February 24, 2025 • 27 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, was "Buffalo Bill" Cody a real-life hero, or was he a fake? Tune in to find out!
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
and history and the American West. Well, there are two
of our favorite subjects and they collide with this story.
Buffalo Bill Cody died in nineteen seventeen, and throughout the
nineteen fifties Americans saw heroic versions of the Cody story
(00:31):
on the silver screen. So was Buffalo Bill a real
life hero or was he a fake? You're about to
find out Here to tell the story is Roger McGrath.
McGrath is the author of Gunfighters, High Women, and Vigilantes,
a US marine and former history professor at UCLA, McGrath
has appeared on numerous History Channel documentaries, and he is
(00:52):
a regular contributor for US. Here at our American Stories,
here's McGrath.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Most people today have an image only of the old,
white haired Shulmann Buffalo Bill Cody. They know little or
nothing about his early life, his life on the American
frontier that shaped him and made him legendary long before
he created Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. At age eleven,
(01:22):
Bill Cody went to work full time for a freighting
company after his father had died. Young Cody was riding
for the Pony Express by age fourteen, and at age
seventeen he listed in the US Army, serving in the
Civil War for more than two years. He then served
as a scout for the Army in the Indian Wars
(01:44):
on the High Plains. He took a leave of absence
don Buffalo to feed the construction crews of the Kansas
Pacific Railroad. His wildly successful hunts not only supplied the
crews with tongues of meat, but also earned him his nickname.
(02:05):
William F. Cody is born in eighteen forty six on
a farm near the town of Leclair in Iowa Territory.
His father, Isaac, is from Canada and his mother from
New Jersey. In eighteen fifty four, the family moves to
Kansas Territory, then known as Bleeding Kansas. For the violence
(02:27):
between anti slavery and pro slavery settlers. Isaac Goady becomes
one of the leaders of the anti slavery settlers. After
one of his fiery speeches, a pro slavery ruffian stabs
him with a bowie knife. Isaac survives, but his health
is permanently damaged, and in eighteen fifty seven After leading
(02:52):
a group of anti slavery settlers from Ohio to Kansas,
he dies with a family in dire financial streets. Bill
Cody gets a job with Russell Majors and Woodill Freighting Company.
Upon securing the job, he signs the company oath, which
states I agree not to use profane language, not to
(03:16):
get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly,
not to do anything else that is incompatible with the
conduct of a gentleman. The eleven year old boy first
serves as a messenger, riding between company headquarters at Fort
Leavenworth and various freight trains. After a couple of months,
(03:39):
Cody begins working as a wrangler, taking care of the
company's horses and other stock. He also joins a freight
train bound for Fort Carney in Nebraska Territory, a distance
of some three hundred and thirty miles one way and
a forty day round trip. Indian attacks are feared, but
none materialize. However, a buffalo stampede takes a train by surprise,
(04:03):
and Cody impresses everyone with his presence of mind and
quick actions. When the train finally returns home to Fort Leavenworth,
Cody has paid a man's wages. He takes the money
home to his mother. His five sisters think of him
as their hero. Cody's greatest adventure with the Freighting company
(04:26):
begins in the summer of eighteen fifty seven. The company
is given the contract to carry freight for the US Army,
which is sending a twenty five hundred man forced to
Utah to control Brigham Young and his colony of Mormons.
What becomes known as the Utah or Mormon War is
essentially a result of conflict between territorial Governor Brigham Young
(04:50):
and federally appointed non Mormon territorial officials. After proving his
medal on the wagon train to Fort Carney, Cody is
able to go on this much longer and more dangerous trip.
The train is led by two veterans of freighting on
the High Plains, the brothers Frank and Bill McCarthy. The
(05:12):
McCarthy's warn of possible Indian attacks. Once the train is
west of Fort Carney, near the confluence of Plum Creek
and the South Platte River, a band of Sioux warriors
sweep down on the wagon train. The teamsters drive off
the Sioux with rifle fire, but several Sioux return at
(05:33):
night to steal horses. Cody spies one, takes careful aim
and fires. The warrior tumbles down an embankment and splashes
into the river dead. The eleven year old Cody is
on a second wagon train, this one led by Lewis Simpson,
when he meets wild Bill Hitcock. Hitcock is nine years
(05:56):
older than Cody and already has a reputation as an
honery character. During a meal break, one of the other
teamsters muller's the young Cody and wax him across the face.
What do you do? Cody retaliates by throwing a pot
of hot coffee into the teamster's face. The teamster reacts instantly.
(06:17):
Cody describes what happens in his autobiography. He sprang for
me with the ferocity of a tiger, and would undoubtedly
have torn me to pieces had it not been for
the timely interference of my newfound friend, wild Bill, who
knocked the man down. As soon as you see recovered himself.
