James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement in many famous gunfights. He earned a great deal of fame in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales told and printed about him, occasionally by himself. Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation.
Hickok was born and raised on a farm in Northern Illinois at a time when lawlessness and vigilante activity were rampant because of the influence of the "Banditti of the Prairie". Drawn to this criminal lifestyle, he headed west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice, working as a stagecoach driver and later as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He served in 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. He was involved in several notable shootouts during the course of his life.
In 1876, Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (present-day South Dakota) by Jack McCall, an unsuccessful gambler. The hand of cards that he supposedly held at the time of his death has become known as the dead man's hand: two pairs, black aces and eights, and another unknown card, therefore having five cards in his hand at his death.
Hickok remains a popular figure of frontier history. Many historic sites and monuments commemorate his life, and he has been depicted numerous times in literature, film, and television. He is chiefly portrayed as a protagonist, although historical accounts of his actions are often controversial, and much of his career is known to have been exaggerated both by himself and by contemporary mythmakers. Hickok claimed to have shot numerous gunmen in his lifetime, and he killed six or seven, all between 1861 and 1871 according to Joseph G. Rosa, Hickok's biographer and the foremost authority on him.Rosa, Joseph G. Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter: An Account of Hickok's Gunfights. University of Oklahoma Press; (2003). p. 198.
Early life James Butler Hickok was born May 27, 1837, in Homer, Illinois, (present-day Troy Grove, Illinois) to William Alonzo Hickok (1801–1852), a farmer and abolitionist, and his wife, Pamelia Hickok (née Butler, 1804–1878). Hickok was of English ancestry.They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok. pp. 4–5. James was the fourth of six children. His father was said to have used the family house, now demolished, as a station on the Underground Railroad. William Hickok died in 1852, when James was 15.Odrowaz-Sypniewska, Margaret. James Butler Hickok/"Wild Bill".
Hickok was a good shot from a young age, and was recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol. Photographs of Hickok appear to depict dark hair, but all contemporaneous descriptions affirm that he had red hair.Rosa, Joseph G. (1979). They Called Him Wild Bill. University Press of Oklahoma. p. 306.
In 1855, at age 18, James Hickok fled Illinois following a fight with Charles Hudson, during which both fell into a canal; each thought, mistakenly, that he had killed the other. Hickok moved to Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory, where he joined Jim Lane's Free State Army (also known as the Jayhawkers), an antislavery vigilante group active in the new territory during the Bleeding Kansas era. While there he met 12-year-old William Cody (later known as "Buffalo Bill"), who, despite his youth, served as a scout just two years later for the U.S. Army during the Utah War.
Nicknames
Hickok used his late father's name, William Hickok, from 1858, and the name William Haycock during the American Civil War. Most newspapers referred to him as William Haycock until 1869. He was arrested while using the name Haycock in 1865. He afterward resumed using his given name, James Hickok. Military records after 1865 list him as Hickok, but he was also known as Haycock.Miller, Nyle H. (200). Why the West Was Wild. University Press of Oklahoma. pp. 184–191. .Rosa, Joseph G. (2003). Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter: An Account of Hickok's Gunfights. University Press of Oklahoma. . In an 1867 article about his shootout with Davis Tutt, his surname was misspelled as Hitchcock.
While in Nebraska, Hickok was derisively referred to by one man as "Duck Bill" for his long nose and protruding lips.They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok. p. 51: the name was inspired by his "sweeping nose and protruding upper lip". He grew a moustache following the McCanles incident, and in 1861 began calling himself "Wild Bill".. Nebraska State Historical Society. 1861 subpoena issued to Monroe McCanles to testify against Hickok.
Early career In 1857, Hickok claimed a tract in Johnson County, Kansas, near present-day Lenexa. On March 22, 1858, he was elected one of the first four constables of Monticello Township. In 1859, he joined the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight company, the parent company of the Pony Express.
In 1860, Hickok was badly injured by a bear, while driving a freight team from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. According to Hickok's account, he found the road blocked by a cinnamon bear and its two cubs. Dismounting, he approached the bear and fired a shot into its head, but the bullet ricocheted off its skull, infuriating it. The bear attacked, crushing Hickok with its body. Hickok managed to fire another shot, wounding the bear's paw. The bear then grabbed his arm in its mouth, but Hickok was able to grab his knife and slash its throat, killing it.
Hickok was severely injured, with a crushed chest, shoulder, and arm. He was bedridden for four months before being sent to Rock Creek Station in the Nebraska Territory to work as a stable hand while he recovered. There, the freight company had built a stagecoach stop along the Oregon Trail near Fairbury, Nebraska, on land purchased from David McCanles.
