Results for Wild Bill Hickok
On this page:
 
Biography:

James Butler Hickok

James Butler Hickok (1837-1876), American gun-fighter, scout, and spy, brought law to the untamed West. In his lifetime he became the symbolic western hero.

James Hickok was born on May 27, 1837, in Troy Grove, III. The Hickok family was abolitionist and evidently schooled him in the "genteel tradition." In 1855 he left home for Kansas. He filed land claims in Johnson County and apparently wanted to become a farmer.

By 1858, after serving briefly as constable, Hickok was working for the famous express company Russell, Majors and Waddell. Early in 1861 the firm stationed him at their Rock Creek, Nebr., station as assistant stock tender. There Hickok and fellow employees killed David McCanles and his two companions, who had come - unarmed - to collect the delinquent payments on the Rock Creek station land. Tried for murder, Hickok and the express company workers pleaded self-defense and were acquitted.

During the Civil War, Hickok served the Union forces creditably as wagon master, scout, and spy. Just after the war, while gambling, Hickok killed David Tutt, a former Confederate, in the prototype setting for later stories and movies - an iron-nerved shoot-out in the public square of Springfield, Mo. Tried for murder, he was again acquitted. Shortly afterward an inflated story about Hickok was published in Harper's Magazine, and from this grew the legend of "Wild Bill, " the western hero.

Early in 1866, as deputy U.S. marshal at Fort Riley, Kans., Wild Bill was told to establish order. Conditions were close to chaos, with growing enmity between emigrant train scouts and discontented soldiers. Hickok quieted the fort. When the ordinarily reticent and soft-spoken marshal shouted, "This has gone far enough, " it usually intimidated even the most unruly. If not, his fist or pistol barrel reinforced his voice. Later he rounded up deserters, horse thieves, and illegal timber cutters. He also gambled and drank.

In late 1869 Hickok became sheriff of Hays City, Kans., where drinking, gambling, and prostitution often led to violence. In 4 months as sheriff there Hickok helped establish law and order, although in doing so he killed two men. The lawless element understandably resented Hickok, and several attempts were made on his life. Thus he developed a habit of standing or sitting with his back to a wall.

Hickok appeared briefly in a Wild West show before becoming city marshal of Abilene, Kans., in 1871. Abilene was a railhead, and many cowboys ended their trail drives with pistol shots and uninhibited drinking. Once again Hickok used weapons and threats to keep order. In October one man was killed by Hickok's bullet during a group "spree." A policeman was also killed by running into the cross fire. Citizens supported Hickok's actions, but he was discharged in December.

Hickok was about 6 feet tall, with a good physique and pale blue eyes. He often wore fancy shirts, a red vest, the latest design in trousers, and a flat, wide-brimmed hat. Many thought him handsome, and women found him attractive. In manner he reflected the genteel tradition of quiet courtesy.

During 1872 and 1873 Wild Bill drifted around Kansas and Missouri gambling. Once he wrote to a St. Louis newspaper denying he had been killed by some Texans. He next appeared in Cheyenne and stayed nearby during 1874 and 1875. Here Wild Bill probably met "Calamity Jane" Cannary. He married a widowed circus owner in Cheyenne in 1876. He also gambled considerably and was several times dubbed a vagrant and ordered out of town.

Hickok left Cheyenne for the Black Hills soon after his marriage, arriving at Deadwood, Dakota Territory, in July with "Colorado Charlie" Utter and Calamity Jane. He looked briefly for a mining claim and gambled in various saloons. On Aug. 2, 1876, while playing cards, he was shot in the back of the head; Hickok had forgotten to keep his back to the wall. His hand - two aces, two eights, and a jack - became known as the "dead man's hand."

Further Reading

Frank J. Wilstach, Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers (1926), is interesting and fairly accurate. Well researched and factually correct is Joseph G. Rosa, They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok (1964). Another reliable work is William Elsey Connelley, Wild Bill and His Era (1933). A useful biography is Richard O'Connor, Wild Bill Hickok (1959). Kent Ladd Steckmesser, The Western Hero in History and Legend (1965), is a study of the folklore that created myths about the West and its rugged heroes.

