About the Buffalo Bill Museum - Buffalo Bill Center of the West Buffalo Bill Center of the West About About the Buffalo Bill Museum In our Buffalo Bill Museum, visitors encounter William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody the man, as well as the showman and international celebrity. Learn about his life and times in our new exhibition, a blend of original objects, multimedia, and innovative interactive elements. Encounter a Leading American Icon Again . . . for the Very First Time A view of the new Buffalo Bill Museum, with the TE Ranch exhibit in the foreground. If you know the American West, it’s a good bet you already know Buffalo Bill, also. In our Buffalo Bill Museum you have the opportunity to meet him again, for the very first time. In the Pantheon of iconic figures of the American West, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody stands front and center. In his heyday, a century ago, he was the most recognized and celebrated person in the world—the first truly international “superstar.” Even today, he is still immediately familiar, just as he was then, by his trademark mustache and goatee, his flowing white hair, his Stetson hat, his buckskin jacket, and his leather boots.

In his lifetime, he introduced countless millions of people worldwide to the American West. And, because of him, untold numbers came to the West to experience it for themselves, or, at the very least, dreamed and imagined themselves doing so. In 2012, the Buffalo Bill Museum—the flagship of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West—remade itself in its first major renovation in almost three decades. Offering authentic artifacts, state-of-the-art exhibits, engaging interactives, and a compelling story, the “new” Buffalo Bill Museum is a museum for the twenty-first century about one of the most important historical figures of the nineteenth century—someone whose legacy still continues to shape and define how we think about the West, America, and ourselves. In reintroducing a leading American icon, the Buffalo Bill Museum invites visitors to explore the myriad facets of a unique individual—William F. Cody (1846 – 1917). It was through the persona of “Buffalo Bill,” and the agency of the traveling outdoor show, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, that Cody brought the West to the world and the world to the West. Yet the full measure of the figure behind that persona deserves to be better-known and appreciated.

Apart from being a showman, actor, hunter, and western hero, Cody had many identities: teamster, Pony Express rider, Civil War veteran, Congressional medal-of-honor recipient, outdoorsman, and onetime hotelkeeper. He was a town-builder, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, and a visionary. He was also a son, a sibling, a husband, and a parent. A “man of many parts,” the real-life person who was William F. Cody turns out, when you get right down to it, to have been pretty much like the rest of us: ambitious, lonely, conflicted, searching for meaning, struggling to make ends meet, constantly facing adversity—in short, someone genuinely human and authentic. The Buffalo Bill Museum brings this flesh-and-blood individual to life as never before. Man of the West, Man of the World: The Life and Times of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody The Scout exhibit in the Buffalo Bill Museum Born in 1846 in a little town on the far banks of the Mississippi River—then, as now, the physical and metaphorical divide between “East” and “West”–William F. Cody was immediately one with the West.

It was there, as a youth and young man, where he acquired invaluable practical skills. He learned how to fell trees, clear land, build houses and fences, saddle and ride a horse, throw a lariat, hunt and trap game, bullwhack cattle, drive a mule train, fight Indians, and survive in the wild. Cody leveraged and refined these skills as he worked in a diverse range of occupations—as a teamster, a Pony Express rider, a wagon master, a guide, a soldier and cavalryman, and as an Army scout. Together with painful life lessons such as the loss of his father and two siblings at an early age, these experiences helped define Cody’s character as he developed a set of personality traits, core values, and animating beliefs: Love of the outdoors Adventurous spirit Opportunism Through living, working, and learning there, Cody became—and remained—a man of the West, personifying values and experiences that were quintessentially “western.” To be sure, Cody’s experiences were not unique—though perhaps few other individuals of his time matched him in the range and diversity of his experiences.

