The popular history of William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody remains more myth than anything else, yet it’s undeniable that he was a central figure in the American Old West. Pony Express rider, stagecoach driver, trapper, soldier, bison hunter, scout, showman—his résumé reads like the quintessential record of all that makes up the Old West mythology, and it’s all documented in this, his original 1879 autobiography. While The Life of Buffalo Bill is rife with the dramatic stylings of the dime novels and stage melodramas so popular at the time, in it Cody presents his version of his life: from his boyhood settling in the newly-opened Kansas territory, to his early life as a frontiersman. It was written when Cody was only thirty-three years old, just after he started his career as a showman and a few years before he created his world famous Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Originally titled The Life of Hon. William F. Cody Known as Buffalo Bill the Famous Hunter, Scout, and Guide: An Autobiography, it is an arguably more accurate account of both his life and the American West than the later 1917 autobiography The Great West That Was: “Buffalo Bill’s” Life Story which was ghostwritten by James Montague and published after his death. Although it makes many claims that are disputed today, The Life of Buffalo Bill reveals much about both the historical William F. Cody and the Buffalo Bill of American legend, and gives insight into the history of the American West.
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in Le Claire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US Army as a scout. One of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill became famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes, which he toured in Great Britain and Europe as well as the United States.
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846- 1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven, after his father's death, and became a rider for the Pony Express at age 15. During the American Civil War, he served the Union from 1863 to the end of the war in 1865. Later he served as a civilian scout for the US Army during the Indian Wars, receiving the Medal of Honor in 1872. One of the most famous and well-known figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill's legend began to spread when he was only 23. Shortly thereafter he started performing in shows that displayed cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and Indian Wars. He founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and continental Europe.
The remarkable life and adventures of Buffalo Bill, as seen through his own eyes. From his early life as a scout, trapper and Pony Express rider to his eventual fame as an iconic showman and theater producer. More entertaining and even more larger than life than most Wild West fiction, that came after it, this classic, action-filled autobiography has plenty of cowboys, saloons and shoot outs. "The Life of William F. Cody - Buffalo Bill" vividly captures the peak of a time and a place, that long since has passed into American folklore. William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917) was an American scout, buffalo hunter, gold prospector, and showman. Rising to fame at only 23 years old, he was one of the most iconic figures of the American Old West in his time.
He was riding as fast as his pony could go through a ravine one day when there sprang out in front of him in the narrow track a man with his rifle at his shoulder. Young Cody knew enough to know that the man had what was called the "drop" on him. There was nothing to do but pull up and await events. It was a white man-a desperado of the plains. He told the boy that he meant him no harm, but that he wanted the money in the bag.-from "The Pony Express Rider"He looms as large in the American imagination as do Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Buffalo Bill Cody rode for the Pony Express, served as a scout for Union Army during the Civil War, and was a champion of the rights of women and Indians. Yet his greatest legacy may be his own invention of that legacy. A tireless and wily self-promoter, Cody, already a superstar, in 1904 published this autobiography, the cheerful story of his own life, complete with suspiciously tall tales of battles with Indians, exploits with the army and the Pony Express, and more. Whether they're wholly true or somewhat exaggerated, they're totally entertaining.American frontiersman and showman WILLIAM FREDERICK CODY (1846-1917) toured Europe and North American with his "Wild West Show" in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s, helping to establish the legend of the American West, and as a result may have been the first globally recognized American celebrity.
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The Great Salt Lake Trail tells the particularly stirring story of the historical highway known as the Salt Lake Trail. Over this route, the world-renowned expeditions by Fremont, Stansbury and Lander were made. It was written by Colonel Henry Inman and William Frederick Cody, who got his nickname, "Buffalo Bill" by supplying Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with bison meat.
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