Edward Lytton Wheeler (1854/5 – 1885) was a nineteenth century American writer of

dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...

s. One of his most famous characters is the Wild West rascal Deadwood Dick. His stories of the west mixed fictional characters with real-life personalities of the era, including Calamity Jane and Sitting Bull.

Life

Wheeler was born in

Avoca, New York Avoca is a town in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 1,996 at the 2020 census. The Town of Avoca has a village named Avoca. The town is in the northern part of the county, northwest of Bath, New York. History The ...

and later managed a theater company in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He created the seminal character of

Deadwood Dick Deadwood Dick is a fictional character who appears in a series of stories, or dime novels, published between 1877 and 1897 by Edward Lytton Wheeler (1854/5–1885). The name became so widely known in its time that it was used to advantage by s ...

, during a period when the country was fascinated by the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...

region of the American west after Custer’s defeat at Little Bighorn. Wheeler had never been to the Black Hills. He originally created Deadwood Dick as a character for his theater troupe, and later made him the focus of a dime novel series. The first episode was the first issue of Beadles Half-dime Library. Blond Bill

After the Civil War, dime novels were an extremely popular form of fiction. Wheeler mastered their formulaic style and was able to write dozens of them. He created around one hundred novels, of which 33 featured Deadwood Dick, and of these,

Calamity Jane Martha Jane Cannary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, sharpshooter, and storyteller. In addition to many exploits she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. Late ...

—a real-life wild west entertainer—appeared as a character in nearly half. Other real life people such as

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock I ...

also appeared in the stories. He also wrote story series with a number of other characters including Rosebud Bob, Sierra Sam, Kangaroo Kit, Yreka Jim,

Denver Doll ''Denver Doll'' is a fictional character created by Edward Lytton Wheeler, author of the Deadwood Dick Deadwood Dick is a fictional character who appears in a series of stories, or dime novels, published between 1877 and 1897 by Edward Lyt ...

, and Lady Kate.Gary Scharnhorst and Tom Quirk, eds. 2010. ''Research Guide to American Literature—Realism and Regionalism, 1865-1914.'' New York: Facts on File.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Edward 1854 births 1885 deaths American male novelists American Western (genre) novelists People from Steuben County, New York Dime novelists Novelists from New York (state)