The names of figures such as Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson became legendary in their time, and Cody himself eventually might have joined the ranks of that pantheon simply for his deeds and exploits. But it was his special prowess in one regard—hunting buffalo—that earned him a deathless nickname and vaulted him from relative obscurity to lasting fame. It was through this persona that William F. Cody, the man of the West, would become “Buffalo Bill,” the man of the world. Cody’s role as guide for hunting trips featuring famous dignitaries, and his genuine heroism and deeds in service as chief of scouts for the U.S. Army during the 1860s and 1870s, strengthened his reputation as a man of the West. Increasingly, however, Cody’s given name, and the fame that accrued thereto, were being subsumed under the persona of his acquired nickname.

From 1869, when a hack writer named “Ned Buntline” made Buffalo Bill the hero of breathless dime novels, and into the 1870s, when that hero became a stage actor and star of frontier melodramas based on his exploits, both real and imagined, Buffalo Bill’s career was on the ascendancy. Buffalo Bill’s rise became even more meteoric when, in 1883, Cody and several associates introduced “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West,” an innovative traveling outdoor spectacle featuring cowboys and Indians, sharpshooters, wild animals, and dramatic re-creations of scenes of frontier life. As both star and impresario, Buffalo Bill became a living, breathing icon and embodiment of America’s western experience—a larger-than-life figure whose exploits and stories about settling the West captivated millions, not only in North America but also through Europe and, from there, to the rest of the world. Buffalo Bill performed before royalty, was feted by heads of state, became an object of adulation, posed for countless portraits and gave innumerable interviews, and even sat for an audience with the pope in the Vatican. The man of the West had become a man of the world.

While increasing fame made Buffalo Bill an international celebrity, life became challenging for William F. Cody. His marriage turned rocky. Touring for long stretches at a time, he missed out on much of his children’s early lives, and barely made it home in time to see his 5-year-old son die in his arms. Making money hand over fist, he lost much of it in ill-chosen investments and dubious schemes. He struggled with alcoholism and was plagued with bouts of depression. With countless admirers but few, if any, close friends, Cody was at the same time one of the world’s best-known personalities, but also one of its loneliest people. Although Buffalo Bill was now very much a man of the world, William F. Cody never forgot his western roots. Indeed, the more his fame spread, the more the West beckoned to Cody as a wellspring of opportunity and a place of refuge and solace. From his home base in Nebraska, Cody looked ever westward, to the Rockies and the desert Southwest, seeking to become, once again, a man of the West—but of the New West, a land of promise, rather than the Old West of the frontier, now all but vanished.

Ironically, the persona of Buffalo Bill that he had created now became the figure he sought to shed in order to reconnect with himself, and the West, once again. As William F. Cody neared the end of his life, the things that he loved doing most were the same things he had enjoyed during his formative years: camping, horseback-riding, hunting, guiding, tending cattle, spending time outdoors. In northwest Wyoming, near Yellowstone National Park, he helped found a town that stills bears his name, and, in so doing, helped achieve his vision of creating a gateway for visitors worldwide to come and experience the still-wild West. Today, the man of the West continues to bring the world to the West, even as he did in his own time. What’s up next? Calendar of Events Join us for special events, programs, and lectures that celebrate the real story of the American West. See our collection Digital museum The Center of the West is known for the amazing artifacts that help us tell the authentic story of the American West.

Nate Salsbury Helped Buffalo Bill Become the World's Top Showman Nate Salsbury Helped Buffalo Bill Become the World's Top Showman AUTHOR(S) Koster, John; Koster, Suzie; Kim, Minjae PUB. DATE Wild West;Dec2010, Vol. 23 Issue 4, p26 SOURCE TYPE Article ABSTRACT The article describes how Nate Salsbury played an important role in the success of William Frederick Cody, who is better known as Buffalo Bill, as a showman and that in the end he desired to get all the credit for it. Salsbury claimed that he had invented the various features of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show that caused Cody to become famous. It is pointed out that what caused Salsbury and Cody to turn against each other in the end is not clear. ACCESSION # Related Articles Pawnee Passion. // Wild West;Oct2009, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p16 The article features the late American Wild West showman Gordon William Lillie, also known as Pawnee Bill.

