Abstract

• “Although Deadwood used a mixture of actual and fictional occasions, it did a terrific job capturing the colourful characters who formed the city.”
• “Al Swearengen, each within the present and in actual life, was a ruthless and sadistic determine who dedicated unspeakable acts of cruelty.”
• “Seth Bullock, in contrast to Swearengen, was a pillar of the group and performed an important function in bringing regulation and order to Deadwood.”

Although loads of characters that dotted the forged roll of Deadwood had been totally fictional creations of the present, there have been a shocking quantity who had been based mostly on real-life historic figures. Working for 3 seasons, Deadwood adopted the occasions of the actual frontier city of Deadwood, South Dakota. Over the course of the present, Deadwood grew from little greater than a brief, unlawful camp within the Dakota Territory of the Previous West to a longtime city stuffed with notable individuals.

Deadwood strove to be as correct as doable concerning the clothes, buildings, and instruments of the time, with the manufacturing even utilizing diaries of the previous townspeople and newspaper articles of the time to recreate the city because it was within the late Eighties. Nonetheless, as with just about all TV reveals based mostly on historical past, Deadwood used a mixture of actual occasions, fictional occasions, and actual occasions that had been modified for the needs of the present. Regardless of that mix of fiction and truth, one factor Deadwood did properly was its individuals: virtually two dozen characters within the sequence had been based mostly on real-life figures who lived in Deadwood.

21 Al Swearengen

Performed by: Ian McShane

In each the Deadwood sequence and the actual Deadwood, Al Swearengen was a larger-than-life determine. Within the sequence, Ian McShane’s portrayal is ruthless, underhanded, and sometimes merciless. He has no regret for his actions and has a streak of sadism that he usually employs for his personal cruel ends.

Shockingly, the actual Al Swearengen was arguably even worse, with the present leaving out a few of his well-documented cruelties. Married 3 times, Swearengen abused his wives with an unnerving brutality. He additionally lured younger ladies to Deadwood by promising them good jobs in his Gem Theatre, then locked them into indentured servitude or threw them out on the streets. When the Gem Theatre burned down for a 3rd time in 1899. Broke and offended, Swearengen left Deadwood for good and was killed shortly after. Fittingly, it is not clear whether or not he was killed whereas making an attempt to hop a prepare or if he was murdered.

20 Seth Bullock

Performed by: Timothy Olyphant

In distinction to Al Swearengen and his duplicitous dealings in Deadwood, Seth Bullock was a superb man and pillar of the group. The actual Seth Bullock was born in Canada earlier than emigrating to america and settling in Helena, Montana as a younger man. Whereas there, he served as a politician and sheriff and helped to create Yellowstone Nationwide Park. It was in Montana that he additionally befriended Sol Star and the 2 males arrange their ironmongery shop. Quickly after, Seth and Sol moved their ironmongery shop to Deadwood to chase the alternatives offered by the booming Gold Rush.

On the time, Deadwood was a lawless, violent place and a few of the city’s residents had been looking for methods to use some semblance of regulation to the frontier city. Together with his background, Seth Bullock was a pure match as Deadwood’s first sheriff (formally the Lawrence County Sheriff); his place as a lawman introduced him into direct battle with Swearengen many occasions. Later, Bullock, with the assistance of Star, would convey alfalfa farming to South Dakota, turned a U.S. Marshal, opened the Bullock Resort, S&B Ranch Firm, and the Deadwood Flouring Mill, turned a big investor within the booming mining trade of the area, befriended future President Theodore Roosevelt, and co-founded the city of Belle Fourche. Seth Bullock died in September 1919 from most cancers at his Belle Fourche ranch.

19 Martha Bullock

Performed by: Anna Gunn

In her personal means, Martha Bullock turned as revered in Deadwood as her husband, Seth, throughout their tenure there. Martha and Seth had identified one another when younger and subsequently married in 1874 in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah. When Seth and Sol Star determined to maneuver to Deadwood, Martha and their daughter, Madge, quickly went to dwell along with her dad and mom in Michigan whereas Seth cleaned up the city. As soon as he’d introduced some semblance of order to Deadwood, Martha moved to Deadwood, reuniting the Bullock household.

