William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier,
bison hunter, and
showman
Showman can have a variety of meanings, usually by context and depending on the country.
Australia
Travelling showmen are people who run amusement and side show equipment at regional shows, state capital shows, events and festivals througho ...
. He was born in
Le Claire,
Iowa Territory
The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. The remain ...
(now the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
), but he lived for several years in his father's hometown in modern-day
Mississauga,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada, before the family returned to the
Midwest and settled in the
Kansas Territory.
Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven, after his father's death, and became a rider for the
Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...
at age 15. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, he served the Union from 1863 to the end of the war in 1865. Later he served as a civilian scout for the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
during the
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
, receiving the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...
in 1872.
One of the most famous and well-known figures of the
American Old West, Buffalo Bill's legend began to spread when he was only 23. Shortly thereafter he started performing in
shows that displayed
cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and Indian Wars. He founded ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and continental Europe.
Early life and education
Cody was born on February 26, 1846, on a farm just outside
Le Claire, Iowa
LeClaire is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,710 in 2020, a 65.4% increase from 2,847 in 2000, making it one of the fastest-growing communities in the Quad Cities. LeClaire is considered a suburb and part of th ...
.
His father, Isaac Cody, was born on September 5, 1811, in
Toronto Township,
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
, now part of
Mississauga,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, directly west of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. Mary Ann Bonsell Laycock, Bill's mother, was born about 1817 in Trenton, New Jersey. She moved to Cincinnati to teach school, and there she met and married Isaac. She was a descendant of Josiah Bunting, a Quaker who had settled in Pennsylvania. There is no evidence to indicate Buffalo Bill was raised as a Quaker. In 1847 the couple moved to Ontario, having their son baptized in 1847, as William Cody, at the Dixie Union Chapel in
Peel County (present-day
Peel Region, of which Mississauga is a part), not far from the farm of his father's family. The chapel was built with Cody money, and the land was donated by Philip Cody of Toronto Township. They lived in Ontario for several years.
In 1853, Isaac Cody sold his land in rural
Scott County, Iowa
Scott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 174,669, making it the third-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Davenport.
Scott County is included in the Davenport– Moline ...
, for $2000 (around $68,000 in today's money) and the family moved to
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perma ...
,
Kansas Territory.
In the years before the Civil War, Kansas was overtaken by political and physical conflict over the slavery question. Isaac Cody was against slavery. He was invited to speak at Rively's store, a local trading post where pro-slavery men often held meetings. His
antislavery
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
speech so angered the crowd that they threatened to kill him if he did not step down. A man jumped up and stabbed him twice with a
Bowie knife. Rively, the store's owner, rushed Cody to get treatment, but he never fully recovered from his injuries.
In Kansas, the family was frequently persecuted by pro-slavery supporters. Cody's father spent time away from home for his safety. His enemies learned of a planned visit to his family and plotted to kill him on the way. Bill, despite his youth and being ill at the time, rode thirty miles (48km) to warn his father. Isaac Cody went to
Cleveland, Ohio, to organize a group of thirty families to bring back to Kansas, to add to the antislavery population. During his return trip, he caught a respiratory infection which, compounded by the lingering effects of his stabbing and complications from kidney disease, led to his death in April 1857.
After his death, the family suffered financially. At age 11, Bill took a job with a freight carrier as a "boy extra". On horseback he would ride up and down the length of a wagon train and deliver messages between the drivers and workmen. Next, he joined Johnston's Army as an unofficial member of the scouts assigned to guide the United States Army to
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, to put down a rumored rebellion by the
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...
population of
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
.
According to Cody's account in ''Buffalo Bill's Own Story'', the
Utah War
The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...
was where he began his career as an "Indian fighter":
At the age of 14, in 1860, Cody was caught up in the "gold fever", with news of gold at
Fort Colville
Fort Colville was a U.S. Army post in the Washington Territory located north of current Colville, Washington. During its existence from 1859 to 1882, it was called "Harney's Depot" and "Colville Depot" during the first two years, and finally " ...
and the
Holcomb Valley Gold Rush
Holcomb Valley, located in the San Bernardino Mountains about five miles north of Big Bear Lake, was the site of the most gold mines in Southern California. It was named after William F. Holcomb, who found gold there in 1860. That year started ...
in California.
["No. 619: Holcomb Valley"](_blank)
, State Historical Landmarks, San Bernardino County. On his way to the goldfields, however, he met an agent for the
Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...
. He signed with them, and after building several stations and corrals, Cody was given a job as a rider. He worked at this until he was called home to his sick mother's bedside.
Cody claimed to have had many jobs, including
trapper,
bullwhacker
A bullocky is an Australian English term for the driver of a bullock team. The American term is bullwhacker. Bullock drivers were also known as teamsters or carriers.
History
Bullock teams were in use in Sydney, New South Wales in 1795 w ...
, "
Fifty-Niner" in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
,
Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...
rider in 1860, wagonmaster,
stagecoach driver, and a
hotel manager
A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, bu ...
, but historians have had difficulty documenting them. He may have fabricated some for publicity.
Namely, it is argued that in contrast to Cody's claims, he never rode for the Pony Express, but as a boy, he did work for its parent company, the transport firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell. In contrast to the adventurous rides, hundreds of miles long, that he recounted in the press, his real job was to carry messages on horseback from the firm's office in Leavenworth to the telegraph station three miles away.
Military services
![Buffalo Bill Cody ca1875](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Buffalo_Bill_Cody_ca1875.jpg)
After his mother recovered, Cody wanted to enlist as a soldier in the Union Army during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
but was refused because of his young age. He began working with a freight
caravan that delivered supplies to
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie (founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading-post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte rivers. They joined ...
in present-day Wyoming. In 1863, at age 17, he enlisted as a
teamster
A teamster is the American term for a truck driver or a person who drives teams of draft animals. Further, the term often refers to a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union in the United States and Canada.
Origi ...
with the rank of
private in Company H,
7th Kansas Cavalry, and served until discharged in 1865.
The next year, Cody married Louisa Frederici. They had four children. Two died young, while the family was living in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...
. They and a third child are buried in
Mount Hope Cemetery, in Rochester.
In 1866, he reunited with his old friend
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement ...
in
Junction City, Kansas
Junction City is a city in and the county seat of Geary County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,932. Fort Riley, a major U.S. Army post, is nearby.
History
Junction City is so named from its ...
, then serving as a scout. Cody enlisted as a scout himself at
Fort Ellsworth and scouted between there and Fort Fletcher (later renamed and moved to
Fort Hays
Fort Hays, originally named Fort Fletcher, was a United States Army fort near Hays, Kansas. Active from 1865 to 1889 it was an important frontier post during the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century. Reopened as a historical park in ...