He earned a place with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show in 1883 because of his familiarity with the Pawnees and their language. He met Quaker girl May Manning when the show played in... CODY VS. CARVER. Secrest, Williams B. // Wild West;Feb2016, Vol. 28 Issue 5, p28 The article discusses issues concerning the history of the relationship between showmen William F. "Bufallo Bill" Cody and William F. "Doc" Carver. Topics covered include professional background and accomplishments of Cody and Carver, the team-up of Cody and Carver for the Rocky Mountain and... ALL THE WORLD'S a Frontier. Barrett, Thomas M. // Humanities;May/Jun2001, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p20 Focuses on the addition of foreign acts in in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West shows in the United States. Reason for the addition of foreign acts; Implication of the additions for authenticity and realism; Factors that caused the decline of the shows. OREGONSCAPE. Tint, Mikki // Oregon Historical Quarterly;Summer2010, Vol.

111 Issue 2, p272 The article presents a photograph of Western performer William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody in a parade in a town in Oregon along with information on his Wild West shows. CODY'S LAST STAND: MASCULINE ANXIETY, THE CUSTER MYTH, AND THE FRONTIER OF DOMESTICITY IN BUFFALO BILL'S WILD WEST. Warren, Louis S. // Western Historical Quarterly;Spring2003, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p49 Analyzes the Wild West show of William F. Cody or Buffalo Bill. Addition of the Battle of Little Big Horn or 'Custer's Last Fight' in the show; Interpretation of scholars on the show; Implications of attack on the Settler's Cabin scene. Ladies and Gentlemenâ€¦. Johnston, Jeremy M. // Cobblestone;Jan2016, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p19 The article focuses on the development of the Wild West show by William F.

Cody "Buffalo Bill," with topics including Native Americans culture, the reenactments of the Battle of San Juan Hill, and the business partnership of Buffalo Bill with James Bailey, part owner of Barnum and Bailey Circus. Behind the Scenes. Henrich, Gretchen // Cobblestone;Jan2016, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p26 The article offers information on the Wild West show founded by American bison hunter, scout, and showman Buffalo Bill in 1899 that travels in different cities to perform trick shooting, horseback riding, and stagecoach driving. An International Cast. Amidon Lusted, Marcia // Cobblestone;Jan2016, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p34 The article offers information on the performers involved in the Wild West shows founded by American sout, bison hunter and showman William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody wich include African Americans, Native Americans, and other international performers. Buffalo Bill and William Cody Buffalo Bill and William Cody Buffalo Bill the character was first a fiction created to symbolize the "wild west." William Cody the man became so enraptured with this persona that it began to dominate his life and his work.

It was Cody who, in his autobiography, placed Buffalo Bill in the company of Daniel Boone , Kit Carson, and Davy Crockett. William Cody was a real person, however, with a history of his own, and he was a man devoted to pursuits outside of his theatrical enterprise. Just as the Wild West Show reduced a vast region with an infinite number of complex racial, cultural, economic, geopgraphic, and ecological issues to a common archetypal myth, Cody's life as a showman reduced him to the legendary character of Buffalo Bill. Nevertheless, the complexities of the west remained unsettled, and Cody's life outside the show encompassed ambitions and failures not apparent in Cody the showman. Part of this inscrutability derives from Cody's relentless desire to become Buffalo Bill. As we have seen, fact and fiction intertwined so tightly in the Wild West Show that the two became indistinguishable from one another. This same blending spilled over into Cody's personal life as his real identity became confused with the character of Buffalo Bill. One problem is that Cody so aggressively promoted his enterprise that he was almost always "on stage" as Buffalo Bill.

