Deadwood
Deadwoodis still considered one of the skilful westerly television series of all time , assign in no small part to the historical accuracydepicting the events that shaped the real frontier town of Deadwood . The show follows Sheriff Seth Bullock ( Timothy Olyphant ) and saloon - owner Al Swearengen ( Ian McShane ) , two real figures in Deadwood ’s origin chronicle . It was also dwell by some of the Wild West ’s most enduring icons , like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane . Deadwoodblended truth with fiction to tell an exciting story about the hardships and opportunities of the minelaying town .
Even thoughDeadwoodwas canceled after 3 seasons , there ’s no deny it’sa well - documented and researched series that offer a coup d’oeil into the abrasive world of life in the American West . The creators , writers , and actor take the clip to be as historically exact wherever possible while also use creative licence to prettify characters who were enliven by the sort of multitude who would look for their fortunes in Deadwood . Watching it feels as close to actually being a fly on the bulwark of Al ’s saloon as fans can possibly get in the Western genre .
15The Crédit Mobilier Scandal Really Affected New Investments
A Financial Scandal Had Reaching Consequences
Deadwoodtakes a heap of liberties with its account , but one of the slipway it is able-bodied to notice on story while telling its own chronicle is through subtle hints . At various time in the serial , there is acknowledgment by several character of difficulty getting investors on board with their new ventures due to a financial malicious gossip that learn place out eastern United States . While there are no specific yield to what occur , the characters are referring to the Crédit Mobilier scandal .
The scandal came from several executives of Union Pacific who short-change investors during the building of a raw railroad line in the 1860s . However , while the project was only going to cost $ 50 million , the executives parent most double that amount and bag the excess riches . Though a small impact on the overall story , it is interesting how this small bit of chronicle was made to influence certain events of the show .
14A Shooting In The Gem Saloon
Trixie’s Character May Have Come From A Real Incident
Trixie ( PaulaMalcomson ) is one of the standoutcharacters inDeadwoodas one of the gender workers at the Gem Saloon . While it is render that she is intimidate by Al Swearengen in the former episodes , she is also shown to be a tough and capable woman in her own right who is not afraid to defend herself . This is clearly show in her introductory setting in which Trixie shoot a customer who was allegedly beat her .
As it turns out , this is likely a account the show took from the real history of Deadwood and may have assist to create the character of Trixie . consort toLegends of America , there was a report of a sex doer at the Gem Saloon recognise only as Tricksie who once bourgeon a client in the head . As is render in the show , the man did not immediately cash in one’s chips from the lesion .
13Bullock’s Public Hanging
Bullock’s Insistence On Seeing Justice Done Was A Real Event
The first scene ofDeadwoodis a terrific presentation to this harsh westerly world while also being a thoroughgoing mode of found Seth Bullock ’s hardened belief in learn judge served . As Seth and Sol Starr are prepare to head off and start their new aliveness in Deadwood , they are overseeing a captive who is being held until his carrying out . However , when an angry gang arrives to lynch the man , Bullock will not allow mob DoJ to take over .
According to the Holy Writ , Seth Bullock : Black Hills Lawman , this was taken froma real storey assign to Bullock in which he held a pack back at point and carried out the hanging himself . The minute becomes a define one for Bullock and is even referenced in theDeadwoodmovie where Bullock well-nigh lets the mob kill George Hearst before choosing the protect the man and uphold the law of nature .
12The Peak Of The Black Hills Gold Rush Was 1876-1877
Gold Discovery In 1874 Spurred Deadwood’s Rapid Growth
The tale ofDeadwoodcentered around Dakota ’s Black Hills Au rush , and the show portrayed this unique period in US history incredibly well . With Colonel Custer police the Dakota dominion looking for the perfect place to build a fortress , the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 instigate the funny and intrepid to follow his lesson . Once gold was discovered in the Black Hills , opportunistic settler came from all over the nation ( and the world ) to make their claims and excise it deep .
Deadwood’shistorically precise gilded Benjamin Rush even stretch to its titulary township , as there is a veridical Deadwood in South Dakota , and just like its namesake in the TV show , it was founded during the Black Hills Gold Rush . The townsfolk of Deadwood grew out of this unexpected boom , beginning as a solicitation of shanties untilAl Swearengen established his Gem Theater in 1876,and a merchant class emerged selling tool and mercantile to prospectors trust to make their fortunes and reconcile in the township while Edwin Herbert Land was still inexpensive .
11Wild Bill Hickok Was Shot & Killed By Jack McCall While Playing Poker
Wild Bill Hickok Was Killed In 1876
Keith Carradine play Wild Bill Hickock inDeadwood , and his portrayal was one of the most accurate existent - life characters on the show . Wild Bill Hickok , one of the most far-famed shooter in Wild West lore , came to Deadwood in 1876 as part of Charlie Utter ’s wagon train along with Calamity Jane . At that tip in his life , men were anxious to make a report for themselves by killing such a well - known folk hero , which is just what Jack McCall did . Many Western telecasting shows and pic expend real triggerman , outlaws , and cowboy from the era but alter historical details .
Ricky Jay ’s Eddie Sawyer was a minor character reference in Deadwood season 1 , but his sudden season 2 issue made it intemperately not to wonder what happened to him .
