Deadwood, SD

Nestled amongst the beautiful mountains and forests of the Black Hills of South Dakota is the infamous little town of Deadwood. Back in 1876 it was a boisterous gold rush boom town that one day welcomed, in the same wagon train, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Now...history records that even though they arrived at the same time that Calamity Jane was only a passing acquaintance of Hickok. It was after his death that see started the legend of how they were very close and several years later when she died she wanted to be buried next to Wild Bill in Deadwood even though she died in Terry, SD. The death of Hickok is much renowned as he was playing cards in the old No 10 Saloon when Jack McCall came up behind him and shot him in the head. Wild Bill's hand was aces and eights which has come to be known as the "dead man's hand." McCall was acquited by a local jury when he claimed that he shot Hickok because old Bill had killed his brother. Later, a real jury convicted Jack and he was hanged. Today on Boot Hill in Deadwood you can see the graves of Hickok and Calamity Jane, whose real name, ironically, was...Martha Burke! They are side by side as requested by Jane. Another irony is that Wild Bill Hickok was killed in 1876...the same year as the Battle of Little Big Horn. And that...is the history lesson for today!