The FReeper Foxhole Profiles William "Buffalo Bill" Cody - Aug. 2nd, 2004

www.pbs.org ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

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William F. Cody
(1846-1917)

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In a life that was part legend and part fabrication, William F. Cody came to embody the spirit of the West for millions, transmuting his own experience into a national myth of frontier life that still endures today.

Born in Scott County, Iowa, in 1846, Cody grew up on the prairie. When his father died in 1857, his mother moved to Kansas, where Cody worked for a wagon-freight company as a mounted messenger and wrangler. In 1859, he tried his luck as a prospector in the Pikes Peak gold rush, and the next year, joined the Pony Express, which had advertised for "skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily." Already a seasoned plainsman at age 14, Cody fit the bill.


William F. Cody, age 11. Tintype, c. 1857. William F. Cody Collection.

During the Civil War, Cody served first as a Union scout in campaigns against the Kiowa and Comanche, then in 1863 he enlisted with the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, which saw action in Missouri and Tennessee. After the war, he married Louisa Frederici in St. Louis and continued to work for the Army as a scout and dispatch carrier, operating out of Fort Ellsworth, Kansas.

Finally, in 1867, Cody took up the trade that gave him his nickname, hunting buffalo to feed the construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. By his own count, he killed 4,280 head of buffalo in seventeen months. He is supposed to have won the name "Buffalo Bill" in an eight-hour shooting match with a hunter named William Comstock, presumably to determine which of the two Buffalo Bill’s deserved the title.


William F. Cody, 1865, age 19

Beginning in 1868, Cody returned to his work for the Army. He was chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry and took part in 16 battles, including the Cheyenne defeat at Summit Springs, Colorado, in 1869. For his service over these years, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872, although this award was revoked in 1916 on the grounds that Cody was not a regular member of the armed forces at the time. (The award was restored posthumously in 1989).

All the while Cody was earning a reputation for skill and bravery in real life, he was also becoming a national folk hero, thanks to the exploits of his alter ego, "Buffalo Bill," in the dime novels of Ned Buntline (pen name of the writer E. Z. C. Judson). Beginning in 1869, Buntline created a Buffalo Bill who ranked with Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone and Kit Carson in the popular imagination, and who was, like them, a mixture of incredible fact and romantic fiction.


An extremely early portrait of Buffalo Bill Cody (left) and Louis Richard.

In 1872 Buntline persuaded Cody to assume this role on stage by starring in his play, The Scouts of the Plains, and though Cody was never a polished actor, he proved a natural showman, winning enthusiastic applause for his good-humored self-portrayal. Despite a falling out with Buntline, Cody remained an actor for eleven seasons, and became an author as well, producing the first edition of his autobiography in 1879 and publishing a number of his own Buffalo Bill dime novels. Eventually, there would be some 1,700 of these frontier tales, the majority written by Prentiss Ingraham.

But not even show business success could keep Cody from returning to the West. Between theater seasons, he regularly escorted rich Easterners and European nobility on Western hunting expeditions, and in 1876 he was called back to service as an army scout in the campaign that followed Custer’s defeat at the Little Bighorn.



On this occasion, Cody added a new chapter to his legend in a "duel" with the Cheyenne chief Yellow Hair, whom he supposedly first shot with a rifle, then stabbed in the heart and finally scalped "in about five seconds," according to his own account. Others described the encounter as hand-to-hand combat, and misreported the chief’s name as Yellow Hand. Still others said that Cody merely lifted the chief’s scalp after he had died in battle. Whatever actually occurred, Cody characteristically had the event embroidered into a melodrama--Buffalo Bill's First Scalp for Custer--for the fall theater season.

Cody’s own theatrical genius revealed itself in 1883, when he organized Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, an outdoor extravaganza that dramatized some of the most picturesque elements of frontier life: a buffalo hunt with real buffalos, an Indian attack on the Deadwood stage with real Indians, a Pony Express ride, and at the climax, a tableau presentation of Custer’s Last Stand in which some Lakota who had actually fought in the battle played a part. Half circus and half history lesson, mixing sentimentality with sensationalism, the show proved an enormous success, touring the country for three decades and playing to enthusiastic crowds across Europe.