When it comes to Wild Bill Hickock , however , Deadwoodstays dead on target to real life , including at the moment of his death . According to the officialDeadwoodsite devote to the town and its story , after play several rounds with Hickok and losing badly the previous day ( Hickok even lent him money to track his breakfast ) , an insultedMcCall found Hickok at his preferred ginmill where he was sitting uncharacteristically with his back to the door and shot him in the back of the head .
10McCall Was Found Not Guilty In His First Trial
McCall’s Questionable Defense Was Also Based On Reality
As is render inDeadwood , it did not take long for Jack McCall to be ask into detention for the murder of Wild Bill . An impromptu trial was quickly formed . In the series , the tryout take place at the Gem Saloon , whereas in reality , it encounter at McDaniel ’s Theater . Despite there being several witnesses to McCall shooting Wild Bill , McCall take that the murder was due to the notable outlaw having killed McCall ’s brother years earlier .
McCall was found not guilty of the criminal offence and quickly fled Deadwood as is show in the series . However , the events ring McCall ’s fate after that are dramatise for the series . Bullock track down McCall down and arrests him again for the crimes that did not bump in realism . McCall was simply arrest again in Wyoming after gas about the murder and the Margaret Court settle the " not guilty " verdict in Deadwood did n’t apply to the lawful states . He was tried again , found guilty , and hanged .
9Deadwood’s Chinese Community
The Immigrants Established Their Own Culture While Also Joining The Community
One of the most interesting aspects of the Ithiel Town of Deadwood depicted in the serial is the Chinese community of interests . While Mister Wu ( Keone Young ) is the main character who represent this community , they are shown to be a thriving part of the townsfolk , involve in various business enterprises , including Wu ’s transaction with Al Swearengen .
In realness , there was a enceinte Formosan community of interests in Deadwood and the townsfolk serve as one of the few that would receive Asian immigrants at this clip . There was a great anti - Chinese in-migration sentiment in the United States during the era , butit was reported that the Formosan immigrants in Deadwood were broadly speaking receive . They had arrange up a department of town to sustain their own civilization with one another , but they were also know to be involved with the overall residential district .
8There Was A Smallpox Outbreak In 1876
Calamity Jane Helped Deadwood
Outlaws and violence were n’t the baneful thing facing citizens of small Ithiel Town like Deadwood during the recent nineteenth C . AsDeadwoodshowed , the disease was perhaps the gravid peril those living in frontier towns faced . Deadwoodshowed the impact of smallpox incredibly well , but it ’s more historically accurate than first appear , as the 1876 epidemic in the town really occur . What ’s more , the show ’s comprehension of Wild West legend Calamity Jane was also true to real life .
When a smallpox eruption ripped through Deadwood , quarantine collapsible shelter were set up to like for the sick screw as pest business firm , and at great risk to herself , Calamity Jane help care for the ill that were brought to them during the epidemic . The Deadwood site claims that smallpox claimed 300 lives , or what amounted to a third of the town ’s population in 1876 .
While it had a devastating outcome on the local economy as store fold up up within days of denizen contracting the disease , the township was also capable to rebuildand became sleep together for the collective spirit of its citizens who hold on in spite of great losses .
Calamity Jane also played Susan inThe Sessions(2012 )
7The Real Metz Family Were Killed In 1876
One Of The Most Horrific Incidents in Deadwood
One of the most dread incidents inDeadwoodwas , shockingly , historically accurate — the Metz family massacre . The Metz family , a chemical group of Dutch settler traveling through Deadwood to Minnesota , were real individuals ( even if they ’re not as well fuck as the likes of Calamity Jane or Wild Bill Hickock).Deadwoodchanged a lot about Al Swearengenbut not his savagery , and whenthe Metz encampment was attacked by Swearengen ’s men , they made it resemble the handiwork of the Siouxe .
The veridical Metz category butchery happened in 1876 , and at the clip was blamed on the famed Native American warrior Crazy Horse , the Lakota war leader who spearheaded many battles against the encroaching United States . According to theSpearfish Area Historical Society , there were no subsister in the Metz massacre , whereas , inDeadwood , one fiddling girl name Sofia ( Bree Seanna Wall ) is engage in by The Widow . Bulgarian capital is intimately watched by Swearengen , who hope that when she eventually starts to speak , she wo n’t be able to identify any of his men .
6South Dakota Became A State In 1889
Statehood Transformed Deadwood
A decade separates the goal of the serial publication and theDeadwoodmovie , and the tale reflects the passage of clip for all the graphic symbol . Just as with the main show , theDeadwoodmovie takes annoyance to ensure historical accuracy , and one of the key events it displays is South Dakota ’s rise to statehood and the wallop it has on the titulary settlement . TheDeadwoodmovie take place in 1889 and is historically precise when it follow to the celebration , as this was the same year that South Dakota became an official state .
The celebrations are the cardinal reason many characters have arrive back together . What ’s more , in the time that the Dakota territory officially became a United States Department of State , the townsfolk of Deadwood grew from a collection of hutch into a substantial worldwide blank with bustle streets and its own train place . After South Dakota became a nation and Deadwood do good from being able to transport resources like lumber and ore by runway , it flourished into a prosperous town that barely resemble what it had been just a decade before .
