Buffalo Bill’s Greatest Prop: The Storied Ride of the Deadwood Coach

There’s an old yellow stagecoach sitting in the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Center of the West that once rumbled through rugged country on the American frontier carrying gold bullion along the Cheyenne-Deadwood Line; and, then later carrying performers in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. Known as the Deadwood Coach, some would say it also carried the spirit of the Wild West.

Deadwood Origins

Built in 1863 by the Abbot-Downing Company (ADC) in Concord, NH and reinforced with brace springs to conquer the rugged terrain of the West, ADC first shipped it to San Francisco for use in the mountain regions of California. Later dubbed “The Most Famous Vehicle in the World” for its two-fold legacy as a frontier workhorse and also a theatrical star in a world-famous traveling show, the Deadwood has quite the legacy.

The Deadwood Coach first came into the ownership of a stage company in Wyoming for use as a “treasure coach.” Treasure coaches carried valuables from point to point including mail, gold and silver bullion, coins, and sometimes passengers. The Deadwood travelled the Cheyenne-Deadwood Line and often came under attack by marauders—cowboys and Indians alike—roaming the untamed and lawless frontier. Because of this, the stagecoach company employed “shotgun messengers” to protect its precious cargo. These hired hands rode “shotgun” and aimed to thwart ambushes by ne’er-do-wells, miscreants, and outlaws on the American frontier.

Despite these security measures, the Deadwood still came under repeated attack on its route from Wyoming to South Dakota. In 1877, a fatal ambush killed the coach’s young driver, Mr. John Slaughter of Cheyenne, the son of the esteemed Marshal of Cheyenne, Judge James Slaughter. Not long after this, the stage company abandoned the Deadwood, effectively taking it out of service.

Enter Mr. William F. Cody

During a scouting exhibition, Buffalo Bill Cody discovered the abandoned coach and officially purchased it from the Cheyenne & Black Hills Stage Company for use in his tremendously popular Wild West Show. The Deadwood served as a regular prop in Buffalo Bill’s dramatizations of Indian attacks—often the highlight of the show whereby performers playing Native Americans would ambush the coach. In heroic fashion, Bill Cody and his cowboys would rescue the coach and its passengers to the hearty applause and cheers of the crowd. Cody even took his Wild West Show and the Deadwood to Europe, entertaining such esteemed guests as Queen Victoria and the Austrian Crown Prince.

Later Years and Preservation

In 1895 the Abbot-Downing Company published a July 4 photo of Buffalo Bill Cody at the reins of the famous coach during a homecoming celebration in Concord, NH in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 20,000 Americans—a defining and patriotic moment for one of America’s most famous and beloved showmen. Seven years later, in 1902 Cody retired the Deadwood from all appearances and replaced it with a newer Abbot-Downing model, reinforcing the enduring axiom that “nothing lasts forever.”

Today the Deadwood Coach remains at parade rest in the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Center of the West, where perhaps it just might last forever.