). He was attached as a scout, variously, to
Captain George Augustus Armes (
Battle of the Saline River
The Battle of the Saline River in August 1867 was one of the first recorded combats of the Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. 10th Cavalry. This battle occurred 25 miles northwest of Fort Hays in Kansas near the end of August 1867. see discussion''">T ...
) and
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (guide and impromptu horse race to
Fort Larned). It was during this service at Fort Ellsworth that he met William Rose, with whom he would found the short-lived settlement of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
In 1867, with the construction of the
Kansas Pacific Railway completing through
Hays City and Rome, Cody was granted a leave of absence to hunt buffalo to supply railroad construction workers with meat. This endeavor continued into 1868, which saw his hunting contest with William Comstock.
Cody returned to Army service in 1868.
[ From his post in Fort Larned, he performed an exceptional feat of riding as a lone dispatch courier from Fort Larned to Fort Zarah (escaping brief capture), Fort Zarah to Fort Hays, Fort Hays to ]Fort Dodge
Fort Dodge is a city in, and the county seat of, Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Cen ...
, Fort Dodge to Fort Larned, and, finally, Fort Larned to Fort Hays, a total of 350 miles in 58 hours through hostile territory, covering the last 35 miles on foot. In response, General Philip Sheridan assigned him Chief of Scouts for the 5th Cavalry Regiment
The 5th Cavalry Regiment ("Black Knights") is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service on August 3, 1861, when an act of Congress enacted "that the two regiments of dragoons, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and the t ...
.
He was also Chief of Scouts for the Third Cavalry in later campaigns of the Plains Wars.
In January 1872, Cody was a scout for the highly publicized hunting expedition of the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia (russian: Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович; in St. Petersburg – 14 November 1908 in Paris) was the fifth child and the fourth son of Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Maria Alex ...
.
Medal of Honor
Cody was awarded the Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...
in 1872 for documented gallantry above and beyond the call of duty as an Army scout in the Indian Wars. It was revoked in 1917, along with medals of 910 other recipients dating back to the Revolutionary War, when Congress decided to create a hierarchy of medals, designating the "Medal of Honor" as the highest military honor it could bestow. Subsequent regulations authorized the War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* D ...
to revoke prior Medal of Honor awards it considered not meeting requirements since the introduction of strict regulations promulgated under the 1917 law. Those regulations required the medal to be awarded for acts of bravery above and beyond the call of duty by officers or enlisted soldiers. Ironically, the law was enacted days before Buffalo Bill died, so he never knew a law might rescind the medal awarded to him. All civilian scout medals were rescinded since they did not appear to meet the basic criterion of being officers or enlisted soldiers, which had been expressly listed in every authorizing statute ever enacted for the Medal of Honor. Cody was one of five scouts affected. Their medals were stripped shortly after Cody died in 1917.
Cody's relatives objected, and, for over 72 years, they wrote repeatedly to the US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
seeking reconsideration. All efforts failed, until a 1988 letter to the Senate from Cody's grandson received by the office of senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, when a newly minted legislative assistant (K. Yale) took up the cause in 1989. The legal brief he drafted and submitted to the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
on behalf of the relatives of Buffalo Bill argued that civilian scouts were technically officers, as their native American counterparts were nominally scouts. However, they were given the rank and pay of officersboth for retention purposes. Also, scouts were the equivalent of "reconnaissance" for the military and thus provided highly valued services. In addition, a practical reason was to avoid mistaking them for opponents in skirmishes. Moreover, although civilian scouts might have normally been officers because of their highly valued skills, the military drawdown and related budget cuts after the Civil War left no billets available for the civilian scouts to fill, and thus they were relegated to a highly qualified status that treated them as valuable military assets without the designation or retirement benefits of officers. Nevertheless, they were treated as high-ranking military officials and had status of officers alongside their native American brethren. The brief argued for retroactive restoration of the Medal of Honor to Buffalo Bill, and the Department of Defense required the appeal to be adjudicated by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. After months of deliberation, the Board agreed with the persuasive legal brief and made the decision to restore the Medal of Honor, not only to Buffalo Bill but also several other civilian scouts whose medals had also been rescinded.
Long after the medal was restored, the decision was thought to be controversial for several reasons. Some people interpreted Simpson's submission as arguing that the law had never required Cody to be a soldier. However, this was never a key element of Simpson's brief. According to these interpretations, Simpson's submission cited a book, ''Above and Beyond'', to illustrate the lack of requirement to be a soldier. However, it was recognized in the legal brief that Medal of Honor recipients had to be an officer or enlisted soldier. Another problem cited by some was the authority of the Board to contravene several federal statutes because the Medal of Honor revocation had been expressly authorized by Congress, meaning that the restoration went against the law in force in 1872, the law requiring the revocation in 1916, and the modern statute enacted in 1918 that remains substantially unmodified today. However, the legal brief clearly did not suggest overturning of the law, but rather conforming the status of civilian scouts to that of other scouts similarly situated (source: copy of the actual legal brief, by the author).
Since the Board of Correction is merely a delegation of the Secretary of the Army's authority, some suggest a separation of powers conflict, since even the president cannot contravene a clear statute and, although Cody's case was dealt with below the cabinet level, the legal brief was written in conformance with the statutes. Modern Medal of Honor cases originating from the board, such as the recent case of Garlin Conner, required both executive action as well as a statutory waiver from Congress, which underscores the point that some cases might be in conflict with statutes.
In the Cody case, the board's governing assistant secretary recognized that it lacked the authority to reinstate the medal directly, and so decided to return the case to the board for reconsideration. As a result, the board amended Cody's record to make him an enlisted soldieraligning it with the legal argument that civilian scouts were the equivalent to officers or enlisted soldiersso that he would fall within the legal requirements and did the same for four other civilian guides who had also had their medals rescinded. In doing so, the board overlooked the fact that Cody was a civilian guide with far greater employment flexibility than a soldier, including the ability to resign at will. Nevertheless the Board did recognize the value that all scouts provided, whether Native American or otherwise, and how they volunteered to put themselves in harm's way (in the case of Buffalo Bill, saving the lives of several soldiers by rushing onto an active battlefield and pulling them to safety while under fire) instead of pursuing less demanding civilian jobs.
Nickname
Cody received the nickname "Buffalo Bill" after the American Civil War, when he had a contract to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad
The Kansas Pacific Railway (KP) was a historic railroad company that operated in the western United States in the late 19th century. It was a federally chartered railroad, backed with government land grants. At a time when the first transcontine ...
workers with buffalo (American bison) meat. Cody is purported to have killed 4,282 buffalo in eighteen months in 1867 and 1868.[Cody, William F. (1904). ''The Adventures of Buffalo Bill Cody''. 1st ed. p. viii. New York and London: Harper & Brothers.] Cody and another hunter, Bill Comstock, competed in an eight-hour buffalo-shooting match over the exclusive right to use the name, which Cody won by killing 68 animals to Comstock's 48. Comstock, part Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
and a noted hunter, scout, and interpreter, used a fast-shooting Henry repeating rifle, while Cody competed with a larger-caliber Springfield Model 1866
The Springfield Model 1866 was the second iteration of the Allin-designed trapdoor breech-loading mechanism. Originally developed as a means of converting rifle muskets to breechloaders, the Allin modification ultimately became the basis for ...
