Wild Bill Hickok

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Wild Bill Hickok

James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, on May 27, 1837. He is better known as Wild Bill Hickok. Wild Bill was most famous for his lethal gun skills, but he was also known for his professional gambling, being a town marshal and even trying his hand at show business.

As a boy in rural Illinois, James became recognized as an outstanding marksman with the pistol. His parents, Abner and Eunice Hickok, were very religious people. They would make James wear a stiff, uncomfortable suit to church on Sundays. This caused a huge fight every week at the Hickok home. James was not close with his parents. His father believed him to be a dreamer with unreachable dreams. Nevertheless, James did his choirs so to keep the family happy.

For many years Alonzo operated a station on the Underground Railroad. James and his two brothers and two sisters would often help with the work. It was during this time that James began to develop his courage that would be seen in his later years.

Upon James eighteenth birthday he decided to migrate to Monticello, Kansas. Here he took a job driving a stagecoach on the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. During this time James got to use his marksmanship often. He became well known for his courage and sharp shooting while making his trips. This is the period in time that some people believe he became known as Wild Bill. It is not known were the Bill came from, but Wild Bill did not do anything to correct it.

After Wild Bill had a little altercation with a bear while working with the couch business, he decided to get into something else. While he was healing, his name was starting to get around as a very tough individual. After full recovery, Wild Bill applied for, and was given the position of constable in a small Nebraska town. Most of the time Wild Bill was dealing with the normal drunks around the town, but every once and awhile the town would have its real desperadoes.

The McCanles outlaw gang was wanted for train robbery, bank robbery, cattle rustling, and horse theft. In 1861 word came to Wild Bill that they had set up a camp at Rock Creek Station, in Jefferson County, (just outside of Wild Bills jurisdiction). Wild Bill had it set in his mind that he was going to get these guys. If Wild Bill took the outlaws out of his jurisdiction, he himself could be put i...

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...ere ragged. She said that when she dies that she wants to be bared next to the man she loved. Three years later she was.

Works Cited:

Rosa, Joseph G. They Called Him Wild Bill; the Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok. 1st edition; Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.

Manani, Richard E. American Legends of the Wild West. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 1992.

Hollrook, Stewart Hall. Wild Bill Hickok Tames the West. New York Random House, 1952.

Time Life Books. “The Wild West”. Time Life Books:[New York] Alexandria VA. 1993.

Walker, Paul Robert. Great Figures of the Wild West. Facts of Life, New York, 1992.

Rosa, Josheph G. Wild Bill Hickok: the man and his myth. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996.

Lyon, Peter. The wild, Wild West; for the discriminating reader. New York, Funk and Wagnalls, 1969.

O,Conner, Richard. Wild Bill Hickok. 1st Edition: Garden City, New York Doubleday, 1959.

Garst, Doris Shannon. Wild Bill Hickok. New York, J. Messer, 1952.

Anderson, Joseph Faster. I Buried Hickok: the memories of White Eye Anderson/ edited by William B. Secrest, 1st Edition. College Station, Texas, Creative Pub. Co. 1980.

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