Whereas Seth labored to convey regulation and order to Deadwood, Martha labored to convey civilization and tradition to the city. She helped discovered the women literary group the Spherical Desk Membership and served as its president. The Spherical Desk Membership then went on to discovered the Deadwood Public Library; each the membership and the library exist immediately. Martha was additionally concerned and hands-on along with her church, and usually helped set up group occasions to convey Deadwood collectively. She did all of this on prime of managing the Bullock family, their three youngsters, and, for a time, their nephew Douglas. Martha Bullock died in 1939; each she and Seth are buried within the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.

18 Solomon “Sol” Star

Performed by: John Hawkes

He might not have been the grandiose determine that Seth Bullock was, however Solomon “Sol” Star was as integral to the muse of Deadwood and the area’s success. Sol Star was born in 1840 in Bavaria, Germany, to a Jewish household however was despatched to dwell with family in Ohio when he was 10. As a younger man, he moved to Helena, Montana, the place he struck up his well-known friendship with Seth Bullock whereas serving as the non-public secretary to the governor.

In Deadwood, Sol was the co-founder of all the things that he and Seth Bullock completed collectively, together with their ironmongery shop, the S&B Ranch Firm, the Deadwood Flouring Mill, the Bullock Resort, and founding the city of Belle Fourche. Whereas Seth Bullock was extra of a lawman, Sol Star had a knack for politics. He served on the primary Deadwood city council, was the city postmaster, and finally turned its mayor for 14 years. Later, he served within the South Dakota Home of Representatives and the Senate earlier than changing into the Clerk of Courts for Lawrence County, a place he held for 20 years till his demise in 1917. As an alternative of laying him to relaxation in Deadwood, his household had his physique transported again to Missouri to be buried.

17 Calamity Jane

Performed by: Robin Weigert

Calamity Jane was a towering determine within the frontier period of the American West, leaving a legacy as colourful and enormous as any of her male counterparts of the time. It is identified that she was born Martha Jane Canary on Could 1, 1852 in Princeton, Missouri. Past that, a lot of the details about her adolescence cannot be confirmed, as lots of the particulars got here from Canary herself, and he or she exaggerated or outright fabricated sure particulars of her life to advertise her profession as a sharpshooter. What is for certain is that she was identified by her nickname of “Calamity Jane” by the point she arrived in Deadwood in 1876 (on the identical wagon prepare as Wild Invoice Hickock) because the well-known frontierswoman who dressed like a person.

Calamity Jane settled within the Deadwood space and as soon as claimed to have been married to Wild Invoice Hickock on the time of his demise, although, like lots of her claims, it is in dispute. Even with out her exaggerations, Calamity Jane’s life was outstanding. She as soon as saved a stagecoach by chasing off its Native American attackers; when the motive force was killed, Calamity Jane jumped into the motive force’s seat and drove the stagecoach safely to Deadwood. One other time, when a smallpox epidemic hit Deadwood, Jane was within the thick of it serving to to nurse the stricken. Calamity Jane died of pneumonia and infected bowels on the Calloway Resort close to Deadwood on August 1, 1903.

16 Wyatt (& Morgan) Earp

Performed by: Gale Harold & Austin Nichols

The Deadwood sequence depicted the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp (alongside along with his brother, Morgan), arriving within the city. Not like many historic drama TV reveals that fudge timelines to convey collectively historic figures who by no means met, Earp actually did come to Deadwood for a short interval. His time in Deadwood occurred 4 years earlier than the notorious shootout on the O.Ok. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona alongside his brothers and Doc Holliday.

In 1976, Wyatt and Morgan had been chasing the gold rush like so many others heading to Deadwood. Some accounts say that he was all for changing into the wild city’s marshal and it brought on a conflict between him and Seth Bullock, who was by then already the lawman of the city. Nonetheless, nothing about this might ever be discovered within the city’s newspapers of the time; like many different tales of the period, it seems to be made up for grandiose impact. Regardless, the Earps’ time in Deadwood was short-lived. Morgan returned to Dodge Metropolis, Kansas upon their discovery that every one the land round Deadwood was already claimed, and Wyatt returned the next spring.