, which he called Lucretia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (; ca-valencia, Lucrècia Borja, links=no ; 18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was a Spanish-Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the Govern ...
, after the notorious Italian noblewoman, the subject of a popular contemporary Gaetano Donizetti opera '' Lucrezia Borgia'', based on Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's play of the same name. Cody explained that while his formidable opponent, Comstock, chased after his buffalo, engaging from the rear of the herd and leaving a trail of killed buffalo "scattered over a distance of three miles", Codylikening his strategy to a billiards
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as .
There are three major subdivisions ...
player "nursing" his billiard balls during "a big run"first rode his horse to the front of the herd to target the leaders, forcing the followers to one side, eventually causing them to circle and create an easy target, and dropping them close together.
Birth of the legend
In 1869, the 23-year-old Cody met Ned Buntline
Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr. (March 20, 1821 – July 16, 1886), known by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, and writer.
Early life and military service
Judson was born on March 20, 1821, in Harpersfield, New Yo ...
, who later published a story based on Cody's adventures (largely invented by the writer) in Street and Smith's ''New York Weekly
The ''New York Weekly'' was a story newspaper published from 1858–1910 in New York City. Under related names it was published from 1846–1915.
The paper had its origins in 1846 as the ''New York Dispatch'' (1846–1854), and ''New ...
'' and then published a highly successful novel, ''Buffalo Bill, King of the Bordermen'', which was first serialized on the front page of the Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
, beginning that December 15. Many other sequels followed by Buntline, Prentiss Ingraham and others from the 1870s through the early part of the twentieth century. Cody later became world-famous for ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'', a touring show which traveled around the United States, Great Britain, and Continental Europe. Audiences were enthusiastic about seeing a piece of the American West. Emilio Salgari
Emilio Salgari (, but often erroneously ; 21 August 1862 – 25 April 1911) was an Italian writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of spe ...
, a noted Italian writer of adventure stories, met Buffalo Bill when he came to Italy and saw his show; Salgari later featured Cody as a hero in some of his novels.
''Buffalo Bill's Wild West''
In December 1872, Cody traveled to Chicago to make his stage debut with his friend Texas Jack Omohundro in ''The Scouts of the Prairie'', one of the original Wild West shows
Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of co ...
produced by Ned Buntline
Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr. (March 20, 1821 – July 16, 1886), known by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, and writer.
Early life and military service
Judson was born on March 20, 1821, in Harpersfield, New Yo ...
. The effort was panned by criticsone critic compared Cody's acting to a "diffident schoolboy"but the handsome performer was a hit with the sold-out crowds.
In 1873, Cody invited "Wild Bill" Hickok to join the group in a new play called ''Scouts of the Plains''. Hickok did not enjoy acting and often hid behind scenery; in one show, he shot at the spotlight when it focused on him. He was therefore released from the group after a few months. Cody founded the ''Buffalo Bill Combination'' in 1874, in which he performed for part of the year while scouting on the prairies the rest of the year. The troupe toured for ten years. Cody's part typically included a reenactment of an 1876 incident at Warbonnet Creek, where he claimed to have scalped a Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
warrior.
In 1883, in the area of North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the west-central part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. T ...
, Cody founded ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'', a circus-like attraction that toured annually. (Contrary to the popular misconception, the word ''Show'' was not a part of the title.) With his show, Cody traveled throughout the United States and Europe, and made many contacts. He stayed, for example, in Garden City, Kansas, in the presidential suite of the former Windsor Hotel. He was befriended by the mayor and state representative, a frontier scout, rancher, and hunter named Charles "Buffalo" Jones. In 1886, Cody and Nate Salsbury, his theatrical manager, entered into partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...
with Evelyn Booth (1860–1901), a big-game hunter
Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/ antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ...
and scion of the aristocratic Booth family. It was at this time Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band was organized. The band was directed by William Sweeney, a cornet player who served as leader of the Cowboy Band from 1883 until 1913. Sweeney handled all of the musical arrangements and wrote a majority of the music performed by the Cowboy Band.
In 1893, Cody changed the title to ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World''. The show began with a parade on horseback, with participants from horse-culture groups that included the US and another military, cowboys, American Indians, and performers from all over the world in their best attire. Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
, gaucho
A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...
s, Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
, Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
and Georgians displayed their distinctive horses and colorful costumes. Visitors would see main events, feats of skill, staged races, and sideshows. Many historical western figures participated in the show. For example, Sitting Bull appeared with a band of 20 of his braves.
Cody's headline performers were well-known in their own right. Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoverished family in western ...
and her husband, Frank Butler, were sharpshooters, together with the likes of Gabriel Dumont and Lillian Smith. Performers re-enacted the riding of the Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...
, Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach robberies. The show was said to end with a re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...
, in which Cody portrayed General Custer, but this is more legend than fact. The finale was typically a portrayal of an Indian attack on a settler's cabin. Cody would ride in with an entourage of cowboys to defend a settler and his family. This finale was featured predominantly as early as 1886 but was not performed after 1907; it was used in 23 of 33 tours. Another celebrity appearing on the show was 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. Lat ...
, as a storyteller as of 1893.
The show influenced many 20th-century portrayals of the West in cinema and literature.
With his profits, Cody purchased a 4,000-acre (16-km²) ranch near North Platte, Nebraska, North Platte, Nebraska, in 1886. The Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park, Scout's Rest Ranch included an eighteen-room mansion and a large barn for winter storage of the show's livestock.
In 1887, invited by the British businessman John Robinson Whitley, Cody took the show to Great Britain in celebration of the Golden jubilee, Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, who attended a performance. It American Exhibition, played in London and then in Birmingham and Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, near Manchester, where it stayed for five months.
In 1889, the show toured Europe, and, in 1890, Cody met Pope Leo XIII. On March 8, 1890, a competition took place. Buffalo Bill had met some Italian ''Buttero, butteri'' (a less-well-known sort of Italian equivalent of cowboys) and said his men were more skilled at roping calves and performing other similar actions. A group of Buffalo Bill's men challenged nine ''butteri'', led by , at Prati, Prati di Castello neighbourhood in Rome. The ''butteri'' easily won the competition. Augusto Imperiali became a local hero after the event: a street and a monument were dedicated to him in his hometown, Cisterna di Latina, and he was featured as the hero in a series of comic strips in the 1920s and 1930s.
Cody set up an independent exhibition near the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago World's Fair of 1893, which greatly contributed to his popularity in the United States. It vexed the promoters of the fair, who had rejected his request to participate.
