0:01

Girl, real talk. This

0:03

whole, it's a new year, time to

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reinvent myself trash, is not the vibe

0:07

for 2024. You can find

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someone who loves you for you, as

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you are. You don't need to read

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a stack of self-help books, only eat

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sad salads, or like start meditating at

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5am to be ready

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for dating. So yeah, my advice is

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to download Bumble and find someone who

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embraces you the way you are right

0:26

now. Let me know how it goes.

0:34

In September of 1878, Buffalo Bill Cody

0:36

was gearing up for his biggest show

0:38

to date. He had

0:55

recently been allowed to employ Native Americans

0:57

as actors for the first time, and

1:00

now he was doing it again. This time,

1:02

he hired Pawnee men rather than the

1:04

Sioux performers he had employed on the

1:06

last tour, and the show

1:08

nearly fell apart twice. A year

1:11

earlier, a new secretary of

1:13

the interior had changed the rules regarding

1:15

the use of Native American actors on

1:18

stage. Previously, the practice

1:20

had been banned. So,

1:22

theater companies had to use white men

1:24

who were dressed as Native Americans. But

1:27

then the new secretary changed the

1:29

rules, and audiences had loved seeing

1:31

real Sioux warriors on stage. Now,

1:34

when Bill used Pawnee actors, the

1:36

secretary of the interior balked. He

1:39

told Bill that the Pawnee were off

1:42

the reservation without permission and

1:44

demanded they return immediately. Bill

1:47

argued that the loss of the Pawnee would

1:49

cripple the production. He had

1:51

already advertised their participation, and it

1:53

was clear that audiences wanted to

1:55

see real Native American performers rather

1:57

than white men dressed in bad

1:59

costume. Eventually,

2:01

Cody convinced the government that he

2:04

would lose money without the Pawnee.

2:07

And in light of Bill's long and valuable

2:09

service as an army scout, the

2:11

government allowed the Pawnee to stay with the show.

2:15

Crisis number one was avoided. Crisis

2:18

number two was more serious. The

2:20

show was touring through the southern part of

2:23

the United States, but the theaters were nearly

2:25

empty. An epidemic of

2:27

yellow fever was sweeping through the region,

2:29

and the actors refused to continue the

2:32

tour until Bill agreed to skip the

2:34

southern cities and head north to Delaware.

2:37

Bill readily agreed to the demand, and

2:40

they finished the tour despite the extreme

2:42

change in schedule. When

2:45

the tour ended in August of 1879,

2:48

Bill only paused a month before setting off

2:50

on his next tour. This

2:52

tour would last from September of 1879 until May of 1880. Bill

2:58

was averaging about eight months per

3:00

tour, an exhaustive pace for anyone

3:03

past or present. And

3:05

while touring, he managed to write

3:07

his autobiography, The Life of

3:09

Honorable William F. Cody, known as

3:12

Buffalo Bill. Then,

3:15

a little more than a month after the

3:17

tour ended, Bill received word

3:19

that his old friend and first

3:21

theatrical partner, Texas Jack Oma-Hundrow, had

3:24

died in Leadville, Colorado after a

3:26

bout of pneumonia. In

3:29

a life that had seen more than its

3:31

fair share of loss, this one hit Buffalo

3:33

Bill particularly hard. Bill,

3:35

the scout, and Jack, the cowboy, had

3:37

been best friends from nearly the moment

3:40

they met in 1869. They

3:44

had ridden the planes together, hunted

3:46

together, celebrated the birth of

3:48

Bill's son and daughter together, mourned

3:50

the loss of Bill's son together,

3:53

and celebrated Jack's wedding together. Texas

3:56

Jack had saved Buffalo Bill's life

3:58

both in reality and on the

4:00

stage. They had created

4:02

their public personas together and for each

4:04

man the other proved to be the

4:06

truest and closest friend he would ever

4:09

have. Buffalo

4:11

Bill wasn't done acting but he could

4:13

feel that something had to change and

4:15

while it might have been easy to

4:17

think that the change would have a

4:19

negative quality to it the opposite happened.

