"Wild Bill" Hickok

For the American football player and industrialist, see Bill Hickok (American football). For other uses of "Wild Bill", see Wild Bill (disambiguation).

"Wild Bill" Hickok
Born	James Butler Hickok (1837-05-27)May 27, 1837 Troy Grove, Illinois, US
Died	Deadwood, Dakota Territory, US
Cause of death	Murdered by Jack McCall
Resting place	Mount Moriah Cemetery
Occupation	Lawman, gunfighter, gambler
Signature

"Wild Bill" Hickok (born James Butler Hickok) (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876) was a folk character of the American Old West known for his skills as a scout, lawman, gunfighter and gambler. He told many outlandish tales about his life and was regarded as a liar by many of his contemporaries. Some contemporary reports of his exploits are known to be fiction, but along with his own stories are the basis for much of his fame and reputation.

Hickok was born and raised on a farm in rural Illinois. He went west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice, first working as a stagecoach driver, then as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought (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. Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts.

He was shot from behind and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota) by an unsuccessful gambler, Jack McCall. The hand of cards which he supposedly held at the time of his death (black aces and eights) has become known as the "Dead Man's Hand".

Early life

Hickok was born May 27, 1837 in Homer, Illinois (now Troy Grove, Illinois) to William and Polly (Butler) Hickok. He was the fourth of six children, and his father died in 1852 when Hickock was 15. Hickok was a good shot from a very young age and was recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol. Photographs of Hickok depict dark hair, and all contemporaneous descriptions confirm that he had red-hair.

In 1855, at age 18, Hickok moved to Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory, following a fight with Charles Hudson, during which both fell into a canal (each thought—mistakenly—that he had killed the other). Hickok fled the area and joined "General" Jim Lane's "Free State Army" (also known as the "Jayhawkers"), a vigilante group then active in the Kansas Territory. While a Jayhawker, he met 12-year-old William Cody (later known as "Buffalo Bill") who, despite his age, was a scout for the U.S. Army during the Utah War.

Nicknames

James Butler Hickok in 1860's

While in Nebraska, Hickok was derisively referred to as "Duck Bill". He grew a moustache following the McCanles incident and in 1861 began calling himself "Wild Bill". He was also known before 1861 by Jayhawkers as "Shanghai Bill" because of his height and slim build.

Hickok used the name William Hickok from 1858 and William Haycock during the Civil War. He was arrested using the name Haycock in 1865. He afterward resumed using his given name, James Hickok. Most newspapers referred to him as William Haycock until 1869. Military records after 1865 used Hickok, although acknowledging that he was also known as Haycock.

Early career

Mauled by a bear

David C. McCanles

In 1857, Hickok claimed a 160-acre (65 ha) 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, Kansas. In 1859, he joined the Russell, Waddell, & Majors freight company, parent company of the Pony Express. In 1860, he 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 from its skull, infuriating it. The bear attacked, crushing Hickok with its body. Hickok managed to fire another shot, disabling 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 the Rock Creek Station in Nebraska to work as a stable hand while he recovered. The freight company had built the stagecoach stop along the Oregon Trail near Fairbury, Nebraska on land purchased from David McCanles.

McCanles shooting

Main article: McCanles Gang

On July 12, 1861, 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 Hickok (who was hiding behind a curtain) or Wellman killed him. Hickok, Wellman, and an employee, J. W. Brink, were tried for killing McCanles but were found to have acted in self-defense. McCanles was the first man Hickok may have killed.

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, Hickock was a wagon-master, but in September 1862 he was discharged for unknown reasons. Hickok then joined General James Henry Lane's Kansas Brigade and while serving there saw his friend Buffalo Bill Cody, who was serving as a scout. There are no records of Hickok's whereabouts for the next year, although at least one source claims that Hickok was a Union spy in Confederate territory during this time.

In late 1863 he worked for the provost marshal of south-west Missouri as a member of the Springfield, Missouri detective police. His work included identifying and counting the number of troops in uniform who were drinking while on duty, verifying hotel liquor licenses, and tracking down individuals who owed money to the cash-strapped Union Army.

In 1864, Hickok had not been paid for some time and he was hired by General John B. Sanborn as a scout. In June 1865, 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."