(06:37):
He demanded of wild Bill what business it was of
his that he should put in his oar. It's my
business protect that boy or anybody else for me. An
unmercifully abused, kicked and cuff and I'll whip any man
who tries it on, said wild Bill. And if you
(06:59):
ever lay a hand on that boy little of bitterly there,
I'll give you such a pounding that you won't get
over it for a month of Sundays. From that time forward,
wild Bill was my protector and intimate friend. And the
friendship thus begun continued until his death.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story
of Buffalo Bill Cody. More of the story here on
our American Stories. Here are to our American Stories. We
bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love.
Stories from a great and beautiful country that need to
(07:39):
be told. But we can't do it without you. Our
stories are free to listen to, but they're not free
to make. If you love our stories in America like
we do, please go to our American Stories dot com
and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot,
help us keep the great American stories coming. That's our
American Stories dot Com. And we continue with our American Stories.
(08:11):
We return where we left off with eleven year old
Bill Cody working on a wagon train and befriending while
Bill Hitcock let's continue with McGrath.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
This wagon train doesn't suffer any Indian attacks, but instead
it's attacked and captured by a Mormon cavalry militia led
by Lot Smith. Wagon Master Simpson agrees to surrender only
if the teamsters are left with their guns so they
won't be defenseless against Indians, and with one wagon of
(08:44):
supplies so they won't starve. Militia Commander Smith agrees, he
has his men loot the wagons of all food and
ammunition they can carry on horseback, and then sets the
wagons ablaze. Godi and the others are now forced to
hike their way sixty miles to Fort Bridger, where they
(09:04):
spend the winter. Cody turns twelve in February eighteen fifty eight,
while still at the fort. In the spring, they hike
nearly one thousand miles back to Fort Leavenworth, arriving in July.
Gody spends the rest of the summer at Fort Laramate.
Kit Carson and Jim Bridger are there, also, both legendary
(09:26):
mountain men and scouts. They regale Cody with tales of
their mountain man days and school him in frontier skills.
They also teach them the Indian sign language of the Plains.
Cody also learns enough of the Sioux language to converse
with Sioux at the fort. Late in the winter of
(09:46):
eighteen fifty nine, Cody begins a return trip with a
Lewis Simpson led wagon train from Fort Laramie Fort Leavenworth.
There are three groups of wagons, each group about a
day apart, with Simpson in the third group. Simpson wants
to contact the second group, and he, his assistant wagon master,
(10:08):
George Wood, and Bill Cody ride ahead on mules. They
cover about seven miles aground before spying a band of
more than three dozen Sioux warriors come in their way.
Since the teamsters are without cover and their mules cannot
possibly outrun the Sioux horses, Gody reckons his time has come.
(10:30):
He's thirteen years old, but Simpson orders a dismount, arranges
the mules in a triangle, and then shoots them to death.
Using the dead mules as cover, the three teamsters rest
their rifles on the backs of the animals, take careful aim,
and begin firing at the on rushing Sioux. The whites
(10:52):
are all crack shots and three sewer knocked off their
horses and hit the ground dead. The other warriors break
off their charms and retreat to a safe distance. Wood
is wounded in the shoulder, but he's not out of action.
Simpson and Cody are unscathed. The Indians now set fire
to the prairie grass, hoping to burn out the teamsters,
(11:14):
but the grass is too short to cause a real conflagration.
Failing with fire, the Indians charge again. The Teamsters let
their rifles roar, causing the second charge to collapse. The
Indians regroup prepare for another charge, probably thinking the teamsters
(11:37):
must now be out of ambnition, or nearly so. Simpson,
Wood and Cody are down to one round each, and
there are still three dozen sous intent on taking their scalps.
As Cody later says, unless help came, it was only
a question of time till it was all over. Help
(12:00):
does come. The third wagon train catches up with the
three beleaguer teamsters from a safe distance. The Indians fire
a last volley of arrows and bullets and ride for
the horizon. In eighteen fifty nine, Russell, Majors and Waddell
begin thinking of launching a horseback express service from Missouri
(12:22):
to the West Coast. Early in eighteen sixty, they begin
gathering riders and horses and building stations along a nineteen
hundred mile route from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.
It's going to be both financially risky and risky for
the riders. The company's newspaper ad reads wanted. Young, skinny,
(12:46):
wiry fellows not over eighteen must be expert riders willing
to risk death daily orphans preferred wages twenty five dollars
a week. At the age of fourteen, Bill Cody becomes
a Pony Express rider. His own station is in Wyoming,
(13:08):
and he has one of the most dangerous stretches of
the entire nineteen hundred mile route. Riders usually go no
more than one hundred miles, changing horses at stations about
fifteen miles apart. On one of his runs, Cody takes
off westbound with a mail pouch from the Red Butte's station,
(13:29):
changing horses at half a dozen stations along the way.
Gody reaches the station at three crossings, where he is
supposed to hand off the pouch to a fresh rider.