15 Wild Invoice Hickok

Performed by: Keith Carradine

Wild Invoice Hickock was a towering determine of the American frontier: a revered gunslinger and lawman, in addition to an expert gambler – a real archetype of the Previous West. Born James Butler Hickock in Troy Grove, Illinois in 1837, he confirmed a outstanding aptitude for marksmanship and sharpshooting from a younger age. Having at all times been enamored with the frontier, nevertheless, Hickock set out west after a battle with one other boy wherein every thought he’d killed the opposite.

Hickock moved to Kansas and joined the Jayhawkers antislavery vigilante group and served as a scout within the U.S. Military earlier than becoming a member of the Union Military throughout the Civil Struggle. After the battle, he served as deputy U.S. marshal and lawman in varied frontier settlements, throughout which period he was engaged in a number of shootouts of questionable justification. Together with his wild card fame as a gunslinger and grasp gambler rising, he joined Buffalo Invoice Cody’s touring Wild West Present. Wild Invoice met his finish in Deadwood in 1876 when he was shot within the head from behind by a drunkard named Jack McCall. Apparently, it is rumored he advised a few of his pals earlier than his demise that he felt he’d die in Deadwood.

14 Jack McCall

Performed by: Garret Dillahunt

Jack McCall would have lived and died an unremarkable life and by no means been a footnote in historical past had it not been for one ill-advised act of revenge. Not a lot is thought about McCall’s life earlier than his homicide of Wild Invoice Hickock. It is estimated that he was born within the 1850s in Kentucky, however the actual yr is not identified. He had three sisters, however later left his household to change into a buffalo hunter out west. Finally, he settled within the mining camp exterior Deadwood with the alias of “Invoice Sutherland.”

Occasions had been set into movement on August 1, 1976 when Jack McCall and Wild Invoice Hickock met at Nuttal & Mann’s saloon. McCall was drunk when he dropped in on a sport of poker that included Hickock. McCall shortly misplaced a number of palms and shortly was out of cash. Hickock provided to purchase McCall breakfast to make up for it and correctly suggested McCall to not gamble once more till he might cowl his losses. Hickock meant it with generosity, however McCall was reportedly insulted and returned to the saloon the subsequent day, once more drunk, and shot Hickock point-blank at the back of the pinnacle. After two separate trials, McCall, age 24, was publicly hanged on March 1, 1877 for his crimes.

13 Charlie Utter

Performed by: Dayton Callie

Charles “Charlie” Utter was very a lot an actual resident in Deadwood, however his portrayal within the present by Dayton Callie is sort of completely different from how he was described in actual life. Within the present, he is sincere and difficult, usually exhibiting kindness to others; by all accounts, the real-life Charlie Utter was the identical. Nonetheless, in Deadwood, Utter is proven as considerably sloppy and uncomfortable round individuals whereas the actual Charlie Utter was fairly meticulous about his look, dressing in custom-tailored fits and taking care to groom himself neatly. In reality, he additionally took day by day baths, an virtually unheard-of observe in these days.

One factor that was true in each the present and actuality was his friendship with Wild Invoice Hickock. His friendship with Hickock went again lengthy earlier than they each arrived in Deadwood, nevertheless. Through the years, Utter was a trapper and hunter, a mine proprietor and gold prospector, an categorical rider, and concerned in transportation. In his travels, he met Hickock and the 2 turned quick pals. When Hickock was killed by Jack McCall, Utter was the one to say Invoice’s physique, prepare for his funeral, and lay him to relaxation with a correct grave marker in Deadwood.

12 Aunt Lou Marchbanks

Performed by: Cleo King

Within the Deadwood sequence, Aunt Lou is a beloved determine and he or she was reportedly simply as beloved in actuality. Lucretia “Aunt Lou” Marchbanks was born a slave in Putman County, Tennessee, on March 25, 1832. She grew up along with her 11 brothers and sisters on the plantation owned by Martin Marchbanks and raised as a prepare dinner and housekeeper earlier than touring with the Marchbanks’ eldest daughter. After the Emancipation Proclamation declared her free, Lucretia continued to journey west, arriving in Deadwood, like so many others, in 1876.