 
 

Wild Bill Hickok.
(click to enlarge)
Wild Bill Hickok. (credit: Culver Pictures)
(born May 27, 1837, Troy Grove, Ill., U.S. — died Aug. 2, 1876, Deadwood, Dakota Territory) U.S. frontiersman. He left home in 1865 to farm in Kansas, where he became involved in the Free State (antislavery) movement. He later served as a constable in Monticello, Kan. While working as a stage driver in 1861, he shot and killed the outlaw Dave McCanles; legends of his marksmanship probably began in the exaggerated accounts of his role in this incident. He was a Union scout and a spy in the American Civil War (1861 – 65); after the war, he was appointed deputy U.S. marshal (1866 – 67). His ironhanded rule as sheriff of Hays City (1869 – 71) and as marshal of Abilene (1871) helped tame these Kansas towns. While seated at a poker table in a saloon, he was shot dead by a drunken stranger, Jack McCall.

For more information on Wild Bill Hickok, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Hickok, Wild Bill,
1837–76, American frontier marshal, b. Troy Grove, near Ottawa, Ill. His real name was James Butler Hickok. He took part in the Kansas struggle preceeding the Civil War, was a driver of the Butterfield stage line, and gained fame as a gunfighter. He served as a Union scout in the Civil War. After the war he became deputy U.S. marshal at Fort Riley (1866), marshal of Hays, Kans. (1869), and marshal of Abilene (1871). His reputation as a marksman in desperate encounters with outlaws made him a figure of frontier legend. After a tour of the East with Buffalo Bill (1872–73), Hickok went to Deadwood (now in S.Dak.) where he was murdered by Jack McCall.

Bibliography

See biographies by R. O'Connor (1959) and J. G. Rosa (1964).

 
History Dictionary: Hickok, Wild Bill
(hik-ok)

A frontier settler and United States marshal of the nineteenth century, known for his pursuit of some of the worst outlaws of the old West. Like his friend Buffalo Bill Cody, he was a rider for the Pony Express in his youth.

 
Wikipedia: Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok
Wildbill5075.jpg
James Butler Hickok
Born May 27 1837(1837--)
Troy Grove, Illinois, U.S.
Died August 2 1876 (aged 39)
Deadwood, Dakota Territory, U.S.
Occupation Abolitionist, facilitator of The Underground Railroad, Lawman, Gunfighter, Gambler

James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a legendary figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. His moniker of Wild Bill has inspired similar nicknames for men named William (even though that was not Hickok's name) who were known for their daring in various fields.

Hickok came to the West as a stage coach driver, then became a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, and professional gambler. Between his law enforcement duties and gambling, which easily overlapped, Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts, and was ultimately killed while playing poker in a South Dakota saloon.

Life and career

Early life

James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois on May 27, 1837. His birthplace is now the Wild Bill Hickok State Memorial, a listed historic site under the supervision of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. While he was growing up, his father's farm was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad, and he learned his shooting skills protecting the farm with his father from anti-abolitionists. Hickok was a good shot from a very young age. Unknown to most, he was one of the earliest champions of equal rights for blacks during the latter days of slavery.

In 1855, he left his father's farm to become a stage coach driver on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. An early record refers to him as "Duck Bill" (perhaps in reference to his big nose), but his gunfighting skills changed his nickname to "Wild Bill". His killing of a bear with a bowie knife during a turn as a stage driver cemented a growing reputation as a genuinely tough man who feared nothing, and who was feared for more than carrying a fast gun. [1]

Constable

In 1857, Hickok claimed a 160 acre (65 ha) tract of land in Johnson County, Kansas (in what is now the city of Lenexa) where he became the first constable of Monticello Township, Kansas. In 1861, he became a town constable in Nebraska. He was involved in a deadly shoot-out with the McCanles gang at Rock Creek Station, an event still under much debate. On several other occasions, Hickok confronted and killed several men while fighting alone.[2]

Hickok invented the practice of "posting" men out of town. He would put a list on what was called the "dead man's tree" (so called because men had been lynched on it) while constable of Monticello Township. Hickok proclaimed he would shoot them on sight the following day. Few stayed around to find out if he was serious.