The rider, though, has been killed. Gody grabs a fresh
horse and pushes on several stations down the line to
the Rocky Ridge station and hands off the pouch to
(13:51):
another rider. Cody has ridden NonStop one hundred and sixty
one miles. Cody has no time to rest because an
eastbound rider arrives at Rocky Ridge at the end of
his stretch. Cody takes a mail pouch and gallops off.
He changes horses nine times before arriving at Red Buttes.
(14:13):
He's in the saddle for three hundred and twenty two miles.
Only two riders in Pony Express history ever ride farther.
The Pony Express is perhaps the most colorful experiment in
the history of mail service the world has ever seen,
but its days are numbered. Telegraph lions reach the West
(14:36):
coast by October eighteen sixty one, and the Pony Express
is out of business. Bill Cody is out of a job.
A Civil war is erupted, and the fifteen year old
immediately thinks of enlisting in the Union Army. His mother
is suffering with tuberculosis, though, and he returns to the
(14:58):
family farm to help the family. He does join a
volunteer regiment the ninth Kansas Cavalry for temporary service as
a scout. He spends part of the spring in summer
in eighteen sixty two patrolling the San Fe Trail and
fighting Kiawa and Comanche who are attacking wagon trains and
pioneer homesteads. Cody's mother dies of TB late November eighteen
(15:23):
sixty three. Cody's devastated by the loss. His mother had
been the rock of the family ever since the father
died six years earlier. For two months, Cody tries to
drown his sorrow and whiskey, and admits to probably being
drunk when he and some of his drinking companions joined
the seventh Kansas Cavalry. He's one week shy of his
(15:46):
eighteenth birthday. By June eighteen sixty four, the seventh Kansas
is in Tennessee fighting Confederates. In July, the seventh is
in Mississippi and fighting the Battle Tupelo against the greatest
of the Confederate cavalry, generals, Nathan Bedford Forest. Cody is
(16:07):
serving as a scout. The seventh Kansas pursues the Confederates
through Missouri and into Arkansas, with Gody scouting well in
advance of the regiment. During the pursuit of the Confederates,
Gody encounters his old friend from his freight wagon days,
while Bill Hitcock, also serving as a scout. As Cody
(16:29):
tells it, they are both dressed as Confederates to ease
their scouting in the staunchly pro southern portion of Missouri
they are now in. When Gody stops at a farmhouse
for something to eat, he finds Hitcock in the kitchen
with a plate of bread and a glass of milk.
In September eighteen sixty five, Bill Cody is mustered out
(16:52):
of service. He then serves briefly as a civilian scout
for General Sherman, who is inspecting his new command in
the West. Cody then becomes a stagecoach driver on a
route that runs from Nebraska through Wyoming whatever we can.
He visits Saint Louis to see a girl he met
during the Civil War. She is Louisa Federici, from an
(17:15):
old and prominent French family. They are married in March
eighteen sixty six.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story
of Buffalo Bill Cody, And he does these stories for
us and does such a beautiful job talking about the
American West, the frontiersman, and giving a full historical picture
of what it was like to be there. Then it's
so hard to judge these men out of their times,
and refuse to do that here on our American Stories.
(17:43):
People lived when they lived, and we want to walk
in their shoes, or take you back into their shoes
when we come back, more of this remarkable story here
on our American Stories, and we return to our American stories.
(18:11):
When we left off, Bill Cody had just married a
young and prominent French woman from Saint Louis in March
of eighteen sixty six. Let's return to Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
The marriage will soon have problems. She's a city girl,
accustomed to luxuries and refined social life. He's a frontiersman
most comfortable in wide open spaces. They will have four children,
two of whom die when young Cody decites its best.
If he serves as a civilian scout for the army
(18:45):
in campaigns on the high plains, he will be gone
for months at a time, but then home for several months.
One of the commanders he scouts for is Lieutenant Colonel
George Custer. Custer is highly pleased with Cody scouting, and
Cody admires and respects Custer as a man and as
an officer. Meanwhile, the Kansas Pacific Railroad is building across
(19:10):
western Kansas, and it needs a local source of food
for its construction crews. Famous for his marksmanship, Bill Cody
is hired to hunt buffalo at the princely sum of
five hundred dollars a month equivalent to fifty thousand dollars today.
Gody will have to hire helpers to butcher the buffalo
(19:34):
and drive wagons, but he will still reap enormous profits.
