Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa, near Le Claire . He was one of the most colorful figures of the Old West, and was perhaps a bit misunderstood.
Nickname and work life.
He assumed his nickname for supplying Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. The nickname originally referred to Bill Comstock. Cody won the nickname from him in 1868 in a buffalo killing contest 69 to 48.
He worked many jobs, having been a trapper, bullwhacker, "Fifty-Niner" in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, a Civil War soldier, and even a hotel manager. But he became famous for his Wild West Show.
Legacy.
Buffalo Bill Cody in 1903Buffalo Bill may have been a rough-hewn outdoorsman, but was also something of a liberal, pushing for the rights of American Indians and women. In addition, despite his history of killing the buffalo, he supported their conservation by speaking out against hide-hunting and pushing for a hunting season.
Having been a frontier scout who respected the natives, he once said,
"Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government."
Despite the depiction of Native Americans in his Wild West shows, he was a supporter of their rights. He employed many more natives than just Sitting Bull, feeling his show offered them a better life, calling them "the former foe, present friend, the American."
The city of Cody, Wyoming was founded in 1896 by Cody and some investors, and is named for him. It is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Fifty miles from Yellowstone National Park, it became a tourist magnet with many dignitaries and political leaders coming to hunt.