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Buffalo Bill

Cody is the Kit Carson of the Central Western border. Born in Nebraska, his parents moved to Kansas during the bloody days of the free-soil struggle, and his earliest recollections are of Missouri jayhawkers, who were trailing his father because of his antislavery opinions. When twelve years of age he made his first trip across the plains as a cavallard rider, and while the train was out it was attacked by Indians on the South Platte and during the running fight, the boy distinguished himself by killing one of the red assailants. From that time forward his career eas decided and he became a plainsman in all that the word them implied. As a hunter and a Scout he soon became famous, and of the knights of our border in those days of excitement and bloodshed none were more prominent this Cody. It was while the Kansas Pacific was being constructed that he acquired the mane of Buffalo Bill. At that time the Indians were very troublesome, and great difficulty was experienced in getting fresh meat for the workman. Accordingly, Goddard Brothers asked Cody in Hays City to hunt for them and be accepted the employment offered. During the eighteen months he was engaged in the capacity he killed [?], buffalo and the mane by which he is most generally know was given him later on, during the Indian campaigns of Northwest, he gained the reputation of being one of the most reliable men in the government employ, and Gen Sheridan to whom he dedicated his book appointed him, chief of the scouts. During the campaigning which followed he played a very prominent part.