Chapter II: Foreword

History is the record made by men and women; so the story of the western plains is the story of Buffalo Bill and of those other hard workers who with their deeds and even with their lives bought the great country for the use of us to-day.

The half of what Buffalo Bill did, in the days of the Overland Trail, has never been told, and of course cannot be told in one short book. He began very young, before the days of the Overland Stage; and he was needed long after the railroad had followed the stage. The days when the Great Plains were being opened to civilized people required brave men and boys――yes, and brave women and girls, too. There was glory enough for all. Everything related in this book happened to Buffalo Bill, or to those persons who shared in his dangers and his deeds. And while he may not remember the other boy, Dave Scott, whom he inspired to be brave also, he will be glad to know that he helped Davy to be a man.

That is one great reward in life: to inspire and encourage others.

EDWIN L. SABIN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, June 1, 1914

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. TALL BULL SIGNALS: “ENEMIES!” 17
II. THE HERO OF THE MULE FORT 30
III. WITH THE WAGON TRAIN 42
IV. VISITING BILLY CODY 58
V. DAVY GOES ON HERD 71
VI. DAVY HAS AN ADVENTURE 83
VII. DAVY CHANGES JOBS 100
VIII. THE GOLD FEVER 114
IX. THE HEE-HAW EXPRESS 127
X. “PIKE’S PEAK OR BUST” 140
XI. SOME HALTS BY THE WAY 157
XII. PERILS FOR THE HEE-HAWS 171
XIII. THE CHERRY CREEK DIGGIN’S 188
XIV. DAVY SIGNS AS “EXTRA” 204
XV. FREIGHTING ACROSS THE PLAINS 218
XVI. YANK RAISES TROUBLE 231
XVII. DAVY “THE BULL WHACKER” 244
XVIII. BILLY CODY TURNS UP AGAIN 257
XIX. DAVY MAKES ANOTHER CHANGE 267
XX. FAST TIME TO CALIFORNIA 280
XXI. “PONY EXPRESS BILL” 293
XXII. CARRYING THE GREAT NEWS 305
XXIII. A BRUSH ON THE OVERLAND STAGE 318
XXIV. BUFFALO BILL IS CHAMPION 336

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

As Lame Buffalo Had Said, the “Little One” Shot the
Straightest of Any _Frontispiece_

William Frederick Cody (“Buffalo Bill”) 13

“Two; Give Two,” he Urged, Meaningly. “Take Rest” 98

“Give It to Them! Split ’em! Split ’em!” 155

“Why――Hello, Billy! Is That You?” 261

“That’s Right. Fight ’em off, Davy” 334

“BUFFALO BILL”

From a photograph taken in 1871, in the possession of Clarence S. Paine, Esq.]

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

WILLIAM FREDERICK CODY

“BUFFALO BILL”

Celebrated American plains-day express rider, hunter, guide and
army scout, who before he was fourteen years of age had won
credit for man’s pluck and shrewdness. In his youth a dutiful
and helpful son; in his later years an exhibitor of Wild West
scenes, with which he has toured the world. Early known as
“Will,” “Little Billy,” “Pony Express Bill,” “Scout Bill Cody”;
by the Indians termed “Pa-he-haska” (“Long Hair”); but, the
globe around, famed as “Buffalo Bill.”

Born on the family farm near LeClaire, Scott County, Eastern Iowa, February 26, 1845.

Father: Isaac Cody. Mother: Mary Ann Cody.

Childhood spent in Scott County, Iowa: at LeClaire and at Walnut Grove.

When eight years old, in 1853, is removed with the family overland to Kansas.

In the Salt Creek Valley, near the Kickapoo Indian reservation and Fort Leavenworth, Eastern Kansas, Mr. Cody takes up a claim and is Indian trader.

Young William is reared among the Free State troubles of 1853–1861, when the slave men and the anti-slave men strove against one another to obtain possession of Kansas. Mr. Cody, the father, was of the Free State party.

Aged 10, summer of 1855, Billy engages at $25 a month to herd cattle, just outside of Leavenworth, for the freighting firm of Russell & Majors. Gives the money, $50, to his mother.

Is instructed at home by Miss Jennie Lyons, the family teacher; attends district school.

