Buffalo Bill Cody Quotes

William Frederick ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody, hunter, Indian-fighter and showman, joined the Pony Express – the West’s legendary mail service – at the age of fourteen, in response to an ad which ran: ‘WANTED young skinny wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 a week.

I am and always have been a friend of the Indian. I have always sympathized with him in his struggle to hold the country that was his by right of birth. But I have always held that in such a country as America the march of civilization was inevitable, and that sooner or later the men who lived in roving tribes, making no real use of the resources of the country, would be compelled to give way before the men who tilled the soil and used the lands as the Creator intended they should be used.

The people of Cody like you to think that Buffalo Bill was a native son. In fact, I’m awfully proud to tell you, he was an Iowa native, born in the little town of Le Claire in 1846. The people of Cody, in one of the more desperate commercial acts of this century, bought Buffalo Bill’s birthplace and re-erected it in their town, but they are lying through their teeth when they hint that he was a local. And the thing is, they have a talented native son of their own. Jackson Pollock, the artist, was born in Cody. But they don’t make anything of that because, I suppose, Pollock was a complete wanker when it came to shooting buffalo.

In concluding, I want to express the hope that the dealings of this Government of ours with the Indians will always be just and fair. They were the inheritors of the land that we live in. They were not capable of developing it, or of really appreciating its possibilities, but they owned it when the White Man came, and the White Man took it away from them. It was natural that they should resist. It was natural that they employed the only means of warfare known to them against those whom they regarded as usurpers. It was our business, as scouts, to be continually on the warpath against them when they committed depredations. But no scout ever hated the Indians in general.

McPherson. It was from William F. Cody. I pried open the lid, and a very unpleasant

Tho was Buffalo Bill Cody? Most people know, at the very least, that he was a hero of the Old West, like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson-one of those larger-than-life figures from which legends are made. Cody himself provided such a linkage to his heroic predecessors in 1888 when he published a book with biographies of Boone, Crockett, Carson-and one of his own autobiographies: Story of the Wild West and Campfire Chats, by Buffalo Bill (Hon. W.F. Cody), a Full and Complete History of the Renowned Pioneer Quartette, Boone, Crockett, Carson and Buffalo Bill. In this context, Cody was often called "the last of the great scouts." Some are also aware that he was an enormously popular showman, creator and star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, a spectacular entertainment of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It has been estimated that more than a billion words were written by or about William Frederick Cody during his own lifetime, and biographies of him have appeared at irregular intervals ever since. A search of "Buffalo Bill Cody" on amazon.com reveals twenty-seven items. Most of these, however, are children's books, and it is likely that many of them play up the more melodramatic and questionable aspects of his life story; a notable exception is Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's Buffalo Bill, which is solidly based on fact. Cody has also shown up in movies and television shows, though not in recent years, for whatever else he was, he was never cool or cynical. As his latest biographer, I believe his life has a valuable contribution to make in this new millennium-it provides a sense of who we once were and who we might be again. He was a commanding presence in our American history, a man who helped shape the way we look at that history. It was he, in fact, who created the Wild West, in all its adventure, violence, and romance. Buffalo Bill is important to me as the symbol of the growth of our nation, for his life spanned the settlement of the Great Plains, the Indian Wars, the Gold Rush, the Pony Express, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the enduring romance of the American frontier-especially the Great Plains. Consider what he witnessed in his lifetime: the invention of the telephone, the transatlantic cable, the automobile, the airplane, and the introduction of modem warfare, with great armies massed against each other, with tanks, armored cars, flame-throwers, and poison gas-a far cry from the days when Cody and the troopers of the Fifth Cavalry rode hell-for-leather across the prairie in pursuit of hostile Indians. Nor, though it is not usually considered

what he recognized as the site of the Battle of the Little Blue. He told the colonel that Price's forces were "right on the edge of this bluff." During the battle Major General John

violence, and romance. Buffalo Bill is important to me as the symbol of the growth of our nation, for his life spanned the settlement of the Great Plains, the Indian Wars, the Gold Rush, the Pony Express, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the enduring romance of the American frontier-especially the Great Plains.

