Nat Love

Nat LoveTemplate:Efn (June 14, 1854 – February 11, 1921) was an American cowboy and writer active in the period following the Civil War. His reported exploits have made him one of the more famous heroes of the Old West.

Early life

Nat Love, (pronounced "Nate")<ref name="PBS" /> was born into slavery on the plantation of Robert Love in Davidson County, Tennessee on June 14, 1854.<ref name="worldhistory.us"/><ref name= "blkHill">The Real 'Deadwood Dick' ; Black Hills Visitor online; accessed September 2019</ref> His father was a slave foreman who worked in the plantation's fields, and his mother was the manager of its kitchen.<ref name="autobio">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="AAR">Nat Love, A Cowboy of Excellence Template:Webarchive; African American Registry; accessed October 2015</ref> Love had two siblings: an older sister, Sally, and an older brother, Jordan.<ref name="autobio" /><ref name= "blkHill" />

Despite slavery-era statutes that outlawed black literacy, he learned to read and write as a child with the help of Sampson, his father. When slavery ended, Love's parents stayed on the Love plantation as sharecroppers, attempting to raise tobacco and corn on about 20 acres, but Sampson died shortly after the second crop was planted. Afterward, Nat took a second job working on a local farm to help make ends meet. At about this time, he was noted as having a gift for breaking horses. After some time of working extra odd jobs in the area, he won a horse in a raffle on two occasions, which he then sold back to the owner for $50 each time. He used the money to leave town, and at the age of 16, he headed to the Western United States.<ref name="autobio"/><ref name="AAR" />

Life as a cowboy

Love traveled to Dodge City, Kansas, where he found work as a cowboy with cattle drivers from the Duval Ranch (located on the Palo Duro River in the Texas Panhandle).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to his autobiography, Love fought cattle rustlers and endured inclement weather. He trained himself to become an expert marksman and cowboy, for which he earned from his co-workers the moniker Red River Dick.<ref name="autobio"/> In 1872, Love moved to Arizona, where he found work at the Gallinger Ranch located along the Gila River.<ref name="autobio" /> He wrote in his autobiography that he met Pat Garrett, Bat Masterson, Billy the Kid, and others while working the cattle drives in Arizona.<ref name="autobio" />

"Deadwood Dick"

After driving a herd of cattle to the rail head in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, he claimed to have entered a rodeo on the 4th of July in 1876, enticed by the $200 prize money. The only difficulty with this story is that Deadwood newspapers, which covered every event of the Fourth of July celebrations, make no mention of a rodeo that day.<ref name="autobio" /> He claimed to have won the rope, throw, tie, bridle, saddle, and bronco riding contests. It was at this rodeo that he claims friends and fans gave him the nickname "Deadwood Dick",<ref name="AAR"/><ref name="cyclo">Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience; p. 175; retrieved .</ref> a reference to a literary character created by Edward Lytton Wheeler, a dime novelist of the day.<ref name="autobio"/>Template:Efn<ref name="PBS">Texas Ranchouse – Black Cowboys; PBS.org; Text: "...One of the most famous western black cowboys – because he wrote his memoirs ..."; accessed October 2015</ref><ref>Black Hills Weekly Pioneer, July 5, 1876</ref>

Capture and escape

In October 1877, Nat Love wrote that he was captured by a band of Pima Indians while rounding up stray cattle near the Gila River in Arizona. Although he claimed to have received over 14 bullet wounds in his career (with "several" received in his fight with the Native Americans while trying to avoid capture), Love wrote that his life was spared because the Indians respected his heritage, a large portion of the band themselves being of mixed blood. He almost married the chief's daughter. The band of Native Americans nursed him back to health, wishing to adopt him into the tribe. Eventually, Love writes, he stole a pony and escaped into West Texas.<ref name="autobio"/>

Life after being a cowboy

Love left the cowboy life before he settled down and married a woman named Alice Owens, in Denver, Colorado, on August 2, 1888. They lived in Denver initially. He then took a job in 1890 as a Pullman porter, which involved overseeing sleeping cars on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. While working for the railroad, he and his family resided in several western states, before finally moving to southern California.Template:Citation needed

In 1907, Love published his autobiography titled Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as 'Deadwood Dick,' by Himself, which greatly enhanced his legacy.<ref name="PBS"/> Love spent the latter part of his life as a courier and guard for a securities company in Los Angeles.<ref name="autobio" /> He died there in 1921 at the age of 66.<ref name="cyclo"/>

In popular culture

Written

Joe R. Lansdale used Love as a character in the story, Nine Hide and Horns, published in the anthology book Subterranean Online (2009); Soldierin, published in the anthology book Warriors (2010); the novella, Black Hat Jack (2014); and the novel, Paradise Sky (2015).Template:Citation needed

In 2012, his story was featured in the graphic novel Best Shot in the West by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack (script) and Randy DuBurke (drawings).<ref>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

In 2022, the Denver Art Museum displayed Nat Love, A Cowboy's Life, a comic adaptation of his autobiography, written and drawn by R. Alan Brooks and colored by Lonnie MF Allen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film

In the television movie The Cherokee Kid (1996), Nat Love is portrayed by Ernie Hudson.

In They Die by Dawn (2013), Love is portrayed by Michael K. Williams.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jonathan Majors portrayed Nat Love in the film The Harder They Fall (2021).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Isom Dart
• Bill Pickett
• Bose Ikard
• Black cowboys

Further reading

• The Black West; Katz, William Loren; Touchstone Books; Simon & Schuster, Inc.; (1987; 1996 – Ethrac Publications, Inc.); Template:ISBN

External links

• Template:Gutenberg author
• Template:Internet Archive author
• Template:Librivox author
• Nat Love at Find a Grave