Civil War and scouting

When the Civil War began, Hickok joined the Union forces and served in the west, mostly in Kansas and Missouri. He earned a reputation as a skilled scout. After the war, Hickok became a scout for the U. S. Army and later was a professional gambler. He served for a time as a United States Marshal. In 1867, his fame increased from an interview by Henry Morton Stanley.

During the civil war "Buffalo Bill Cody" served as a scout with Robert Denbow, David L. Payne, and Hickok. The men formed a friendship that would last decades. After the war the four men, Payne, Cody, Hickok, and Denbow engaged in buffalo hunting. When Payne moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1870, Denbow joined him there while Hickok served as sheriff of Hays, Kansas. Hickok was rumored to have appeared in a stage play put on in 1873 by Bill Cody entitled "Scouts of the plains." When Bill Cody started the Buffalo Bill shows, Denbow travelled with Cody all over Iowa with the Buffalo Bill shows.

Lawman and gunfighter

On July 21, 1865, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri, Hickok killed Davis Tutt, Jr. in a "quick draw" duel. Fiction later typified this kind of gunfight, but Hickok's is in fact the only one on record that fits the portrayal. [1] The incident was precipitated by a dispute over a gambling debt incurred at a local saloon.

Hickok was working as sheriff and city marshal of Hays, Kansas when, on July 17, 1870, he was involved in a gunfight with disorderly soldiers of the 7th US Cavalry, wounding one and mortally wounding another. In 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas, taking over for former marshal Tom "Bear River" Smith, who had been killed on November 2nd, 1870.[3] Hickok's encounter in Abilene with outlaw John Wesley Hardin resulted in the latter fleeing the town after Hickok managed to disarm him.

While working in Abilene, Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner, had an ongoing dispute that later resulted in a shootout. Coe had been the business partner of known gunman Ben Thompson, with whom he co-owned the Bulls Head Saloon. On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl, during which time Coe fired two shots at Hickok. Hickok returned fire and killed Coe. Hickok, whose eyesight was poor by that time in his life from early stages of glaucoma, caught the glimpse of movement of someone running toward him. He quickly fired one shot in reaction, accidentally shooting and killing Abilene Special Deputy Marshal Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid, an event that haunted Hickock for the remainder of his life.[4]

Hickok's retort to Coe, who supposedly stated he could "kill a crow on the wing", is one of the West's most famous sayings (though possibly apocryphal): "Did the crow have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be." However, due to his having accidentally killed deputy Mike Williams, Hickock was relieved of his duties as marshal less than two months later.

Death

Gravesite
Enlarge
Gravesite

On August 2, 1876, while playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota Territory, Hickok could not find an empty seat in the corner, where he always sat in order to protect himself against sneak attacks from behind, and instead sat with his back to one door and facing another. His paranoia was prescient: he was shot in the back of the head with a .45-caliber revolver by Jack McCall. Legend has it that Hickok, playing poker when he was shot, was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights. The fifth card is either unknown, or, as some say, had not yet been dealt. "Aces and eights" thus is known as the "Dead Man's Hand".

The motive for the killing is still debated. McCall may have been paid for the deed, or it may have been the result of a recent dispute between the two. Most likely McCall became enraged over what he perceived as a condescending offer from Hickok to let him have enough money for breakfast after he had lost all his money playing poker the previous day. McCall claimed at the resulting two-hour trial, by a miners jury, an ad hoc local group of assembled miners and businessmen, that he was avenging Hickok's earlier slaying of his brother which was later found untrue. McCall was acquitted of the murder, resulting in the Black Hills Pioneer editorializing:

"Should it ever be our misfortune to kill a man ... we would simply ask that our trial may take place in some of the mining camps of these hills"

McCall was subsequently rearrested after bragging about his deed, and a new trial was held. The authorities did not consider this to be double jeopardy because at the time Deadwood was not recognized by the U.S. as a legitimately incorporated town because it was in Indian Country and the jury was irregular. The new trial was held in Yankton, capital of the territory. Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler Hickok, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial. This time McCall was found guilty and hanged. After his execution it was determined that McCall had never had a brother.

