William F. Cody was born in Iowa on February 26, 1846. He was the fourth of eight children. Eventually they moved to Fort Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory. His father, Isaac, was stabbed in 1854 after making an anti-slavery speech. He had to go into hiding because the pro slavery people wanted to kill him. The family nearly starved. He came back in 1857 and was so ill, he died a few weeks later. At age 11, Cody had to help support the family. At fourteen, he joined the Pony Express. He met Wild Bill Hickok, who became a lifelong friend. Cody joined the army at age 18 during the civil war and got an honorable discharge. He married Louisa in 1866 and had a daughter within a year. Louisa was the opposite of Bill. she was refined and he was adventurous. He wanted to settle down but was not happy with it and was not a good money manager.
He was hired as a buffalo hunter by the railroad for food for the workers. In 17 months, he had killed over 4000 buffalo and, became known as Buffalo Bill.
Cody was in need of work and money and became the chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry at Fort McPherson near North Platte, Nebraska. His family joined him and they soon had a son, Kit Carson Cody who was born in 1870.
Cody was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872 for his work as an army scout. Buffalo Bill considered himself to be a friend with the Indians. When he started his wild west show, he hired Indians from several midwest tribes. In 1891, be began hiring mainly the Oglala Sioux. Government approval was necessary to hire Indians but was granted because the government wanted the native americans to be self supporting. In today's world, his use of the native americans would not be considered politically correct.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show traveled the world. Cody, Nebraska and Cody, Wyoming are named after him. He is a member of our Nebraska Hall of Fame and lived quite a colorful life.
Nebraska Nellie
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