Frontiersman and showman, born in Scott Co, Iowa, USA. After his father died when he was 12, and with little formal education, he worked as a wagoner, trapper, and prospector before joining the Pony Express at age 14. During the Civil War, he served as a scout for the Union army's Ninth Kansas Cavalry (1863) and then with the Union forces in Tennessee and Missouri (18645). After the war he tried various ventures, such as running a hotel and freighting business, and working on railroad construction, then became a buffalo hunter (18678), supplying meat to the Kansas Pacific Railroad and gaining his nickname (killing 4280 buffalo by his own count). Working as a civilian scout for the Fifth Cavalry (186872), he fought the Sioux and Cheyenne and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, later revoked (1917) because he had not been in the military.
In 1872 he appeared in a stage play by E Z C Judson who, under the pen name Ned Buntline, also began to feature Buffalo Bill in a series of low-price novels. Cody went back to the plains to raise cattle and scout again for the military (he was said to have killed and scalped the Cheyenne chief, Yellow Hand), but decided to capitalize on his fame by organizing Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (1983). With himself as the star and with other talented marksmen and riders, such as Annie Oakley, and featuring a mock battle with Indians, the show toured before appreciative audiences throughout America and Europe for 30 years. Financial troubles then closed the show (1913), but he continued performing for others almost to his death. In the 1890s he had settled on a large tract given to him by the state of Wyoming in the Bighorn Basin (later the site of Cody). He died unexpectedly in Denver and is buried on nearby Lookout Mountain, and remains one of the archetypal American legends.
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, buffalo hunter and showman.
Nickname and work life
William Frederick Cody (Buffalo Bill) got his nickname for supplying Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. The nickname originally referred to Bill Comstock. Cody won the nickname from him in 1868 in a buffalo killing contest.
In addition to his documented service as a soldier during the Civil War and as a Colonel, Chief of Scouts for the Army during the Plains Wars, Cody claimed to have worked many jobs, including as a trapper, bullwhacker, "Fifty-Niner" in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, and even a hotel manager, but it's unclear which claims were factual and which were fabricated for purposes of publicity.
Early years
William Frederick Cody was born at his family's farmhouse in Scott County, Iowa, on February 26, 1846, to Isaac and Mary Cody. When Cody was 7, his older brother, Samuel, was killed by a fall from a horse. His death so affected Mary Cody's health that a change of scene was advised and the family relocated to Kansas, moving into a large log cabin on land that they had staked there!
Cody's father believed that Kansas should be a free state, but many of the other settlers in the area were pro-slavery (see Bleeding Kansas). Cody helped to drag his father to safety, although he never fully recovered from his injuries. The family was constantly persecuted by the supporters of slavery, forcing Isaac Cody to spend much of his time away from home. Cody, despite his youth and the fact that he was ill, rode 30 miles to warn his father. Cody's father died in 1857 from complications from his stabbing.
After his father's death, the Cody family suffered financial difficulties, and Cody, aged only 11, took a job with freight carrier as a "boy extra," riding up and down the length of a wagon train, delivering messages.
At the age of 14, Cody was struck by gold fever, but on his way to the gold fields, he met an agent for the Pony Express.
His mother recovered, and Cody, who wished to enlist as a soldier, but was refused for his age, began working with a United States freight caravan which delivered supplies to Fort Laramie.
Civil War Soldier and Marriage
Shortly after the death of his mother in 1863, Cody enlisted in the 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment and fought with them on the Union side for the rest of the Civil War.
While stationed at military camp in St. Louis, Bill met Louisa Frederici (1843-1921). Their marriage was not a happy one, and Bill unsuccessfully attempted to divorce Louisa.
His early experience as an Army scout led him again to scouting, this time officially appointed.
From 1868 until 1872 Cody was employed as a scout by the United States Army. Part of this time he spent scouting for Indians, and the remainder was spent gathering and killing buffalo for them and the Kansas Pacific Railroad.
After being a frontiersman, Buffalo Bill entered show business. He toured the United States starring in plays based loosely on his Western adventures, initially with Texas Jack Omohundro, and for one season with Wild Bill Hickok.
Life in Cody, Wyoming
In 1895, William Cody was instrumental in helping found Cody, Wyoming.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
It was the age of great showmen and traveling entertainers, like Barnum & Cody took the lead from fellow showman 'Pawnee Bill' and put together his own traveling show. In 1883 in Omaha, Nebraska Cody founded "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," (despite popular misconception the word "show" was not a part of the title) a circus-like attraction that toured annually. At first his manager was Dr. Carver, but the show only became famous once his manager became Nathan "Nate" Salsbury (Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show)
As the Wild West toured North America over the next twenty years it became a moving extravaganza, including as many as 1200 performers. Bill used real working cowboys and real Indians. Buffalo Bill and his performers would re-enact the riding of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach robberies. Cody's performance typically ended with a melodramatic re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand in which Cody himself portrayed General Custer. Many historians claim that, at the turn of the 19th century, Buffalo Bill Cody was the most recognizable celebrity on earth.
And yet, despite all of the recognition and appreciation Cody's show brought for the Western and American Indian cultures, Buffalo Bill saw the American West change dramatically during his tumultuous life. Buffalo herds, which had once numbered in the millions, were now threatened with extinction. Builders called it the Buffalo Bill Dam.
Death
Cody died on January 10, 1917 broke and alone. Some time before death, Cody converted to Catholicism.
Legacy
Buffalo Bill was a rough-hewn outdoorsman, and pushed for the rights of American Indians and women. In addition, despite his history of killing the buffalo, he supported their conservation by speaking out against hide-hunting and pushing for a hunting season.
Buffalo Bill became so well known and his exploits such a part of American culture that his persona has appeared in many literary works as well as television shows and movies. Buffalo Bill would make an appearance in most of them.
Having been a frontier scout who respected the natives, he was a staunch supporter of their rights.
While in his shows the Indians were usually the "bad guys", attacking stagecoaches and wagon trains in order to be driven off by "heroic" cowboys and soldiers, Bill also had the wives and children of his Indian performers set up camp as they would in the homelands as part of the show, so that the paying public could see the human side of the "fierce warriors", that they were families like any other, just part of a different culture.
The city of Cody, Wyoming was founded in 1896 by Cody and some investors, and is named for him. It is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Bill did indeed spend a great amount of time in Wyoming at his home in Cody.
Buffalo Bill became a hero of the Bills, a Congolese youth subculture of the late 1950s who idolized Western movies.
In film and television
Buffalo Bill has been represented in the movies by:
| Himself (1898 and 1912) George Waggner (1924) John Fox, Jr. Simmons (2004) Frank Conniff (2005) |
"Buffalo Bill's / defunct"
A famous free verse poem on mortality by E. Cummings uses Buffalo Bill as an image of life and vibrancy. The poem is untitled, but commonly known by its first two lines: "Buffalo Bill's / defunct". The poem uses expressive phrases to describe Buffalo Bill's showmanship, referring to his "watersmooth-silver / stallion", and using a staccato beat to describe his rapid shooting of a series of clay pigeons.
User Comments Add a comment…