Badges That Won The West — Deadwood Marshal’S Badge

The saga of lawless Deadwood began, appropriately enough, with an illegal settlement inside territory that had been promised by treaty to Native Americans. Once word got out that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, the army was unable to stem the tide of would-be miners pouring into the Territory, and the population of Deadwood exploded practically overnight.  By 1876, a million dollars in gold had been mined from the surrounding Black Hills.

Deadwood was located in a canyon called Deadwood Gulch for the many dead trees along the canyon walls that towered above it.   The saga of lawless Deadwood began, appropriately enough, with an illegal settlement inside territory that had been promised by treaty to Native Americans.  But once word got out that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, the army was unable to stem the tide of would-be miners pouring into the Territory, and the population of Deadwood exploded practically overnight.  By 1876, a million dollars in gold had been mined from the surrounding Black Hills.

During that same year, Deadwood would gain two of its best-known citizens–James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickcock, and Calamity Jane.  They, along with many other colorful characters walked the (often) lawless streets of Deadwood in its early days.  Hickock, a flamboyant character who carried two ivory-handled Colt Navy revolvers conspicuously mounted in butt-forward holsters, was already legendary for his skill with said Colt pistols. General George Custer, among others, said that Hickock was the fastest draw and best shot he’d ever seen.  It was often said that he could draw and fire–unerringly hitting what he aimed at–faster than most men could even think about doing so.  Part of his reputation was likely exaggerated, given the technical limitations of the revolvers of the day, but there has been ample testimony from numerous witnesses that he was both quick and deadly with a gun.

Having been fired from his job as marshal of Abilene, Kansas following his accidental shooting of a deputy marshal during a tense showdown with a mob of rowdy drunks, Hickock had appeared for a time in “Scouts of the Plains”, the latest theatrical production by his old friend and fellow army scout, Buffalo Bill Cody.  But Hickock was much less talented at play-acting than he was at gunplay, and his theatrical career was mercifully short.

In 1876 he took a job–alongside Calamity Jane–as an outrider on a wagon train bearing a fresh shipment of prostitutes bound for Deadwood. Upon arriving in the lawless mining camp, he settled in to pursue his hobby of drinking and playing poker. Rumors were circulating that he was being considered for the job of town marshal, though this is doubtful, since by the time of his arrival in Deadwood his eyesight was failing. Just a month after his arrival in Deadwood–on August 2, 1876–Wild Bill, finding other chairs already taken, unwisely took a seat in a poker game with his back to the door. It was a fatal mistake. He was shot in the back of the head by Jack “Broken Nose” McCall, who would eventually hang for the murder.

Martha Jane Cannary–“Calamity Jane”–also came to be well known in Deadwood for her keen marksmanship–and for her propensity for dressing in men’s clothes, her appetite for hard liquor, ability to tell outrageous lies and her extremely colorful vocabulary.   She had been, by turns, a nurse, cook, prostitute, gambler, prolific drinker and an Army scout. She was also greatly enamoured of Wild Bill. When she died in 1903 of pneumonia brought on by heavy drinking, she was buried beside him at her request, on a hill overlooking Deadwood, in Mount Moriah Cemetery. 

As for the town’s lesser-known citizens, most of the miners were peaceable enough, but like most frontier mining camps, Deadwood attracted its share of shady characters, soiled doves and saloons–a volatile combination that was sure to trigger violence. The fledgling town averaged at least a murder a day in its first year. But the richest gold strike in the Black Hills had been found in Deadwood Gulch, so the town continued to grow at a furious pace, despite its unsavory reputation.

By 1877, Deadwood was evolving from a lawless mining camp into an organized community. Tents and shanties gave way to wooden buildings. The town elected a government, including a sheriff–Seth Bullock, a former hardware merchant–to enforce the law and keep order.  After a fire came close to destroying the downtown business district in 1879, an ordinance was passed decreeing that buildings had to be built of brick and stone. By 1889, the population of Dakota Territory–swelled by incoming settlers–was large enough for statehood, and the territory was admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.

During the early 1900s, Seth Bullock became Superintendant of the Black Hills Forest Preserve.  He had become a personal friend of Teddy Roosevelt, having ridden with the Rough Riders in the Spanish American War. In 1905 Bullock was appointed U.S. Marshal for the state of South Dakota.