Hickok–Tutt shooting and death

Main article: Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout

An illustration of the Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout accompanying the article by Nichols

On July 21, 1865, Hickok and Davis Tutt had several disagreements in Springfield, Missouri about unpaid gambling debts and affections for the same women. Tutt took a watch of Hickock's who demanded its return. They initially agreed not to fight over the watch, but when Hickock saw Tutt wearing the watch, he warned him to stay away. The two men assumed classic duel stance, facing each other sideways. Their "quick draw duel" was the first of its kind. The "quick draw gunfight" was later fictionalized as a typical action by Hickok, but it is the first known instance of the classic Western gunfight. However, unlike the stereotypical Hollywood gunfight in which the two combatants stand face-to-face, the two men faced each other sideways, before drawing and firing their weapons. Tutt's shot missed but Hickok struck Tutt through the heart from about 75 yards (69 m) away. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed" before he collapsed and died.

Hickock tried and acquitted

Two days later, Hickok was arrested for murder, although the charge was later 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 gave the jury two contradictory instructions. He first instructed the jury that a conviction was its only option under the law. He then instructed them that they could apply the unwritten law of the "fair fight" and acquit. The jury voted to acquit Hickok, resulting in a public backlash and criticism of the verdict.

Several weeks later, Hickok was interviewed by Colonel George Ward Nichols. The interview was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Under the name "Wild Bill Hitchcock" [sic], the article recounted the "hundreds" of men whom Hickok had personally killed and other exaggerated exploits. The article was controversial wherever Hickok was known, and it led to several frontier newspapers writing rebuttals.

Law enforcement, acting and politics 1865-1871

Wild Bill Hickok in 1869 – since a knife would not have been worn unsheathed, it is likely a photographer's prop

In September 1865, Hickok came in second in the election for city marshal of Springfield. Leaving Springfield, he was recommended for the position of deputy United States 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.

in 1865, Hickok recruited six Indians to accompany him to Niagara Falls, where he put on an outdoor demonstration called The Daring Buffalo Chasers of the Plains. Since the event was outdoors, he could not compell people to pay, and the venture was a financial failure.

Hickok was reported to be "an inveterate hater of Indians" but it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Witnesses confirm that while working as a scout at Fort Harker, Kansas, on May 11, 1867, he was attacked by a large group of Indians, who 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 ten. Witnesses confirm that the story was true in part; the party did set out to find those who had killed the four men, but the group returned to the fort "without nary a dead Indian, [never] even seeing a live one".

In 1867, Hickok reportedly was involved in a dispute in Jefferson County, Nebraska with drunken cowboys inside a saloon. One of them pushed him, causing him to drop his drink. Hickok struck the man, and four of his friends rose with guns drawn. Hickok persuaded the men to step outside where he faced all four at 15 feet (4.6 m). The bartender counted down and Hickok killed three of the men with a bullet to the head and wounded the fourth. Hickok was wounded in the shoulder.

He returned to the West, where he ran for sheriff in Ellsworth County, Kansas, on November 5, 1867. He was defeated by a former soldier, E. W. Kingsbury.

In December 1867, newspapers reported Hickok's arrival in Hays City, Kansas. On March 28, 1868, he was again in Hays as a deputy U.S. Marshal, picking up eleven Union deserters charged with stealing government property, who were to be transferred to Topeka for trial. He requested a military escort from Fort Hays and was assigned William F. Cody, along with a sergeant and five privates. The group arrived in Topeka on April 2. Hickok was still in Hays in August 1868, when he brought 200 Cheyenne Indians to Hays to be viewed by "excursionists". On September 1, Hickok was in Lincoln County, Kansas, where he was hired as a scout by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a segregated African-American unit. On September 4, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek Basin who had been surrounded by Indians. The 10th arrived at Fort Lyon in Colorado in October and remained there for the rest of 1868.