Within the present, Aunt Lou serves as George Hearst’s private prepare dinner after which the pinnacle prepare dinner of the Grand Central Resort after Hearst purchases it. In actuality, she by no means labored for Hearst, although she certainly change into the kitchen supervisor on the lodge and it was her cooking that drew individuals to the lodge and earned her the nickname of Aunt Lou. Over time, her fame and frugality with cash enabled her to open her personal enterprise, known as the Rustic Resort, within the Black Hills, and her legendary meals ensured the lodge’s success. Aunt Lou bought the Rustic Resort in 1885 and moved to Wyoming, the place she purchased a ranch and labored with horses and cattle till her demise in 1911.

11 Johnny Burns

Performed by: Sean Bridgers

Within the Deadwood present, Sean Bridgers’ Johnny Burns is a lackey of kinds for Al Swearengen, working at Swearengen’s Gem Saloon as a bartender and Swearengen’s enforcer. Because of his typically dimwitted nature, Swearengen each verbally and bodily lashes out at Burns. Burns reveals extra of an ethical compass than his boss, typically refusing to drag the set off when Swearengen orders successful and likewise exhibiting regret and remorse for his extra violent actions.

The actual Johnny Burns was a lot much less sympathetic than his TV counterpart, nevertheless. Burns actually did work on the Gem Theatre, however, whereas he possible did have a tendency bar, his most important function was as a “field herder,” or the one in command of wrangling the women who had been pressured into indentured servitude by Swearengen. Not like Deadwood’s Johnny, who as soon as refused to kill one among Swearengen’s prostitutes, the actual Burns was reportedly brutal towards the women, usually beating them mercilessly and doling out extreme punishments after they stepped out of line.

10 Dan Dority

Performed by: W. Earl Brown

In Deadwood, W. Earl Brown’s Dan Dority is significantly fictionalized by necessity as a result of not a lot being identified about him. Even his surname, Dority, is spelled in another way than the actual Dan, who spelled his final title as “Doherty.” Few particulars are identified about his adolescence, aside from that he was born in Maine in or round 1952 as Dan Michael Doherty. Within the 1860 census, he was nonetheless residing in Maine along with his dad and mom and two siblings however the 1880 census listed him as residing in Deadwood. It may be surmised that, like so many others, he got here to city in 1876.

Within the present, Dan Dority is Al Swearengen’s right-hand man, although not fairly as cruel as his boss. He held a lot the identical function in actual life, managing the Gem Theatre upon its opening in 1877, attending to the respectable enterprise within the entrance in addition to the backrooms that held the prostitutes. Like Johnny Burns, the actual Doherty does not seem to have been as typically soft-hearted because the model within the present; he usually brutalized the women who labored as prostitutes on the brothel and had no issues with clients doing the identical, even when it typically result in the demise of one of many working women.

9 E.B. Farnum

Performed by: William Sanderson

Within the city of Deadwood, E.B. Farnum was one of many few settlers of Deadwood who did not arrive on the city to take part within the gold mining increase. As an alternative, he noticed the potential to cater to that rising group and moved his spouse and three youngsters from Wisconsin to Deadwood. He opened up a common retailer in 1876 and shortly purchased up quite a few different heaps on Primary Road, although he was not the proprietor of the Grand Central Resort as depicted within the present.

In Deadwood, Farnum is portrayed as foppish and buffoonish, a self-important man who’s totally managed by Al Swearengen however harbors delusions he’s his personal man. In contrast, the actual Farnum seemed to be a considerate and prudent chief as the primary mayor of the city. Throughout his time as mayor, he satisfied the Military to ascertain a submit close to the city, established a quarantine home throughout Deadwood’s smallpox epidemic, arrange Deadwood’s first hearth division, the primary telegraph middle, the primary college, and a system of avenue cleansing whereas additionally being the magistrate, choose, and head of the college board. It isn’t identified precisely when he left Deadwood, however he was listed as residing in Tennessee within the 1900 census.