On May 14, nineteen days after leaving St. Louis, the brothers crossed the Missouri River and landed on the town site of Omaha, then a community of cotton tents and shanties, where lots were being

At first the selection of Cody's burial site was under consideration both by members of his immediate family and by the city of Denver, but the family finally chose to leave the decision entirely up to the city.

Heritage magazine for September 1999, John Steele Gordon writes of biography as a.genre: "If the subject is a household name, the biographer must separate the facts

In an essay in American Heritage magazine for September 1999, John Steele Gordon writes of biography as

In April 1855 my great-granduncle Alexander Carter Jr. and his younger brother,

Texas Jack did not remain out west hunting for long; by August they were back in Rochester, to begin preparations for the next theatrical season. Texas Jack had another reason to return. He had fallen in love with Signorina Morlacchi, and they were now engaged. Omohundro and Morlacchi

to catch runoff water from the roof for laundry purposes; when it did not rain, a big tank wagon

am going to get on a drunk that is a drunk. Just to change my luck I will paint a few towns red hot-but till then I

We hope so much that you will be able to come and have tea with us on Wednesday, as we would be much disappointed not to see you. Yours sincerely,

fighting for their existence." Deloria also notes that

exhibition, moreover, is not merely entertaining,

flooded the lot, a thousand spectators were in danger. Cody and

Cody, Wyoming, 1977. Buffalo Bill Museum. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Peter H. Hassrick, Director, N.D. "Buffalo Bill's Wild West." Wyoming Horizons. August 1983. Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of the Rough Riders of the World, show programme. Copyrighted by Cody and Salsbury, Chicago, IL, 1893. Doherty, Jim. "Was He Half Hype or Sheer Hero? Buffalo Bill Takes a New

often

the end of his letter, he asked Julia if she had ever heard from

said the Gazette, "Birmingham's thousands

in Chamberlin's restaurant. Cody, who

hospital

amazon.com

and only the prompt action of the military prevented

of Manchester." To present the rifle, a delegation of London's

the days when Cody and the troopers of the Fifth Cavalry rode hell-for-leather across the prairie in pursuit of hostile Indians. Nor, though it is not usually considered a milestone in American history, should we forget Joseph F. Glidden's 1874 invention of barbed wire, which, more than the rifle or the plow, transformed Buffalo Bill's Great Plains by insuring the survival of thousands of family farms, and making possible the

We had a consuming desire, from the beginning, to see a pony rider, but somehow or other all that passed

shooting

months.

There are people who make a hobby of "alternative history," imagining how history would be different if small, chance events had gone another way One of my favorite examples is a story I first heard from the physicist Murray Gell-Mann. In the late 1800s, "Buffalo Bill" Cody created a show called Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which toured the United States, putting on exhibitions of gun fighting, horsemanship, and other cowboy skills. One of the show's most popular acts was a woman named Phoebe Moses, nicknamed Annie Oakley. Annie was reputed to have been able to shoot the head off of a running quail by age twelve, and in Buffalo Bill's show, she put on a demonstration of marksmanship that included shooting flames off candles, and corks out of bottles. For her grand finale, Annie would announce that she would shoot the end off a lit cigarette held in a man's mouth, and ask for a brave volunteer from the audience. Since no one was ever courageous enough to come forward, Annie hid her husband, Frank, in the audience. He would "volunteer," and they would complete the trick together. In 1890, when the Wild West Show was touring Europe, a young crown prince (and later, kaiser), Wilhelm, was in the audience. When the grand finale came, much to Annie's surprise, the macho crown prince stood up and volunteered. The future German kaiser strode into the ring, placed the cigarette in his mouth, and stood ready. Annie, who had been up late the night before in the local beer garden, was unnerved by this unexpected development. She lined the cigarette up in her sights, squeezed...and hit it right on target. Many people have speculated that if at that moment, there had been a slight tremor in Annie's hand, then World War I might never have happened. If World War I had not happened, 8.5 million soldiers and 13 million civilian lives would have been saved. Furthermore, if Annie's hand had trembled and World War I had not happened, Hitler would not have risen from the ashes of a defeated Germany, and Lenin would not have overthrown a demoralized Russian government. The entire course of twentieth-century history might have been changed by the merest quiver of a hand at a critical moment. Yet, at the time, there was no way anyone could have known the momentous nature of the event.

