Buffalo+Bill+Born+a+Legend


 * Buffalo Bill Born a Legend **

Original Author: Kate Sommers, A&S195 SP11 Revision Author:

 “I am about to take the back-trail through the Old West-the West that I knew and loved. All my life it has been a pleasure to show its beauties, its marvels, and its possibilities to those who, under my guidance, saw it for the first time…” (Cody 1).

Buffalo Bill, or Bill Cody, was a man who could do almost anything he put his mind to. He was a son, scout, hunter, writer, actor, producer, guide, husband, and a father. William Frederick Cody was born on February 26, 1846 on a farm in “Napsinekee Hollow” just outside of LeClaire. He was the second son of Isaac and Mary Cody. His family moved often when he was a kid. The Cody family's second home was at Pinnacle Point in the Wapsipinicon River Valley in rural Scott County, Iowa. The third home in 1849, was in the City of LeClaire. It was located along what presently is called North Cody Street (“Buffalo Bill”).

“I remember that there were Indians all about us, looking savage enough as they slouched about the village streets or loped along the roads on their ponies. But they bore no hostility toward anything save work and soap and water” (Cody 3).

After living only a short time in LeClaire, the Cody’s moved again, this time to Walnut Grove in rural Scott County. While living here, the eldest son, Samuel was thrown from a horse and was killed. The Isaac Cody family sold their land for two thousand dollars and left Iowa in 1853 and took up a claim in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas because of the Gold Rush and the Free Soil Struggle of the Kansas-Nebraska Territory (“Buffalo Bill”).

A young William Cody began his schooling in LeClaire, but soon found his love for riding horses and swimming in the Mississippi River was greater than his love for learning the alphabet. This is when his great desire for adventure and appreciation for the outdoors developed. After his father’s death, in 1857, the eleven year old boy worked for the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, making wagon trips across the plains and later riding for the pony express (Lage).

In the Civil War, he served in the 7th Kansas Calvary as a “veteran recruit” and fought to the end of the war as a Private in the Union Army (“Buffalo Bill”). In 1867-1868, Cody hunted buffalo to feed the workers building the Kansas-Pacific railroad. There he acquired the name Buffalo Bill because he killed 4,280 buffalo in eighteen months (Lage). When he went back to scouting he carried dispatches through hostile Indian Territory for General Phillip Sheridan. He became Chief of Scouts for the 5th United States Calvary. He took part in 16 Indian battles, including the defeat of the Cheyenne of Summit Springs, Colorado in 1869. William Cody was awarded a Medal of Honor in 1872 for “gallantry in action.” At Hat Creek, Wyoming in 1876 occurred his killing of the Chief Yellow Hand (“Buffalo Bill”).

Cody married Louisa Frederici in St. Louis in 1866; they had four children. The couple moved back to Kansas, where Cody briefly ran a hotel in the Salt Creek Valley. For a short time in 1866 and 1867 he worked as a scout at Fort Ellsworth, but then he formed a partnership with William Rose, a grading contractor for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The two partners established the town of Rome, Kansas, opening a saloon and store (“Buffalo Bill”).

A man named Ned Buntline made Cody the hero of a dime novel in 1869 that, later on, was dramatized. In 1872, Buntline persuaded Cody to appear on the stage; he remained an actor for eleven seasons. The first and most authentic of his biographies appeared in 1879. Cody was also an author of dime novels, as well as the hero of some 1700 of these publications. (Lage)

Early in the 1800’s Buffalo Bill began to carry out a cherished idea. He gathered some of the remaining elements of the western frontier and began to exhibit this unique and fading way of life in the Eastern United States and Europe. In 1883, inspired by the success of a July 4th celebration at North Platte, Nebraska, Cody organized Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, an outdoor exhibition that dramatized the contemporary western scene. It remained on the road for thirty years. Its showing in London in 1887 at Queen Victoria’s Jubilee made it an international success. (Lage)The show included re-creations of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on the Cheyenne-to-Deadwood stage, horse races, roping events, and wild horses. Cody was the main attraction, however, sitting on his horse and directing the action (“Buffalo Bill”).

Cody died January 10, 1917 outliving two of his four children. Colorado's legislature passed a special resolution that authorized that his body lie in state in the capitol for one day, during which time 25,000 people paid their respects. Five months later, on 3 June, Cody was buried in a steel vault on the top of Lookout Mountain near Denver (“Buffalo Bill”).

He was a noted scout for the United States Army during the Indian Wars and the showman largely responsible for romanticizing the cowboy west. His love of nature and kindness to mankind is to this day idolized by many people.


 * Works Cited **

“Buffalo Bill.” __Buffalo Bill Museum__. 199 N. Front St. LeClaire, IA, 52753. 4 Apr. 2011. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Cody, William F. __An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill__. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1920. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Lage, Dorothy. __LeClaire, Iowa, a Mississippi River Town__. Lage: 1976.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Return to Subcategory

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Return to Home