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James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. His nickname of Wild Bill has inspired similar nicknames for men known for their daring in various fields.
Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach driver, then became a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, and professional gambler. Between his law-enforcement duties and gambling, which easily overlapped, Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts, and was ultimately killed while playing poker in a Dakota Territory saloon.
Early life
Hickok was born in Homer, Illinois (now Troy Grove, not to be confused with the present-day village of Homer in Champaign County) on May 27, 1837. While he was growing up, his father's farm was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad, and he learned his shooting skills protecting the farm with his father from slave catchers. Hickok was a good shooter from a very young age and recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol .[1]
In 1855, at the age of 18, Hickok moved to Kansas Territory following a fight with Charles Hudson, which resulted in both falling into a canal. Mistakenly thinking he had killed Hudson, Hickok fled and joined General Jim Lane's vigilante "Free State Army" (The Red Legs) where he met 12-year-old William Cody, later known as "Buffalo Bill," who at that time was a scout for Johnston's Army.[2]
Because of his "sweeping nose and protruding upper lip," Hickok was nicknamed "Duck Bill."[3] In 1861, after growing a mustache following the McCanles incident, he began calling himself Wild Bill.[4] Despite all Hickok photographs indicating he had dark hair, all contemporary descriptions confirm he was in fact golden blonde. Reddish shades of hair appeared black in early photographic processes, which were sensitive primarily to blue light.[5]
For unknown reasons, Hickok used the name William Hickok from 1858 and then William Haycock during the Civil War. Arrested as Haycock in 1865, he then resumed his real name of James Hickok. Most newspapers continued to use the name William Haycock when referring to "Wild Bill" until 1869 despite military records after 1865 using his correct name while acknowledging he was also known as Haycock.[6][7]
Constable
In 1857, Hickok claimed a 160-acre (65 ha) tract in Johnson County, Kansas (in what is now Lenexa).[8] On March 22, 1858, he was elected as one of the first four constables of Monticello Township, Kansas.
 In 1859 he joined the Russell, Waddell, and Majors freight company, the foundation company of the Pony Express. The following year he was badly injured by a bear and sent to the Rock Creek Station in Nebraska (which the company had recently purchased from David McCanles) to work as a stable hand while he recovered.
 In 1861 he was involved in a deadly shootout with the "McCanles Gang" at the Rock Creek Station after 40-year-old David McCanles, his 12-year-old son (William) Monroe McCanles, and two farmhands, James Woods and James Gordon, called at the station's office to demand payment of an overdue second installment on the property, an event that is still the subject of much debate.
 David McCanles was threatening the station manager Horace Wellman when, depending on the source, he was apparently shot either by Wellman or the then 24-year-old Hickok who was hiding behind a curtain.
 Hickok, Wellman, his wife, and an employee, J.W. Brink, were tried for murder but judged to have acted in self-defense.[2] According to Joseph G. Rosa, a Hickok biographer, the shot that felled the elder McCanles came from inside the house, a tale Wild Bill's friends invented to keep the "heat" of both the law and McCanles' extended family off Wild Bill (extended generational member).
 It remains unknown who actually fired it. Rosa conjectures that Wellman had far more motive to kill McCanles, a belief supported by McCanles's son's own account.
 There were also women in the house, conceivably armed with shotguns. McCanles was the first man Hickok was reputed to have killed in a fight. On several later occasions, Hickok confronted and killed several men while fighting alone.[9]
 Civil War and scouting
When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Hickok signed on as a teamster for the Union Army in Sedalia, Missouri, and by the end of the year he was a wagonmaster.
In September 1862 he was discharged for an undisclosed reason and there are no records of his whereabouts until late 1863, when he was employed by the Provost Marshal of South-West Missouri as a member of the Springfield, MO detective police. It has been speculated that during the "missing year", Hickok may have been operating as a spy in Southern territory.
Hickok's duties as a police detective were mostly mundane and included counting the number of troops in uniform drinking while on duty, checking hotel liquor licenses and tracking down individuals in debt to the Union to facilitate repayment.
In 1864 Hickok and the other detectives had not been paid for some time, and Hickok either resigned or was reassigned as he was hired as a scout by General John B. Sanborn at five dollars a day plus a horse and equipment. In June 1865, Hickok was mustered out and spent his time in and around Springfield gambling.[10]
 Lawman and gunfighter notoriety
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Hickok 1869. Because a knife would not have been worn unsheathed, it is likely a photographer's prop. Although buckskins are often seen in movies depicting earlier periods, Hickok was one of the first to wear them.
Hickok 1869. Because a knife would not have been worn unsheathed, it is likely a photographer's prop. Although buckskins are often seen in movies depicting earlier periods, Hickok was one of the first to wear them.
On July 21, 1865, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri, Hickok killed Davis Tutt, Jr. in a "quick draw" duel. Fiction later typified this kind of gunfight, but Hickok's is in fact the first one on record that fits the portrayal.[11]
Hickok first met former Confederate Army soldier Davis Tutt in early 1865, while both were gambling in Springfield. Hickok often borrowed money from Tutt.