All parties interested in a general celebration of the 4th of July in this city are requested to attend a meeting at the courthouse on the 17th at 8 P.M.,

Carson-one of those larger-than-life figures from which legends are made. Cody

The most complete version of what happened in North Platte that day is to be found in Nellie Snyder Yost's biography of Buffalo Bill.

where he spent most of his time

Already the Colonel wanted to build an addition onto the Irma,

On the upside, Will's daughter Arta had pitched in to help Julia manage the Irma Hotel. Near the end of March Arta cabled her father that the books, statements,

I have listed in the bibliography the many books that contributed to this volume but would like to single out two for special mention. They are Don Russell's The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill, which no writer on the Colonel could do without; and Nellie Snyder Yost's Buffalo Bill:

Cody, with his sidekick Wild Bill Hickok standing by, is credited with carrying out the entire Pony Express operation single-handedly. Moreover, he is portrayed as an overbearing braggart, which he could have been but certainly wasn't, and a gunslinger, which he never was and never could have been. Bat Masterson, who was a gunfighter and knew Cody, vouched for that. Cody packed a gun only when he needed to-as a Pony Express rider, a hunter, and a scout. An interesting historical footnote is provided in the last scene of Pony Express, in which the Pony Express statue has this quote from Abraham Lincoln

only overcome his initial stage fright

Louisa apparently had also attempted to drive Julia out of the Irma, for

On New Year's Day, 1904, Arta was married again, to Dr. Charles W. Thorp. After the wedding, the couple traveled to

Ned Buntline had all kinds of plans for his show. He spoke of playing it

been trying to murder me with his pen for years," Hickok recalled in a newspaper interview in 1873, "having failed, is now, so I am told, trying to have it done by some Texans, but he has signally failed so

As for Horton's reasons for killing himself, money is ruled out; he stood to inherit a small fortune from his mother. It is probable that a rift had developed between him and Arta,

showman; and one French production, Touche pas la femme blanche

precipitously, and can probably be attributed to

busy undertaker, said, "Deadwood was then hog-wild; duels and gunfights

1888 when he published a book with biographies of Boone, Crockett,

where he spent most of his time

project, has stated, "The Papers of William F Cody

next ten years, Cody would divide his life and his

showman, creator and star of Buffalo Bill's

Campfire

what he witnessed in his lifetime: the invention of the telephone, the transatlantic cable, the automobile, the airplane, and the introduction of modem warfare, with great armies massed

What a wonderful little girl.' Nor was His Highness displeased at what I had dared to do, for he, too, shook my hand warmly when

When it comes to the on-screen portrayals, however, filmmakers have fallen far short of doing justice to his life. Perhaps the worst incarnation of Buffalo Bill was in the movie Pony Express, starring Charlton Heston as Bill.

trial as more of a circus than a serious legal action. One of the many journalists

very least, that he was a hero of the Old

particular affinity for William F. Cody, who lived most of his

said: `Sit down, and we'll talk it over.

