by Enss, Chris
Having proven to himself and his elders that his future lay in being a frontiersman, he returned to the plains. Among the varied events he experienced were losing a caravan of goods to the Mormon leader Lot Smith and his followers, meeting and spending time with celebrated scouts and Indian hunters Kit Carson and Jim Bridger, as well as trapping beaver and mink along the waterways in the Rockies. While tending to his traps on Prairie Creek, he came face to face with a bear that had killed one of his oxen and a bull. William shot the bear, saving himself, his partner, and their livestock from further attack.
On one occasion William broke his leg during a hunting expedition in the wilderness and was forced to hole up in a cave for more than twenty days waiting for help to arrive. After a stint riding for the Pony Express, he took a job supplying meat for the Kansas Pacific Railroad as a buffalo hunter. In an eighteen-month period he killed 4,280 buffalo. He then joined a campaign with Wild Bill Hickok to track down warring bands of Indians and subdue them. At the conclusion of that venture, he offered his expertise to the government and became a guide for the Ninth Kansas Cavalry.
In 1864 William enlisted in the army. He was eighteen years old.10
During William’s long absences working for the military under General Phil Sheridan in the Indian wars and eventually reenacting his life onstage across the country, Louisa maintained their home and cared for their children. Occasionally she would attend one of Buffalo Bill’s shows. William appreciated Louisa’s presence at his performances. He made a point of locating her in the audience and calling out her name. “He came forward, leaned over the gas footlights and waved his arms,” she recalled.
“Oh, Mamma!” he shouted. “I’m a bad actor!” The house roared. Will threw her a kiss and then leaned forward again while the house stilled. “Honest, Mamma,” he shouted, “does this look as awful out there as it feels up here?” Once more the house chuckled and applauded. Someone called out the fact that Louisa was Mrs. Buffalo Bill.
Once the crowd realized that it was indeed William’s wife he was addressing, the audience cheered and tried to coax Louisa on stage. Embarrassed and nervous, she refused. It wasn’t until William held his hand out to her that she relented. “Come on up. You can’t be any worse scared than I am,” Louisa recalled William saying.11
“Someone placed a chair in the orchestra pit,” she added. “Hands reached to help, and I was boosted onto the stage, and Arta after me. I was plainly frightened and it showed. ‘Now you can understand how hard your poor old husband [he was twenty-six years old] has to work to make a living!’” William boomed. The audience again applauded, and William joined them. “After that,” Louisa reported, “whenever I went to see my husband’s show, I chose a seat in the farthest and darkest part of the house. But it did little good. For invariably Will would seek me out, and call ‘Hello, Mamma. Oh, but I’m a bad actor.’”12
Both Louisa and William remembered those moments with great fondness. As his theatrical career advanced, William concentrated less and less on wife and home. He was preoccupied with creating a bigger program that celebrated the history of the frontier and with becoming an international showman.
Louisa was loyal to William and, according to a close friend, “loved him more than most women loved their husbands.” She demonstrated her deep affection for him by spending hours making the elaborate costumes he liked to wear. She was an exceptional seamstress and made the patterns, selected materials, and stitched together the fringed jackets and gauntlets that became William’s trademark. She tried to make him understand how much she wanted him to spend more time with her. She felt that if he truly grasped her longing, he would be more inclined to turn down the advancements made by other women.
The tension between William and Louisa continued long after the stormy, uncomfortable scene at the farewell party in Omaha had passed. For the bulk of their marriage, Louisa fretted over the women who flung themselves at William, the expense of his various love affairs, the potential scandal, and the alienation of affection that followed.
Not only did the many loves of Buffalo Bill Cody threaten to break up his marriage, but several of William’s friends predicted that Louisa’s intolerance of his roving eye would ultimately “bust up the Wild West.”
ONEMan of the Family
As the head of the household he wanted to be called Bill. A compromise was worked out: to most of his friends he was Bill, to his family—especially his mother—he was Billy.
—JULIA CODY GOODMAN (1922)
Twelve-year-old William Cody plunged a meaty fist into the eye of nineteen-year-old Steven Gobel and watched him fall backward onto the ground. Every student in the Salt Creek Valley School in LeClaire, Iowa, had vacated the one-room building to watch the two boys fight. Most were cheering for William, but some were cheering for Steven. Among them was a pretty, doe-eyed girl named Mary Hyatt. William scanned the sea of faces around him, searching for Mary. When he found her, the two shared a smile. It was obvious the pair were smitten with each other. The exchange did not go unnoticed by Steven, who also was fond of Mary. He leaped to his feet and lunged at William.
The young men tumbled over, and Steven punched William repeatedly in the ribs. The scrappy Steven clearly had the advantage because of his size and age, but William was determined not to be bested.
To win Mary’s favor and strike a blow against the class bully, who made a sport of tormenting many of the younger pupils, William had to stand his ground. Somewhere in the midst of the frustrating struggle, William pulled out a Bowie knife and stuck it into the lower part of his opponent’s leg. Blood gushed from the wound, and Steven screamed in terror. “I’ve been killed,” he cried out to the horrified students looking on.1 William was confident that the gash would not cause any permanent damage.