In New York, San Franciso, Chicago, and Europe, Cody's savvy for publicity essentially required that he maintain his character anywhere he went. In his day, he was a national hero, a role model, and a living legend. Slipping out of character or dashing the public's expectations of him might have led to the ruin of his empire, or so it seems Cody believed. Buffalo Bill represented the quintessential American through his embodiment of frontier values and all the raw independence, freedom, and self-sufficiency included in wild west virtues. As the nation become increasingly industrial and as waves of immigrants descended on American shores, Buffalo Bill became the very symbol of the American spirit. Cody recognized the burden he carried, but relished the responsibility of shouldering it. Still, there was more to Cody than his legend, and in fact, his Wild West Show was to Cody a source of capital to finance the many other ventures he initiated. Outside of the entertainment industry, Cody's most significant project was that of developing the town of Cody, Wyoming. In Cody's scouting days, he grew enamored of the land in Big Horn Basin.

In 1895, Cody began to establish his eponymous town, and his approach to development was remarkably similar to the making of the Wild West Show. Cody possessed a broad, comprehesive, and inventive vision for his community. He imagined a utopian western metropolis where old west values and emergent modern technology and prosperity would coexist in a new "White City." Cody's indefatigable pursuit of his envisioned ideal was indeed impressive. He hustled, lobbied, and wheeled-and-dealed anyone who could help him achieve his goal. He had organized financing to dig three canals to irrigate the land using the Shoshone River. When his initial efforts to raise the two million dollars necessary for its completion failed, he hounded his friend Teddy Roosevelt for support. By 1904, the Department of Interior initiated the Shoshone Reclamation Act, and by 1910, two dams were in operation, and 16,200 acres were under irrigation. In personal letters to his friend C.L. Hinkle, a member of the Wyoming State Land Board, Cody demonstrates the extent of his vision of the town.

Excerpted below are some passages from these letters which illustrate Cody's inexhaustible energy. The letters appear in The Business of Being Buffalo Bill: The Selected Letters of William F. Cody, 1879-1917(1988, Praeger, New York), and I have quoted them as they appear in the book. Much of the biographical information I include was gathered from Blackstone's book. For further reading, see especially the first section entitled "Letters," pp. 1-84. One of Cody's many projects was to institute a Military College in Cody. The original location for the college was to be in Colorado, but through Cody's influence, he was able to convince the command to move it to Wyoming. April 15th, 1901. ...Now Hinkle. Some time ago I filed in the names of Charles DeMarris and my self-on the waters of the hot springs near Cody. Will you please examine these filings and give me the particulars regarding same.

this is very important for me to know at once as I am doing something that will be of great interest to the state I have incorporated a company of which I am President which will be known as- Cody Military College International Academy of Rough Riders to teach young men all branches of Miliary Science it's taking like wild fire-our company will commence the permanent construction of the barracks in June and will establish a military camp in tents at once... Another of Cody's goals was to take advantage of nearby Hot Springs to build a hotel and resort. Cody the town was already being promoted in the show with the slogan: "Take the Burlington Northern to the Big Horn Basin." His eventual goal was to link Cody with Yellowstone National Park via an auto and stage line, and he worked arduously to ready the region for the inevitable influx of tourists. April 27th 1901. My Dear Hinkle:- Thanks for finding out about those hot springs near Cody. Now what I want to know is what the state proposes to do with them. You know I am working hard to establish a Military college in our state and it will be a great advertisement for the state.

And as I was the first man to make application to the state for those mineral waters I should be considdered...Please find out what I can do to get use of those springs. And let me know at once. Very truly yours William Frederick 'Buffalo Bill' Cody "Buffalo Bill" Cody Pony Express rider, buffalo hunter, scout, showman William Frederick Cody was born in Le Claire, Iowa, on February 26, 1846. His family moved west in 1853, and a very young Billy rode ahead of the wagon train to look for likely campsites and hunt game. Their first stop was Weston, Missouri, where one of Billy's uncles lived. Originally destined for the California gold fields, Billy's uncle convinced them to settle down in Kansas; they subsequently built a homestead in the Salt Creek Valley, near Fort Leavenworth. Soon after the family got settled, Billy rode to a nearby trading post for supplies. There he met up with a cousin named Horace Billings, a scout and mountain man, who offered to take Billy on an expedition to search for wild horses. He so enjoyed the experience that he found it extremely difficult to concentrate on his chores after returning home.