In July 1869, Hickok was back in Hays and was elected city marshal of Hays and sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas, in a special election held on August 23, 1869. The county was having particular difficulty holding sheriffs, and three had quit over the previous 18 months. Hickok likely was already acting sheriff when elected, as a newspaper reported him arresting offenders on August 18 and the commander of Fort Hays praised Hickok for his work in apprehending deserters in a letter that he wrote to the assistant adjutant general on August 21. Regularly scheduled county elections were held on November 2, 1869, and Hickok (Independent) lost to his deputy, Peter Lanihan (Democrat), but Hickok and Lanihan remained sheriff and deputy, respectively. Hickok accused a J. V. Macintosh of irregularities and misconduct during the election. On 9 December, Hickok and Lanihan both served legal papers on Macintosh, and local newspapers acknowledged that Hickok had guardianship of Hays City.

Hickok's star on the Texas Trail of Fame in the Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas

In his first month as sheriff in Hays, he killed two men. The first was Bill Mulvey, who was rampaging through town drunk, shooting out mirrors and whisky bottles behind bars. Citizens warned Mulvey to behave, because Hickok was sheriff. Enraged, Mulvey swore that he intended to kill Hickok, for that was why he had come to town. He rode through the streets and when he saw Hickok, leveled his cocked rifle at him. Hickok waved his hand past Mulvey at some onlookers and yelled, "Don't shoot him in the back; he is drunk." Mulvey wheeled his horse around to face those who might shoot him from behind, and before he realized he had been fooled, Hickok shot him through the temple.

The second was a cowboy named Samuel Strawhun who encountered Hickok and Deputy Sheriff Lanihan at 1 a.m. on September 27 when they had been called to a saloon where Strawhun was causing a disturbance. After Strawhun "made remarks against Hickok", Strawhun died instantly from a bullet through the head as Hickok "tried to restore order". At Strawhun's inquest, despite "very contradictory" evidence from witnesses, the jury found the shooting justifiable.

On July 17, 1870, in Hays, he was involved in a gunfight with disorderly soldiers of the 7th U.S. Cavalry. Two troopers, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kyle (sometimes Kile), attacked Hickok in a saloon. Lonergan pinned Hickok to the ground while Kyle put his gun to Hickok's ear. Kyle's gun misfired, which allowed Hickok to reach his own guns. Lonergan was wounded in the knee, while Kyle, shot twice, died the next day. In the next election, Hickok failed to win re-election.

On April 15, 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas. He replaced former marshal Tom "Bear River" Smith, who had been killed on November 2, 1870. It was here that his confrontations took place with John Wesley Hardin and Phil Coe.

1871 encounters with John Wesley Hardin

Main article: John Wesley Hardin

Outlaw John Wesley Hardin arrived in Abilene after completing a cattle drive in early 1871. Hardin was a well-known gunfighter and is known to have killed more than 27 men in his lifetime. In his 1895 autobiography—published after his death—Hardin claimed to have been befriended by Hickok, the newly elected town marshal, after he had disarmed the marshal using the famous road agent's spin. This was purportedly during a failed attempt by Hickok to arrest him for wearing his pistols in town. This story is considered to be at the very least an exaggeration, as Hardin claimed this at a time when Hickok could not defend himself. It does appear, however, that Hardin idolized Hickok and identified on some level with him.

As for Hickok's part, it is reported that he didn't even know that "Wesley Clemmons" (Hardin's alias at the time) was in fact a wanted outlaw, simply advising Hardin to avoid problems while in Abilene. When Hardin was confronted by Hickok and told to hand over his guns, he did. It was alleged by Hardin that when his cousin, Mannen Clements, was jailed for the killing of two cowhands, Hickok – at Hardin's request – arranged for his escape. Hickok's next encounter with the outlaw, in August of that same year, had quite a different ending. This time, Hickok was in pursuit of Hardin after he had killed Charles Couger in an Abilene Hotel "for snoring too loud". Hardin quickly left Kansas, never to return, thereby avoiding a confrontation with Hickok.

Shootout with Phil Coe

Background

Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner and acquaintance of Hardin's, had a dispute that resulted in a shootout. The Bull's Head Tavern in Abilene had been established by gambler Ben Thompson and his partner, businessman and fellow gambler Coe. The two entrepreneurs had painted a picture of a bull with a large erect penis on the side of their establishment as an advertisement. Citizens of the town complained to Hickok, who requested that Thompson and Coe remove the bull. They refused, so Hickok altered it himself. Infuriated, Thompson tried to incite John Wesley Hardin to kill Hickok, by exclaiming to Hardin that, "He's (Hickok) a damn Yankee. Picks on rebels, especially Texans, to kill." Hardin was in town under his assumed name "Wesley Clemmons" but was better known to the townspeople by the alias "Little Arkansas." He seemed to have respect for Hickok's abilities and replied, "If Bill needs killing why don't you kill him yourself?" Wishing to intimidate Hickok, Coe had supposedly stated that he could "kill a crow on the wing". Hickok's retort is one of the West's most famous sayings (though possibly apocryphal): "Did the crow have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be."

