Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876) was a figure in the American Old West. He was also known as "Wild Bill" Hickok. He was a gunfighter, gambler, and lawman.
Biography
Hickok was born and raised on a farm in Homer, Illinois (now Troy Grove, Illinois). He went west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice. He worked first as a stagecoach driver, then as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
He fought (and spied) for the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he gained fame as a scout, marksman, actor, and professional gambler. Calamity Jane claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok and divorced him.
Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts. He was shot from behind and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.[1] The card hand he held at the time of his death is known today as poker's "Dead Man's Hand". In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Wild Bill Hickok Media
James B. Hickok in the 1860s, during his pre-gunfighter days
David C. McCanles, alleged leader of the McCanles Gang, in 1860
The Hickok–Tutt shootout, in an 1867 illustration accompanying the article by Nichols in Harper's magazine
John Wesley Hardin, a well-known gunfighter, was known to have killed at least 27 men. In his autobiography, Hardin made the unlikely claim that while surrendering his guns to the lawman due to a local ordinance, he had once disarmed Town Marshal "Wild Bill" Hickok with the use of the "road agent's spin".
Tintype of Hickok c. 1870. It was found with the last letter he wrote to his wife, Agnes Thatcher Lake.
Jack McCall shot Hickok in the back of the head; the photo has been claimed to be of McCall, but is unsubstantiated.
References
- ↑ Campagna, Jeff. "American Wonder Wild Bill Hickok Shot and Killed From Behind on This Day in History". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2012.