment in those chapters, and wished I could go on a railway journey myself in one of the wonderful trains he described. I related more to the spirit of adventure that expressed a love of the natural wonders of America as opposed to a spirit of adventure that spoiled for fights with Indians and killed buffalo for sport.

It’s worth a read if you’re curious about this period of history and definitely worth reading if you’ve read Paradise Sky or other works featuring Nat Love as a character.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved learning about a minority cowboy whose adventures should never have been forgotten. What an amazing life Nat Love lived! I really enjoyed his narrative and his great love for his country. Recommended for anyone interested in cowboy history, American history, black American history, or boys/men's interest.

Content: A few profanities and some mild violence

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read, with tons of interesting bits. You have to factor in that Nat Love had a writer write his up for him and the writer, er, jazzed up some of the stories, and the tendency of cowboys to tall tale when reading. But still its fascinating history because much of what he states so matter of factly in the book is historically verifiable.

Nat Love did win the title of Deadwood Dick by going to Deadwood on a cattle drive and winning both a Roping and Riding contest, as a shooting contest against some of the best guns in the world at the time. He very likely did run into most of the people he claims (certainly Buffalo Bill, Bill Hickock, Yellowstone Kelly, and others).

Where it starts to fall apart as a book is near the end, where it turns into a 4 chapter advertisement for Pullman Trains and has a paean to various colorful wild west criminals such as Billy the Kid and the James Gang. There's no chance Nat would have run into the James brothers, as they didn't come to his part of the country. Even if they had, they wouldn't have been friendly, and might have just shot him for being black as they were incredibly racist slavery supporters, for example.

But the tales of his youth, his trials and mistakes, his hilarious stories of getting a bit too much whiskey and trying crazy things, his heartaches, his getting stuck in a blizzard, his losing and then finding a horse again, etc all of that ring true and are amazing stuff.

[Gilbert Pruitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to see how he went from being born into slavery to becoming one of the most well-known cowboys in his day

[Danice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! He is a confident, eloquent, cowboy. Born a slave, he goes on a free man in pursuit of the wild life on the range. Later, his voice is strong and inspiring, his proud declaration of being an American is infectious!

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn’t particularly thrilling but it was interesting. I picked up this book after watching the movie “The Harder they Fall” and finding out that Nat Love was a real person. I enjoyed learning more about the post Civil War era. The book also read very quick and easily.

I’m assuming the book was translated between the 1880’s and 2021 because it seemed to be written in modern English, which doesn’t make sense.

Overall would recommend alongside watching the movie.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book feels genre/narratively disjointed and turns into a Pullman advertisement at the end. Love himself is an insufferable narrator. He spends most of the book lying through his teeth to convince you he’s the coolest person that has ever lived and not just an old man desperately trying to reclaim his glory days of random violence.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should have been longer with more about his mom, billy the kid, wild bill, jesse james... He knew everyone back then! Very interesting. Short, fast read. As one of the greatest cow boys in American history, he should be a household name. A must read for any age.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. The preface of Nat Love’s memoir starts “Having passed the half century mark in life’s journey, and yielding to persistent requests of many old and valued friends of the past and present, I have decided to write the record of slave, cow-boy and pullman porter will prove of interest to the reading public generally and particularly to those who prefer facts to fiction, (and in this case again facts will prove stranger than fiction).” Boy am I glad he yielded to the requests and boy was he right. In polemical times like these, it was a breath of fresh literary air to simply read an authentic, unadulterated true story of a black life with no political strings attached.

Don’t get me wrong, polemics have their place. We need provocative discourse for inciting change, but I think it needs to be balanced and fortified by genuine stories of lived experience not meant for anything other than to inspire the human imagination. Those stories are what remind us of our shared humanity and why we need to elevate less visible American voices.

