Early life

Cody was born on February 26, 1846, in Scott County, Iowa. In 1854 his family moved to Kansas. His father died when the boy was only 11. When he was 14 he became a rider for the Pony Express, a service that carried mail on horseback between Missouri and California. As a teenager he earned a reputation as a skilled marksman, hunter, and guide.

Adventures

In the 1860s Cody scouted for the United States Army. As a scout, he roamed different areas to gather information about the enemy—at that time, Native Americans. He also hunted buffalo to feed the construction crews on the Union Pacific Railroad. While working for the railroad, he earned his nickname by claiming he had killed 4,280 buffalo. The boast was just one of his exaggerated stories about his adventures. Many were put in print by newspaper reporters and novelists. One writer, Ned Buntline (the pen name of E.Z.C. Judson), made Cody into a national hero with his novels about the hard-riding, fast-shooting Buffalo Bill.

Career as entertainer

In 1872 Cody became the star of a stage production of Buntline's drama Scouts of the Plains (later renamed Scouts of the Prairies). Although not much of an actor, Cody was a great showman who always knew how to please an audience. Cody performed the play for 11 years. Between seasons he spent his summers escorting hunting parties to the West. He interrupted his stage career to guide the United States cavalry in 1874 and to take part in the Army's war against the Sioux Indians in 1876. Cody was known to have killed many Indians in battles throughout his career.

In 1883 Cody started his famous Wild West exhibition—later known as Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. The spectacular outdoor show featured parades, displays of trick horseback riding and sharpshooting, and reenactments of stagecoach robberies and Indian battles. His huge cast included the sharpshooter Annie Oakley and, in 1885, the Sioux leader Sitting Bull. The show was very popular and toured throughout the United States and Europe for 30 years.

Cody's Wild West show earned him a fortune. He used much of it to buy land in northwestern Wyoming, where he helped found the town of Cody. Toward the end of his life, however, he lost most of his money in bad investments. On January 10, 1917, two months after his last public appearance, Cody died in Denver, Colorado.