Buffalo Bill

The autobiography of the Wild West legend and master showman.

As a boy in Kansas, William Cody saw great fleets of prairie schooners on their way to Utah and California. Men walked around with knives and pistols casually tucked into their trousers. Kickapoo Indian boys taught Cody to shoot with a bow and arrows. One of Cody's cousins ran away to sea, joined the circus and became a bare-back rider. No wonder Billy became the larger-than-life Buffalo Bill -- the possibilities for adventure seemed limitless in the West of the late 1800's.Cody formed a lifelong friendship with the tall, handsome and laconic "Wild Bill" Hickok which began when, as a boy of twelve, Cody joined a wagon train heading west and Wild Bill protected him from a bully. This might be a slight exaggeration, but that's what makes this story such lively reading.A bit older, Cody was engaged in winter trapping and broke his leg. His partner went for help at the nearest settlement, but that was 125 miles away. He was left alone in a rude shelter they built, and on the 12th day:"I was awakened from a sound sleep by some one touching me upon the shoulder. I looked up and was astonished to see an Indian warrior standing at my side. His face was hideously daubed with paint, which told me more forcibly than words could have done that he was on the war-path…I could hear voices of still more outside as well as the stamping of horses. I began to think that my time had come, as the saying is, when into the cabin stepped an elderly Indian, whom I readily recognized as old Rain-in-the-Face, a Sioux chief from the vicinity of Fort Laramie…I asked him if his young men intended to kill me, and he answered, that was what they had proposed to do, but he would see what they had to say."The Indians then talked among themselves for a few minutes, and upon the conclusion of the consultation, old Rain-in-the-Face turned to me and gave me to understand that as I was yet a "papoose,"…they would not take my life. But one of his men, who had no fire-arms, wanted my gun and pistol. I implored old Rain-in-the-Face to be allowed to keep the weapons, or at least one of them, as I needed something with which to keep the wolves away. He replied that as his young men were out on the war path, he had induced them to spare my life; but he could not prevent them from taking what ever else they wanted."(Rain-in-the-Face is also mentioned in Elizabeth Custer's Boots and Saddles.) Cody went on to become the youngest and fastest pony express rider around, a scout, and a soldier. He earned the nickname of "Buffalo Bill" as a hunter supplying food to the Kansas Pacific Railroad; he claims to have killed 4,280 buffalo during his 18 month employment. And of course he created the famous Wild West show that traveled around the country. But we think that there is no better way to remember him than his own image:"Riding carelessly along, and breathing the cool and bracing autumn air which came down from the mountains, I felt as only a man can feel who is roaming over the prairies of the far west, well armed, and mounted on a fleet and gallant steed."Great Fun!

Provides a factual account of Buffalo Bill's first thirty-four years and his experiences as a pioneer, Army scout, Indian fighter, and Pony Express rider.

What we know of Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917) is more myth than man. Yet the stage persona that took audiences by storm was based on the very real encounters of William F. Cody with the American West. This autobiography, infused with the drama of dime novels and stage melodramas that would transform the author into an American icon, recounts a boy's move to the Kansas territory, where his father hoped to homestead, and his subsequent life on the frontier, following his career from trapper to buffalo hunter to Army scout, guide, and Indian fighter. Written when Cody was thirty-three years old, this life story captures both the hard reality of frontier life and the sensational image to which a boy of the time might aspire: the Indian fights, buffalo hunting, and Pony Express escapades that popular history contributed to the myth-making of Buffalo Bill. It is this movement between the personal and the mythic, plain facts and tall tales, William F. Cody and Buffalo Bill, that gives this autobiography its fascination and its power. Based on the original 1879 edition, this volume provides a new introduction, historical materials, and twenty-six additional images. It reveals both the William F. Cody of personal history and the Buffalo Bill of American mythology and, finally, the curious reality that partakes of both. - Publisher.

Buffalo Bill's account of how the West was won and the frontier settled. Includes biographies of Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and Buffalo Bill. Featuring vivid accounts of the Battle of the Alamo, Custer's Last Stand, and other unforgettable events.