BUFFALO BILL FROM BOYHOOD TO FAME.
It may not be amiss just here, while writing of this "Land of the
Setting Sun," its changes from savagery to civilization, to refer to one
who has done so much to aid those who followed the Star of Empire toward
the Rocky Mountains.
I refer to Col. W. F. Cody, known in almost every hamlet of the world as
Buffalo Bill, one upon whom the seal of manhood has been set as upon few
others, who has risen by the force of his own gigantic will, his
undaunted courage, ambition, and genius, to be honored among the rulers
of kingdoms, as well as by his own people.
Nearly forty years ago, in Kansas, a handsome, wiry little lad came to
me, accompanied by his good mother, and said that he had her permission
to take a position under me as a messenger boy.
I gave him the place, though it was one of peril, carrying dispatches
between our wagon-trains upon the march across the plains, and little
did I then suspect that I was just starting out in life one who was
destined to win fame and fortune.
Then it was simply "Little Billy Cody," the messenger, and from his
first year in my service he began to make his mark, and lay the
foundation of his future greatness.
Next it became "Wild Will," the pony express rider of the overland, and
as such he faced many dangers, and overcame many obstacles which would
have crushed a less strong nature and brave heart.
Then it became "Bill Cody, the Wagonmaster," then overland stage driver,
and from that to guide across the plains, until he drifted into his
natural calling as a Government scout.
"Buffalo Bill, the Scout and Indian Fighter," was known from north to
south, from east to west, for his skill, energy, and daring as a ranger
of mountain and plain.
With the inborn gift of a perfect borderman, Buffalo Bill led armies
across trackless mountains and plains, through deserts of death, and to
the farthest retreats of the cruel redskins who were making war upon the
settlers.
Buffalo Bill has never sought the reputation of being a "man killer."
He has shunned difficulties of a personal nature, yet never backed down
in the face of death in the discharge of duty.
Brought face to face with the worst elements of the frontier, he never
sought the title of hero at the expense of other lives and suffering.
An Indian fighter, he was yet the friend of the redskin in many ways,
and to-day there is not a man more respected among all the fighting
tribes than Buffalo Bill, though he is feared as well.
In his delineation of Wild West life before the vast audiences he has
appeared to in this country and Europe, he has been instrumental in
educating the Indians to feel that it would be madness for them to
continue the struggle against the innumerable whites, and to teach them
that peace and happiness could come to them if they would give up the
war-path and the barbarism of the past, and seek for themselves homes
amid civilized scenes and associations.
Buffalo Bill is therefore a great teacher among his red friends, and he
has done more good than any man I know who has lived among them.
Courtly by nature, generous to a fault, big-hearted and brainy, full of
gratitude to those whom he feels indebted to, he has won his way in the
world and stands to-day as truly one of Nature's noblemen.
One of the strongest characteristics of Buffalo Bill, to my mind, was
his love for his mother--a mother most worthy the devotion of such a
son. His love and devotion to his sisters has also been marked
throughout his lifetime.
When he first came to me he had to sign the pay-roll each month by
making the sign of a cross, his mark. He drew a man's pay, and earned
every dollar of it.
He always had his mother come to get his pay, and when one day he was
told by the paymaster to come and "make his mark and get his money," his
face flushed as he saw tears come into his mother's eyes and heard her
low uttered words:
"Oh, Willie! if you would only learn to write, how happy I would be."
Educational advantages in those early days were crude in the extreme,
and Little Billy's chances to acquire knowledge were few, but from that
day, when he saw the tears in his mother's eyes at his inability to
write his name, he began to study hard and to learn to write; in fact
his acquiring the art of penmanship got him into heaps of trouble, as
"Will Cody," "Little Billy," "Billy the Boy Messenger," and "William
Frederic Cody" were written with the burnt end of a stick upon tents,
wagon-covers, and all tempting places, while he carved upon wagon-body,
ox-yoke, and where he could find suitable wood for his pen-knife to cut
into, the name he would one day make famous.
With such energy as this on his part, Billy Cody was not very long in
learning to write his name upon the pay-roll instead of making his mark,
though ever since, I may add, he has made his mark in the pages of
history.
All through his life he was ever the devoted son and brother, and true
as steel to his friends, for he has not been spoiled by the fame he has
won, while to-day his firmest friends are the officers of the army with
whom he has served through dangers and hardships untold, as proof of
which he was freely given the indorsements of such men as Sherman,
Sheridan, Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Generals Carr, Merritt, Royal, and a
host of others.