Charlie Utter, Hickok's friend and companion, claimed Hickok's body and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, which read:

"Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickok (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter's Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o'clock P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend."

Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading:

"Wild Bill, J. B. Hickok killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2d, 1876. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter."

In 1879, at the urging of Calamity Jane, Utter had Hickok reinterred in a ten-foot (3 m) square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery, surrounded by a cast-iron fence with a U.S. flag flying nearby. A monument has since been built there. In accordance with her dying wish, Calamity Jane was buried next to him.

Shortly before Hickok's death, he wrote a letter to his new wife, Agnes Lake Thatcher, which reads in part: "Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife—-Agnes-—and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore" and "My dearly beloved if I am to die today and never see the sweet face of you I want you to know that I am no great man and am lucky to have such a woman as you".

Buffalo Bill

Some accounts report that Hickok took part in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. However, that production was not in existence prior to 1882, well after Hickok's death. Nonetheless, Hickok was reported by some to have appeared with Buffalo Bill in 1873 in a stage play titled "Scouts of the plains".[5]

"Dime novel" fame

It is difficult to separate the truth from fiction about Hickok, the first "dime novel" hero of the western era, in many ways one of the first comic book heroes, keeping company with another who achieved part of his fame in such a way, frontiersman Davey Crockett. In the dimestore novels, exploits of Hickok were presented in heroic form, making him seem larger than life. In truth, most of the stories were greatly exaggerated or fabricated.

Hickok told the writers that he had killed over 100 men. This number is doubtful, and it is more likely that his total killings were about 20 or a few more. Hickok was a fearless and deadly fighting man, versatile with a rifle, revolver, or knife. His story of fighting a grizzly bear, which he claims mistook him for food because of his greasy buckskins, personified a man who feared nothing. According to Wild Bill, he killed the bear with a Bowie knife after emptying his pistols into the bear. That story is also thought to be an exaggeration.

Media

Television

Movies

Novels

Songs

  • Wild Bill Hickok is featured with Calamity Jane in the song "Deadwood Mountain" by the country duo "Big & Rich".
  • Wild Bill is sung about in Bluegrass band Blue Highway's song "Wild Bill" from the album Marbletown

Trivia

  • Hickok's death chair is now in a glass case above the saloon entrance, though the saloon was moved after the original Nuttall & Mann's #10 saloon burned down; the original site is down the street to the north, about a block away.
  • He preferred his own cap and ball Colt 1851 .36 Navy Model handguns. They had ivory handles and were engraved with his name, "J.B. Hickok." He acquired them shortly after or at the very close of the Civil War, for which he was a scout and spy. They had no triggers; Wild Bill would pull them up holding their hammers, and release to fire, giving him a slight speed advantage.
  • He wore his revolvers in reverse at his hips, sometimes in a red sash, and drew them from the inside, from the right hip with left hand and the left hip with right hand, claiming it was faster that way.
  • Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.
  • He also would tell tourists various exaggerated exploits of his, usually leaving himself unarmed with no manner of escape, and then stop talking. When someone would inevitably ask what he did then, he claimed "I was surrounded. What could I do? They killed me."

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Notes

References

General References

  • Matheson, Richard (1996). The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok. Jove. ISBN 0-515-11780-3. 
  • Rosa, Joseph G. (1979). They Called Him Wild Bill. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1538-6. 
  • Rosa, Joseph G. (1994). The West of Wild Bill Hickok. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2680-9. 
  • Rosa, Joseph G. (1996). Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0773-0. 
  • Rosa, Joseph G. (2003). Wild Bill Hickok Gunfighter: An Account of Hickok's Gunfights. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3535-2. 
  • Turner, Thadd M. (2001). Wild Bill Hickok: Deadwood City - End of Trail. Universal Publishers. ISBN 1-58112-689-1. 
  • Wilstach, Frank Jenners (1926). Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers. Doubleday, Page & company. ASIN B00085PJ58. 

External links


 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Wild Bill Hickok" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
History Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wild Bill Hickok" Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: