Wild Bill Hickok

James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876) was a figure in the American Old West. He was also known as "Wild Bill" Hickok. He was a gunfighter, gambler, and lawman.

Biography
Hickok was born and raised on a farm in Homer, Illinois (now Troy Grove, Illinois). He went west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice. He worked first as a stagecoach driver, then as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

He fought (and spied) for the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he gained fame as a scout, marksman, actor, and professional gambler.  Calamity Jane claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok and  divorced him.

Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts. He was shot from behind and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. The card hand he held at the time of his death is known today as poker's "Dead Man's Hand". In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

 References 

Other websites
 James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok 
 Wild Bill Hickok collection, Nebraska State Historical Society


Category:Military people from Illinois
Category:American Old West
Category:1837 births
Category:1876 deaths
Category:Deaths by firearm in the United States