Billy's father died in April 1857, leaving 11-year-old Billy to provide for the family. In May, he hired out with the Russell, Majors & Waddell Company of Leavenworth, becoming a go-fer for wagon trains that supplied western forts. His very first outbound trip was uneventful, but the same could not be said for the return trip. On the way back, the wagon train was attacked by Indians, who drove off the cattle, killed three men and wounded another, and ransacked and burned the wagons. Billy and the other men were able to escape and make their way to Fort Kearney, Nebraska. After resting up, Billy returned home with another outfit going back to Leavenworth. Cody's second trip was with a wagon train bound for Utah Territory. A few days out the train encountered a large band of buffalo on the trail. While the train attempted to make its way through, a group of horsemen approached from the other side of the herd. For reasons unknown the horsemen rode straight into the herd, causing a stampede. Several wagons were overturned and damaged, and most of the oxen were driven off.

The wagon train was delayed several days while repairs were made, freight was repackaged, and the oxen were rounded up again. After a few uneventful weeks, the train finally made it to Utah , where it was then met by a band of renegade Mormons. Declaring that they were not subject to the laws of the United States, the men attacked the wagon train, burned all the wagons and freight, and took all the livestock except for a few oxen. Cody and his comrades made their way to Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, where they were forced to spend the winter. In the spring, Cody and two other men were attached to a wagon train heading back to Leavenworth. Along the way they were attacked by Indians, but managed to escape fairly unscathed. The following spring found Cody in Laramie, Wyoming, where he met Jim Bridger, Kit Carson , and other well-known scouts and trappers. He spent the winter trying his hand at fur trapping, but barely made enough to survive. He returned home to Leavenworth just in time to hear about gold being found near Pike's Peak, Colorado, in 1859.

He and two friends struck out for Golden, Colorado, to try their luck at prospecting, but gave up after only two months. In the fall of 1859, Billy and a friend were trapping in the Republican River Valley of western Kansas when a bear killed one of their oxen. Then, to make matters worse, Billy took a fall and broke his leg. His friend rode the remaining oxen over 100 miles to the nearest settlement to get help. While he was gone, Sioux Indians came along and took most of Billy's remaining food. The friend finally returned and the two eventually made their way back to civilization. In 1860, hearing that the Pony Express was looking for riders, Cody went to see George Chrisman at the Julesburg, Colorado, station. Chrisman was reluctant to hire the 14-year-old, but Billy was apparently able to convince him that he was quite capable of handling the job and was subsequently hired on as the youngest rider for the Pony Express. Soon after outbreak of the Civil War , Cody was called home to help his sick mother, who operated a hotel in addition to the family farm.

He spent some time working as a messenger for the Union Army, carrying dispatches between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Larned, Kansas. After his mother's death in 1863, he enlisted in the 7th Kansas Regiment. During his time in the army, Cody spent some time in St. Louis, where he met a woman named Louisa Frederici. After the war he asked for her hand in marriage. She agreed, but only if he agreed to give up his life on the plains. Billy agreed, but told her that he would first have to make them some money. He spent a year driving stages before returning to St. Louis. The couple were married on March 6, 1866. Trying hard to make good on his promise to give up the "wild life," Cody decided to re-open his mother's hotel. He was not a very good businessman, however, and had to sell the hotel barely a year later. He subsequently spent time as an army scout, tried his hand in real estate, and worked as a laborer on the railroad, before getting his next big break. While working for the railroad, Cody joined a buffalo hunting party.

Quickly impressing his railroad bosses with his shooting skills, he was hired as a full-time buffalo hunter. One day a young man named Billy Comstock challenged Cody to prove who was the best marksman and "champion of the plains." Cody took up the challenge and the two men, along with a huge crowd of spectators, met outside the small Kansas town of Oakley, where a huge buffalo herd awaited them. Cody won the contest easily, killing 69 buffalo to Comstock's 46. He spent the next year and a half supplying buffalo meat to the railroad, killing 4,208 buffalo during that time. It was during this period that people began calling him "Buffalo Bill." From 1868 to 1872, Cody served as a civilian scout for military forces fighting Indians. Between campaigns, he served as a guide for several parties of buffalo hunters. While stationed at Fort McPherson, Kansas, he met Colonel E.Z.C. Judson, better known as Ned Buntline. The author of several dime novels about famous frontier characters, Buntline picked Cody as his next hero and, in 1869, published Buffalo Bill, King of the Border Men.