In 1894, Edison Studios invited Buffalo Bill and his show to be filmed in an early silent film: ''Buffalo Bill (1894 film), Buffalo Bill''.
On 29 October, 1901, outside Lexington, North Carolina, a freight train crashed into one unit of the train carrying Buffalo Bill's show from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Danville, Virginia. The freight train's engineer had thought that the entire show train had passed, not realizing it was three units, and returned to the tracks; 110 horses, including his mounts Old Pap and Old Eagle, were killed in the crash or had to be killed later. No people were killed, but Annie Oakley's injuries were so severe that she was told she would never walk again. She did recover and continued performing later. The incident put the show out of business for a while, and this disruption may have led to its eventual demise.
"My People the Sioux", pp. 270–272. Agonito, pp. 245–246 states that three young Indians were killed in the train accident and many others injured.
In 1908, Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill joined forces and created the ''Two Bills'' show. That show was foreclosed on when it was playing in Denver, Colorado.
The Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill Film Company, based in New York City, produced a three-reel motion picture in 1912 titled ''The Life of Buffalo Bill''. Cody himself appears in scenes that bookend the short film, a series of adventures presented in flashback as Buffalo Bill's dreams. The film had two other directors before it was successfully completed by John B. O'Brien. The film is in the collection of the Library of Congress.
''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' tours of Europe
''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' toured Europe eight times, the first four tours between 1887 and 1892, and the last four from 1902 to 1906.
The ''Wild West'' first went to London in 1887 as part of the American Exhibition, which coincided with the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, requested a private preview of the ''Wild West'' performance; he was impressed enough to arrange a command performance for Queen Victoria. The Queen enjoyed the show and meeting the performers, setting the stage for another command performance on June 20, 1887, for her Jubilee guests. Royalty from all over Europe attended, including the future Kaiser Wilhelm II and the future King George V. These royal encounters provided ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' an endorsement and publicity that ensured its success. Also, at this time, Buffalo Bill was presented with written accolades from several of America's high ranking generals including William T. Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan and William H. Emory testifying to his service, bravery, and character. Among the presentations was a document signed by Governor of Nebraska, Governor John M. Thayer of Nebraska appointing Cody as aide-de-camp on the Governor's staff with the rank of colonel dated March 8, 1887. The rank had little official authority but the English press quickly capitalized on the new title of "Colonel Cody". ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' closed its successful London run in October 1887 after more than 300 performances, with more than 2.5 million tickets sold. The tour made stops in Birmingham and Manchester before returning to the United States in May 1888 for a short summer tour.
''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' returned to Europe in May 1889 as part of the Exposition Universelle (1889), Exposition Universelle in Paris, an event that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille and featured the debut of the Eiffel Tower. On this tour, his portrait was painted by Europe's leading female painter Rosa Bonheur. The tour moved to the South of France and Barcelona, Spain, then on to Italy. While in Rome, a Wild West delegation was received by Pope Leo XIII. Buffalo Bill was disappointed that the condition of the Colosseum did not allow it to be a venue; however, at Verona, the ''Wild West'' did perform in the ancient Verona Arena, Roman amphitheater. The tour finished with stops in Austria-Hungary and Germany.
In 1891 the show toured cities in Belgium and the Netherlands before returning to Great Britain to close the season. Cody depended on several staffs to manage arrangements for touring with the large and complex show: in 1891 Major Arizona John Burke was the general manager for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Company; William Laugan , supply agent; George C. Crager, Sioux interpreter, considered leader of relations with the Indians; and John Shangren, a native interpreter.["The Death of 'Eagle Star' in Sheffield"](_blank)
''Sheffield & Rotherham Independent'', August 26, 1891, at American Tribes Forum, accessed August 26, 2014. In 1891, Buffalo Bill performed in Karlsruhe, Germany, in the Südstadt Quarter. The inhabitants of Südstadt are nicknamed ''Indianer'' (German for "American Indians") to this day, and the most accepted theory says that this is due to Buffalo Bill's show.
In October Cody brought the show to Dennistoun, Glasgow, where it ran from 16 November until 27 February 1892 in the East End Exhibition Building, and George C. Crager sold The Ghost Shirt to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove Museum.
The show's 1892 tour was confined to Great Britain; it featured another command performance for Queen Victoria. The tour finished with a six-month run in London before leaving Europe for nearly a decade.
''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' returned to Europe in December 1902 with a fourteen-week run in London, capped by a visit from King Edward VII and the future King George V. The ''Wild West'' traveled throughout Great Britain in a tour in 1902 and 1903 and a tour in 1904, performing in nearly every city large enough to support it. The 1905 tour began in April with a two-month run in Paris, after which the show traveled around France, performing mostly one-night stands, concluding in December. The final tour, in 1906, began in France on March 4 and quickly moved to Italy for two months. The show then traveled east, performing in Austria, the Balkans, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine, before returning west to tour in Poland, Bohemia (later Czech Republic), Germany, and Belgium.
The show was enormously successful in Europe, making Cody an international celebrity and an American icon. Mark Twain commented, "It is often said on the other side of the water that none of the exhibitions which we send to England are purely and distinctly American. If you will take the ''Wild West'' show over there you can remove that reproach." The ''Wild West'' brought an exotic foreign world to life for its European audiences, allowing a last glimpse at the fading American frontier.
Several members of the ''Wild West'' show died of accidents or disease during these tours in Europe:
*Surrounded by the Enemy (1865–1887), of the Oglala Lakota band, died of a lung infection. His remains were buried at Brompton Cemetery in London. Red Penny, the one-year-old son of Little Chief and Good Robe, had died four months earlier and was buried in the same cemetery.
*Paul Eagle Star (1864–1891), of the Brulé, Brulé Lakota band, died in Sheffield, of tetanus and complications from injuries caused when his horse fell on him, breaking his leg. He was buried in Brompton Cemetery. His remains were exhumed in March 1999 and transported to the Rosebud Indian Reservation, in South Dakota, by his grandchildren Moses and Lucy Eagle Star II. The remains were reburied in the Lakota cemetery in Rosebud, South Dakota, Rosebud two months later.
*Long Wolf (1833–1892), of the Oglala Lakota band, died of pneumonia and was buried in Brompton Cemetery. His remains were exhumed and transported to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in September 1997 by his descendants, including his great-grandson, John Black Feather. The remains were reburied at Saint Ann's Cemetery, in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Denby.
*White Star Ghost Dog (1890–1892), of the Oglala Lakota band, died after a horse-riding accident and was buried in Brompton Cemetery. Her remains were exhumed and transported to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in South Dakota, in September 1997, with those of Long Wolf, and were reburied at Saint Ann's Cemetery, in Denby.