McCanles shooting
On July 12, 1861, David McCanles went to the Rock Creek Station office to demand an overdue property payment from Horace Wellman, the station manager. McCanles reportedly threatened Wellman, and either Wellman or Hickok, who was hiding behind a curtain, killed McCanles. Two men with McCanles (James Wood and James Gordon) were also killed. Hickok, Wellman, and another employee, J.W. Brink, were tried for killing McCanles, but were found to have acted in self-defense. McCanles may have been the first man Hickok killed. Hickok subsequently visited McCanles' widow, apologized for the killing, and offered her $35 [$ in dollars] in restitution, all the money he had with him at the time.
Civil War service After the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Hickok became a teamster for the Union army in Sedalia, Missouri. By the end of 1861, he was a wagon master, but in September 1862, he was discharged for unknown reasons. He then joined Brigadier General Jim Lane's Kansas Brigade, and while serving with the brigade was reunited with his friend Buffalo Bill Cody, who was serving in it as a scout.
Buffalo Bill claimed that he encountered Hickok disguised as a Confederate States Army officer in Missouri in 1864.Rosa, Joseph G. James 'Wild Bill' Hickok.The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, Known as Buffalo Bill, the Famous Hunter, Scout and Guide: An Autobiography. Hartford, Connecticut: F. E. Bliss, 1879. Hickok had not been paid for some time, and was hired as a scout by General John B. Sanborn by early 1865. In June, Hickok mustered out and went to Springfield, where he gambled. The 1883 History of Greene County, Missouri described him as "by nature a ruffian ... a drunken, swaggering fellow, who delighted when 'on a spree' to frighten nervous men and timid women."
Lawman and scout Duel with Davis Tutt
While in Springfield, Hickok and a local gambler named Davis Tutt had several disagreements over unpaid gambling debts and their common affection for the same women. Hickok lost a gold watch to Tutt in a poker game. The watch had great sentimental value to Hickok, so he asked Tutt not to wear it in public. They initially agreed not to fight over the watch, but Hickok saw Tutt wearing it and warned him to stay away. On July 21, 1865, the two men faced off in Springfield's town square, standing sideways before drawing and firing their weapons. Their quick-draw duel was recorded as the first of its kind. Tutt's shot missed, but Hickok's struck Tutt through the heart from about away. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed" before he collapsed and died.
Hickok was arrested for murder two days later, but the charge was reduced to manslaughter. He was released on $2,000 bail and stood trial on August 3, 1865. At the end of the trial, Judge Sempronius H. Boyd told the jury that they could not find that Hickok acted in self-defense if he could have reasonably avoided the fight. However, if they felt that the threat of danger was real and imminent, he instructed that they could apply the unwritten law of the "fair fight" and acquit. The jury voted to clear Hickok, resulting in public backlash and criticism of the verdict.
Several weeks later, Harper's New Monthly Magazine published an interview that Hickok gave to Colonel George Ward Nichols, a journalist who became known as the creator of the Hickok legend, under the name "Wild Bill Hitchcock". The article recounted the "hundreds" of men whom Hickok had personally killed and other exaggerated exploits. It was controversial wherever Hickok was known, and several frontier newspapers wrote rebuttals.
Deputy U.S. marshal in Kansas In September 1865, Hickok came in second in the election for city marshal of Springfield, but he was recommended for the position of deputy federal marshal at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was during the Indian Wars, in which Hickok sometimes served as a scout for General George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry.
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. Witnesses confirm that Hickok was attacked by a large group of Indians on May 11, 1867 while working as a scout at Fort Harker, Kansas. The Indians fled after he shot and killed two. In July, Hickok told a newspaper reporter that he had led several soldiers in pursuit of Indians who had killed four men near the fort on July 2. He reported returning with five prisoners after killing 10. Witnesses confirm that the story was true to the extent that the party had set out to find whoever had killed the four men, but the group returned to the fort "without nary a dead Indian" and without "even seeing a live one".Miller, Nyle H. (2003). Why the West was Wild. University Press of Oklahoma. p. 185. .
In December 1867, newspapers reported that Hickok had come to stay in Hays City, Kansas. He became a deputy U.S. marshal, and he picked up 11 Union deserters on March 28, 1868 who had been charged with stealing government property. Hickok was assigned to bring the men to Topeka for trial, and he requested a military escort from Fort Hays. He was assigned Buffalo Bill Cody, a sergeant, and five privates. They arrived in Topeka on April 2. Hickok remained in Hays through August 1868, when he brought 200 Cheyenne Indians to Hays to be viewed by "excursionists" as a tourist attraction.Miller, Nyle H. (2003). Why the West Was Wild. University Press of Oklahoma. pp. 186–189. .