Wild Bill Hickok

James Butler Hickok (27 May 1837 -2 August 1876) better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a legendary figure in the American Wild West. He is remembered as a gunfighter, gambler and lawman.



early 1860's



Mendota, Illinois in 1869

Born and raised on a farm in Illinois, his parents were William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok. 

 

James Hickok went west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice. 

He had many jobs: a stagecoach driver, a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska, a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War, a war scout, marksman, actor, and professional gambler.

Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts.

 

He was shot from behind and killed at the age of 39 while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. 

The card hand he held at the time of his death (aces and eights) is called the "Dead Man's Hand".

RESOURCES:
Nebraska State Historical Society
The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth

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