Life in Cody, Wyoming
In 1895, Cody was instrumental in the founding of the town of Cody, Wyoming, Cody, the seat of Park County, Wyoming, Park County, in northwestern Wyoming. Today the Old Trail Town museum is at the center of the community and commemorates the traditions of Western life. Cody first passed through the region in the 1870s. He was so impressed by the development possibilities from irrigation, rich soil, grand scenery, hunting, and proximity to Yellowstone Park that he returned in the mid-1890s to start a town. Streets in the town were named after his associates: Beck, Alger, Rumsey, Bleistein, and Salsbury. The town was incorporated in 1901.
In November 1902, Cody opened the Irma Hotel, named after his daughter. He envisioned a growing number of tourists coming to Cody on the recently opened Burlington rail line. He expected that they would proceed up Cody Road, along the north fork of the Shoshone River, to visit Yellowstone Park. To accommodate travelers, Cody completed the construction of the Wapiti Inn and Pahaska Tepee in 1905 along Cody Road with the assistance of the artist and rancher Abraham Archibald Anderson.
Cody established the T E Ranch Headquarters, TE Ranch, located on the south fork of the Shoshone River about thirty-five miles from Cody. When he acquired the TE property, he stocked it with cattle sent from Nebraska and South Dakota. The new herd carried the TE brand. The late 1890s were relatively prosperous years for the ''Wild West'' show, and he bought more land to add to the ranch. He eventually held about eight thousand acres ( square miles; 32 square kilometers) of private land for grazing operations and ran about a thousand head of cattle. He operated a dude ranch, pack-horse camping trips, and big-game hunting business at and from the TE Ranch. In his spacious ranch house, he entertained notable guests from Europe and America.
Cody founded the local newspaper, The Cody Enterprise, in 1899 with Col. John Peake.
Cody published his autobiography, ''The Life and Adventures of Buffalo Bill'', in 1879. Another autobiography, ''The Great West That Was: "Buffalo Bill's" Life Story'', was serialized in ''Hearst's International Magazine'' from August 1916 to July 1917.[Don Russell, ''The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill'', 1979.] and ghostwritten by James J. Montague. It contained several errors, in part because it was completed after Cody's death in January 1917.
Bill's Daughter, Irma Cody, died in Cody in 1918. She is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cody, Wyoming.
Irrigation
Larry McMurtry, along with historians such as R. L. Wilson, asserted that at the turn of the 20th century, Cody was the most recognizable celebrity on Earth. While Cody's show brought an appreciation for the Western and American Indian cultures, he saw the American West change dramatically during his life. Bison herds, which had once numbered in the millions, were threatened with extinction. Railroads crossed the plains, barbed wire, and other types of fences divided the land for farmers and ranchers, and the once-threatening Indian tribes were confined to reservations. Wyoming's coal, Petroleum, oil and natural gas were beginning to be exploited toward the end of his life.
The Shoshone River was dammed for hydroelectric power and irrigation. In 1897 and 1899, Cody and his associates acquired from the State of Wyoming the right to take water from the Shoshone River to irrigate about of land in the Big Horn Basin. They began developing a canal to carry water diverted from the river, but their plans did not include a water storage reservoir. Cody and his associates were unable to raise sufficient capital to complete their plan. Early in 1903, they joined with the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners in urging the federal government to step in and help with irrigation in the valley.
The Shoshone Project became one of the first federal water development projects undertaken by the newly formed Reclamation Service, later known as the Bureau of Reclamation. After Reclamation took over the project in 1903, investigating engineers recommended constructing a dam on the Shoshone River in the canyon west of Cody. Construction of the Shoshone Dam started in 1905, a year after the Shoshone Project was authorized. When it was completed in 1910, it was the tallest dam in the world. Almost three decades after its construction, the name of the dam and reservoir was changed to Buffalo Bill Dam by an act of Congress.
Marriage
Cody married Louisa Frederici on March 6, 1866, just a few days after his twentieth birthday. The couple met when Cody had traveled to St. Louis under his command during the American Civil War, Civil War. Cody's ''Autobiography'' barely mentioned the courtship to Frederici but declared, "I now adored her above any other young lady I had ever seen." Cody suggested in letters and his autobiography that Frederici had pestered him into marriage, but he was aware that it was "very smart to be engaged." This rhetoric became pushed more and more in his explanations for marriage as the relationship between him and his wife began to decline.
Frederici stayed home with their four children in North Platte, while he stayed outside the home, hunting, scouting, and building up his acting career in the ''Wild West'' show. As Cody began to travel more frequently and to places farther from home, problems over infidelity, real or imagined, began to arise. These concerns grew so great that in 1893, Frederici showed up at his hotel room in Chicago unannounced and was led to "Mr. and Mrs. Cody's suite." Cody mentions in his autobiography that he was "embarrassed by the throng of beautiful ladies" who surrounded him both in the cast and the audiences, and this trend continued as he became involved with more and more actresses who were not afraid to show their attraction to him in front of an audience.
Cody filed for divorce in 1904, after 38 years of marriage. His decision was made after years of jealous arguments, bad blood between his wife and his sisters, and friction between the children and their father. By 1891, Cody had instructed his brother-in-law to handle Frederici's affairs and property, saying "I often feel sorry for her. She is a strange woman but I don't mind herremember she is my wifeand let it go at that. If she gets cranky, just laugh at it, she can't help it." Cody hoped to keep the divorce quiet, to not disrupt his show or his stage persona, but Frederici had other ideas.
Filing for divorce was scandalous in the early 20th century when marital unions were seen as binding for life. This furthered Cody's determination to get Frederici to agree to a "quiet legal separation," to avoid "war and publicity." The court records and depositions that were kept with the court case threatened to ruin Cody's respectability and credibility. His private life had not been open to the public before, and the application for divorce brought unwanted attention to the matter. Not only did townspeople feel the need to take sides in the divorce, but headlines rang out with information about Cody's alleged infidelities or Frederici's excesses.
Cody's two main allegations against his wife were that she attempted to poison him on multiple occasions (this allegation was later proved false) and that she made living in North Platte "unbearable and intolerable" for Cody and his guests. The press picked up on the story immediately, creating a battle between Cody and Frederici's teams of lawyers, both of which seemed to be the better authority on Nebraska divorce law. Divorce laws varied from state to state in the early 1900s. Desertion was the main grounds for divorce, but in some jurisdictions, such as Kansas, divorce could be granted if a spouse was "intolerable." The Victorian ideal of marriage did not allow for divorce in any case, but the move westward forced a change in the expectations of husbands and wives and the ability to remain married. In Lewis and Clark County, Montana, 1867 records show that there were more divorces in that year than marriages. Part of the appeal of the frontier was that "a man cannot keep his wife here."
