James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove IL on May 27, 1837. His father was Alonzo Hickok, his mother was Polly Butler, and he had five siblings, three brothers and two sisters. As a child, James Butler worked on a neighboring farm with his family after running an unsuccessful general store. Wild Bill, along with his brothers, also assisted his father with the work on the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape from the South to the free North. This was this that helped develop the courage, his wisdom, and resourcefulness that he used later in his life. Due to hi

Although that the paper claimed that McCall was avenging his brothers death, historians are unsure about the reason why McCall killed Wild Bill. John McCall was tried in a court in Deadwood and was found not guilty. But he was later tried again in Yankton, Dakota Territory, and this time he was found guilty. John McCall was hung on March 1, 1877. Hickok was initially at Ingleside, but two years later, Deadwoods growing population forced the removal of bodies buried at Ingleside to be moved up the mountain to Mount Moriah Cemetery. Hickok’s body was exhumed on August 3, 1879 and was reentered at Mount Moriah. A nine-foot tall statue was mounted at the gravesite. In a period of ten years, vandals and enemies of Wild Bill destroyed the rock sculpture.

Hickok’s letter to Agnes on August 1 made clear his concern about ever returning to his wife, but it proves that his love is still strong for Agnes:

Hickock was next appointed the marshal of Abeline County. One story was that of a strange gunfight in Abeline against a man named Wesley Hardin. Hardin was killing men for no apparent reason and when word got out to Wild Bill, he was enraged by him. Hardin fled when an angry Hickok came after him, but Hickok caught up to him shortly. Hardin later claimed that Hickok tried to disarm him, but when Wild Bill reach for the guns (they were extended butts first), Hardin twirled the guns around and pointed them at Wild Bill, causing him to back down from Hardin. But, by the time Hardin made this claim, which was 1895, Hickok was already dead and Hardin had no proof of this ever happening. It seems highly unlikely that a man of Hickok’s experience would fall for such a basic maneuver. This is another example of how p rumors spread about Wild Bill. Other Cowboys would make claims after Wild Bills death that they scared Wild Bill, but they had no proof of anything ever happening.

In December 1871, the city council of Abeline decided that they no longer needed the violent services of Wild Bill in their county, so he was discharged. He drifted to Colorado and then to Kansas City, where he lost most if not all of his money at the gambling tables. Miserable and poor, he accepted an offer to appear on stage with Colonel Sidney Barnett’s Wild West show, giving two performances at Niagara Falls, New York, on August twenty-eighth and the thirtieth in 1872. Wild Bill hated performing so much that he quit. False rumors were spreading around the country the next spring that Wild Bill Hickok had been murdered. In September 1873, “Buffalo Bill” Cody persuaded Wild Bill to join his theatrical group, despite his hatred towards the theatre. Hickok had begun to wear dark glasses, which he said he needed because of the stage lighting. Wild Bill may have been suffering from glaucoma or trachoma and this bothered him for the rest of his life, but this may have been false. Hickok toured with Buffalo Bill for five months and then quit and moved to the west.

But not all of the stories about Wild Bill were false; he was a true, strong, brave, cowboy. A true story, without vary many or no other variations, was with a man named Phil Coe. On the evening of October 5, 1871, Coe and some fellow Texans were on a shooting spree. When Hickok challenged them on the street, Coe made the mistake of drawing his gun on Wild Bill. Coe fired two shots and so did Hickok, but Coe missed and Wild Bill shot Coe in the stomach twice. Coe died two days later from the gunshot. But tragedy soon came when Hickok saw a man rushing towards him with a revolver in his hand. Hickock, thinking that it was one of Coe’s friends, shot two shots at the man, killing him. It was one of Hickok’s close friends coming to help him, Deputy Mike Williams. Hickok then wept in sorrow over the loss of his friend and he carried Williams into a bar and laid him on a table, where Williams soon died. This was possibly the last man that Hickok ever killed.

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