The bay is high because of Gody's reputation and also
because the work is highly dangerous. Bands of Indian warriors
are everywhere on the plains of western Kansas, and a
buffalo hunter with that helper or two have a good
chance of dying. From eighteen sixty seven to eighteen sixty eight,
(20:00):
Cody kills more than four thousand buffalo and the construction
crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad are well fed. Cody
not only makes big bucks, but he also earns the
nickname that will be his for life. The railroad workers
sing a jingle Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill never missed and
(20:21):
never will, always aims and shoots to kill, and the
company pays his Buffalo Bill. By August eighteen sixty eight,
Bill Cody is back serving as a scout for the Army,
and much of the time he's working with his old
pow Hitcock. Now it's Buffalo Bill and wild Bill scouting
(20:42):
together in the high Plains. It's good they are because
several bands of Kiowa, Comanche, Arapo, and Cheyenne are on
the war path wreaking havoc across the southern plains. Bill
Cody is twenty two years old. Cody service during the
next two years scouting, geering, dew Indian fighting, and hunting
(21:04):
add more to his legend. Edward Judson, who writes under
the name Ned Buntline, knows a good story when he
sees one. In his travels to the West, he spends
time with the Army and with Cody. Late in December
eighteen sixty nine, he starts writing a serial for the
New York Weekly titled Buffalo Bill, King of a Borderman,
(21:26):
part fact based on the actual exploits of Bill Cody
and part fiction. The Weekly stories in thrall not only
New Yorkers, but readers of dozens of other newspapers which
carry the serial Buffalo Bill. Cody becomes a household name,
and Cody becomes a national hero. Despite his fame, Cody
(21:47):
continues to scout for the army and is cited for
conspicuous and gallant conduct. He also leads hunting expeditions for
wealthy Easterners and European noblemen. They all write glorying reports
about the skill and courage of the colorful frontiersman. In
February eighteen seventy two, Cody takes a lead from scouting
(22:12):
duties and, with General Sheridan's approval, makes a trip to
the East. Cody is treated as a celebrity everywhere he goes,
and the most prominent men's clubs in New York and
Philadelphia are eager to make him a member. By April
eighteen seventy two, Cody is back on the high plains
scouting for the Army. In a display of his tracking skills,
(22:36):
he leads a detachment of seven cavalrymen to the camp
of an Indian raiding party who have dozens of stolen
horses and several fresh scalps of settlers. Cody takes the
Indians by surprise and kills one before they flee, leaving
everything behind but the horses they are riding and the
weapons in their hands. Cody gives chase and the cavalry
(23:00):
men followed. During the chase, a bullet creases Cody's scalp,
but he continues his pursuit. He closes on the rearmost
Indians and kills two of them. The action earns Cody
the middle of Honor. Cody's now lured to the east again.
Net Buntline is organized in a theatrical production, The Scouts
(23:24):
of the Planes, and he convinces Cody to star in it.
For the next four years, Cody appears on stage to
play Buffalo Bill at the Pack Theaters. However, in June
eighteen seventy six, General Sheridan prevails upon Cody to return
to the fifth Cavalry for the campaign against the Sioux
and Cheyenne, who have bolted the reservation. Cody is with
(23:47):
the Fifth when the regiment receives word that Custer and
two hundred men of his command had been massacred. Cody
is shocked by the death of a man and officer
greatly respected, Cody suddenly has an opportunity for some measure
of revenge. An officer is looking through binoculars and spies
(24:09):
a courier or he's seen towards the fifth position with
seven Indians chasing him. Cody is alerted, and taking a
handful of troopers with him, he gallops into the charging Indians.
Cody takes the lead Indian for himself. The Indian is
Yellow Hair, a name other warriors have given him because
(24:30):
dangling from his belt is the blonde hair of a
settler he has scalped. Yellow Hair is no ordinary warrior,
but the son of Chief cut Nose. Yellow Hair's magnificent
war bonnet indicates he is a veteran of many battles.
Cody in Yellow Hair fire at each other almost at
(24:53):
the same time. Yellow Hair's bullet missus Cody, but Cody's
punches a hole in Yellow Hair's leg and digs into
the Indian's horse. Both rider and horse go down at
the same time. Cody's horse stumbles in a prairie dog hole.
Cody leaps to the ground and closes on Yellow Hair again.
(25:15):
Both fire at almost the same time. Yellow Hair's bullet
Missus Cody. Cody's shot drills yellow hair in the head,
killing him instantly. Cody races up to his dead foe
and scalps him. Newspapers call it the first scalp for Custard.
(25:37):
Cody is soon back on the stage and will organizes
Wild West Show within a few years. As the years
go by, people begin to think of Buffalo Bill Cody
more as a flamboyan showman and less of what he
really is, a frontiersman who began making a name for
himself at age eleven and actually did all the things
(25:58):
portrayed and drama in his shows. Theodore Roosevelt said it
best in calling Bill Cody the most renowned of those
men steel, food, and iron nerved who's daring open the
West to settlement and civilization. He embodied those traits of courage, strength,
(26:20):
and self reliant hardihood which are vital to the well
being of the nation.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And great job as always to Greg Hengler on the
production and his special thanks as always to Roger McGrath.
He's the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes Violence on
the Frontier. We bring you these stories because well they happened,
and not happened like forever ago, but up until really
the nineteenth century, in its end, life was very different,
(26:51):
and life had been very different for centuries before that,
mostly in a grarian country. We were just beginning to
become an industrial power. Election the city would occur, running water.
But these men lived in a different time and we
love bringing you their stories. And always we have historians
who never judge these men and women at a context.
