Edward L Wheeler

Edward Lytton Wheeler was a nineteenth-century American dime novelist. One of his most well-known characters is the Wild West rogue Deadwood Dick. His western stories combined imaginary characters with historical figures like Calamity Jane and Sitting Bull. Wheeler was born in Avoca, New York, and later ran a theatre company in Philadelphia. He invented the key figure of Deadwood Dick at a time when the country was enthralled by the Black Hills region of the American West following Custer's...See more

Edward Lytton Wheeler was a nineteenth-century American dime novelist. One of his most well-known characters is the Wild West rogue Deadwood Dick. His western stories combined imaginary characters with historical figures like Calamity Jane and Sitting Bull. Wheeler was born in Avoca, New York, and later ran a theatre company in Philadelphia. He invented the key figure of Deadwood Dick at a time when the country was enthralled by the Black Hills region of the American West following Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn. Wheeler has never visited the Black Hills. After the Civil War, dime novels were a very popular type of fiction. Wheeler perfected their formulaic approach and could write dozens of them. He wrote about 100 novels, 33 of which featured Deadwood Dick, and nearly half of which featured Calamity Jane, a real-life wild west entertainment. Other real-life figures, such as Sitting Bull, appeared in the stories. He also penned stories featuring additional characters such as Rosebud Bob, Sierra Sam, Kangaroo Kit, Yreka Jim, Denver Doll, and Lady Kate. See less