8 Samuel Fields

Performed by: Franklyn Ajaye

Samuel Fields, performed by Franklyn Ajaye, was one among Deadwood‘s most flamboyant figures. Virtually impossibly, the actual Samuel Fields may need been an much more colourful character. Within the sequence, he first befriends Calamity Jane. In actuality, it is not totally clear how he arrived in Deadwood, although most information estimate that, like most who moved to the world to hunt their fortune, Fields arrived in 1876.

Fields instantly established his showman-like, larger-than-life persona upon arriving in Deadwood when he advised everybody he’d been a common within the Union Military throughout the Civil Struggle, a declare that was totally unfaithful. As one among Deadwood’s few African-American residents, Fields was an outspoken participant at “Coloured Residents Conferences” and shortly earned a fame as an eloquent and entertaining speaker. He was usually quoted within the native papers, incomes himself a rising listing of nicknames round city. Fields seemingly at all times discovered himself on the middle of mischief in Deadwood, whether or not by means of sheer accident or by affiliation. Not a lot is thought about Fields’ exploits after 1890, however his time in Deadwood offered sufficient materials for a lifetime.

7 George Hearst

Performed by: Gerald McRaney

Not like others within the sequence who sought out Deadwood to hunt their fortune, George Hearst was already a rich mining tycoon by the point he got here to city. He’d already established mining camps in Utah, Nevada, California, and Montana, and had pursuits and investments in mines and vital lodes throughout the nation. He was a ruthless businessman, however revered, largely thought of essentially the most vital prospector and knowledgeable in mining property potential within the West. He additionally acquired the San Francisco Examiner as cost for a playing debt; years later, his son William Randolph Hearst took management of the newspaper and turned it into the cornerstone of the Hearst media empire.

Within the Deadwood sequence and film sequel, Hearst sends his worker Francis Wolcott to amass stakes within the gold claims of Deadwood. Using lower than scrupulous means, Hearst is depicted as a transparent villain within the present. In actuality, whereas he did certainly go to Deadwood in his lifetime, Hearst’s makes an attempt to amass the Homestake Mine weren’t as ruthless or diabolical as portrayed within the sequence. He was a revered determine and famous philanthropist; whereas a number of characters in Deadwood differed vastly from their real-life counterparts, George Hearst’s character was arguably accomplished the dirtiest.

6 Jack Langrishe

Performed by: Brian Cox

Jack Langrishe was one among Deadwood’s extra colourful figures, simply as he was within the Deadwood sequence. Born in Dublin, Eire, as John Sewell Folds Jr., he moved to america when he was about 20 years previous. He adopted his stage title of Langrishe after transferring to New York Metropolis, changing into a full-time stage actor, magician, and comic. Not like the sequence, there was no strong proof to recommend that Langrishe was homosexual: in 1849, he met and married actress Jeannette Allen in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the pair shaped the Langrishe and Firm touring theater troupe.

Langrishe and Jeanette had been an integral a part of making a vibrant cultural scene for the residents of Deadwood upon their arrival in 1876, with them quickly establishing store and leasing the prevailing theater for his or her firm. Langrishe’s troupe offered a supply of leisure for Deadwood, with burlesque, minstrels, dancers, acrobats, singers, and all types of entertainer gracing the stage. After Jack Langrishe purchased and transformed his personal theater, renamed the Langrishe Theater, it additionally served varied non-entertainment features for the city, from the trial of Jack McCall, to the primary wedding ceremony carried out in Deadwood, to a gathering place for varied organizations. Jack Langrishe died in Wardner, Idaho, on December 12, 1895 after a short sickness.

5 A.W. Merrick

Performed by: Jeffrey Jones

Albert Walter “A.W.” Merrick was Deadwood‘s proprietor and writer of the native newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer. The sequence portrays him as an upright and morally-straight character, dedicated to telling the reality about unfolding occasions whereas navigating his friendships with the outstanding residents of the city. Sadly, not a lot is thought concerning the precise Merrick, significantly his early years.