The gunfight

On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl, during which time Coe fired two shots. Hickok ordered him to be arrested for firing a pistol within the city limits. Coe claimed that he was shooting at a stray dog but suddenly turned his gun on Hickok, who fired first and killed Coe. Hickok caught a glimpse of movement of someone running toward him and quickly fired two more shots in reaction, accidentally shooting and killing Abilene Special Deputy Marshal Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid. This event haunted Hickok for the remainder of his life. There is another account of the Coe shootout: Theophilus Little, mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumber yard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook which was ultimately given to the Abilene Historical Society. Writing in 1911, he detailed his admiration of Hickok and included a paragraph on the shooting that differs considerably from the reported account:

"Phil" Coe was from Texas, ran the "Bull’s Head" a saloon and gambling den, sold whiskey and men’s souls. A vile a character as I ever met for some cause Wild Bill incurred Coe’s hatred and he vowed to secure the death of the Marshall. Not having the courage to do it himself, he one day filled about 200 cowboys with whiskey intending to get them into trouble with Wild Bill, hoping that they would get to shooting and in the melee shoot the marshal. But Coe "reckoned without his host". Wild Bill had learned of the scheme and cornered Coe, had his two pistols drawn on Coe. Just as he pulled the trigger one of the policemen rushed around the corner between Coe and the pistols and both balls entered his body, killing him instantly. In an instant, he pulled the triggers again sending two bullets into Coe's abdomen (Coe lived a day or two) and whirling with his two guns drawn on the drunken crowd of cowboys, "and now do any of you fellows want the rest of these bullets?" Not a word was uttered.

Hickok was relieved of his duties as marshal less than two months after accidentally killing Deputy Williams, this incident being only one of a series of questionable shootings and claims of misconduct.

Later life

Wild Bill Hickok, Texas Jack Omohundro, and Buffalo Bill Cody in 1873

In 1873, Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro invited Hickok to join them in a new play called Scouts of the Plains after their earlier success. Hickok and Texas Jack eventually left the show, before Cody formed his Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1882.

In 1876, Hickok was diagnosed by a doctor in Kansas City, Missouri, with glaucoma and ophthalmia. His marksmanship and health were apparently in decline, as he had been arrested several times for vagrancy, despite earning a good income from gambling and displays of showmanship only a few years earlier.

On March 5, 1876, Hickok married Agnes Thatcher Lake, a 50-year-old circus proprietor in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. Hickok left his new bride a few months later, joining Charlie Utter's wagon train to seek his fortune in the gold fields of South Dakota. Martha Jane Cannary, known popularly as Calamity Jane, claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok and had divorced him so he could be free to marry Agnes Lake, but no records have been found that support Jane's account. The two were believed to have met for the first time after Jane was released from the guardhouse in Fort Laramie and joined the wagon train in which Hickok was traveling. The wagon train arrived in Deadwood in July, 1876. Jane herself confirmed this account in an 1896 newspaper interview, although she claimed she had been hospitalized with illness rather than in the guardhouse.

Shortly before Hickok's death, he wrote a letter to his new wife, which read in part, "Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife—Agnes—and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore."

Death at Deadwood

It is reported that Hickok had a premonition that Deadwood would be his last camp, and expressed this belief to his friend Charlie Utter (also known as Colorado Charlie) and the others who were traveling with them at the time. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood, in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. Hickok usually sat with his back to a wall. The only seat available when he joined the poker game that afternoon was a chair that put his back to a door. Twice he asked another player, Charles Rich, to change seats with him, and on both occasions Rich refused. A former buffalo hunter, Jack McCall (better known as "Crooked Nose Jack"), entered the saloon unnoticed by Hickok. McCall walked to within a few feet of Hickok, drew a pistol and shouted, "Damn you! Take that!" before firing at Hickok point blank. McCall's bullet hit Hickok in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The bullet emerged through Hickok's right cheek, striking another player, Captain Massie, in the left wrist. The murder weapon was a 18 inch "Sharps Improved" revolver.