Aged 11, summer of 1856, makes his first trip into the plains, as herder for a Russell, Majors & Waddell bull train.

Continues his cattle herding; and aged 12, in May, 1857, makes another trip across the plains, as herder for the cattle with a Russell, Majors & Waddell outfit bound for Salt Lake, Utah. Has his first Indian fight.

The same summer of 1857, is “extra man” with another Russell, Majors & Waddell wagon train for Utah. Returning, has his second Indian fight.

Arrives home again, summer of 1858. Becomes assistant wagon master with a fourth train, for Fort Laramie.

Fall of 1858, aged 13, joins a company of trappers out of Fort Laramie.

Winter and spring of 1859, attends school again, to please his mother.

To the Pike’s Peak country for gold, 1859.

Returns home to see his mother; and then spends winter of 1859–1860 trapping beaver in central Kansas.

Rides Pony Express, 1860–1861. The youngest rider on the line.

Ranger, dispatch bearer, and scout in the Union service, in Kansas, Missouri and the Southwest, 1861–1863.

Enlisted in Seventh Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 1864, and serves with it until close of the war.

Stage driver between Kearney, Nebraska, and Plum Creek, 35 miles west, 1865–1866.

Marries, March 6, 1866, Miss Louisa Frederici of St. Louis.

Proprietor of Golden Rule House hotel at his old home in Salt Creek Valley, Kansas, 1866.

Government scout at Fort Ellsworth, Fort Fletcher, and Fort Hays, Kansas, 1866–1867.

With William Rose, a construction contractor, promotes the town-site of Rome, near Fort Hays, 1867. Rome is eclipsed by Hayes City, its rival.

Earns title “Buffalo Bill” by supplying the work gang of the Kansas Pacific Railroad with buffalo, 1867–1868. In 18 months kills 4,280 buffalo.

Becomes Government scout with headquarters at Fort Larned, 1868. Performs some remarkable endurance rides between the posts on the Arkansas and those on the Kansas Pacific line. Once covers 355 miles, in 58 hours of riding by day and by night.

Appointed by General Sheridan guide and chief scout for the Fifth Cavalry, 1868.

Serves with the Fifth Cavalry on various expeditions, 1868–1872. Also acts as guide for numerous sportsmen parties.

Temporary justice of the peace at Fort McPherson, Nebraska, 1871.

Guide for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, on a celebrated hunting tour in the West, 1872.

Guide for the Third Cavalry, at Fort McPherson, 1872. Acts as guide for the Earl of Dunraven, and other distinguished sportsmen.

Elected on the Democratic ticket to the Nebraska Legislature, 1872.

Resigns from the Legislature and in the winter of 1872–1873 stars, with Texas Jack, as an actor in “The Scouts of the Plains,” a melodrama by Ned Buntline.

Organizes the “Buffalo Bill Combination,” with Texas Jack and Wild Bill, and plays melodrama in the Eastern cities, 1873–1874.

During 1874–1876 continues to be scout, guide and actor, according to the season.

Takes the field again in earnest as scout for the Fifth Cavalry, against the Sioux, spring of 1876. Fights his noted duel with Chief Yellow Hand.

In partnership with Major Frank North, of the Pawnee Government Scouts, establishes a cattle ranch near North Platte, Nebraska, 1877.

Seasons of 1876–1877–1878 resumes his theatrical tours in Western melodrama, portraying the late Sioux War and the incidents of the Mountain Meadow Massacre (1857).

Takes up residence at North Platte, Nebraska, spring of 1878. Continues to hunt, ranch, and act; writes his autobiography and his own plays.

In 1883 organizes his justly celebrated “Wild West” combination, with which for three years he tours the United States. In 1886 he takes it to England, and in 1889 to the Continent.

In 1888 appointed brigadier general of the National Guard of Nebraska.

In 1890 he again serves as chief scout, under General Nelson A. Miles, against the Sioux.

Since then, the “Wild West Show,” known also as the “Congress of Rough Riders of the World,” has continued its career as a spectacle and an education. Colonel Cody (still known as “Buffalo Bill”) is ranked as one of America’s leading characters in public life. He has shown what a boy can do to win honor and success, even if he starts in as only a cattle-herder, with little schooling and no money.

BUFFALO BILL AND THE OVERLAND TRAIL