4:22

Bill had a new idea one

4:24

that would make him the most famous man on

4:26

earth. From

4:36

Black Barrel Media this is Legends of the Old

4:38

West. I'm your host Chris

4:40

Wimmer and this season we're telling the

4:42

story of William F. Cody known as

4:45

Buffalo Bill the man who turned the

4:47

American frontier into the Wild West. This

4:50

is episode 4 the Wild West.

5:02

Texas Jack passed away at the end of

5:04

June 1880. By

5:07

that time Buffalo Bill had been a

5:09

successful actor for eight years four

5:11

with Texas Jack and four with his

5:13

own combination but other

5:15

than Jack none of Bill's partnerships

5:17

lasted very long. Bill

5:20

and Jack had toured with Ned Buntline

5:22

but only for one season. They toured

5:24

with Wild Bill Hickok but only for

5:26

seven months. Then Bill

5:29

had performed with Captain Jack Crawford

5:31

for a single tour before animosity

5:33

and injury permanently soured their friendship.

5:37

After that experience Bill played it

5:39

safe. He hired professional

5:41

actors not fellow scouts as

5:43

his co-stars but after

5:45

two more years of touring with just another

5:48

variation of the same type of show Bill

5:50

was starting to see the writing on the wall. Audiences

5:53

still bought tickets but the shows

5:56

were no longer sold out. Buffalo

5:58

Bill's tour in 18. 1982

6:00

took him to some of the same cities

6:02

twice in nine months Critics

6:05

like one in Steubenville, Ohio

6:07

said there is such a thing as

6:09

too much blood and thunder as That

6:12

to her finished an interest in the tired

6:14

concept of the heroic scout of the plains

6:17

Triumphing over savage Native Americans and

6:19

evil outlaws started to fade bill

6:22

started to focus on a new idea It

6:25

seemed to have its origins in conversations

6:27

with a fellow showman in January of

6:29

1882 Buffalo

6:35

Bill met with a veteran

6:37

performer manager and playwright named

6:39

Nate Salisbury Predictably

6:41

both would later claim to have had

6:44

the initial idea that developed from their

6:46

meeting Salisbury claimed that

6:48

Bill was quote at the end of

6:50

his profit string on the theatrical stage

6:53

and That bill would be the

6:55

perfect star of a new outdoor Extravaganza

6:58

that Salisbury had dreamed of Bill

7:00

of course claimed that he was already

7:03

envisioning an arena show that would free

7:05

him from the limitations he felt in

7:07

his stage performance With

7:09

a bigger venue bill could add

7:11

more performers and authentic displays of

7:14

frontier life Buffalo

7:16

Bill and Nate Salisbury couldn't reach an

7:18

agreement in January of 1882

7:21

and Bill finished his latest tour that spring and

7:24

in July the town managers of North

7:26

Platte Asked bill to plan

7:28

the festivities for the big Independence

7:30

Day celebration Which was the

7:32

perfect trial run for the kind of show

7:35

Buffalo Bill was envisioning Bill

7:37

had learned that the only activities the town

7:39

had scheduled for the holiday were a couple

7:41

horse races He protested

7:44

insisting a bigger celebration was in

7:46

order Town leaders agreed

7:48

and nominated bill as chairman of

7:50

the event After

7:52

10 years as a stage actor one

7:55

thing Buffalo Bill had learned was how to

7:57

publicize a show Flyers.

8:00

There's a newspaper. Advertisements were

8:02

printed. Men, women, and

8:04

children of all ages were invited

8:06

to attend what Buffalo Bill called

8:08

the Old Glory Blowouts. A

8:10

parade was organized, much like the ones

8:12

that Bill in Texas Jack had done

8:14

in cities when they're dramatic tours arrived.

8:17

But. This one would be much larger

8:19

with a full band, a contingent

8:22

of military veterans, children from North

8:24

Platte, and a long line of

8:26

carriages. Anyone who

8:28

was interested was invited to compete

8:30

and races both on horseback and

8:33

on foot. Bill invited cowboys to

8:35

put on an exhibition of chasing

8:37

last a wing and riding buffalo.