(27:13):
And at eleven years old doing the work, he did
just plain crazy. The story of Buffalo Bill Cody here
on our American Story
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
and history and the American West. Well, there are two
of our favorite subjects and they collide with this story.
Buffalo Bill Cody died in nineteen seventeen, and throughout the
nineteen fifties Americans saw heroic versions of the Cody story
(00:31):
on the silver screen. So was Buffalo Bill a real
life hero or was he a fake? You're about to
find out Here to tell the story is Roger McGrath.
McGrath is the author of Gunfighters, High Women, and Vigilantes,
a US marine and former history professor at UCLA, McGrath
has appeared on numerous History Channel documentaries, and he is
(00:52):
a regular contributor for US. Here at our American Stories,
here's McGrath.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Most people today have an image only of the old,
white haired Shulmann Buffalo Bill Cody. They know little or
nothing about his early life, his life on the American
frontier that shaped him and made him legendary long before
he created Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. At age eleven,
(01:22):
Bill Cody went to work full time for a freighting
company after his father had died. Young Cody was riding
for the Pony Express by age fourteen, and at age
seventeen he listed in the US Army, serving in the
Civil War for more than two years. He then served
as a scout for the Army in the Indian Wars
(01:44):
on the High Plains. He took a leave of absence
don Buffalo to feed the construction crews of the Kansas
Pacific Railroad. His wildly successful hunts not only supplied the
crews with tongues of meat, but also earned him his nickname.
(02:05):
William F. Cody is born in eighteen forty six on
a farm near the town of Leclair in Iowa Territory.
His father, Isaac, is from Canada and his mother from
New Jersey. In eighteen fifty four, the family moves to
Kansas Territory, then known as Bleeding Kansas. For the violence
(02:27):
between anti slavery and pro slavery settlers. Isaac Goady becomes
one of the leaders of the anti slavery settlers. After
one of his fiery speeches, a pro slavery ruffian stabs
him with a bowie knife. Isaac survives, but his health
is permanently damaged, and in eighteen fifty seven After leading
(02:52):
a group of anti slavery settlers from Ohio to Kansas,
he dies with a family in dire financial streets. Bill
Cody gets a job with Russell Majors and Woodill Freighting Company.
Upon securing the job, he signs the company oath, which
states I agree not to use profane language, not to
(03:16):
get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly,
not to do anything else that is incompatible with the
conduct of a gentleman. The eleven year old boy first
serves as a messenger, riding between company headquarters at Fort
Leavenworth and various freight trains. After a couple of months,
(03:39):
Cody begins working as a wrangler, taking care of the
company's horses and other stock. He also joins a freight
train bound for Fort Carney in Nebraska Territory, a distance
of some three hundred and thirty miles one way and
a forty day round trip. Indian attacks are feared, but
none materialize. However, a buffalo stampede takes a train by surprise,
(04:03):
and Cody impresses everyone with his presence of mind and
quick actions. When the train finally returns home to Fort Leavenworth,
Cody has paid a man's wages. He takes the money
home to his mother. His five sisters think of him
as their hero. Cody's greatest adventure with the Freighting company
(04:26):
begins in the summer of eighteen fifty seven. The company
is given the contract to carry freight for the US Army,
which is sending a twenty five hundred man forced to
Utah to control Brigham Young and his colony of Mormons.
What becomes known as the Utah or Mormon War is
essentially a result of conflict between territorial Governor Brigham Young
(04:50):
and federally appointed non Mormon territorial officials. After proving his
medal on the wagon train to Fort Carney, Cody is
able to go on this much longer and more dangerous trip.
The train is led by two veterans of freighting on
the High Plains, the brothers Frank and Bill McCarthy. The
(05:12):
McCarthy's warn of possible Indian attacks. Once the train is
west of Fort Carney, near the confluence of Plum Creek
and the South Platte River, a band of Sioux warriors
sweep down on the wagon train. The teamsters drive off
the Sioux with rifle fire, but several Sioux return at
(05:33):
night to steal horses. Cody spies one, takes careful aim
and fires. The warrior tumbles down an embankment and splashes
into the river dead. The eleven year old Cody is
on a second wagon train, this one led by Lewis Simpson,
when he meets wild Bill Hitcock. Hitcock is nine years
(05:56):
older than Cody and already has a reputation as an
honery character. During a meal break, one of the other
teamsters muller's the young Cody and wax him across the face.
What do you do? Cody retaliates by throwing a pot
of hot coffee into the teamster's face. The teamster reacts instantly.
(06:17):
Cody describes what happens in his autobiography. He sprang for
me with the ferocity of a tiger, and would undoubtedly
have torn me to pieces had it not been for
the timely interference of my newfound friend, wild Bill, who
knocked the man down. As soon as you see recovered himself.