After Cody's announcement that he was suing for divorce, Frederici began to fight back. She claimed that she had never attempted to poison him and that she wished to remain married. The trial then moved to court in February 1905. One of the witnesses who spoke to a newspaper was Mrs. John Boyer, a housekeeper in the Cody home who was married to a man who worked for the ''Wild West'' show. She claimed that Frederici acted inhospitably towards Cody's guests and that, when Cody was not at the ranch, she would "feed the men too much and talk violently about Cody and his alleged sweethearts... and that she was seen putting something into his coffee." Other witnesses mentioned Cody's comment that to handle his wife he had to "get drunk and stay drunk." The battle in court continued, with testimony from three witnesses, Mary Hoover, George Hoover, and M.E. Vroman. After the witnesses had testified, Cody changed his mind about the divorce.
Cody's change of mind was not due to any improvement in his relationship with Frederici but rather was due to the death of their daughter, Arta Louise, in 1904 from "organic trouble." With this weighing heavily on him, Cody sent a telegram to Frederici hoping to put aside "personal differences" for the funeral. Frederici was furious and refused any temporary reconciliation. Cody decided to continue pursuing the divorce, adding to his complaint that Frederici would not sign mortgages and that she had subjected him to "extreme cruelty" in blaming him for the death of Arta. When the trial proceeded a year later, in 1905, both their tempers were still hot. The final ruling was that "incompatibility was not grounds for divorce," so that the couple was to stay legally married. The judge and the public sided with Frederici, the judge deciding that her husband's alleged affairs and his sisters' meddling in his marriage had caused his unhappiness, not his wife. Cody returned to Paris to continue with the ''Wild West'' show and attempted to maintain a hospitable, but distant, relationship with his wife. The two reconciled in 1910, after which Frederici often traveled with her husband until he died in 1917.
Death
Cody died on January 10, 1917. He was baptized in the Catholic Church the day before his death by Father Christopher Walsh of the Denver Cathedral. He received a full Freemasonry, Masonic funeral. Upon the news of Cody's death, tributes were made by George V, King George V, Wilhelm II of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and President Woodrow Wilson.[John Lloyd (producer), Lloyd, John; John Mitchinson (researcher), Mitchinson, John (2006). ''The Book of General Ignorance''. Faber & Faber.] His funeral service was held at the Elks Lodge Hall in Denver. The governor of Wyoming, John B. Kendrick, a friend of Cody, led the funeral procession to the cemetery.
At the time of his death, Cody's once-great fortune had dwindled to less than $100,000 (approximately $ in ). He left his burial arrangements with his wife. She said that he had always said he wanted to be buried on Lookout Mountain, which was corroborated by their daughter Irma, Cody's sisters, and family friends. But other family members joined the people of Cody in saying that he should be buried in the town he founded.
On June 3, 1917, Cody was buried on Lookout Mountain, Colorado, Lookout Mountain, in Golden, Colorado, west of Denver, on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, overlooking the Great Plains. His burial site was selected by his sister Mary Decker. In 1948 the Cody chapter of the American Legion offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could steal Cody's body and deliver it to Cody, Wyoming. In response, the Denver chapter of the American Legion mounted a guard over the grave. There are still rumors about the true burial place of Buffalo Bill Cody, although Lookout Mountain has a gravesite behind a fence and under concrete, Cody, Wyoming also claims that a great body swap was carried out before he was buried in Colorado and instead he is laid to rest on top of Cedar Mountain in Cody.
On June 9, 1917, his show was sold to Archer Banker of Salina, Kansas, for $105,000 (approximately $ today).
Philosophy
As a frontier scout, Cody respected Native Americans and supported their Native American civil rights, civil rights. He employed many Native Americans, as he thought his show offered them good pay with a chance to improve their lives. He described them as "the former foe, present friend, the American" and once said that "every Indian Wars, Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government."
Cody supported the rights of women. He said, "What we want to do is give women, even more, liberty than they have. Let them do any kind of work they see fit, and if they do it as well as men, give them the same pay." Women such as Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane had legendary roles in his show, and later in life Cody continued to hire and treat women fairly. Cody said in an interview in 1898, "Set that down in great big black type that Buffalo Bill favors woman suffrage… These fellows who prate about the women taking their places make me laugh… If a woman can do the same work that a man can do and do it just as well, she should have the same pay."
In his shows, the Indians were usually depicted attacking stagecoaches and wagon trains and were driven off by cowboys and soldiers. Many family members traveled with the men; Cody encouraged the wives and children of his Native American performers, as part of the show, to set up camp just as they would in their homelands. He wanted the paying public to see the human side of the "fierce warriors".
Cody was known as a Conservation movement, conservationist who spoke out against hide-hunting and advocated the establishment of a hunting season.
Cody as a Freemason
Cody was active in the concordant bodies of the fraternal organization of Freemasonry having been initiated in Platte Valley Lodge No. 32, in North Platte, Nebraska, on March 5, 1870. He received his second and third degrees on April 2, 1870, and January 10, 1871, respectively. He became a Knights Templar (Freemasonry), Knight Templar in 1889 and received his 32nd degree in the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1894.
Legacy and honors
*In 1872, Cody was awarded the Medal of Honor for service as a civilian scout to the 3rd Cavalry Regiment (United States), 3rd Cavalry Regiment, for "gallantry in action" at Loupe Forke, Platte River, Nebraska. In 1917, after Congress revised the standards for the award, the U.S. Army removed from the rolls 911 medals previously awarded to civilians or for actions that would not warrant a Medal of Honor under the new higher standards. Cody's medal was among those revoked. In 1977, Congress began reviewing numerous cases; it reinstated the medals for Cody and four other civilian scouts on June 12, 1989.
*The Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway through the Shoshone National Forest is a National Forest Scenic Byway and Wyoming Scenic Byway named after Buffalo Bill
* Because of his funding and planning with Shoshone Project, The Shoshone Project The Buffalo Bill Dam, The Buffalo Bill Reservoir created by the dam, and the Buffalo Bill State Park at the reservoir are all named after him.
* Buffalo Bill Ranch, The Buffalo Bill Ranch State Park, also known as the Scout's Rest Ranch in North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the west-central part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. T ...
was designated as a Nebraska State Historical Park in 1965, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021.
*Cody was honored by two U.S. postage stamps. One was a fifteen-cent Great Americans series stamp.
*The Buffalo Bill Center of the West was founded in Cody, Wyoming. The town is named in his honor.
*''Buffalo Bill's Wild West and the Progressive Image of American Indians'' is a collaborative project of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the history department of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, with assistance from the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. This digital history project contains letters, official programs, newspaper reports, posters, and photographs. The project highlights the social and cultural forces that shaped how American Indians were defined, debated, contested, and controlled in this period. This project was based on the Papers of William F. Cody project of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
*The National Museum of American History's Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian Institution preserves and displays Gertrude Käsebier's photographs of the Wild West show. Michelle Delaney has published ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier''.
