Summary
Born in a log cabin in Tennessee in June 1854, Nat Love was the slave of Robert Love. He was about six when the Civil War began, and after the slaves were freed following the war, Love was ready to start living a new life out West, where he could find work as a cowhand. It wasn't long before he started showing his talents as a cowboy, roping and herding cattle and learning to shoot a Colt .45. He used his skill in roping contests at rodeos, where he earned the nickname "Deadwood Dick" and was proclaimed "Champion Roper of the Western Cattle Country." Eventually Love walked away from the life of a cowboy and worked as a Pullman porter, becoming one of the most popular. Though some may be more fiction than fact, the vivid accounts in his autobiography tell tales of adventures with such characters as Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, and the James Brothers. Examining his incredible life and times—from his birth in a slave cabin in Tennessee to his final years as a successful author living in a house near the sea in California—Nat Love explores the truth and tall tales Nat Love spun in his self-penned work.