Born: 17 January 1812, United States
Died: 28 December 1879
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst, “One-Eyed Charley” or “Six-Horse Charley”
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Called the “best whip in California,” Charley Parkhurst was a legendary six-horse stagecoach driver during California’s Gold Rush. The job was dangerous and not for the faint of heart—hauling cargos of gold through open desert and over steep mountain passes, under constant threat of desperados and mother nature. Parkhurst was short and stocky, wore a black eyepatch, drank whiskey and smoked cigars. When Parkhurst died alone in a cabin in 1879, a doctor discovered that the famous stagecoach driver was actually a woman.
Charlotte Parkhurst was born in 1812 in New Hampshire and was abandoned by her parents. It is believed that she ran away from an orphanage dressed as a boy and wound up in Massachusetts, where she worked cleaning horse stables. She also found a mentor who taught her how to handle horses. After working as a stagecoach driver on the East Coast for several years, Parkhurst journeyed west and arrived in San Francisco around 1850-51. She quickly earned a reputation for her ability to move passengers and gold safely through routes between mining outposts and major towns like San Francisco and Sacramento. By the late 1860s, stagecoach driving became a dying profession with the growth of the railroads and Parkhurst retired and opened a saloon for a time. She also worked as a lumberjack in Northern California.
IW note: Infinite Women respects transgender identity; however, given the many reasons cisgender women have historically had for presenting as male, it is difficult to determine how an individual may have personally identified. As such, we acknowledge the likelihood that Parkhurst may have identified as a transgender man, but choose not to exclude them without proof thereof.