Category: Biographies
A PLEASANT, roomy farm-house, set in the sunlight against a background of cool, green wood and mottled meadow--this is the picture that my earliest memories frame for me. To this home my parents, Isaac and Mary Cody, had moved soon after their marriage.
IN common walks of life to play the spy is an ignoble role; yet the work has to be done, and there must be men to do it. There always are such men--nervy fellows who swing thems...
14. CHAPTER XV. -- WILL AS A BENEDICT.The wedding ceremony was quietly performed at the home of the bride, and the large number of friends that witnessed it united in declaring that no handsomer couple ever bowed fo...
7. CHAPTER VII. -- INDIAN ENCOUNTER AND SCHOOL-DAY INCIDENTS.WILL was not long at home. The Mormons, who were settled in Utah, rebelled when the government, objecting to the quality of justice meted out by Brigham Young, sent a federal ju...
25. CHAPTER XXVI. -- TOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN.IT was not until the spring of 1883 that Will was able to put into execution his long-cherished plan--to present to the public an exhibition which should delineate in throbbing...
12. CHAPTER XII. -- THE MOTHER'S LAST ILLNESS.IT was now the autumn of 1863, and Will was a well-grown young man, tall, strong, and athletic, though not yet quite eighteen years old. Our oldest sister, Julia, had been marri...
29. CHAPTER XXX. -- CODY DAY AT THE OMAHA EXPOSITION.SINCE 1893 the "Wild West" exhibitions have been restricted to the various cities of our own land. Life in "Buffalo Bill's Tented City," as it is called, is like life in a small...
28. CHAPTER XXIX. -- THE "WILD WEST" AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.EUROPEAN army officers of all nationalities regarded my brother with admiring interest. To German, French, Italian, or British eyes he was a commanding personality, and also the...
18. CHAPTER XIX. -- ARMY LIFE AT FORT M'PHERSON.IN the spring of 1870 Will proceeded to put into effect the determination of the previous year--to establish a home in the lovely country of the westerly Platte. After preparing...
8. CHAPTER VIII. -- DEATH AND BURIAL OF TURK.The hotel commanded a magnificent prospect. Below lay the beautiful Salt Creek Valley. It derived its name from the saline properties of the little stream that rushed along its...
23. CHAPTER XXIV. -- LITERARY WORK.IT was during this period of his life that my brother's first literary venture was made. As the reader has seen, his school-days were few in number, and as he told Mr. Majors, i...
21. CHAPTER XXII. -- THEATRICAL EXPERIENCES.THE Fifth Cavalry at Fort McPherson had been ordered to Arizona, and was replaced by the Third Cavalry under command of General Reynolds. Upon Will's return to McPherson he was...
19. CHAPTER XX. -- PA-HAS-KA, THE LONG-HAIRED CHIEF.ALTHOUGH the glory of killing the buffalo on our hunt was accredited to sister May, to me the episode proved of much more moment. In the spring of 1871 I was married to Mr. Jest...
22. CHAPTER XXIII. -- THE GOVERNMENT'S INDIAN POLICY.VERY glad was the sad-hearted father that the theatrical season was so nearly over. The mummeries of stage life were more distasteful to him than ever when he returned to his co...
10. CHAPTER X. -- ECHOES FROM SUMTER.THE guns that opened on Fort Sumter set the country all ablaze. In Kansas, where blood had already been shed, the excitement reached an extraordinary pitch. Will desired to enli...
16. CHAPTER XVII. -- SATANTA, CHIEF OF THE KIOWAS.WITHIN plain view of Fort Larned lay a large camp of Kiowas and Comanches. They were not yet bedaubed with war paint, but they were as restless as panthers in a cage, and it was...
5. CHAPTER V. -- THE "BOY EXTRA.AT this sorrowful period mother was herself almost at death's door with consumption, but far from sinking under the blow, she faced the new conditions with a steadfast calm, rea...
11. CHAPTER XI. -- A SHORT BUT DASHING INDIAN CAMPAIGN.The campaign was short and sharp. The Indian trail was followed to Powder River, and thence along the banks of the stream the party traveled to within forty miles of the spot wh...
15. CHAPTER XVI. -- HOW THE SOBRIQUET OF "BUFFALO BILL" WAS WON.IN frontier days a man had but to ask for work to get it. There was enough and to spare for every one. The work that paid best was the kind that suited Will, it mattered not how...
26. CHAPTER XXVII. -- RETURN OF THE "WILD WEST" TO AMERICA."The harbor probably has never witnessed a more picturesque scene than that of yesterday, when the 'Persian Monarch' steamed up from quarantine. Buffalo Bill stood on the captai...
6. CHAPTER VI. -- FAMILY DEFENDER AND HOUSEHOLD TEASE.THE fame to which Byron woke one historic morning was no more unexpected to him than that which now greeted Will. The trainmen had not been over-modest in their accounts of his...
1. CHAPTER I. -- THE OLD HOMESTEAD IN IOWA.A PLEASANT, roomy farm-house, set in the sunlight against a background of cool, green wood and mottled meadow--this is the picture that my earliest memories frame for me. To thi...
24. CHAPTER XXV. -- FIRST VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF THE BIG HORN.MY brother was again bereaved in 1880 by the death of his little daughter Orra. At her own request, Orra's body was interred in Rochester, in beautiful Mount Hope Cemetery, by t...
20. CHAPTER XXI. -- THE HUNT OF THE GRAND DUKE ALEXIS.A SPECIAL train brought the Grand Duke Alexis and party to North Platte on January 12, 1872. Will was presented to the illustrious visitor by General Sheridan, and was much inte...
4. CHAPTER IV. -- PERSECUTION CONTINUES.MOTHER'S fears were well grounded. A few days after father had returned home, a man named Sharpe, who disgraced the small office of justice of the peace, rode up to our house, v...
30. CHAPTER XXXI. -- THE LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS.THE story of frontier days is a tale that is told. The "Wild West" has vanished like mist in the sun before the touch of the two great magicians of the nineteenth century--steam...
9. CHAPTER IX. -- WILL AS PONY EXPRESS RIDER.AFTER being pounded against a saddle three dashes daily for three months, to the tune of fifteen miles an hour, Will began to feel a little loose in his joints, and weary withal...
17. CHAPTER XVIII. -- WILL MADE CHIEF OF SCOUTS.IN due time the Fifth Cavalry reached Fort McPherson, which became its headquarters while they were fitting out a new expedition to go into the Republican River country. At this...
2. CHAPTER II. -- WILL'S FIRST INDIAN.MY uncle's home was in Weston, Platte County, Missouri, at that time the large city of the West. As father desired to get settled again as soon as possible, he left us at Weston...
3. CHAPTER III. -- THE SHADOW OF PARTISAN STRIFE.OWING to the conditions, already spoken of, under which Kansas was settled, all classes were represented in its population. Honest, thrifty farmers and well-to-do traders leaven...
27. CHAPTER XXVIII. -- A TRIBUTE TO GENERAL MILES.IN view of the success achieved by my brother, it is remarkable that he excited so little envy. Now for the first time in his life he felt the breath of slander on his cheek, an...