8:39

When Longhorn steers from Texas, he

8:41

was the first occurrence of to

8:44

American tradition. It was

8:46

the first rodeo as a major

8:48

public event in American history. The

8:50

first time cowboys competed with each

8:52

other while entertaining audiences by roping

8:54

and riding. And

8:56

see Old Glory Blowout was the

8:58

first of what would come to

9:00

be called Wild West shelves. He

9:02

was an enormous success and from

9:04

that moment on Bill Cody never

9:07

looked back. He had been a

9:09

successful scout and a successful actor,

9:11

but at the helm of Buffalo

9:13

Bill Toadies Wild West, he was

9:15

a bonafide. Show meant for. As

9:17

he told one reporter, I'm not

9:19

an actor, I'm a star. The.

9:27

Success of the old Glory Blowout

9:29

convinced Cody that the idea of

9:31

or western outdoor spectacle was a

9:33

good one. It also

9:35

convinced him that the level of capital

9:37

required to make a tour of the

9:39

outdoor shows successful would require both an

9:42

outside financial partner. And significantly more

9:44

money in his own coffers and he

9:46

currently had. Buffalo.

9:48

Bill had often talked about leaving the

9:50

stayed behind forever. Either. To return

9:52

to his old job as a scout Or

9:55

to try his hand at raising cattle on

9:57

his ranch on the dismal river. But.

9:59

with the real Recent success of the old

10:01

glory blowout and visions of an

10:03

outdoor spectacle in his head, Bill

10:06

stopped hedging his bets. He

10:08

sold the ranch to a friend and prepared

10:10

to use the cash for his new venture.

10:13

To raise more money, he tried

10:15

another theatrical tour. But

10:17

western themed stage shows were no longer

10:19

the novelty they once were. Other

10:22

western shows, inspired by the success of

10:25

Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack, had sprung

10:27

up from the very beginning. Now

10:30

ten years later, those shows were

10:32

well established. They competed

10:34

with Buffalo Bill's show for theater

10:36

space, ticket sales and revenue. It

10:39

was harder and harder to fill seats. And

10:42

some critics thought that everything that could be

10:44

said about the frontier had already been said

10:46

on stage or in the pages of dime

10:49

novels. It

10:53

had been a year since Bill had talked

10:55

to Nate Salisbury about partnering on a tour

10:57

of outdoor shows. Nate

10:59

wanted to wait until he could plan and

11:01

execute a trip to Europe before committing to

11:03

the venture. But Bill was impatient.

11:07

He turned to another North Platte friend for

11:09

help. Dr. William Carver was

11:11

a dentist when he first met Buffalo Bill

11:13

and Texas Jack back in 1872 when

11:17

they were working as scouts at a Fort McPherson.

11:20

Witnessing their transformation to

11:22

superstardom, Carver likewise reinvented

11:24

himself as a world class rifle

11:27

shot, winning tournaments and a name

11:29

for himself in California. He

11:32

had teamed up with Texas Jack in 1878 for

11:35

a series of shooting exhibitions, demonstrating his

11:37

prowess with his rifle while Jack talked

11:39

to the crowd, did a lasso act

11:41

and shot coins out of the air

11:43

with his revolver. When

11:46

Bill told Doc about his plans

11:48

for an outdoor show, combining sharp

11:50

shooting exhibitions, elements of his stage

11:53

show and demonstrations of cowboy life,

11:55

Carver agreed almost immediately. Then

11:58

Cody went back to Nate Salisbury. and

12:00

he was shocked when Nate turned down his

12:02

offer of partnership. Salisbury

12:04

told Bill that he could not abide

12:07

Doc Carver and wouldn't join Bill as

12:09

long as Carver was involved. He

12:11

considered the man a fraud. And

12:14

after that rejection, Bill turned to another

12:16

old friend. John

12:19

Burke had been Jessapina Morlocki's manager

12:21

when she joined the Scout of

12:23

the Prairie production in December of

12:25

1872. When she stuck

12:27

with the show after Bill and Jack

12:29

ousted Ned Buntline, Burke stayed too.