*Some Oglala Lakota people carry on family show business traditions from ancestors who were Carlisle Indian School alumni and worked for Buffalo Bill and other Wild West shows. Several national projects celebrate Wild Westers and Wild Westing. Wild Westers still perform in movies, powwows, pageants, and rodeos.
*The Buffalo Bills, a National Football League team based in Buffalo, New York, were named after the entertainer. Other early football teams (such as the Buffalo Bills (AAFC), Buffalo Bills of the All-America Football Conference) used the nickname, solely for name recognition, as Cody had no special connection with the city of Buffalo. He did however live for a few years in nearby Rochester. Three of Buffalo Bill's children are buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.
*Disneyland Railroad (Paris), Euro Disneyland Railroad locomotive #1 is named the ''W. F. Cody'' in his honor.
*In 1958, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
*Bubble O' Bill, an ice cream in the shape of a cowboy currently sold in Australia and previously available in the United States and United Kingdom, is named as such after Cody's stage name.
Statues
* Buffalo Bill - The Scout, "The Scout" 1924, by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, in Cody, Wyoming, Cody, Wy
* "Buffalo Bill – Plainsman" 1976, by Bob Scriver, in Cody, Wy
* "The Spirit of Cody" 1999 by Jeffery B. Rudolph in Cody, Wy
* "Born Under a Wandering Star" by Vic Payne in Cody, Wy
*"Howdy Folks" 2000, by Jeffery Rudolph in Golden, Colorado
* "Buffalo Bill Monument" 2004 by Charlie Norton in Oakley, Kansas
* "Buffalo Bill " at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City
* "Buffalo Bill Statue" 2006 in Glasgow
* "America" 1876 by John Bell (sculptor), a section of the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, London features a western figure that bears a resemblance to Buffalo Bill standing next to an American Bison.
Representation in popular culture
Buffalo Bill has been portrayed in many literary, musical, and theatrical works, movies, and television shows, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, when Western (genre), Westerns were most popular. Some examples are listed below.
Film
*1926: ''With Buffalo Bill on the U. P. Trail'', starring Roy Stewart (silent film actor), Roy Stewart as Buffalo Bill.
*1931: ''Battling with Buffalo Bill'', starring Tom Tyler as Buffalo Bill.
*1935: ''The Miracle Rider'', starring Tex Cooper as Buffalo Bill.
*1935: ''Annie Oakley (1935 film), Annie Oakley'', starring Moroni Olsen as Buffalo Bill.
*1936: ''The Plainsman'', starring James Ellison (actor), James Ellison as Buffalo Bill.
*1940: ''Young Buffalo Bill'', starring Roy Rogers as Buffalo Bill.
*1944: ''Buffalo Bill (1944 film), Buffalo Bill'', starring Joel McCrea as Buffalo Bill.
*1950: ''Cody of the Pony Express'', starring Dickie Moore (actor), Dickie Moore as Buffalo Bill.
*1950: ''Annie Get Your Gun (film), Annie Get Your Gun'', starring Louis Calhern as Buffalo Bill.
*1952: ''Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory'', starring Clayton Moore as Buffalo Bill.
*1953: ''Pony Express (film), Pony Express'', starring Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill.
*1954: ''Riding with Buffalo Bill'', starring Marshall Reed as Buffalo Bill.
*1963: ''The Raiders (1963 film), The Raiders'', starring Jim McMullan as Buffalo Bill.
*1964: ''Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West'', starring Gordon Scott as Buffalo Bill.
*1965: ''Seven Hours of Gunfire'', starring Rik Van Nutter as Buffalo Bill.
*1966: ''The Plainsman (1966 film), The Plainsman'', starring Guy Stockwell as Buffalo Bill.
*1974: ''Don't Touch the White Woman!'', starring Michel Piccoli as Buffalo Bill.
*1976: ''Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson'', is a fictional film by Robert Altman that features the ''Wild West'' show, with Paul Newman as Cody and Geraldine Chaplin as Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoverished family in western ...
. The film is based on the play "Indians", by Arthur Kopit.
*1979: ''The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang'', starring Buff Brady as Buffalo Bill.
*1981: ''The Legend of the Lone Ranger'', starring Theodore J. Flicker, Ted Flicker as Buffalo Bill.
*1989-92: The Young Riders, a series with Stephen Baldwin as Cody. As a fictionalized version of his Pony Express riding days.
*1991: In this film adaptation of Thomas Harris's 1988 novel, ''Silence of the Lambs'', serial killer Buffalo Bill (character), Jame Gumb is nicknamed Buffalo Bill because he skins his victims, mirroring how Buffalo Bill reportedly scalped a Cheyenne.
*1995: ''Wild Bill (1995 film), Wild Bill'', is a film based on legends about "Wild Bill" Hickok, in which Buffalo Bill briefly appears in the play ''Scouts of the Plains'', with Jeff Bridges as Hickok, Keith Carradine as Cody, and Ellen Barkin as 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. Lat ...
.
*1995: ''Buffalo Girls (miniseries), Buffalo Girls'' is a TV miniseries based on legends about Calamity Jane, with Peter Coyote as Buffalo Bill, Anjelica Huston as Calamity Jane, Reba McEntire as Annie Oakley, and Russell Means as Chief Sitting Bull.
*2004: ''Hidalgo (film), Hidalgo'' is a film based on the legend of Frank Hopkins, featuring the ''Wild West'' show, with J. K. Simmons as Buffalo Bill and Elizabeth Berridge (actress), Elizabeth Berridge as Annie Oakley.
Literature
*1907: ''A Horse's Tale'', by Mark Twain, features Buffalo Bill and his horse.
*1911: In the thirteenth entry of Leon Sazie, Leon Sazie's ''Zigomar'' series, it is established that the fictional detective Nick Carter (literary character), Nick Carter is Buffalo Bill's cousin, and that they are working under P. T. Barnum at the time of the story.
*1920: "Buffalo Bill's Defunct" is a poem by E. E. Cummings. In ''Poetry,'' edited by J. Hunter, it is entitled "Portrait".
*1988: In ''The Silence of the Lambs (novel), Silence of the Lambs'', the serial killer fugitive, at large is nicknamed Buffalo Bill (character), Buffalo Bill by the FBI because he skins his victims, mirroring how Buffalo Bill reportedly scalped a Cheyenne.
Music
*The vocal quartet Buffalo Bills (quartet), Buffalo Bills was a prominent barbershop quartet in the 1950s and 1960s, formed in Buffalo, New York in 1947, the name inspired by the professional football team which began that year in Buffalo. The group starred in the Broadway and Hollywood versions of Meredith Willson's musical comedy The Music Man.
*The cover art for the 2011 album ''Goblin (album), Goblin'', by Tyler, the Creator, features a picture of Buffalo Bill at the age of 19.
