Treasures from Our West: Photograph of William F. Cody at Wild Bill Hickok’s grave

Originally featured in Points West magazine in Fall 2008

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody at Wild Bill Hickock’s grave

Outlaws of necessity brought lawmen, and in his own writings, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody paid tribute to famous western lawmen. He noted he was close friends with many such individuals, especially James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok.

“Wild Bill I had known since 1857,” wrote Buffalo Bill in his autobiography. “He and I shared the pleasure of walking a thousand miles to the Missouri River after the bull train in which we both were employed had been burned…. Afterward we rode the Pony Express together.”

Buffalo Bill also praised Hickok’s skill with a pistol and included a number of exciting narratives about Hickok’s fights in his autobiography. Hickok was murdered playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota, on August 2, 1876. Here, some unidentified people and Cody, third from the left, are pictured at his friend’s grave in Deadwood about 1914.

Photo of Buffalo Bill at Wild Bill Hickok’s grave. MS6 William F. Cody Collection. P.69.1069

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