William had learned about hunting and skinning all types of animals while riding with the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight company. He knew the difference between a life-threatening cut and one that merely required stitches. William was unable to reassure his awestruck fellow students that Steven would be fine. Steven continued to yell, and his friends pressed in around him with rags trying to stop the bleeding. The majority of students felt that William’s actions were extreme, and sentiments quickly turned against him. Even Mary, whose affections he most coveted, now focused all her attention on the wounded Steven.
A few of the students hurried off to get the teacher, and William quickly contemplated his next move. The teacher was a hard man who strongly believed in corporal punishment.
William was frequently beaten with a hazel switch for what the instructor felt was general lack of respect. The routine paddling brought tears to Mary’s eyes. William endured the harsh treatment because his mother desperately wanted him to get an education, and there were no other schools in the area from which to choose. He fully anticipated being expelled for his actions, but not before the teacher had used another switch on him. In spite of the desire to please his mother, William believed that under the circumstances he’d be better off away from the institution.
As he fled the scene, he met up with the wagon master for Russell, Majors and Waddell. He told the teamster what had happened, and the man was outraged to hear of the behavior of Steven Gobel and the unsympathetic teacher. He offered to return to the school with William in tow and fight the pair himself. William reluctantly agreed. The wagon master pounded on the schoolhouse door with the butt of his revolver and then invited the teacher and the bully to step outside. The teacher refused, dismissed the class, and raced home.
Mary’s eyes were trained on William as she left the building. He watched her walk away with a sweet longing, happily anticipating the next time he would see her.2
Between Cody’s earliest infatuation and the woman who ultimately became his wife were five particular females who doted on him day and night. Martha, Julia, Eliza, Laura Ella (also known as Helen), and Mary (also known as May) were his sisters, and they regarded Cody as a “tender, caring charac
ter with true nobility.”3 The tragic 1853 death of Cody’s twelve-year-old brother, Samuel, inspired an overly protective attitude in his mother and sisters toward William.4 According to his sister Helen’s biography,
The older girls petted Will; the younger regarded him as a superior being; while to all it seemed so fit and proper that the promise of the stars concerning his future should be fulfilled that never for a moment did we weaken in our belief that great things were in store for our only brother.5
Cody possessed a natural talent with firearms and horseback riding. His father, Isaac, recognized his son’s ability and nurtured his skills, teaching him how to track and hunt. At the age of seven, William helped escort his family’s prairie schooner from Kansas to Platte County, Missouri. Armed with a Sharps rifle, he was ready to defend his loved ones from wild animals and hostile Indians.6
In the evenings he helped make camp and provide game for the meals. He thrived on responsibility and had an instinct for obtaining water, striking trails, and finding desirable camping grounds. Cody’s sisters and little brother, Charles Whitney (born in 1855), admired his skills and looked to him as a protector when their father was away on business. When Isaac passed away in April 1857, William assumed the role as head of the family and proved to his sisters that their trust in him had not been misplaced.7
On more than one occasion, William came to his sisters’ rescue. In 1854 six-year-old Eliza and four-year-old Helen ventured away from the homestead with the family dog to collect wildflowers for their ailing mother. When they didn’t return in a timely fashion, William was sent to find them. When he finally located them, they were being stalked by a panther.
The Cody’s dog had dug a place for the youngsters to hide and had fought back the cat, but the panther eventually overpowered the dog. Just as the panther was set to pounce on the girls, William shot the animal and killed it. Eliza and Helen rushed to their brother and threw their arms around his neck in gratitude.8 “Will, himself but a child, caressed and soothed us in a most paternal fashion,” Helen later wrote in her memoirs. “Our brother was our reliance in every emergency.”9
Cody’s mother, Mary Ann, adored William and depended heavily on his resourcefulness. Having lost her firstborn son and her husband, she was vulnerable and despondent. Her emotional despair was compounded by the financial crisis that occurred shortly after her husband’s funeral. Ruthless creditors claimed that Isaac owed them thousands of dollars for building supplies used to maintain the ranch. It was through the efforts of her steady and capable son that Mary Ann was able to afford to fight the bogus claims and keep her children fed and clothed.10 The $45 a month in wages William earned as an extra working for the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight service was used to support his mother, sisters, and brother. “The cares and responsibilities laid upon our brother’s shoulders did not quench his boyish spirits and love of fun,” Helen remembered. “When he was home he teased us all and rough-housed with Charles and the neighbor’s children.”11
William spent much of his time between jobs tending to herds of cattle on a wagon train, working for the Pony Express, and reenacting Wild West adventures with his siblings. Armed with wooden tomahawks, spears, and guns, William would perform Indian battles and stage robberies. He portrayed the brave protector fighting off bad guys and scalping violent Indians. He enjoyed the masquerade so much that he told his family that when he was older, he planned to run a show portraying life on the rugged frontier.