Staying on at Fort McPherson, Cody built a cabin there for his wife, daughter (Arta), and two of his sisters; they moved there in 1870. His son, Kit Carson Cody, was born there that winter. Buntline's novel made Cody famous, and in the fall of 1871 a party of rich Easterners and Europeans were treated to a mock battle, war dances, and buffalo hunts put on by Cody. His daughter Orra was born in August 1872, and soon after Buntline convinced Cody to perform in shows on the East Coast. Taking Wild Bill Hickok (whom he had met several years earlier) with him, Buffalo Bill spent the next four winters on stage and the summers scouting. He made enough money to buy a house in Rochester, New York, for his wife, a cattle ranch on the North Platte River in Nebraska, and 4,000 acres in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming. He did suffer one tragedy, however -- the death of his son in April 1876.

Wanting his show to be more realistic, Cody decided to hire real sharpshooters, cowboys, and Indians, and to do the show outside like a circus. The Wild West, Rocky Mountain, and Prairie Exhibition opened on May 17, 1883, in Omaha, Nebraska, the same year his daughter Irma was born. The show featured a stage hold-up, Pony Express riders, Indian battles, and Buffalo Bill himself, with all "actors" firing real guns. The show was an instant hit. In 1885, Cody made $100,000. In 1886, Cody took his show to Europe, where it enjoyed the same success it had in America. In 1893, he made over a million dollars. His ranch in Wyoming had also become a very popular dude ranch, the first of its type. The town of Cody, Wyoming, was planned by him, and he paid for its first buildings. Cody's business life was finally going quite well, but his personal life was not. Louisa had grown tired of his womanizing, boozing, and excessive travel. The two were on the verge of divorce when their youngest daughter died.

They reconciled after that. Although his businesses had made him a millionaire, Cody never learned how to keep his money. Generous to a fault, he was quick to hand out money to almost anyone professing a need. By the time he finally quit performing, he was bankrupt and had to sell off his show to pay his debts. He managed to scrape enough money together to form the W.F. Cody Historical Pictures Company, which in 1914 filmed a reenactment of the Battle of Wounded Knee. Cody was the first to see the possibility of recording the West on film, but his film was a financial failure. William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody died in Denver, Colorado, on January 10, 1917, and was buried on Lookout Mountain, about twenty miles west of Denver. New Perspectives on the West 1000+ images about Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show on Pinterest | Buffalo bills, Wild west show and Bill o'brien Forward On June 28,1880, John Burwell Omohundro Jr., better known as Texas Jack, died. Omohundro traveled to TX while still a teen & worked trailing cattle. He cont.

his life as a TX cowboy & rode in several early cattle drives, including one across AR to TN, where he got his nickname “Texas Jack.” He met Buffalo Bill Cody in 1869 & later in 1872 the two debuted in Chicago’s The Scouts of the Prairie, one of the 1st Wild West shows. TX Jack was credited with introducing roping acts to the American… 2 Winter Recreation in Cody | WY Best Western Hotels Enjoy Winter Recreation in Wyoming Frozen Falls Climbing in Cody Let’s see your adventurous side in Cody . Set in northern Wyoming , Cody is a small town named after William Frederick Cody – a local legend better known as Buffalo Bill, the famous cowboy showman. Visitors to Cody may choose from winter fun on snowmobile, snowcoach, and even skis. Head to one of many nearby ski areas – such as Sleeping Giant, Antelope Butte and Red Lodge – or take a short, scenic day trip to explore the vast and famed Yellowstone National Park. Visitors to Cody may take advantage of some of the best ice climbing in the country. Cody neighbors the South Fork of the Shoshone River, rendering a high concentration of frozen waterfalls throughout northern Wyoming.

