William Frederick
"Buffalo Bill" Cody
(February 26, 1846 – January 10,
1917)
William Frederick Cody was an
American soldier, buffalo hunter and showman. He was one of the most
colorful figures of the Old West, and mostly famous for the shows he
organized with cowboy themes.
Contents
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. He won 69 to 48.
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, wagon master, stagecoach driver, and even a
hotel manager, but it's unclear which claims were factual and which were
fabricated for purposes of publicity. He became world famous for his Wild
West show.
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. While giving an anti-slavery speech at the local trading
post, he so inflamed the supporters of slavery in the audience that they
formed a mob and one of them stabbed him. 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. His enemies learned of a planned
visit to his family and plotted to kill him on the way. 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. From here, he joined Johnston's
Army as an unofficial member of the scouts assigned to guide the Army to
Utah to put down a falsely-reported rebellion by the Mormon population of
Salt Lake City.
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. He signed with them and after building several way stations and
corrals was given a job as rider, which he kept until he was called home
to his sick mother's bedside.
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). He returned after his
discharge and they married on March 6, 1866. Their marriage was not a
happy one, and Bill unsuccessfully attempted to divorce Louisa. They had
four children, two of whom died young: his beloved son, Kit died of
scarlet fever in April, 1876 and his daughter Orra died in 1880.
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. He received
the Medal of Honor in 1872 for "gallantry in action" while
serving as a civilian scout for the 3rd Cavalry Regiment. This medal was
revoked on February 5, 1917, 24 days after his death, because he was a
civilian and therefore was ineligible for the award under new guidelines
for the award in 1917. The medal was restored to him by the army in 1989.
After being a frontiersman, Buffalo Bill
entered show business. He formed a touring company called the Buffalo Bill
Combination which put on plays (e.g. "Scouts of the Prairie",
"Scouts of the Plain") based loosely on his Western adventures,
initially with Texas Jack Omohundro, and for one season (1873) with Wild
Bill Hickok. The troupe toured for ten years and his part typically
included an 1876 incident at the Warbonnet Creek where he claimed to have
scalped a Cheyenne warrior, purportedly in revenge for the death of George
Armstrong Custer.
[Top]
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
It was the age of great showmen and traveling entertainers, like the
Barnum and Bailey Circus and the Vaudeville circuits. Cody took the lead
from fellow showman 'Pawnee Bill' and put together a new traveling show
based on both of those forms of entertainment. In 1883 in Omaha, Nebraska
he 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.
As the Wild West toured North America
over the next twenty years it became a moving extravaganza, including as
many as 1200 performers. The show began with a parade on horseback, with
participants from horse-culture groups that included US and other
military, American Indians, and performers from all over the world in
their best attire. There were Turks, Gauchos, Arabs, Mongols and Cossacks,
among others, each showing their own distinctive horses and colorful
costumes. Visitors to this spectacle could see main events, feats of
skill, staged races, and sideshows. Many authentic western personalities
were part of the show. For example Sitting Bull and a band of twenty
braves appeared. Cody's headline performers were well known in their own
right. People like Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler put on
shooting exhibitions along with the likes of Gabriel Dumont. Other
well-known contemporaries such as 'Calamity Jane' (Martha Jane Cannary-Burke)
toured frequently. Buffalo Bill and his performers would re-enact the
riding of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach
robberies. The show typically ended with a melodramatic re-enactment of
Custer's Last Stand in which Cody himself portrayed General Custer.
In 1887 he performed in London in
celebration of the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, and toured Europe in
1889. He set up an exhibition near the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, which
greatly contributed to his popularity, and also vexed the promoters of the
fair. As noted in The Devil in the White City, he had been rebuffed
in his request to be part of the fair, so he set up shop just to the west
of the fairgrounds, drawing many patrons away from the fair. Since his
show was not part of the fair, he was not obligated to pay the fair any
royalties, which they could have used to temper the financial struggles of
the fair.
Many historians claim that, at the turn
of the 20th 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. 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 now almost completely confined to
reservations. Wyoming's resources of coal, oil and natural gas were
beginning to be exploited towards the end of his life. Even the Shoshone
River was dammed for hydroelectric power as well as for irrigation.
Builders called it the Buffalo Bill Dam.
Life in Cody, Wyoming
In 1895, William Cody was instrumental in helping found Cody, Wyoming.
Later he built the Irma Hotel downtown. He also had lodging along the
route to the east entry of Yellowstone National Park that included the
Wapiti Inn and Pahaska Teepee. Up the Southfork was his TE Ranch getaway
with family.
Death
Cody died of kidney failure on January 10, 1917 surrounded by family
and friends at his sister's house in Denver. Contrary to popular belief he
was not destitute but his once great fortune had dwindled to under
$100,000. Despite his request to be buried at Cody, Wyoming in an early
will, it was superseded by a later will which left his burial arrangements
up to his wife Louisa. According to Louisa and other immediate family
members, he had asked to buried on Lookout Mountain before his death. To
this day there is controversy as to where Cody really wanted to be buried.
In accordance with the family's wishes,
on June 3, 1917 he was buried on Colorado's Lookout Mountain, at Golden,
Colorado, west of the city of Denver, located on the edge of the Rocky
Mountains and overlooking the Great Plains. While there is evidence that
Cody had already been baptized as a baby, he asked to be baptized as a
Catholic around two weeks before his death.
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