field he sought was the sawdust. In short,

determined to fight to the last ditch, for she

showed pictures of Otto Floto and all four Sells Brothers. The Brothers Ringling were

that more than a billion words were written by or about William Frederick

shown up in movies and television shows,

contribution

all shooting. Doc Middleton, the Nebraska

and Capt. Jack all busted flat before

CATALOGS, MAGAZINE ARTICLES "The Arizona Life and Times of a Darned Good Showman." Arizona Highways Magazine. March 1999. Buffalo Bill and the Wild West: An Exhibition Catalog. Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 1981. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Cody, Wyoming, 1977. Buffalo Bill Museum. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Peter H. Hassrick, Director, N.D. "Buffalo Bill's Wild West." Wyoming

William F. Cody, 1879-1917 by Sarah J. Blackstone. Prominent among the many people to whom

that history. It was he, in fact, who created the Wild

prairie boys. Tangle foot gets away with you. And I will have no one with

completed that year, cost Cody and Dillon

Crockett, and Kit Carson-one of those larger-than-life

I did say that I would never have another Scout or western man with me. That is one whom I would work up. For just as soon as they see their names in print a few times they git the big head and want to start a company of their

Champion of the Sioux. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1932; Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957. Wallis, Michael. The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. Walsh, Richard J., with Milton Salsbury. The Making of Buffalo Bill. Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1928. Ward, Geoffrey C. The West: An

theatergoers,

That same summer another hunt was arranged for four special guests: his sisters May and Helen and General Augur's two daughters. Twenty-nine years later, in her book Last of the Great Scouts, Helen Cody Wetmore told the story of the hunt. "A gay party it was," she wrote. "For men, there were a number of officers ... and Dr. Frank Powell ... for women, the wives of two of the officers, the daughters of General Augur, May, and myself." Buffalo Bill was away from the post at the time and was unaware of the outing that had been planned.

same: "Let me know your numbers and come on Wednesday afternoon

On January 30 Mrs. Cody had packed a bag and, accompanied by little Cody Boal, had gone to the depot to take a train

was

decade later. And it was McDonald himself who recalled that M. C. Keefe had a small herd of buffalo and suggested that perhaps they should be used.

Buffalo Bill. In this context, Cody was often called "the last of the great scouts." Some are also aware that he was an enormously popular showman, creator and star

cynical. As his latest biographer, I believe his life has a valuable contribution to make in this new millennium-it provides a sense of who we once were and who we might be again. He was a commanding presence in our American history, a man who helped shape the way we look at that history. It was he, in fact, who created the Wild West, in all its adventure, violence, and romance.

enormously

Everybody saw them, and anger and revenge mounted all day long as people filed past or remained

Look here," he said, "I am much pleased to meet you, sir, but I want you first to understand distinctly that I am no Yank.

autobiography of General Sheridan.

The Indian makes a good citizen, a good farmer, a good soldier. He is a real American, and all those of us who have come to share with him the great land that was his heritage should do their share toward seeing that he is dealt with justly and fairly, and that his rights and liberties are never infringed by the scheming politician or the short-sighted administration of law.

Free-soil man.

The White Man has taken most of our land. He has paid us nothing for it. He has destroyed or driven away the game that was our meat. In 1868 he arranged to build through the Indians' land a road on which ran iron horses that ate wood and breathed fire and smoke. We agreed. This road was only as wide as a man could stretch his arms. But the White Man had taken from the Indians the land for twenty miles on both sides of it. This land he had sold for money to people in the East. It was taken from the Indians. But the Indians got nothing for it.

for hundreds of stories had been handed down from their fathers and grandfathers of the way in which the white man had killed their people and driven them from the land that had been theirs for centuries.

Four years ago the McCracken Research Library in Cody, Wyoming, set out to edit and publish the collected papers of William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody. It seemed like an idea whose

Sunday performances, asking Mayor Carter Harrison to prevent what they called the desecration of the Sabbath. The mayor told the group that he could not refuse the Wild West a license, for if he did, he would have to stop all theater performances on Sunday. And in June 1885 another luminary joined the troupe-none other than the bane of Custer's Seventh Cavalry, the

The New York Times editorial writer eulogized-one might say "rhap-

thanks also to the Library of Virginia, the Library of Congress,