Ice climbers flock to Cody from November until April for a chance to scale these many frozen falls. Take advantage of Cody’s numberous climbing gear rental shops, like Bison Willy's Outdoor Adventures, or hire a guide and get ready to hit the falls. Check out the Southfork Ice Festival in February – known as the friendliest little ice festival in the northern Rockies – or scale Moonrise, a north facing drainage of the Shoshone River’s South Fork. 1000+ images about Buffalo Bill Cody on Pinterest | Wild west show, The old and Red cloud Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Buffalo Bill Cody William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was an American scout, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill started performing in shows that displayed cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and Indian Wars. He founded his Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours throughout the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and Europe. 136 Pins42 Followers William F. Cody | American showman | Britannica.com American showman Alternative Titles: Buffalo Bill, William Frederick Cody William F.

Cody Ulysses S. Grant William F. Cody, in full William Frederick Cody, byname Buffalo Bill (born February 26, 1846, Scott county, Iowa , U.S.—died January 10, 1917, Denver , Colorado ), American buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, Pony Express rider, Indian fighter, actor, and impresario who dramatized the facts and flavour of the American West through fiction and melodrama. His colourful Wild West show , which came to be known as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, evolved into an international institution and made him one of the world’s first global celebrities. William Cody, 1916. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Early years Cody’s father, Isaac, moved his family from their farm near LeClaire, Iowa, on the Mississippi River , to Kansas, where he operated a trading post near the Kickapoo Indian Agency. At the time, Kansas was engulfed in a violent struggle between those who opposed slavery and those who supported it (see Bleeding Kansas ).

While delivering an antislavery speech, Isaac was stabbed, and he ultimately succumbed to his wounds three years later, in 1857. To support his family, Cody already had begun working at age nine for the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight company, where he made use of his skills as a horseman. In 1857 Cody came to be celebrated as the youngest Indian fighter on the Great Plains after he killed a Native American who helped attack the cattle drive on which Cody was working. On the same cattle drive, Cody met the young Wild Bill Hickok , who intervened on his side in a fight Cody was having with an older man. Pony Express rider Although Cody’s name does not appear in the official records of the Pony Express , there is significant evidence that he served two tours of duty as a rider (including his own claim in his autobiography that he had done so, substantiated in print by Russell, Majors and Waddell’s Alexander Majors ).

Cody was 14 years old when he began riding for the Pony Express in the spring of 1860, but, because he had already delivered messages between wagon trains for Russell, Majors and Waddell , he was initially assigned a short 45-mile (70-km) run. While some of Cody’s exploits as a rider were the creations of publicity agents, there is no doubt about the courage and dedication he showed while in the service of the Pony Express. Of particular note was a dramatic round-trip ride of some 300 miles (480 km) in Wyoming between Red Butte Station and Pacific Springs Station on which Cody completed not only his own leg but those of missing relief riders, a sleepless odyssey of nearly 22 continuous hours of riding. On another legendary ride, Cody outran Sioux warriors to Three Crossings Station, Wyoming, only to find the station keeper dead and the horses stolen. He narrowly escaped to the next station, but, after arriving there, he gathered and led a group of men against the Indians, surprising them at their camp and retaking the stolen horses.

Cody’s cunning was the centrepiece of another often-recounted episode in which, called upon to deliver a large sum of money and fearing that he would be robbed, he hid the currency under his saddle blanket and stuffed paper into his Pony Express mochila (saddlebag). When he was indeed held up at gunpoint, he threw the treasureless mochila at the bandits and then made good his escape. Scout and soldier Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent During the American Civil War (1861–65), Cody first served as a Union scout in campaigns against the Kiowa and Comanche and later (in 1863) enlisted with the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, which saw action in Missouri and Tennessee. After the war he worked for the U.S. Army as a civilian scout and dispatch bearer out of Fort Ellsworth in Kansas (1866–67). In 1867–68 he hunted buffalo to feed construction crews on the Union Pacific Railroad . During this time he is said to have slaughtered some 4,280 head of buffalo, and he soon became known as the champion buffalo killer of the Great Plains .

