Life in Deadwood

In 1876, she settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the Black Hills region, and she became social friends with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter, all having traveled to Deadwood in Utter's wagon train. She greatly admired Hickok, to the point of infatuation, and she was obsessed with his personality and life. However, accounts made by her about their relationship were totally fabricated.

After Hickok's death on August 2nd, 1876, she claimed to have been married to Hickok, and that Hickok was the father of her child, which she said was born September 25, 1873, and which she later placed up for adoption. There are no records to prove or disprove as to whether she ever did give birth to a child, or if that story was also a fabrication. Whatever the story is about her having a child, the story about her and Hickok is false. During that period when her child was alleged to have been born, she was working as a scout for the Army, and Hickok was working in the Wild West Show. Hickok was newly married at the time of his death, and by all accounts completely infatuated with his wife. In actuality, Jane and Hickok barely knew one another, having only just met in July of that year. He was killed in August. Their total time together, as acquaintances, was not more than 6 weeks at the most. However, it is noteworthy that on September 6th, 1941 the U.S. Department of Public Welfare did grant old age assistance to a Jean Hickok Burkhardt McCormick, who claimed to be the legal offspring of Martha Jane Canary and James Butler Hickok, after being presented with evidence that Calamity Jane and Wild Bill had married at Bensons Landing Montana Territory on September 25th, 1873, documentation being written in a bible and signed by two reverends and numerous witnesses.

Jane also claimed that following Hickok's death, she went after Jack McCall, his murderer, with a meat cleaver, having left her guns at her residence in the excitement of the moment. This claim is also false. She never confronted McCall, unless she did so by yelling at him after his arrest. Following McCall's eventual hanging for the offense, Jane continued living in the Deadwood area for some time, and at one point she did help save several passengers of an overland stagecoach by diverting several Plains Indians who were in pursuit of the stage. The stagecoach driver, John Slaughter, was killed during the pursuit, and Jane took over the reins and drove the stage on into its destination, at Deadwood.

Also in late 1876, Jane nursed the victims of a smallpox epidemic in the Deadwood area. In 1884, Jane moved to El Paso, Texas, where she met Clinton Burke. They married in August 1885 and had a daughter in 1887. The marriage, however, did not last, and by 1895 they were officially separated.

In 1896, Calamity Jane began touring with Wild West shows, which she continued to do for the rest of her life. Throughout this period, she claimed to have been one of Hickok's closest friends, a story that over time became the version history most often remembered as fact, when in actuality it was not.

Jane died from complications of pneumonia in 1903. In accordance with her dying wish, she is buried next to Wild Bill Hickok in Mount Moriah Cemetery, overlooking the city of Deadwood.

Several films have been made about the life of Calamity Jane, the most famous being the musical of the same name starring Doris Day. The TV series Deadwood gives a more realistic and unglamorous — albeit still somewhat inaccurate — depiction of Jane.