They were originally good friends,[12] but they eventually fell out over a woman, and it was rumored that Hickok once had an affair with Tutt's sister, perhaps fathering a child.
This was likely exacerbated by the fact that there was a long-standing dispute over Hickok's girlfriend, Susannah Moore. Hickok refused to play cards with Tutt, who retaliated by financing other players in an attempt to bankrupt him.[2]
According to the accepted account, the dispute came to a head when Tutt was coaching an opponent of Hickok's during a card game. Hickok was on a winning streak and Tutt, frustrated, requested that he repay a $40 loan, which Hickok did.
Tutt then demanded another $35 owed from a previous card game. Hickok refused, as he had "a memorandum" proving it to be for $25. Tutt then took Hickok's watch, which was lying on the table, as collateral for the $35, at which point Hickok warned him not to wear it or he, Hickok, would shoot him.
 The next day, Tutt appeared in the square wearing the watch prominently, and Hickok tried to negotiate the watch's return. Tutt stated that he would now accept no less than $45, but both agreed that they would not fight over it and went for a drink together.
Tutt left the saloon but returned to the square at 6 p.m., while Hickok arrived on the other side and warned him not to approach him while wearing the watch.
 Both men faced each other sideways in the dueling position and both fired almost simultaneously. Tutt's shot missed, but Hickok's didn't, piercing Tutt through the side from about 75 yards away. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed" and ran onto the porch of the local courthouse and then back to the street, where he collapsed and died.[13]
Hickok was arrested for murder two days later; however, the charge was later reduced to manslaughter. He was released on $2,000 bail and stood trial on August 3, 1865.
 At the end of the trial, Judge Sempronius Boyd gave the jury two contradictory instructions. He first instructed the jury that a conviction was its only option under the law.[14] He then instructed them that they could apply the unwritten law of the "fair fight" and acquit.[15] The jury voted for acquittal, a verdict that was not popular at the time.[16]
Several weeks later, Hickok was interviewed by Colonel George Ward Nichols, and the interview was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
 Using the name "Wild Bill Hitchcock" (sic), the article recounted the hundreds of men whom Hickok supposedly personally killed and other exaggerated exploits.
The article was controversial wherever Hickok was known, and it led to several frontier newspapers' writing rebuttals. As can be seen in this account, not counting Indians, Hickok killed five men (one by accident), was an accessory in the deaths of three more, and wounded one.
 Hickok was reported to be an inveterate hater of Indians, but it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Witnesses confirm that while scouting from Fort Harker Kansas on May 11, 1867, Hickok was attacked by a large group of Indians, who fled after Hickok shot and killed two.
 In July, Hickok told a newspaper reporter he had led several soldiers in pursuit of Indians who had killed four men near the fort on 2 July. He reported returning with five prisoners after killing ten. Witnesses confirm the story was true in part: The party did set out to find those who had killed the four men, but the group returned to the fort without nary a dead Indian, neither even seeing a live one.[17]
In September 1865, Hickok came in second in the election for City Marshal of Springfield. Leaving Springfield, he was recommended for the position of Deputy United States Marshal at Fort Riley Kansas. This was at the time of the Indian Wars that counted the Great Plains as a battleground, and Hickok sometimes served as a scout for George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry.[2]
In 1867, Hickok took a break from the west and moved to Niagara Falls, where he tried his hand at acting in a stage play called "The Daring Buffalo Chases of the Plains."[18]
 He proved to be a terrible actor and returned to the West, where he ran for sheriff in Ellsworth County, Kansas, on November 5, 1867, but was defeated by former soldier E.W. Kingsbury.
In December 1867, newspapers reported Hickok's arrival in Hays, Kansas. On 28 March 1868, he was again in Hays as a deputy U.S. Marshall, picking up 11 Union deserters charged with stealing government property to be transferred to Topeka for trial.
 He requested a military escort from Fort Hays and was assigned William F. Cody, a sergeant and five privates, with the group arriving in Topeka on 2 April.
 Hickok was still in Hays in August 1868 when he brought 200 Cheyenne to Hays to be viewed by excursionists. On September 1, Hickok was in Elkhorn township in Lincoln County, Kansas, where he was hired as a scout by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a segregated African-American unit.
On 4 September, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek Basin who were surrounded by Indians. The 10th arrived at Fort Lyon, Colorado, in October and remained for the rest of 1868.[19]
In July 1869, Hickok was back in Hays and was elected sheriff and city marshal of Ellis County, Kansas, in a special election, on August 23, 1869.[20] The county was having particular difficulty holding sheriffs—three had quit over the previous 18 months.
It is likely that Hickok was already acting sheriff when elected as a newspaper reported him arresting offenders on 18 August and the commander of Fort Hays praised Hickok for his work in apprehending deserters in a letter he wrote to the Assistant Adjutant General on 21 August.
 However, the "special election" may not have been legal, as a letter dated 17 September to the Governor of Kansas noted that Hickok had presented a warrant for an arrest which was rejected by the Fort Hays commander because when asked to produce his commission Hickok admitted he never had one.