In later years Buffalo Bill’s Wild West would star the sharpshooter Annie Oakley, the first "King of the Cowboys," Buck Taylor, and for one season, "the slayer of General Custer," Chief Sitting Bull. Cody even added an international flavor by assembling a "Congress of Rough Riders of the World" that included cossacks, lancers and other Old World cavalrymen along with the vaqueros, cowboys and Indians of the American West.

Though he was by this time almost wholly absorbed in his celebrity existence as Buffalo Bill, Cody still had a real-life reputation in the West, and in 1890 he was called back by the army once more during the Indian uprisings associated with the Ghost Dance. He came with some Indians from his troupe who proved effective peacemakers, and even traveled to Wounded Knee after the massacre to help restore order.


"Buffalo Bill" Cody and the Prince of Monacco presented Plenty Coups a rifle in a 1913 ceremony in Cody, Wyoming.

Cody made a fortune from his show business success and lost it to mismanagement and a weakness for dubious investment schemes. In the end, even the Wild West show itself was lost to creditors. Cody died on January 10, 1917, and is buried in a tomb blasted from solid rock at the summit of Lookout Mountain near Denver, Colorado.

[MeekOneGOP]

Mornin' ! :^D

[snippy_about_it]

Perhaps one of the more contentious awardings of the Medal of Honor involved the case of the Civil War civilian contract surgeon, Mary Edwards Walker. She was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Andrew Johnson on November 11, 1865 for "services rendered during the war." An extremely flamboyant and controversial character, it has been argued that the award was made to placate her for being terminated by the Army. As with certain other medal recipients of her day, no specific act of heroism was cited for receiving it. Under the review panel's considerations, Dr. Walker's award was stricken because she was not a member of the armed forces and because her services did not involve "actual conflict with an enemy, by gallantry or intrepidity, at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty."

At the behest of distant relatives, Members of Congress and President Carter contacted the Department of Defense on the matter. The Army Board for Corrections of Military Records ruled (with one dissent) that the decision to rescind the award was "unjust." Although the Board noted that if it had not been for her sex, she would have been given a commission and her actions would have been those of a soldier, no specific act of gallantry or heroism was noted. In 1977, her medal was restored. The restoration of the medal remains highly contentious among both proponents and opponents of this action.

On September 12, 1980, President Carter awarded Anthony Casamento, a Marine Corps veteran of combat against the Japanese on Guadalcanal during World War II, the Medal of Honor. Lacking sufficient witnesses to attest to certain deeds, military officials argued that Casamento should be awarded only the Navy Cross. The President overruled the Pentagon (including the Secretary of Defense) and awarded the Medal of Honor. Critics contend President Carter's action were timed for political effect as the President awarded the medal just prior to an election-year appearance before the National Italian-American Foundation.

Following the example of the reinstatement of the Award to Dr. Walker, relatives of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody sought reinstatement of his medal, in part on the grounds that since Dr. Walker's was reinstated, there existed a precedent for awarding the medal to civilians who served with the military. Cody was originally awarded the Medal of Honor on 22 May 1872 for his gallantry while serving as an Army Scout on 26 April 1872 at the Platte River, Nebraska. At the request of a U.S. Senator serving as the counsel for a relative, the Board for Correction of Military Records recommended reinstatement of "Buffalo Bill" Cody's medal citing in part the award of Dr. Walker. In June, 1989, the U.S. Army Board of Correction of Military Records restored the award and on July 8, 1989, two Senators announced the restoration of Cody's medal. [Four others also had their Medals reinstated by the Board in June of 1989: Amos Chapman (Scout), William Dixon (Scout), James B. Doshier (Post Guide), and William H. Woodall (Scout).]

For a whole lot more

[w_over_w]

WOW! What can I say . . . except . . . Snip, you are a "research" rockstar! I actually did check the Medalofhonor.com site, but only under William Cody (verbatim for today's thread).

Thank you, your efforts added a lot to both the CMH and Cody's history.

Sam, on behalf of ALL the Foxhole members, I would like to reccommend that Ms. Snip be given a healthy raise. WE await your answer.

[Professional Engineer]

1923 Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of Warren G. Harding.

DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT
At around midnight, a messenger brought a telegram to the Coolidge homestead saying President Harding had died. John Coolidge woke his son to tell him the sad news. Before he and Grace went downstairs, they knelt and prayed. Coolidge said he asked God to bless the American people and to give him the power to serve them. The Coolidges sent a telegram to Mrs. Harding expressing their condolences. Congressman Porter Dale, who was among those starting to arrive, expressed concern that the country was without a President. Coolidge asked his father if he was still a notary and when he said he was, asked him to administer the oath. Prior to doing so, in respect for this duty, John Coolidge went off and shaved.

The swearing in took place in the sitting room of the Coolidge home, the same room in which both his sister and stepmother had died, and adjoining the room in which his mother had died. At 2:47 AM by the light of an oil lamp on the center table on which lay a Bible, Coolidge and his father faced one another, in the presence of Mrs. Coolidge and several others, as John Coolidge administered the presidential oath to his son, making him the 30th President of the United States. (Coolidge did not place his hand on the Bible while being sworn in. It was not customary in Vermont or New Hampshire at the time to do so.) As one of the President's most famous biographers Claude Fuess said later, "Democracy has never had a finer triumph when great power was conferred under such plain surroundings."

Part of the statement Coolidge gave to the press on this occasion said: "Reports have reached me which I fear are correct, that President Harding is gone. The world has lost a great and good man. I mourn his loss. He was my Chief and my friend. It will be my purpose to carry out his policies, which he has begun for the service of the American people... I have faith that God will direct the destinies of our nation." Coolidge's father was asked later how he knew he could administer the presidential oath to his son. He said "I didn't know that I couldn't."

Aurora Pierce, the family housekeeper, slept upstairs during the swearing in. Coolidge had been asked whether she should be awakened, but he said to let her sleep, probably knowing she would have much to do in the morning, including cooking breakfast for extra guests. Her faithful care of the homestead for many years after, eschewing modern conveniences and change, helped to make the historic property highly representative of how it looked at the time the Coolidge family resided there. She died in 1956.

Coolidge was asked later if he thought he was up to the task of serving as President. He said "I think I can swing it." He said later "When a duty comes to us, with it a power comes to enable us to perform it", as other presidents who faced extraordinary challenges discovered. Prior to leaving to go to Washington, the Coolidges stopped to visit the grave of his family and his mother. He said it had been a comfort to be near her last resting place, even in the dead of night. "Some way, that morning, she seemed very near to me."

www.calvincoolidge.us

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather. Bombs Bursting In Air always gets to me. This is a nice illustration.

[Professional Engineer]

Hiya Sam

[Professional Engineer]

Me too!

Howdy ma'am

[Professional Engineer]

You Might Be An Engineer If... You have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.

Well, is it true? If so provide 3 proofs.

Yes, it is. I'll have to get back to you, after I review my files.

[snippy_about_it]

Hey Darksheare.

[Darksheare]

Hello.
Been wandering about.

[Professional Engineer]

[Darksheare]

LOL!
Proof?
We have no life..
I can prove it with lyrics.
*chuckle*

[Professional Engineer]

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Snippy. Good job! I'm impressed.

[Darksheare]

Imminent DOOM approaches
GIR: "Hooray we're doomed!"
Zim: "No GIR, that's bad."
GIR ponders a moment: "Yaaaay!"

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Snippy. Good job! I'm impressed.

[SAMWolf]

Sam, on behalf of ALL the Foxhole members, I would like to reccommend that Ms. Snip be given a healthy raise. WE await your answer.

You're right, Snippy does deserve a raise. I hereby announce that I will double Snippy's current salary, she's worth every bit of it. :-)

[SAMWolf]

WOW! Great pic!!

[colorado tanker]

Howdy to all in the Foxhole, from Wild Bill's final resting place. Great view of Denver and the plains from the site on Lookout Mountain.

I'm a little shaken today by the news of specific Al Qaeda plans to hit New York and D.C. What a great bust by our spec ops and intel folks. Makes me think even more how small Kerry and Edwards seem in light of the great threat to our country and how much we need the serious people to stay in charge.

[snippy_about_it]

Wow!! Great picture.