Hickok's dead-man's hand

Main article: Dead man's hand

Hickok was playing five card draw when he was shot, and was holding a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights. The final card had been discarded and its replacement had possibly yet to be dealt. The fifth card's identity remains the subject of debate. In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

The killing's aftermath

The card hand held by Hickok at his death, now widely known as the "Dead man's hand"

The motive for the killing is unknown. McCall may have been paid for the deed, but more likely McCall became enraged over what he perceived as a condescending offer from Hickok to let him have enough money for breakfast after he had lost all his money playing poker the previous day. At the resulting two-hour trial by a "miners' jury" (an ad hoc local group of assembled miners and businessmen), McCall claimed he was avenging Hickok's earlier slaying of his brother, which may have been true. A Lew McCall is known to have been killed by a lawman in Abilene, but it is unknown if he was related, and the name of the lawman was not recorded. McCall was acquitted of the murder, resulting in the Black Hills Pioneer editorializing: "Should it ever be our misfortune to kill a man ... we would simply ask that our trial may take place in some of the mining camps of these hills." Calamity Jane was reputed to have led a mob that threatened McCall with lynching, but at the time of Wild Bill’s death, Jane was being held by military authorities. McCall left the area soon after and headed into Wyoming.

McCall was subsequently re-arrested after bragging about his deed and a new trial was held. The authorities did not consider this to be double jeopardy because, at the time, Deadwood was not recognized by the U.S. as a legitimately incorporated town, as it was in Indian country and the jury was irregular. The new trial was held in Yankton, capital of the territory. Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial and spoke to McCall after the trial, noting he showed no remorse. This time, McCall was found guilty and sentenced to death. Reporter Leander Richardson interviewed McCall shortly before his death and helped bury him. Richardson wrote of the encounter for the April 1877 issue of Scribner's Monthly, in which he mentions McCall's second trial.

As I write the closing lines of this brief sketch, word reaches me that the slayer of Wild Bill has been rearrested by the United State authorities, and after trial has been sentenced to death for willful murder. He is now at Yankton, D.T. awaiting execution. At the [second] trial it was suggested that [McCall] was hired to do his work by gamblers who feared the time when better citizens should appoint Bill the champion of law and order – a post which he formerly sustained in Kansas border life, with credit to his manhood and his courage.

Jack McCall

McCall was hanged March 1, 1877 and buried in a Roman Catholic cemetery. The cemetery was moved in 1881 and when his body was exhumed, the noose was found still around his neck. The killing of Hickok and the capture of McCall is reenacted every summer evening in Deadwood.

Burial

Charlie Utter, Hickok's friend and companion, claimed Hickok's body and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, which read:

Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickock [sic] (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter's Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o'clock P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend.

Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading:

Wild Bill, J. B. Hickock [sic] killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter.

Steve and Charlie Utter at the grave of Wild Bill Hickok

At the time of his death, Hickok is known to have fatally shot six men (and is suspected of a seventh—McCanles). Despite his 'reputation.' Hickok was buried in the Ingelside Cemetery, Deadwood's original graveyard. This cemetery filled quickly, preventing further use, and in 1879, on the third anniversary of his original burial, Utter paid to move Hickok to the new Mount Moriah cemetery. Utter supervised the move and noted that, while perfectly preserved, Hickok had been imperfectly embalmed. As a result, calcium carbonate from the surrounding soil had replaced the flesh, leading to petrifaction. One of the workers, Joseph McLintock, wrote a detailed description of the re-interment. McLintock used a cane to tap the body, face, and head, finding no soft tissue anywhere. He noted that the sound was similar to tapping a brick wall, and believed the remains to now weigh more than 400 lb (180 kg). William Austin, the cemetery caretaker, estimated 500 lb (230 kg), which made it difficult for the men to carry them to the new site. The original wooden grave marker was moved to the new site, but by 1891 had been destroyed by souvenir hunters whittling pieces from it, and it was replaced with a statue. This, in turn, was destroyed by relic hunters and replaced in 1902 by a life-sized sandstone sculpture of Hickok. This, too, was badly defaced, which led to its complete enclosure in a cage for protection. This was cut open by relic hunters in the 1950s, and the statue was removed.