12:32

He was a trained actor, but

12:34

his relationships with newspaper reporters and

12:36

theatrical owners all over the country

12:39

made him a natural promoter. When

12:42

Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack went their

12:44

separate ways, Burke went with

12:46

Jack and Jessapina. Burke

12:48

acted in Jack's shows, managed

12:50

Jack's hotel business at the Philadelphia

12:53

Centennial, and worked as promotions

12:55

manager for the Texas Jack combination.

12:58

Since Jack's death and Jessapina's

13:00

retirement, John Burke had been

13:02

acting and managing several traveling shows. But

13:05

when Buffalo Bill asked him to serve as the

13:07

business manager for his new venture, Burke

13:10

immediately agreed. The partnership

13:12

would last for 35 years. Buffalo

13:21

Bill and Doc Carver tried to decide

13:24

on a name for their new entertainment.

13:27

Carver suggested the cowboy

13:29

and Indian combination and

13:31

the Yellowstone combination. But

13:33

Bill thought the word combination

13:35

signified stage shows. Combination

13:38

was an old term for a traveling

13:40

theatrical group. So Bill

13:42

suggested Cody and Carver's

13:45

Golden West. The man

13:47

eventually settled on the much more clunky name

13:49

of Buffalo Bill and

13:51

Dr. Carver's Wild West, Rocky

13:54

Mountain, and Prairie Exhibition. Since

13:57

it would require strong lungs to say the full

13:59

name in one one breath and it would

14:01

take up way too much space in a

14:03

newspaper headline, it was no

14:05

surprise that journalists called it simply the

14:07

Wild West from the very beginning. The

14:10

show premiered on May 19, 1883

14:13

in Omaha, Nebraska, though Buffalo

14:15

Bill never referred to his

14:17

big outdoor exhibitions as shows.

14:21

The introductions to The Spectacle, written by

14:23

John Burke and printed in show programs,

14:26

said that the purpose of

14:28

the event was to illustrate

14:30

life on the plains by

14:32

showing Indian encampments, cowboys, vaqueros,

14:34

buffalo, elk, stagecoach robberies, feats

14:37

of markmanship, and events that were characteristic

14:39

of the border. Bill

14:41

thought that the word show should be

14:43

reserved for circuses. His

14:45

productions were much more than that. Over

14:54

the course of the summer, as the Wild

14:56

West toured through the Midwest and the Northeast,

14:59

several things became apparent to Buffalo Bill.

15:02

The first was that the big

15:04

outdoor exhibitions, with their spectacle and

15:06

scope, were his future as a

15:08

showman. The second was that

15:10

if he wanted the Wild West to be successful,

15:13

he had to reckon with his relationships. The

15:16

first relationship that fell apart that summer

15:18

was with Josh Ogden, who had served

15:20

as the business manager of Bill's stage

15:22

show for the past nine years. The

15:26

second relationship to suffer under the weight

15:28

of the Wild West was Bill's marriage

15:30

to Louisa. Bill had

15:32

been on tour with his stage show in February of 1883

15:34

and had missed the birth of

15:37

his fourth child, a daughter named Irma.

15:41

His marriage had always been tumultuous, and

15:43

his nearly constant touring schedule increased

15:46

the strain on his relationship. He

15:49

had sold his North Platte ranch to raise money

15:51

for his new venture and was

15:53

infuriated when Louisa refused to allow him

15:56

to mortgage their North Platte home as

15:58

well. to

16:00

discuss divorce. The animosity

16:02

between them was so deep that

16:04

neither saw any chance of reconciliation.

16:07

Then, in October of 1883, while

16:10

Cody and Carver were playing in Chicago, Bill

16:13

received an unexpected and urgent message

16:15

from Louisa, summoning him home. It

16:19

must have felt eerily like the message

16:21

he had received when his son, Kit

16:23

Carson Cody, was sick with scarlet fever.