*"Bufalo Bill", a song by singer Francesco de Gregori
*"Buffalo Bill", a song by rapper Eminem
*"Buffalo Bill", a song by singer Moxie Raia
*"Buffalo Bill", a song by singer Willi Carlisle
*''The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill'', a song by The Beatles
Theater
*Buffalo Bill is a character in the 1946 Broadway musical ''Annie Get Your Gun (musical), Annie Get Your Gun'', in the 1968 play ''Indians (play), Indians'', by Arthur Kopit as well as in The Wild West Spectacular, a musical that takes place in the town he founded: Cody, Wyoming
Sports
*The NFL team the Buffalo Bills is named after Buffalo Bill after a fan cast the idea in a contest to find the next team name
*K.A.A. Gent, KAA Ghent, a football club, sports the name in its nickname "The Buffalo's".
*Attended a Rangers FC match at Ibrox Stadium in November 1891.
Television
*Cody was featured as a historical character on such television series about the West as ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'', ''Bat Masterson (TV series), Bat Masterson'' and ''Bonanza''. He has been portrayed as an elder statesman or as a flamboyant, self-serving exhibitionist.
*Cody was portrayed by Britt Lomond in the episode "A Legend of Buffalo Bill" (1959) of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC/Warner Brothers Western (genre), Western television series ''Colt .45 (TV series), Colt .45''.
*Cody was portrayed by John Lupton in a few episodes of ''Death Valley Days'' (1959–1962).
*In ''The Young Riders'', a highly fictionalized story of the Pony Express, Cody was portrayed by Stephen Baldwin.
*Buffalo Bill Cody was portrayed by Dennis Weaver in season one of ''Lonesome Dove: The Series''.
*Cody, portrayed by Nicholas Campbell, and his Wild West show are featured in the ''Murdoch Mysteries'' episode "Mild Mild West".
*Mister Peabody and Sherman visited Buffalo Bill in episode 59 of "Peabody's Improbable History" titled "Buffalo Bill" on January 9, 1962.
*The photo of Cody and Sitting Bull was used in the titles of ''The Real West'' which ran on A&E TV from 1991 to 1994 and later on The History Channel.
Congo youth culture
Movies about Cody inspired a youth subculture in the Belgian Congo in the 1950s, with young men and women dressing like him and forming neighborhood gangs. After Congolese independence, some of the "Bills" went on to careers in the music industry.
See also
*Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead
*The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Bungalow Bill
*List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Indian Wars#C, List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Indian Wars
*Ned Buntline
Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr. (March 20, 1821 – July 16, 1886), known by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, and writer.
Early life and military service
Judson was born on March 20, 1821, in Harpersfield, New Yo ...
*Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...
*Show Indians
*Wild Westing
*William Frank Carver, William "Doc" Carver
*William Sloan Tough
References
Citations
Bibliography
*Cody, William F. (1879). ''The Life of Hon. William F. Cody Known as Buffalo Bill the Famous Hunter, Scout, and Guide: An Autobiography''. Hartford, Connecticut: Frank E. Bliss. A facsimile edition was published in 1983 by Time-Life Books as part of its 31-volume series ''Classics of the Old West''.
*Cunningham, Tom F. (2007) .''Your Fathers Ghosts: Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Scotland''. Edinburgh: Black and White Publishing. .
*Gallop, Alan (2001). ''Buffalo Bill's British Wild West''. Stroud: Sutton. .
*Griffin, Charles Eldridge (2010). ''Four Years in Europe with Buffalo Bill''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. .
*Haywood, Robert. (1993). "Unplighted Troths: Causes for Divorce in a Frontier Town Toward the End of the Nineteenth Century." ''Great Plains Quarterly'' 1, no. 1.
*Jonnes, Jill (2010), ''Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count''. New York: Penguin. .
*Kasson, Joy S. (2000). ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History''. New York: Hill and Wang. .
*Magrin, Alessandra (2017)."Rough riders in the cradle of civilization: Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in Italy and the challenge of American cultural scarcity at the fin-de-siècle". ''European Journal of American Culture'', 36, no. 1, 23–38.
*May, Elaine Tyler (1980). ''Great Expectations: Marriage and Divorce in Post-Victorian America''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
*Moses, L. G. (1996). ''Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883–1933''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. .
*Petrik, Paula (1991). "Not A Love StoryBordeaux vs. Bordeaux." ''Montana, the Magazine of Western History'' 41, no. 2, 32-46.
*Rosa, Joseph G.; May, Robin (1989). ''Buffalo Bill and His Wild West: A Pictorial Biography''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. .
*Russell, Don (1960). ''The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. .
*Rydell, Robert W.; Kroes, Rob (2005). ''Buffalo Bill in Bologna: The Americanization of the World, 1869–1922''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .
*Sell, Henry Blackman; Weybright, Victor (1955). ''Buffalo Bill and the Wild West''. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Wetmore, Helen Cody (1899). ''Last of the Great Scouts: The Life Story of Col. William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), as Told by His Sister Helen Cody Wetmore''. Duluth, Minnesota: Duluth Press Printing.
*Wilson, R. L.; Martin, Greg (1998). ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West: An American Legend''. New York: Random House. .
Further reading
*''Buffalo Bill Days (June 22–24, 2007)'', a 20-page special section of ''The Sheridan Press'', published in June 2007 by Sheridan Newspapers (Sheridan, Wyoming). Includes information about Buffalo Bill and the schedule of the annual three-day event held in Sheridan, Wyoming.
*"Story of the Wild West and Camp-Fire Chats by Buffalo Bill (Hon. W. F. Cody)". ''A Complete History of the Renowned Pioneer Quartette, Boone, Crockett, Carson and Buffalo Bill''. copyright 1888 by HS Smith, published 1889 by Standard Publishing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
*Cody, William F. (1879). ''The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, Known as Buffalo Bill, the Famous Hunter, Scout, and Guide: An Autobiography''. Hartford, Connecticut: F. E. Bliss
Digitized from the Library of Congress.
*Kasson, Joy S. (2001). ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory and Popular History''. Hill & Wang.
*O'Neill, William (1965). "Divorce in the Progressive Era." ''American Quarterly'' 17, no. 2, part 1 (Summer), 203–217.
*Pascoe, Peggy (1990). ''Relations of Rescue: The Search for Female Moral Authority in the American West, 1874–1939''. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Prescott, Cynthia Culver (2007). "Why She Didn't Marry Him: Love, Power and Marital Choice on the Far Western Frontier". ''Western Historical Quarterly'' 38(1), p. 26.
External links
*
*
*
*
Cody Studies with digital research modules and historiography
*
William F. Cody Archive
University of South Florida Libraries: Buffalo Bill Stories
A collection of 125 dime novels published by Street & Smith
*
* Illinois State University, Milner Library, Special Collections, Circus and Allied Arts Collection.
* hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.buffalo, Buffalo Bill Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
* hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.rowley, Clarence W. Rowley Papers Relating to Buffalo Bill and John L. Sullivan. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
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