The men William met during his employment—such as Alec Majors, owner of the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight service, and Kit Carson—acted as surrogate fathers to him and served as examples of how to be a parent to his brother and sisters.12 Not only did he entertain his younger siblings, but he sometimes acted as disciplinarian as well. “To tell the truth,” Helen recorded in her memoirs, “when we misbehaved and Will would crook his finger at us, we would bawl. Yet we fairly worshipped him,” she added, “and cried harder when he went away than when he was home.”13
William’s mother and sisters were not the only females of note in his early years. Frank and Bill McCarthy, two of the men he worked for at Russell, Majors and Waddell, had a sister named Sarah with whom he was infatuated. She was older, and he was captivated by her beauty and kindness. “I was ‘dead in love’ in a juvenile way,” William recounted in his autobiography. His feelings for Sarah were never returned, but he came in contact with other girls who took an interest in him. Despite his sister’s claim that William was a ladies’ man, none of the girls he met captured his attention as much as the untamed frontier.
All of his sisters encouraged his natural love for western adventure, but none more so than Helen Cody Wetmore.
Not only did she listen enthusiastically to William’s dreams of traveling beyond the Mississippi to hunt and trap wild game while riding with Indian warriors, but when they got older, she also helped him shape the real tales he’d experienced into best-selling books. When Helen grew up, she became a writer, ran a newspaper, and guided William’s career as a published author working for the creator of the well-known dime novel series, Ned Buntline. The success of the novels gave William the audience he needed to launch his Wild West show.
After William’s father died, he often spoke of joining the military. Although Helen would have hated to see him leave home, she supported his desire to serve his country. William’s mother, however, made him promise that he would not enlist until she passed away because she couldn’t stand the thought of losing another loved one. True to his promise, he waited to sign up with the Seventh Kansas until after his mother’s death.14
Mary Ann passed away in 1863. The youngest Cody son died less than a year later, at the age of nine.15 William’s sister Julia, who was two years older than he, assumed the role of caring for the younger children. Martha, the oldest daughter, who was nine years William’s senior, had preceded their mother in death shortly after she married in 1858.
William admired Julia’s willingness to be the matriarch of the family, and he trusted her in ways he never did his other siblings. In her later years she managed his ranch in North Platte, Nebraska, and the Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming.
Julia married Al Goodman in late 1862 and was in the process of establishing her own home when the Codys’ mother passed away. She put her own plans on hold and focused on raising her siblings. Throughout the course of his life, William wrote Julia letters praising her dedication and devotion. In a letter dated February 14, 1886, he wrote, “Dear Good Sister, your kind letter just received and it proves how good you are—still looking to my interest, and willing to sacrifice your own comfort for my benefit.”16
On June 14, 1905, more than forty years after his mother died, he continued to sing his sister’s praises in his correspondence. “Dear Sister Julia, you have always been good to me. I only wish that someday I will be able to do much more for you. And all my sisters who have been good and true to me.”17
Julia was one of William’s closest friends and confidants, but he was dutiful to his three other sisters. His sister Eliza Alice, the middle Cody daughter, married George Meyers when she was very young. The couple made their home in Jackson County, Kansas. The Meyerses’ income was modest, and they could not afford any frills.18 Once William began to see a profit from the Wild West show, he helped provide the family with funds to travel and visit him in North Platte. Eliza died in 1902 and was buried in Denison, Kansas.19
Mary Hannah, more commonly known as May, was the youngest and most daring of the Cody sisters. Until she was grown and married, she and Helen lived with William and Louisa.20 May was with her brother and sister-in-law at Fort McPherson, Nebraska, when William accepted an appointment by the government as judge of the area. She watched him perform a wedding as one of his first acts of duty. At the conclusion of the ceremony, May proudly congratulated William on the job he did.
In the summer of 1870, May and Helen participated in a hunting expedition in which May shot and slightly wounded
a buffalo. The injured animal charged after the young woman while the other hunters watched in horror, unable to help her. William, who had been on a scouting trip for the army, suddenly arrived on the scene and brought the buffalo down before it reached May. Once Cody made sure his sisters were all right, he reprimanded them for leaving the fort without him. An article about the incident that appeared in an Omaha newspaper the following day incorrectly cited May as the sharpshooter who had killed the buffalo.
The exaggerated account of May’s courage and ability with a gun was the inspiration for a melodrama written by E. C. Judson in 1877. William starred in May Cody; or, Lost and Won. One of the show’s cast members was L. E. Decker. May fell in love with the handsome actor, and the two were married shortly after the premiere of the program. The play was a huge success, and, for a brief time, May enjoyed a bit of the fame that her brother had experienced.21
William sought advice from all his sisters about his finances, career, and romantic pursuits. Helen was the first sibling he confided in regarding his feelings for Louisa Frederici. The Civil War was close to ending, and William briefly allowed his attention to be diverted from his military assignment and long days on the trail to courtship. According to Helen, William was instantly smitten with Louisa. “From war to love, or from love to war, is but a step, and Will lost no time in taking it. He was somewhat better an apprentice to Dan Cupid…. His opportunities to enjoy feminine society had not been many, which, perhaps, accounts for the promptness with which he embraced them when they did arise. He became the accepted suitor of Miss Louisa Frederici before … his regiment was mustered out.”22