Hickok is currently interred in a ten foot (3 m) square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery, surrounded by a cast-iron fence with a U.S. flag flying nearby. A monument has since been built there. It has been reported that Calamity Jane was buried next to him because that was her dying wish. However, four of the men on the self-appointed committee who planned Calamity's funeral (Albert Malter, Frank Ankeney, Jim Carson, and Anson Higby) later stated that, since Bill had "absolutely no use" for Jane in this life, they decided to play a posthumous joke on Hickok by laying her to rest by his side. Potato Creek Johnny, a local Deadwood celebrity from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is also buried next to Wild Bill.

Known pistols carried

Hickok's favorite guns were a pair of Colt 1851 Navy Model (.36 caliber) cap-and-ball revolvers. They had ivory grips and silver plating, and were ornately engraved with "J.B. Hickok-1869" on the backstrap. He wore his revolvers butt-forward in a belt or sash (when donning city clothes or buckskins, respectively), and seldom used holsters per se; he drew the pistols using a "reverse", "twist" or cavalry draw, as would a cavalryman.

At the time of his death Hickok was wearing a Smith & Wesson Model 2 Army Revolver. Bonhams auction company offered this very pistol on November 18, 2013, at its San Francisco, California, auction, described as Hickok's Smith & Wesson No. 2, Serial No. 29963, a .32 rimfire with a 6 inch barrel, blued finish and varnished rosewood grips. However, the gun did not sell because the high bid ($220,000) did not meet the reserve price set by the gun's owners.

In popular culture

Main article: List of cultural depictions of Wild Bill Hickok

His birthplace is now the Wild Bill Hickok Memorial and is a listed historic site under the supervision of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. It is difficult to separate the truth from fiction about Hickok. He was the hero of the first "dime novel" of the Western era and in many ways one of the first comic book heroes. He kept company with others who achieved fame in this way. In the dime novels, Hickok's exploits made him seem larger than life. In truth, most of the stories were greatly exaggerated or fabricated by both the writers and himself.

Bibliography

• Bird, Roy. "The Custer-Hickok Shootout in Hays City." Real West, May 1979.
• Buel, James Wilson. Heroes of the Plains, or Lives and Adventures of Wild Bill, Buffalo Bill and Other Celebrated Indian Fighters. St. Louis: Historical Publishing Co,. 1881.
• DeMattos, Jack. "Gunfighters of the Real West: Wild Bill Hickok." Real West, June 1980.
• Hermon, Gregory. "Wild Bill's Sweetheart: The Life of Mary Jane Owens." Real West, February 1987.
• Matheson, Richard. The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok. Jove, 1996. ISBN 0-515-11780-3
• Nichols, George Ward. "Wild Bill." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, February 1867.
• O'Connor, Richard. Wild Bill Hickok. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1959.
• Rosa, Joseph G. They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964, 1974. ISBN 0-8061-1538-6
• Rosa, Joseph G. "George Ward Nichols and the Legend of Wild Bill Hickok." Arizona and the West, Summer 1977.
• Rosa, Joseph G. "J.B. Hickok, Deputy U.S. Marshal." Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains, Winter 1979.
• Rosa, Joseph G. The West of Wild Bill Hickok. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982, 1994. ISBN 0-8061-2680-9
• Rosa, Joseph G. "Wild Bill and the Timber Thieves." Real West. April 1982.
• Rosa, Joseph G. "The Girl and the Gunfighter: A Newly Discovered Photograph of Wild Bill Hickok." Real West, December 1984.
• Rosa, Joseph G. Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1996. ISBN 0-7006-0773-0
• Rosa, Joseph G. Wild Bill Hickok Gunfighter: An Account of Hickok's Gunfights. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8061-3535-2
• Turner, Thadd M. Wild Bill Hickok: Deadwood City – End of Trail. Universal Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-58112-689-1
• Wilstach, Frank Jenners. Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1926.

External links

• Wild Bill Hickok collection at Nebraska State Historical Society