Nat Love lived an exciting, extremely difficult, dignified life. From his days as a slave boy, to being prematurely thrust into adulthood by family deaths during reconstruction sharecropping days, to the ineffable life on the range and seeing the world as a sleeping car attendant, his life reads like a 1890s mixture of Olaudah Equiano, Forrest Gump, Dances with Wolves, and Ernest Hemingway. He teaches you profound lessons by simply being the man he was. As his mother put it “My boy, whatever happens, you never get discouraged.” He doesn’t shudder at or gloss over hardship, he embraces the growth from it and always finds a way to squeeze beauty from it. A true example of living a full, strenuous life.

While recounting life experiences, Love offers commentary that is matter of fact yet so poignant it’s nearly aphoristic. I think his concluding summary exemplifies this, “as I stop to ponder over the days of old so full of adventure and excitement, health and happiness, love and sorrow, isn’t it a wonder that some of us are alive to tell the tale.” Highly recommend if you want to read something adventurous, heartbreaking, and inspiring that will teach you about America in unexpected ways, black cowboy style.

[Sabrina Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nat Love was born into slavery. After the Civil War, his family was freed and left starving. His father soon died, and then his sister’s husband died. At the age of 13-14 he found himself trying to feed and clothe two families. The extreme poverty and conditions in the post-Civil War south were sobering, but no matter how bad things got, Nat never let it discourage him.

Throughout his autobiography, Nat says that it seemed to him he bore a charmed life. And I have to agree. At 14, he took a gamble and bought a raffle ticket for fifty cents, which won him a horse. He sold the horse back to the raffle manager for $50. Then bought another ticket and won again. He sold it back for another $50. With $100 to his name, he gave half to his mother and struck off at 15 to join with a cattle drive and begin twenty years as a cowboy.

For the next 20 years, he drove cattle, fought off cattle thieves and Native Americans, was shot 13 times, was frozen and thawed out, captured by a tribe and escaped, and even rode his horse into a saloon to buy him and his horse a drink. He also liked to rope things that shouldn't be roped... like a cannon and a moving train engine. Nat "Deadwood Dick" Love was the quintessential cowboy.

I love the positivity and self-deprecating humor that shines through in this autobiography. I do a lot of American West research for my writing, and I found this to be a treasure trove of delicious details. Everything from day to day living while driving cattle to the set up of Pullman Sleeping Cars and porters. It was also interesting to note the prejudices in his narrative. Nat rarely mentioned any towards himself as a Texan cowboy, but he had no love of Native Americans or Mexicans. It was very much a 'cowboy versus Indians' mentality. And it was all brutal. One vicious messy cycle of expansionism.

Many reviewers have said that this autobiography is full of tall tales, and another reference book said the same... But I didn't find anything in this biography that was hard to believe. I've come across crazier things. The west was truly wild, and the people even more so.

[Jeff Rash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second "Western expansion" book based on real life experiences that I read. I was intrigued by the narrative of Nat Love. He exudes self confidence to the point to hyperbole, meaning I see some areas where he may have exaggerated a bit. I am cautious in saying that because times were very hard and an expectation of toughness was the norm whereas today such behavior is seen as sexist or bravado. I really enjoyed this pamphlet. His transitions in life were consistent with history. It really was interesting how quickly the wide open plains and wild west were tamed by the railroad and the spread of technology
Nat's description of the United States as seen first hand, while working as a porter, was possibly the best, most patriotic description I've heard from anyone past or present. Remember this is from a former slave so his narrative could have been totally opposite but instead it portrayed the optimism that was part of the American dream.
You'll enjoy this read. I promise.

[Yibbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a life he lived! Born in a slave cabin, fatherless, providing for a family for a time, and off to the wild west at 15. After that, it just got more adventurous. From Arizona to Texas and into Montana it chronicles the changes in the west not from a historic perspective, but from one who lived through those changes. It was fascinating.
Let’s just say that I’m sure there are large, voluble sections of the internet that would gladly cancel this story. Why? Because here is a man who suffered under slavery and yet loves America; here is a man who legitimately was oppressed and yet amply proves his own prejudice; here is man who fought every step of the way on his own and yet begrudges no man his wealth. They would hate his can do joyful attitude. I found it wildly enjoyable.
He’s a flawed man who had joys, sorrows, and adventures, and a marvelous way of telling the reader about them. There are a couple curse words and some graphic descriptions of death, but somehow, he doesn’t let that get himself or the reader down. This book should be more well known.