What is thought is that he was born in both 1839 or 1840 in New York Metropolis. He later served within the Civil Struggle, rising to the rank of sergeant. After that, he disappeared from the general public report till reappearing within the Nebraska Territory, the place he was listed because the writer of the Cuming Metropolis Star in addition to the Nebraska Enquirer, which was positioned in DeSoto. By Could of 1876, Merrick had landed in Deadwood and launched the Black Hills Pioneer alongside W.A. Laughlin. The official first paper was printed on June 8, 1876 and the Pioneer remains to be printed immediately, the oldest newspaper within the Black Hills area.

4 Tom Nuttall

Performed by: Leon Rippy

Like just a few different characters within the sequence, Tom Nuttall was based mostly on an actual individual, however his title was modified for the needs of the present. In actuality, the proprietor of Nuttall & Mann’s Saloon No. 10 was named William “Billy” Nutall, not Tom. Within the sequence, he is already disillusioned with Deadwood and its lawless methods, even earlier than Al Swearengen flexes his iron grip across the city. Nonetheless, as Deadwood: The Film confirmed, he is nonetheless in Deadwood working the No. 10 Saloon a decade later.

The actual Billy Nuttall did not set down roots as deep in Deadwood because the Tom Nuttall of the present, nevertheless. After managing the saloon and the Bella Union Theater for just a few years, Nuttall picked up stakes and moved to Leadville, Colorado in 1879 with different Black Hillers transferring to comply with the gold. There, he opened up his personal Bella Union in the summertime of 1879, even hiring lots of the actors he’d used within the Deadwood theater. His luck quickly turned in Leadville, nevertheless: his spouse left him in 1880, and by 1882, he was jailed in New Mexico for a playing violation.

3 Reverend Smith

Performed by: Ray McKinnon

Reverend Henry Weston Smith was, simply as Deadwood depicts him, a compassionate and god-fearing man of the material. He additionally did certainly serve within the Civil Struggle in actual life, although he was a physician and never a discipline nurse as he was within the present. Nonetheless, that is the place the commonalities between Ray McKinnon’s depiction of Reverend Smith in Deadwood and the actual Smith finish.

Within the present, Rev. Smith leaves his spouse and kids to maneuver to Deadwood and change into the city preacher after believing he’d acquired an indication from God. In actuality, he was already Methodist preacher earlier than transferring to Deadwood. Not like the present’s storyline of him abandoning his household, Smith’s first spouse and toddler son died in 1849. He was as soon as once more married in 1859 to Lydia Ann Joslin and the couple had 4 youngsters. They moved to Deadwood in 1876, the place Smith turned the primary preacher within the Black Hills area. In one other change from the present, Smith by no means had a correct church, however preached on the streets and labored odd jobs to complement his revenue. He was killed, together with three different males, on the street to Deadwood in a suspected raid by the native Native People.

2 Con Stapleton

Performed by: Peter Jason

Con Stapleton, equally to George Hearst, was one other Deadwood character who was considerably shortchanged in his fictional depiction. Within the sequence, Stapleton solely gained his short-lived place because the marshal of Deadwood due to a marketing campaign of begging Al Swearengen to nominate him. In any other case, he was a dim bulb card-dealer at Tom Nuttall’s No. 10 Saloon. In actuality, Stapleton was elected by the city’s miners in 1876 to be the second marshal of Deadwood, changing first marshal Isaac Brown after he was killed in the identical ambush that additionally took Reverend Smith’s life.

The remainder of the occasions of the Deadwood sequence, comparable to Stapleton getting used as a puppet to fire up anti-Chinese language sentiment, seem like totally fabricated for the present. The actual Con Stapleton served as Deadwood’s marshal for over a yr and likewise organized wrestling matches on the Gem Theatre in his spare time. The tip of his time as marshal was far much less dramatic than depicted within the sequence. Bullock by no means stripped him of his badge after Stapleton murdered a Chinese language immigrant. As an alternative, lots of Stapleton’s duties naturally transferred to Bullock after he turned the sheriff of Lawrence County. Like others, he moved to Colorado with the gold rush. He died in Denver, Colorado in 1879 at simply 31 years of age.