(06:37):
He demanded of wild Bill what business it was of
his that he should put in his oar. It's my
business protect that boy or anybody else for me. An
unmercifully abused, kicked and cuff and I'll whip any man
who tries it on, said wild Bill. And if you
(06:59):
ever lay a hand on that boy little of bitterly there,
I'll give you such a pounding that you won't get
over it for a month of Sundays. From that time forward,
wild Bill was my protector and intimate friend. And the
friendship thus begun continued until his death.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story
of Buffalo Bill Cody. More of the story here on
our American Stories. Here are to our American Stories. We
bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love.
Stories from a great and beautiful country that need to
(07:39):
be told. But we can't do it without you. Our
stories are free to listen to, but they're not free
to make. If you love our stories in America like
we do, please go to our American Stories dot com
and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot,
help us keep the great American stories coming. That's our
American Stories dot Com. And we continue with our American Stories.
(08:11):
We return where we left off with eleven year old
Bill Cody working on a wagon train and befriending while
Bill Hitcock let's continue with McGrath.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
This wagon train doesn't suffer any Indian attacks, but instead
it's attacked and captured by a Mormon cavalry militia led
by Lot Smith. Wagon Master Simpson agrees to surrender only
if the teamsters are left with their guns so they
won't be defenseless against Indians, and with one wagon of
(08:44):
supplies so they won't starve. Militia Commander Smith agrees, he
has his men loot the wagons of all food and
ammunition they can carry on horseback, and then sets the
wagons ablaze. Godi and the others are now forced to
hike their way sixty miles to Fort Bridger, where they
(09:04):
spend the winter. Cody turns twelve in February eighteen fifty eight,
while still at the fort. In the spring, they hike
nearly one thousand miles back to Fort Leavenworth, arriving in July.
Gody spends the rest of the summer at Fort Laramate.
Kit Carson and Jim Bridger are there, also, both legendary
(09:26):
mountain men and scouts. They regale Cody with tales of
their mountain man days and school him in frontier skills.
They also teach them the Indian sign language of the Plains.
Cody also learns enough of the Sioux language to converse
with Sioux at the fort. Late in the winter of
(09:46):
eighteen fifty nine, Cody begins a return trip with a
Lewis Simpson led wagon train from Fort Laramie Fort Leavenworth.
There are three groups of wagons, each group about a
day apart, with Simpson in the third group. Simpson wants
to contact the second group, and he, his assistant wagon master,
(10:08):
George Wood, and Bill Cody ride ahead on mules. They
cover about seven miles aground before spying a band of
more than three dozen Sioux warriors come in their way.
Since the teamsters are without cover and their mules cannot
possibly outrun the Sioux horses, Gody reckons his time has come.
(10:30):
He's thirteen years old, but Simpson orders a dismount, arranges
the mules in a triangle, and then shoots them to death.
Using the dead mules as cover, the three teamsters rest
their rifles on the backs of the animals, take careful aim,
and begin firing at the on rushing Sioux. The whites
(10:52):
are all crack shots and three sewer knocked off their
horses and hit the ground dead. The other warriors break
off their charms and retreat to a safe distance. Wood
is wounded in the shoulder, but he's not out of action.
Simpson and Cody are unscathed. The Indians now set fire
to the prairie grass, hoping to burn out the teamsters,
(11:14):
but the grass is too short to cause a real conflagration.
Failing with fire, the Indians charge again. The Teamsters let
their rifles roar, causing the second charge to collapse. The
Indians regroup prepare for another charge, probably thinking the teamsters
(11:37):
must now be out of ambnition, or nearly so. Simpson,
Wood and Cody are down to one round each, and
there are still three dozen sous intent on taking their scalps.
As Cody later says, unless help came, it was only
a question of time till it was all over. Help
(12:00):
does come. The third wagon train catches up with the
three beleaguer teamsters from a safe distance. The Indians fire
a last volley of arrows and bullets and ride for
the horizon. In eighteen fifty nine, Russell, Majors and Waddell
begin thinking of launching a horseback express service from Missouri
(12:22):
to the West Coast. Early in eighteen sixty, they begin
gathering riders and horses and building stations along a nineteen
hundred mile route from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.
It's going to be both financially risky and risky for
the riders. The company's newspaper ad reads wanted. Young, skinny,
(12:46):
wiry fellows not over eighteen must be expert riders willing
to risk death daily orphans preferred wages twenty five dollars
a week. At the age of fourteen, Bill Cody becomes
a Pony Express rider. His own station is in Wyoming,
(13:08):
and he has one of the most dangerous stretches of
the entire nineteen hundred mile route. Riders usually go no
more than one hundred miles, changing horses at stations about
fifteen miles apart. On one of his runs, Cody takes
off westbound with a mail pouch from the Red Butte's station,
(13:29):
changing horses at half a dozen stations along the way.
Gody reaches the station at three crossings, where he is
supposed to hand off the pouch to a fresh rider.
The rider, though, has been killed. Gody grabs a fresh
horse and pushes on several stations down the line to
the Rocky Ridge station and hands off the pouch to
(13:51):
another rider. Cody has ridden NonStop one hundred and sixty
one miles. Cody has no time to rest because an
eastbound rider arrives at Rocky Ridge at the end of
his stretch. Cody takes a mail pouch and gallops off.
