Samuel Fields was an African-American who claimed to have been a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After 1876, General Fields moved to Deadwood, South Dakota to seek his fortune. There he went by several nicknames—including "Nigger General" and "General Darkey"—but was commonly known as "General Fields". The man took no offense at racial epithets and regardless of his personal wealth at any moment, he referred to himself as a "sly-coon".
Samuel Fields's exploits were common fodder in local newspapers, such as the Black Hills Pioneer.
On the HBO television series Deadwood the character of Samuel Fields is played by Franklyn Ajaye and rather loosely based on the real Samuel Fields.
Famous quotes containing the words samuel and/or fields:
“Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 17:40.
“Over the tree-tops I float thee a song,
Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad fields and the
prairies wide,
Over the dense-packed cities all and the teeming wharves and ways,
I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee, O death,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)