Best Known For: Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. The gun did not sell because the highest bid of $220,000 was less than the reserve set by the gun's owners.[76]. Were Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane married, and did they have a daughter? During the next several years he appeared in Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show, living off his fame as the consummate gunfighter. The 10th Regiment arrived at Fort Lyon in Colorado in October and remained there for the rest of 1868. In July, 1865, in Springfield, Missouri's town square, Hickok killed Davis Tutt, an old friend who after personal grudges escalated became an enemy. 22nd August 2017 The second trial was not considered double jeopardy because of the irregular jury in the first trial and because Deadwood was at the time in unorganized Indian country. His exploits as a gunfighter, scout, and lawman were legendary and he became the topic of many fictionalized accounts. Upon being sprung, Jane whisked into Castle City, picked up the girl, and went on her way. [69] In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. [73], Hickok's favorite guns were a pair of Colt 1851 Navy Model (.36 caliber) cap-and-ball revolvers. Despite his reputation,[70] Hickok was buried in the Ingelside Cemetery, Deadwood's original graveyard. Still, feeling he had escaped punishment, McCall began to brag to anyone that would listen that he had killed Wild Bill Hickok. McLintock used a cane to tap the body, face, and head, finding no soft tissue anywhere. Brady, like Varnes, had disappeared from Deadwood and could not be found. Brink, were tried for killing McCanles, but were found to have acted in self-defense. McCormick claimed that ONeil offered to adopt her, taking she and her mother to meet his wife in Omaha. [citation needed], Henry M. Stanley, of the Weekly Missouri Democrat, reported Hickok to be "an inveterate hater of Indian People", perhaps to enhance his reputation as a scout and American fighter, but separating fact from fiction is difficult considering his recruitment of Indians to cross the nation to appear in his own Wild West show. From William Alonzo and Polly Butler's marriage, they welcomed six children in total, and HIckon is the fourth among them all. He became a deputy U.S. marshal, and on March 28, 1868, he picked up 11 Union Army deserters who had been charged with stealing government property. In court she presented the judge with a doctors certificate indicating she was in a rather delicate condition, an early euphemism for pregnant. His work included identifying and counting the number of troops in uniform who were drinking while on duty, verifying hotel liquor licenses, and tracking down individuals who owed money to the cash-strapped Union Army. Hickok has remained one of the most popular and iconic figures of the American Old West, and is still frequently depicted in popular culture, including literature, film, and television. That belief came from the fertile imaginations of othersespecially Jean McCormick, who claimed to be the daughter of the legendary pair. On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl when Coe fired two shots. Infuriated, Thompson tried to incite John Wesley Hardin to kill Hickok by exclaiming to Hardin that "He's a damn Yankee. He claimed he was avenging Hickok's earlier slaying of his brother, which may have been true; a man named Lew McCall had indeed been killed by an unknown lawman in Abilene, Kansas, but whether or not the two McCall men were related is unknown. I would have rather been somewhere else, but Bill stopped. Between her birth in the 1850s and her death in 1903, Jane left a dizzying trail as she blazed around the west. Since he was actually shot in the back of the head, that plot element is a complete artifice of the episode writers. [3] [4] James was the fourth of six children. In the episode Dillon and Hickok are old friends. He was born James Butler Hickok on 27 May 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois. Wild Bill had learned of the scheme and cornered Coe, had his two pistols drawn on Coe. In the film version, Howard Keel co-stars as Hickok to Doris Day's Calamity Jane. "[55], On March 5, 1876, Hickok married Agnes Thatcher Lake, a 50-year-old circus proprietor in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 2 Army revolver, a five-shot, single-action, .32-caliber weapon, innovative as one of the first metallic cartridge firearms and favored by many Union officers during the Civil War. Outlaw John Wesley Hardin arrived in Abilene at the end of a cattle drive in early 1871. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wild-Bill-Hickok, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Wild Bill Hickok, Wild Bill Hickok - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). He worked as a technical writer on the Atlas, Minuteman, and Titan missile-launching systems, as well as Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ", DeMattos, Jack (1980). [67], After bragging about killing Hickok, McCall was rearrested. In her book Calamity Janes Daughter: The Story of Maude Weir, Weirs own daughter, Ruth Shadley, said her family secretly knew that Maudes real mother was Calamity Jane. He fought and spied for the Union Army during the American Civil War and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, actor, and professional gambler. Hickok was a favourite of Custer and his wife, Libbie, who described him as a delight to look upon. Hickoks physical appearance was by many accounts arresting. This cemetery filled quickly, and in 1879, on the third anniversary of Hickok's original burial, Utter paid to move Hickok's remains to the new Mount Moriah Cemetery. Nick McGlashan loved his family, friends and fans. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He afterward resumed using his given name, James Hickok. On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok died a sudden, violent death while gambling in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. [74] He wore his revolvers butt-forward in a belt or sash (when wearing city clothes or buckskins, respectively), and seldom used holsters; he drew the pistols using a "reverse", "twist", or cavalry draw, as would a cavalryman. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The "special election" may not have been legal, as a letter dated September 17 to the governor of Kansas noted that Hickok had presented a warrant for an arrest which was rejected by the Fort Hays commander, because, when asked to produce his commission, Hickok admitted that he had never received one. 1. [38], In July 1869, Hickok returned to Hays and was elected city marshal of Hays and sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas, in a special election held on August 23, 1869. What do you know about Pete Spence, a member of the Cowboys of Tombstone? The bear then grabbed his arm in its mouth, but Hickok was able to grab his knife and slash its throat, killing it. Wild Bill Hickok, byname of James Butler Hickok, (born May 27, 1837, Homer [now Troy Grove], Illinois, U.S.died August 2, 1876, Deadwood, Dakota Territory [now in South Dakota, U.S.]), American frontiersman, army scout, and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. She appears to have finally learned the truth by the time she died in 1980, for her death certificate correctly lists her mothers maiden name as Canary. Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading: Wild Bill, J. The incident helped contribute to the overall failure of the show. Hickok encouraged McCall to quit the game until he could cover his losses and offered to give him money for breakfast. In an instant, he pulled the triggers again sending two bullets into Coe's abdomen (Coe lived a day or two) and whirling with his two guns drawn on the drunken crowd of cowboys, "and now do any of you fellows want the rest of these bullets?" Wild Bill Hickok was an American folk hero. When a seat opened up at the table, a drunk man named Jack McCall sat down to play. [1][2], James Butler Hickok was born May 27, 1837, in Homer, Illinois, (present-day Troy Grove, Illinois) to William Alonzo Hickok, a farmer and abolitionist, and his wife, Polly Butler. [7], In 1873, Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro invited Hickok to join their troupe after their earlier success. Then in 1996, a second daughter was revealed. But the U.S. marshals were on his trail and McCall was arrested on August 29, 1876 in Laramie, where he was held before he was extradited to Yankton, South Dakota. On July 21, 1865, in a shootout in Springfield, Missouri, he killed David Tutt, a skillful gunfighter who had been flaunting the watch he won from Hickok in a poker game. [34]:34 The show featured six buffalo, a bear, and a monkey, and one show ended in disaster when a buffalo refused to act, prompting Hickok to fire a bullet into the sky. Foxs visit coincided with the few weeks Jessie actually attended St. Edwards Academy in Deadwood. [5] William Hickok died in 1852, when James was 15. Hickok was bedridden for months before he went to southern Nebraska in the summer of 1861 to work at the Pony Express station at Rock Creek. Corrections? He drove freight wagons and coaches. During Wild Bill Hickok 's life he was many things such as, an actor, gambler, lawman, and a marksman specialists. I will be. [59], The next day, Hickok was playing poker again. 10 Black Pioneers in Aviation Who Broke Barriers, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Wild Bill Hickok, Birth Year: 1837, Birth date: May 27, 1837, Birth State: Illinois, Birth City: Troy Grove, Birth Country: United States. All Rights Reserved. He was the fourth son of William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok. [6][35] Witnesses confirm that while working as a scout at Fort Harker, Kansas, on May 11, 1867, Hickok was attacked by a large group of Indians, who fled after he shot and killed two. [64], Hickok was playing five-card stud or five-card draw when he was shot. At the end of the trial, Judge Sempronius H. Boyd told the jury they could not find Hickok acted in self-defense if he could have reasonably avoided the fight. The town of Deadwood, South Dakota, re-enacts Hickok's murder and McCall's capture every summer evening. [50] The two entrepreneurs had painted a picture of a bull with a large erect penis on the side of their establishment as an advertisement. [9], At the time of his death, Hickok was wearing a Smith & Wesson Model No. [28] Tutt's shot missed, but Hickok's struck Tutt through the heart from about 75 yards (69m) away. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed", before he collapsed and died. James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, on May 27, 1837, to William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler Hickok. At the time of the so-called McCanles Massacre, Hickok was known as Duck Bill because of his sweeping nose and protruding upper lip (covered with a mustache later in life). Wild Bill Hickok begins to establish his reputation as a gunfighter after he shoots three men during a shootout in Nebraska. The old cemetery was in an area that was better suited for the constant influx of new settlers to live on, so the remaining bodies there were eventually also moved up the hill to the Mount Moriah Cemetery (in the 1880s). He was arrested while using the name Haycock in 1865. Both towns had become outposts for lawless men before Hickok arrived and turned things around. It was written by Michael Lanahan and directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. They refused, so Hickok altered it himself. [25][26]:136 Hickok had not been paid for some time, and was hired as a scout by General John B. Sanborn by early 1865. Now, she said, both Calamity Jane and another famed woman of the west, Belle Starr, were her aunts. [9], Shortly before his death, Hickock wrote a letter to his new wife, which read 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 wifeAgnesand with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore. [40]:192, On July 17, 1870, Hickok was attacked by two troopers from the 7th U.S. Cavalry, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kyle (sometimes spelled Kile),[42] in a saloon. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The story continued that McCanles invaded the Wellmans cabin and prepared to shoot Hickok, who acted faster and shot McCanles in the chest. In 1855, at the age of 18, he left to become a part of thegrowing American West. A highly fictional film account of Hickok's later years and death, titled Wild Bill (1995), stars Jeff Bridges as Hickok and David Arquette as Jack McCall, and was written and directed by Walter Hill. Born in Homer (later called Troy Grove), Illinois, James Butler Hickok . [62][63] Hickok may have told his friend Charlie Utter and others who were traveling with them that he thought he would be killed while in Deadwood. That winter, writer M.L. To date, four children have been credited to the lady, although some of the claims have come from the children themselves.

Promenade Stage Advantages And Disadvantages, Abandoned Military Base On Lake Michigan, Articles D