He changes horses nine times before arriving at Red Buttes.
(14:13):
He's in the saddle for three hundred and twenty two miles.
Only two riders in Pony Express history ever ride farther.
The Pony Express is perhaps the most colorful experiment in
the history of mail service the world has ever seen,
but its days are numbered. Telegraph lions reach the West
(14:36):
coast by October eighteen sixty one, and the Pony Express
is out of business. Bill Cody is out of a job.
A Civil war is erupted, and the fifteen year old
immediately thinks of enlisting in the Union Army. His mother
is suffering with tuberculosis, though, and he returns to the
(14:58):
family farm to help the family. He does join a
volunteer regiment the ninth Kansas Cavalry for temporary service as
a scout. He spends part of the spring in summer
in eighteen sixty two patrolling the San Fe Trail and
fighting Kiawa and Comanche who are attacking wagon trains and
pioneer homesteads. Cody's mother dies of TB late November eighteen
(15:23):
sixty three. Cody's devastated by the loss. His mother had
been the rock of the family ever since the father
died six years earlier. For two months, Cody tries to
drown his sorrow and whiskey, and admits to probably being
drunk when he and some of his drinking companions joined
the seventh Kansas Cavalry. He's one week shy of his
(15:46):
eighteenth birthday. By June eighteen sixty four, the seventh Kansas
is in Tennessee fighting Confederates. In July, the seventh is
in Mississippi and fighting the Battle Tupelo against the greatest
of the Confederate cavalry, generals, Nathan Bedford Forest. Cody is
(16:07):
serving as a scout. The seventh Kansas pursues the Confederates
through Missouri and into Arkansas, with Gody scouting well in
advance of the regiment. During the pursuit of the Confederates,
Gody encounters his old friend from his freight wagon days,
while Bill Hitcock, also serving as a scout. As Cody
(16:29):
tells it, they are both dressed as Confederates to ease
their scouting in the staunchly pro southern portion of Missouri
they are now in. When Gody stops at a farmhouse
for something to eat, he finds Hitcock in the kitchen
with a plate of bread and a glass of milk.
In September eighteen sixty five, Bill Cody is mustered out
(16:52):
of service. He then serves briefly as a civilian scout
for General Sherman, who is inspecting his new command in
the West. Cody then becomes a stagecoach driver on a
route that runs from Nebraska through Wyoming whatever we can.
He visits Saint Louis to see a girl he met
during the Civil War. She is Louisa Federici, from an
(17:15):
old and prominent French family. They are married in March
eighteen sixty six.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story
of Buffalo Bill Cody, And he does these stories for
us and does such a beautiful job talking about the
American West, the frontiersman, and giving a full historical picture
of what it was like to be there. Then it's
so hard to judge these men out of their times,
and refuse to do that here on our American Stories.
(17:43):
People lived when they lived, and we want to walk
in their shoes, or take you back into their shoes
when we come back, more of this remarkable story here
on our American Stories, and we return to our American stories.
(18:11):
When we left off, Bill Cody had just married a
young and prominent French woman from Saint Louis in March
of eighteen sixty six. Let's return to Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
The marriage will soon have problems. She's a city girl,
accustomed to luxuries and refined social life. He's a frontiersman
most comfortable in wide open spaces. They will have four children,
two of whom die when young Cody decites its best.
If he serves as a civilian scout for the army
(18:45):
in campaigns on the high plains, he will be gone
for months at a time, but then home for several months.
One of the commanders he scouts for is Lieutenant Colonel
George Custer. Custer is highly pleased with Cody scouting, and
Cody admires and respects Custer as a man and as
an officer. Meanwhile, the Kansas Pacific Railroad is building across
(19:10):
western Kansas, and it needs a local source of food
for its construction crews. Famous for his marksmanship, Bill Cody
is hired to hunt buffalo at the princely sum of
five hundred dollars a month equivalent to fifty thousand dollars today.
Gody will have to hire helpers to butcher the buffalo
(19:34):
and drive wagons, but he will still reap enormous profits.
