Joseph Alfred Slade

Who was Joseph Alfred Slade?

Joseph Alfred "Jack" Slade, was a stagecoach and Pony Express superintendent, instrumental in the opening of the American West and the archetype of the Western gunslinger.

Born in Carlyle, Illinois, he was the son of Charles W. Slade and Mary Dark Slade. During the Mexican War he served in the U.S. Army that occupied Santa Fe, 1847-48. He married Maria Virginia around 1857. In the 1850s he was a freighting teamster and wagonmaster along the Overland Trail, and then became a stagecoach driver in Texas, c. 1857-58. He subsequently became a stagecoach division superintendent along the Central Overland route for Hockaday & Co. and its successors Jones, Russell & Co. and Central Overland, California & Pike’s Peak Express Co.. With the latter concern, he also helped launch and operate the Pony Express in 1860-61. All were critical to the communication between the East and California. As superintendent, he enforced order and assured reliable cross-continental mail service, maintaining contact between Washington, D.C., and California on the eve of Civil War.