16:26

His 11-year-old daughter, Aura, was

16:28

dead. United in

16:30

their grief for their lost child, Bill

16:33

and Louisa consoled each other and forgot

16:35

all talk of divorce under the weight

16:37

of their shared heartache. But

16:40

even in his grief, Bill Cody knew

16:42

that the show must go on. The

16:44

Wild West production was the way he provided

16:47

for his family. He had

16:49

to steal himself to continue performing

16:51

as Buffalo Bill to adoring audiences

16:53

and for the final conflict born of the

16:55

Wild West. His marriage

16:58

had survived the strain of his new

17:00

venture, but his partnership with Doc Carver

17:02

would not. Carver

17:04

had a healthy ego. He

17:07

billed himself as the champion rifle

17:09

shot of the world and

17:11

backed up his claim in demonstration

17:13

after demonstration of his amazing marksmanship.

17:17

Later in life, he would expand his

17:19

claims to include being a better pistol

17:21

shot than Wild Bill Hickok, a

17:24

better Indian fighter than Texas Jack,

17:26

and a better Buffalo Hunter than Buffalo

17:28

Bill Cody. If Carver

17:30

had any humility at all, it seemed to

17:32

be in the realm of showmanship. He

17:35

knew Buffalo Bill was the better showman. So

17:38

when Bill issued a directive in service

17:40

of the Wild West, Carver obeyed. But

17:43

Carver was a dour and serious man

17:45

with a bad temper. Like

17:47

other partnerships, the first version of the

17:49

Wild West would not end well. But

17:52

its demise would open the door to

17:54

a much better possibility. The

18:02

first version of the Wild West was

18:04

a rocky experience. At

18:07

one show, after a series of missed

18:09

targets, Doc Carver slammed the

18:11

butt of his rifle across his horse's

18:13

ears and punched an assistant

18:15

when the guy protested about animal

18:17

cruelty. Buffalo Bill

18:20

saw the Wild West as family entertainment,

18:22

and Carver's outbursts infuriated him.

18:26

Both men drank lots of alcohol, as

18:29

did the rest of the all-male cast

18:31

of Cowboys and Frontiersmen. A

18:34

Chicago journalist noted that many of the

18:36

5,000 people who turned out to see

18:38

the Wild West were less than reputable,

18:41

warning that decent people were likely to

18:43

avoid the show. Nate

18:45

Salisbury saw the performance in Chicago

18:48

and warned Buffalo Bill of imminent

18:50

failure. He reported, Cody

18:53

came to see me and said that if I

18:55

did not take hold of the show, he was

18:57

going to quit the whole thing. He

18:59

said he was through with Doc Carver and that

19:02

he would not go through such another summer for

19:04

$100,000. Luckily

19:07

for Bill, Nate Salisbury finally

19:10

agreed to join the production, and

19:12

it was none too soon. Cody's

19:14

personal and business relationship with Carver

19:16

ended with the final show of

19:18

the first Wild West tour. And,

19:21

much like his falling out with Captain

19:23

Jack Crawford five years earlier, his

19:26

feud with Doc Carver would continue for

19:28

as long as both men lived. Carver

19:34

immediately started his own Western show,

19:36

plotted a competing tour, and did

19:38

his best to draw audiences away

19:40

from Buffalo Bill's shows. In

19:43

July of 1885, Bill

19:45

and his new partner Nate Salisbury

19:48

initiated a lawsuit against Carver's use

19:50

of the title Wild West, which

19:52

Cody claimed to have created. The

19:55

lawsuit dragged through the summer, but ended

19:57

with Cody in sole possession of the

20:00

West name. For all

20:02

intents and purposes, Doc Carver was done.

20:05

He desperately sent letters offering to make

20:07

appearances at any county fair for a

20:10

paltry fee of $300 while

20:13

Buffalo Bill launched an empire.