[Oscar Lilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never heard of Nat Love. But he was truly a frontier legend who deserved to be fictionalized and embedded in the legend of the American West. Many of his stories are clearly embellished. But they are told in such a simple, matter of fact way to lend credit to the event. His story is the American story. And whether as a slave, a sharecropper, a cowboy, or a porter, Nat sought to be the best at whatever he set his mind to. He glorifies work and embodies the spirit and sanctity of the individual. Nat Love was very proud to be an American. And he saw so much of it. And he reminds me why I'm proud to be an American too.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong 3.5/5
-
I’m not a very nationalistic person, but I’m very pro-America when it comes to our vast amount of environmental beauty. We as Americans can’t take this land for granted- being able to drive a few short hours to see all kinds of unique wonders is a luxury we shouldn’t forget. Nat Love proves to be thankful in this regard and I can’t help but agree with him that you should take the time to appreciate your own backyard before crossing the pond. Not say you shouldn’t experience more culture, but to learn from your own home’s vast amount opportunities.

[Devin Poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice insight into the life of Nat Love. The writing is a bit uneven, as it was dictated to someone that didn't do a lot of editing of train-of-thought tangents, but there's still a lot of great stories in it. Even though a lot of the stories do have a "tall tale" feel to them -- attribute that to the book being written years after the fact? -- the book is a very informative look at the experiences of an ex-slave's transition to the life of a cowboy, post-Civil War.

[Grace Munro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the conversational, warm, and frank style with which this book was written. It's a very interesting read if you want to know more about the lives and adventures of Western American cowboys in and around the 1870s. Love's general racism against the Indigenous people he encountered is rather jarring to read now, but also not surprising given that his interactions with them were necessarily adversarial. He certainly did have an interesting life, and he wrote about it well.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting review of life from a man born a slave in TN and died a freeman in CA. Tales of gun fights, battling with natives, and seeing the country on the newest form of transportation - the passenger train. Some of Love's story may be invented, but he provides a unique first-hand account of the USA in the late 19th Century.

[Dav Paulsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stream of consciousness story

The things I enjoyed most were the stories of the men he met. Saying Billie the Kid was a good guy bucks the history I've read. I can't imagine cattle drives in the thousands I'd head from gulf to Canadian border.

[Bud Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite entertaining true story, although I suspect written with exaggeration. Full of history, focused on three main portions of his life: as a slave, as a cowpoke, and as a railroad porter. I rather enjoyed it.

[bob bursey · Rating 4 out of 5]

as different kind of western

Fun read.exciting till he turns porter. Interesting then but not what I was after or expecting. Love was a good man.Never said how he got any schooling in order to write this book.Which he did very well.glad I read it.

[James Mayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Book

I have always heard about Nat love. I was glad to finally learn more about the legend. Dude lived a wild life, and to be able to live to tell the tale is a great accomplishment.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing and rollicking true tale that's only hampered by the 'old-timey' writing style.

[Michael Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read for the times

A good read,not so sure all is real as he says. Possibly a lot of boastful writing. He was one lucky SOB....

[William Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Douglas Wingert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story of a man born into bondage who became a top cowboy in the wild west.

[Kent McInnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never could figure out if it was real or fiction.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting tale about being an ex slave turned cowboy.

[Josh Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cool tales and a view into what life was like for a black man once a slave, cowboy and porter for a railroad company!

[keats · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun cowboy lore. yippee. i actually just read a copy of the original version, not the one with the intro. but still

[David Lingerfelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story about a former slave turned cowboy turned train porter. He experienced great change in the US and it's surprising how many sites he's seen and how many stories he has to tell.