The bay is high because of Gody's reputation and also
because the work is highly dangerous. Bands of Indian warriors
are everywhere on the plains of western Kansas, and a
buffalo hunter with that helper or two have a good
chance of dying. From eighteen sixty seven to eighteen sixty eight,
(20:00):
Cody kills more than four thousand buffalo and the construction
crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad are well fed. Cody
not only makes big bucks, but he also earns the
nickname that will be his for life. The railroad workers
sing a jingle Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill never missed and
(20:21):
never will, always aims and shoots to kill, and the
company pays his Buffalo Bill. By August eighteen sixty eight,
Bill Cody is back serving as a scout for the Army,
and much of the time he's working with his old
pow Hitcock. Now it's Buffalo Bill and wild Bill scouting
(20:42):
together in the high Plains. It's good they are because
several bands of Kiowa, Comanche, Arapo, and Cheyenne are on
the war path wreaking havoc across the southern plains. Bill
Cody is twenty two years old. Cody service during the
next two years scouting, geering, dew Indian fighting, and hunting
(21:04):
add more to his legend. Edward Judson, who writes under
the name Ned Buntline, knows a good story when he
sees one. In his travels to the West, he spends
time with the Army and with Cody. Late in December
eighteen sixty nine, he starts writing a serial for the
New York Weekly titled Buffalo Bill, King of a Borderman,
(21:26):
part fact based on the actual exploits of Bill Cody
and part fiction. The Weekly stories in thrall not only
New Yorkers, but readers of dozens of other newspapers which
carry the serial Buffalo Bill. Cody becomes a household name,
and Cody becomes a national hero. Despite his fame, Cody
(21:47):
continues to scout for the army and is cited for
conspicuous and gallant conduct. He also leads hunting expeditions for
wealthy Easterners and European noblemen. They all write glorying reports
about the skill and courage of the colorful frontiersman. In
February eighteen seventy two, Cody takes a lead from scouting
(22:12):
duties and, with General Sheridan's approval, makes a trip to
the East. Cody is treated as a celebrity everywhere he goes,
and the most prominent men's clubs in New York and
Philadelphia are eager to make him a member. By April
eighteen seventy two, Cody is back on the high plains
scouting for the Army. In a display of his tracking skills,
(22:36):
he leads a detachment of seven cavalrymen to the camp
of an Indian raiding party who have dozens of stolen
horses and several fresh scalps of settlers. Cody takes the
Indians by surprise and kills one before they flee, leaving
everything behind but the horses they are riding and the
weapons in their hands. Cody gives chase and the cavalry
(23:00):
men followed. During the chase, a bullet creases Cody's scalp,
but he continues his pursuit. He closes on the rearmost
Indians and kills two of them. The action earns Cody
the middle of Honor. Cody's now lured to the east again.
Net Buntline is organized in a theatrical production, The Scouts
(23:24):
of the Planes, and he convinces Cody to star in it.
For the next four years, Cody appears on stage to
play Buffalo Bill at the Pack Theaters. However, in June
eighteen seventy six, General Sheridan prevails upon Cody to return
to the fifth Cavalry for the campaign against the Sioux
and Cheyenne, who have bolted the reservation. Cody is with
(23:47):
the Fifth when the regiment receives word that Custer and
two hundred men of his command had been massacred. Cody
is shocked by the death of a man and officer
greatly respected, Cody suddenly has an opportunity for some measure
of revenge. An officer is looking through binoculars and spies
(24:09):
a courier or he's seen towards the fifth position with
seven Indians chasing him. Cody is alerted, and taking a
handful of troopers with him, he gallops into the charging Indians.
Cody takes the lead Indian for himself. The Indian is
Yellow Hair, a name other warriors have given him because
(24:30):
dangling from his belt is the blonde hair of a
settler he has scalped. Yellow Hair is no ordinary warrior,
but the son of Chief cut Nose. Yellow Hair's magnificent
war bonnet indicates he is a veteran of many battles.
Cody in Yellow Hair fire at each other almost at
(24:53):
the same time. Yellow Hair's bullet missus Cody, but Cody's
punches a hole in Yellow Hair's leg and digs into
the Indian's horse. Both rider and horse go down at
the same time. Cody's horse stumbles in a prairie dog hole.
Cody leaps to the ground and closes on Yellow Hair again.
(25:15):
Both fire at almost the same time. Yellow Hair's bullet
Missus Cody. Cody's shot drills yellow hair in the head,
killing him instantly. Cody races up to his dead foe
and scalps him. Newspapers call it the first scalp for Custard.
(25:37):
Cody is soon back on the stage and will organizes
Wild West Show within a few years. As the years
go by, people begin to think of Buffalo Bill Cody
more as a flamboyan showman and less of what he
really is, a frontiersman who began making a name for
himself at age eleven and actually did all the things
(25:58):
portrayed and drama in his shows. Theodore Roosevelt said it
best in calling Bill Cody the most renowned of those
men steel, food, and iron nerved who's daring open the
West to settlement and civilization. He embodied those traits of courage, strength,
(26:20):
and self reliant hardihood which are vital to the well
being of the nation.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And great job as always to Greg Hengler on the
production and his special thanks as always to Roger McGrath.
He's the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes Violence on
the Frontier. We bring you these stories because well they happened,
and not happened like forever ago, but up until really
the nineteenth century, in its end, life was very different,
(26:51):
and life had been very different for centuries before that,
mostly in a grarian country. We were just beginning to
become an industrial power. Election the city would occur, running water.
But these men lived in a different time and we
love bringing you their stories. And always we have historians
who never judge these men and women at a context.
(27:13):
And at eleven years old doing the work, he did
just plain crazy. The story of Buffalo Bill Cody here
on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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