20:16

With Nate Salisbury by Bill's side as a

20:18

partner and John Burke in charge

20:20

of promotions, a new entertainment

20:22

was born. Buffalo Bill's

20:24

Wild West. But

20:27

for all the promise of the general concept,

20:29

Cody and Salisbury agreed that some changes were

20:32

in order if the show was going to

20:34

live up to its potential. Salisbury

20:36

had spent years in musical theater and

20:39

he soon hired a group of musicians

20:41

who had come to be called Buffalo

20:43

Bill's Cowboy Band. The

20:46

Cowboy Band added music to the

20:48

show, heightening the dramatic tension of

20:50

the show's biggest scenes, like the

20:52

finale called Attack on the Settlers

20:54

Cabin. While a

20:56

scared white family sheltered inside a cabin

20:58

in the middle of the arena and

21:01

Sioux warriors circled menacingly, the

21:03

Cowboy Band would signal the appearance of

21:05

Buffalo Bill, leading a band of Cowboys

21:07

to the rescue. Starting

21:09

in 1885, the Cowboy

21:12

Band began every appearance of the Wild

21:14

West with a performance of the Star

21:16

Spangled Banner and a salute to the

21:18

American flag. The

21:21

Star Spangled Banner wouldn't become the national anthem

21:23

for another 46 years, by

21:26

which point Buffalo Bill's tradition

21:28

would be deeply ingrained into

21:31

American entertainment and maintained today

21:33

at major sporting events nationwide.

21:36

Nate also approached Bill with a

21:38

seemingly wild idea. He wanted

21:40

to do two things at once. He

21:42

wanted to replace the sharp shooting exhibitions

21:45

of the great rifleman Doc Carver and

21:47

he wanted to bring some much-needed femininity

21:49

to the production. Nate's

21:52

idea was embodied in the diminutive

21:54

Phoebe Ann Moses, who stood just

21:56

four feet 11 inches tall and

21:59

was better known by her stage name,

22:01

Annie Oakley. Annie

22:06

Oakley had been a natural with a gun

22:08

since the first moment she picked one up

22:10

to put food on the table of her

22:12

twice widowed mother. Then she

22:14

made a name for herself as a crack shot

22:17

as a young teenager. One

22:19

of the men who bought meat from

22:21

her arranged for a contest between her

22:23

and a traveling trick shot artist named

22:25

Frank Butler. Frank lost the

22:27

match and fell in love with 15 year old

22:30

Annie at the same time. They

22:32

married a year later in 1876 and were inseparable for the

22:37

rest of their lives. Annie

22:39

Oakley had already earned a reputation

22:42

performing in theaters but was drawn

22:44

to the wild west which billed

22:46

itself as America's national entertainment. Bill

22:50

and his team held up the

22:52

attractions as both educational and suitable

22:54

for men, women, children and families.

22:57

Buffalo Bill and Nate Salisbury offered

22:59

Annie a three day trial run

23:01

as a performer during an appearance

23:04

in Nashville, Tennessee. When

23:06

the three days were up, the two men agreed.

23:09

Annie was hired on the spot and they spent $7,000

23:11

on posters, billboards

23:14

and other art to showcase her as

23:16

a wild west star. And

23:18

after Annie's edition, the show continued

23:21

to diversify. Oakley was

23:23

joined by Della and Bessie Farrell, fellow

23:26

sharpshooter Lillian Francis Smith and

23:28

Emma Lake Hickok, the daughter of

23:31

Agnes Thatcher Lake and stepdaughter to

23:33

Wild Bill Hickok. The

23:35

production was becoming more family friendly

23:38

but Bill knew that the key to

23:40

success was still action, danger and excitement.

