William Frederick Cody was born on Feb. 26, 1846 in the Iowa Territory. He went on to become the most famous person on Earth. Here are some interesting facts about “Buffalo Bill”:
- His father was anti-slavery and did not hide it. When William was seven years old, his family moved to Kansas Territory around the time it was roiled by pro and anti-slavery forces. Isaac attended a pro-slavery meeting and proceeded to give an anti-slavery speech that did not go over well. He was stabbed twice in the chest with a Bowie knife. He never fully recovered. Not long after, his son rode 30 miles to warn his father of an ambush by slavery supporters.
- William went to work at age 11 after his father died. He was a “boy extra” for a wagon train. He delivered messages to the cowboys on the trail.
- He supposedly went to work for the Pony Express at age 14. Although he probably worked for the parent company as a messenger, there is no proof to his claim of delivering the mail.
- After enlisting in the 7th Kansas Cavalry to serve in the Civil War, he went west to become a civilian scout for the Army. He had already, supposedly, killed his first Indian at age 12. He scouted for various units, including for Custer. In 1872, he rescued several soldiers during an Indian fight. He was awarded the Medal of Honor. In 1917, he was among the over 900 recipients who had their medals revoked. In his case, it was because he was a civilian at the time. In 1989, due to efforts by his descendants, Congress reinstated the medal.
- In 1869, when he was still just 23 years old, the writer Ned Buntline ghost-wrote his biography “Buffalo Bill: The King of the Bordermen”. It was almost total fiction, but made him famous. The name was a reference to his job as a hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Over 18 months, he claimed to have killed 4,282 buffalo. When another hunter named Bill Comstock claimed the nickname, they had a competition for it. Over eight hours of hunting time, Cody killed 68 buffalo to Comstock’s 48 and won the nickname. Cody used his Springfield Model 1866 which he had named “Lucretia Borgia”.
- Cody got into show business in 1872. He starred in Ned Buntline’s “The Scouts of the Prairie”. His acting was terrible, but the show was a hit. In 1874, Cody created the “Buffalo Bill Combination” which toured for ten years. The highlight was him reenacting the killing and scalping of a Cheyenne warrior.
- In 1883, he formed the “Buffalo Bill Wild West” show. (In 1893, the name was changed to “Buffalo Bill Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World”.) The show was like a circus/rodeo. It reenacted a Pony Express ride, a stagecoach robbery, an attack by Indians on a cabin, and an attack on a wagon train. The “Rough Riders” included horsemen from South America, Mongolia, Turkey, and the Middle East. Some of the featured performers included Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane. Sitting Bull traveled with it as a celebrity guest for a while. The show toured Europe from 1887-1892 and 1902-1906. Cody met Pope Leo XIII and performed for Queen Victoria. By this time, he was the most famous person on Earth.
- Cody was an advocate for Indian treaty rights and pointed out that most of the Indian wars were caused by cheating the Indians in treaties. He was a supporter of women’s rights. He paid his female workers the same as his male workers. In his older age he became a conservationist who supported the idea of hunting seasons and a ban of the hunting of buffaloes for their hides.
https://www.codyyellowstone.org/blog/top-10-things-you-dont-know-about-buffalo-bill/
https://www.factinate.com/people/42-rip-roaring-facts-buffalo-bill-cody/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill
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