USA Facts Cody acquired a reputation not only for accurate marksmanship but also for total recall of the vast terrain he had traversed , knowledge of Indian ways, courage, and endurance. He was in demand as a scout and guide, mostly for the U.S. Fifth Cavalry, throughout much of the government’s attempt to wipe out Indian resistance to settlement of the land west of the Mississippi River (1868–76). In 1872 Gen. Philip Sheridan arranged for Cody and Lieut. Col. George Armstrong Custer to guide Grand Duke Alexis of Russia on a hunting trip that had been set up by U.S. Pres. Ulysses S. Grant . That same year Cody, who frequently took dangerous assignments that others refused, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on April 26 as scout for a contingent of the Third Cavalry that was pursuing Indians who had stolen army horses hear Fort McPherson in Nebraska . (The honour was revoked in 1916 as part of a general review to identify individuals who had received the award but had not technically been members of the military as officers or enlisted men. Scouts were classified as civilians. However, the U.S.

Army restored the Medal of Honor to Cody posthumously in 1989.) During his army service, Cody’s reputation continued to grow. In all, he is believed to have engaged in 16 Indian fights, including his much-publicized scalping (July 17, 1876) of the Cheyenne warrior Yellow Hair (erroneously translated as Yellow Hand) in Sioux county, Nebraska, which was hailed as a response to the massacre of Custer’s command at the Battle of the Little Bighorn earlier in the year. The Wild West show Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Such exploits provided choice material not only for newspaper reporters but also for dime novelists , who transformed the hard-riding, fast-shooting Cody into a Western folk hero. Among these early authors were Ned Buntline (pen name of E.Z.C. Judson ) and Prentiss Ingraham . Recognizing the financial possibilities inherent in dramatizing the West, Cody was easily persuaded in 1872 to star in Buntline’s drama The Scouts of the Prairie .

Though his acting was far from polished, he became a superb showman, and his audiences greeted him with overwhelming enthusiasm during his 45-year career as an entertainer. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Parade, New York City, 1901. Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library For many years Cody performed during the winter and continued scouting for the army in the summer or escorting hunting parties to the West. In the process, the line began to blur even further between the scout William F. Cody and the legend and entertainer Buffalo Bill. Indeed, as early as his scalping of Yellow Hair in 1876, Cody had consciously worn his flamboyant theatrical clothes into battle, later donning the same outfit to re-create his attack onstage. In 1883 Cody, with the help of producer and partner Nate Salsbury, organized his own Wild West show —a spectacular outdoor entertainment with a cast of hundreds, featuring fancy-shooting, hard-riding cowboys and yelling Indians, along with re-creations of a buffalo hunt, the capture of the Deadwood (South Dakota) stagecoach , and a Pony Express ride.

Its stars included Annie Oakley , the famous rifle shot, and, in 1885, Chief Sitting Bull . The show played at Queen Victoria ’s Golden Jubilee in 1887 and was staged throughout Europe. In 1893 three million people attended the show (by this point known as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, which included Cossacks and vaqueros) during its tenure on the Midway adjacent to the official grounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago . By the end of the 19th century, Buffalo Bill was one of the most-recognized persons in the world. Final years Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Cody continued to perform in his Wild West show until 1916, although at age 71 he often had to be helped onto his horse backstage. While Cody’s exhibition remained extremely popular in the United States and abroad, in the end—largely through poor investments, including his purchase of an unproductive gold mine—he lost the fortune he had made in show business. His last public appearance occurred just two months before his death. Scout’s Rest Ranch, home of William F.

(“Buffalo Bill”) Cody, outside North Platte, … © George Burba/Shutterstock.com

Question: What was Western showman William Cody better known as?
Answer: Buffalo Bill