 Ellis county elections were held on 2 November 1869, and Hickok (Independent) lost to his deputy Peter Lanihan (Democrat). Hickok and Lanihan remained, respectively, sheriff and deputy as Hickok accused J.V. Macintosh of irregularities and misconduct during the election. On 9 December, Hickok and Lanihan both served legal papers on Macintosh and local newspapers acknowledged that Hickok had guardianship of Hays City.[21]
In his first month as sheriff in Hays, he killed two men in gunfights. The first, on 24Â was Bill Mulvey, who "got the drop" on Hickok. Hickok looked past him and yelled, "'Don't shoot him in the back; he is drunk," which was enough distraction to allow him to win the fight.[22][2]
 The second was cowboy Samuel Strawhun after Hickok and Deputy Sheriff Lanihan had been called to a saloon where Strawhun was causing a disturbance at 1am on 27 September.[23]
 After Strawhun made remarks against Hickok, Strawhun died instantly from a bullet through the head as Hickok tried to restore order. At Strawhuns inquest, despite "very contradictory" evidence from witnesses, the jury found the shooting justifiable.[24]
On July 17, 1870, also in Hays, he was involved in a gunfight with disorderly soldiers of the 7th U.S. Cavalry. Two troopers, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kile (Kyle), set upon Hickok in a saloon.
 Lonergan pinned Hickok to the ground while Kile put his gun to Hickok's ear; however, it misfired, allowing Hickok to reach his own guns.
Lonergan was shot in the knee while Kile, who was shot twice, died the next day.[25][26] He later failed to win reelection.
On April 15, 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas, taking over for former marshal Tom "Bear River" Smith, who had been killed on November 2, 1870.[27]
 The outlaw John Wesley Hardin was in Abilene in 1871, and was befriended by Hickok. In his 1895 autobiography (published after his own death and 19 years after Hickok's), Hardin claimed to have disarmed Hickok using the famous road agent's spin during a failed attempt to arrest him for wearing his pistols in a saloon.
 He further claimed that Hickok, as a result, had two guns cocked and pointed at him. This story is considered to be apocryphal or at the very least an exaggeration, as Hardin claimed this at a time when Hickok couldn't defend himself.
Hardin was an extremely accomplished gunfighter and was known to have killed over 40 men in his lifetime; he in turn idealized Hickok and identified with Wild Bill.[2][28] It is also recorded that when Hardin's cousin Mannen Clements was jailed for the killing of two cowboys, Hickok, at Hardin's request, arranged for his escape.[29]
While working in Abilene, Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner, had an ongoing dispute that later resulted in a shootout.
Coe had been the business partner of known gunman Ben Thompson, with whom he co-owned the Bulls Head Saloon. On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl, during which time Coe fired two shots.
 Hickok ordered him to be arrested for firing a pistol within the city limits. Coe explained that he was shooting at a stray dog[30] but suddenly turned his gun on Hickok, who fired first and killed Coe.
Hickok caught the glimpse of movement of someone running toward him and quickly fired two shots in reaction, accidentally shooting and killing Abilene Special Deputy Marshal Mike Williams,[31] who was coming to his aid, an event that haunted Hickok for the remainder of his life.[32]
 There is another account of the Coe shootout. Theophilus Little, mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumberyard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook that was recently given to the Abilene Historical Society. Writing in 1911, he detailed his admiration of Hickok and included a paragraph on the shooting that differs considerably from the accepted account.[33]
"-"Phil" Coe was from Texas, ran the "Bull’s Head" a saloon and gambling den, sold whiskey and men’s souls. A vile a character as I ever met for some cause Wild Bill incurred Coe’s hatred and he vowed to secure the death of the Marshall. Not having the courage to do it himself, he one day filled about 200 cowboys with whiskey intending to get them into trouble with Wild Bill, hoping that they would get to shooting and in the melee shoot the marshal. But Coe "reckoned without his host." Wild Bill had learned of the scheme and cornered Coe, had his two pistols drawn on Coe. Just as he pulled the trigger one of the policemen rushed around the corner between Coe and the pistols and both balls entered his body, killing him instantly. in an instant, he pulled the triggers again sending two bullets into Coe's abdomen (Coe lived a day or two) and whirling with his two guns drawn on the drunken crowd of cowboys, "and now do any of you fellows want the rest of these bullets." Not a word was uttered."
Coe supposedly stated that he could "kill a crow on the wing," and Hickok's retort is one of the West's most famous sayings (though possibly apocryphal): "Did the crow have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be."
Hickok was relieved of his duties as marshal less than two months after having accidentally killed deputy Mike Williams, allegedly owing to this incident's being only one of a series of questionable shootings and claims of misconduct.[1]
Hickok's favorite guns were a pair of cap-and-ball Colt 1851 .36 Navy Model pistols, which he wore until his death.
These were silver-plated with ivory handles, and were engraved: "J.B. Hickock-1869". He wore his revolvers backwards in a belt or sash (when donning city clothes or buckskins, respectively), and seldom used holsters per se; he drew the pistols using a "reverse", "twist" or Cavalry draw, as would a cavalryman.[2]
(To Be Continued)
(Hope he managed to shoot some of the slave catchers [in a very sensitive area of their anatomy's] )