23:43

The name of the show was the Wild West after

23:45

all. And nothing in the

23:48

west was wilder in the public's imagination

23:50

than the Sioux. And no

23:52

member of the Sioux Nation was more

23:54

widely known than the man Buffalo Bill

23:56

hired next. Sitting Bull. After

24:03

the defeat of Lieutenant Colonel Custer and his

24:05

troops at the Little Bighorn, Lakota

24:08

leader Sitting Bull and his people escaped

24:10

the army by crossing into Canada. Sitting

24:13

Bull remained exiled near Wood Mountain for

24:16

four years, refusing an offer

24:18

of pardon for his quote, crimes and

24:21

a chance to return to his home. But

24:24

Buffalo herds were dwindling as fast in Canada

24:26

as they were in the United States, which

24:29

meant starvation for his people. In

24:32

July of 1881, Sitting

24:34

Bull returned to the United States and

24:36

surrendered at Fort Buford. Two

24:39

weeks later, he and his band were

24:41

transferred to the Standing Rock Agency, on

24:43

the modern border between North Dakota and

24:45

South Dakota. Soon after

24:47

his arrival, Sitting Bull was arrested

24:50

as a prisoner of war and taken

24:52

to Fort Randall, where he was held

24:54

for two years before being allowed to

24:56

return to Standing Rock. In

24:58

1884, Sitting Bull briefly joined as a

25:00

promoter for a series of shows in

25:02

Canada and the northern part of the

25:05

US. And at an

25:07

appearance in St. Paul, Minnesota, Sitting Bull

25:09

first met Annie Oakley. He

25:12

was so impressed with her ability as a

25:14

sharpshooter that he paid a photographer $65 out

25:17

of his own pocket to have his picture

25:19

made with her. With inflation,

25:22

that's the modern day equivalent of more than $2,000.

25:31

Sitting Bull gave Annie Oakley a

25:33

Lakota name that translates to, Little

25:35

Shershot. When Buffalo Bill

25:37

asked Sitting Bull to join the Wild West in 1885,

25:39

he showed the Hunk Papa

25:42

leader a postcard of Annie Oakley to prove

25:45

that she was part of the production. According

25:48

to Nate Salisbury, it was the

25:50

postcard that made Sitting Bull agree to

25:52

join Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Sitting

25:56

Bull's friendship with Annie Oakley dramatically affected

25:58

the way he was accepted by

26:00

audiences. He had been

26:03

reviled less than a decade earlier as

26:05

the killer of Custer and the perpetrator

26:07

of a massacre. But now,

26:09

Sitting Bull was loudly and repeatedly cheered

26:11

as he rode his horse around the

26:13

arena during the show's opening and

26:16

told audiences through a translator that

26:18

he wanted to see his children educated

26:20

and hoped for reconciliation between the Sioux

26:23

and white men. Sitting

26:25

Bull only stayed with the show for four

26:27

months, and he opened the

26:29

door for the Wild West's inclusion of Lakota

26:32

men, women, and children. Annie

26:35

Oakley, Lillian Smith, Sitting Bull, and

26:37

the Cowboy Band broadened the appeal

26:39

of the Wild West, but

26:41

they weren't the stars of the show. The

26:43

stars of the Wild West were Buffalo Bill

26:45

and his Cowboys. Cowboys

26:48

had long been viewed by the American

26:50

public as rough men. They

26:52

flooded into towns like Dodge City,

26:54

got wildly drunk, started fights, and

26:56

shot the place up. For

26:59

most people, there wasn't much difference between

27:01

a cattle herder and a cattle rustler.

27:04

The Wild West drew a line between the two,

27:07

casting Cowboys as, quote,

27:09

genuine cattle herders of the

27:11

reputable trade. And the

27:13

show pitted them against, quote, their

27:16

greatest foe, the thieving criminal rustler.

27:20

Show programs included a long piece on

27:22

the life of the American cowboy

27:24

that was written by Texas Jack O'Majundo.

27:27

Men like Buck Taylor, who was dubbed

27:30

the king of the Cowboys in Wild

27:32

West advertising, rode beside Buffalo

27:34

Bill in arenas across the country,

27:36

helping to turn the cowboy from

27:38

a frontier worker into an American

27:41

hero. The combination

27:43

of Cowboys, Indians, sharp shooting,

27:45

and Buffalo Bill himself proved

27:47

to be powerful. Audiences

27:49

flocked to arenas wherever the Wild

27:51

West played. And there was no

27:53

rest for the weary. Normally,

27:55

when shows wrapped up in the late summer,

27:58

all the tents, property, and the and gear

28:00

would be sent to winter storage, but

28:03

not Buffalo Bill's Wild West. When

28:06

the spectacle ended its tour in September of

28:08

1886, Nate

28:10

Salisbury and Buffalo Bill decided to send

28:13

everything to New York City for a

28:15

new production they called the Drama of

28:17

Civilization. They prepared new

28:19

artwork and hired more native

28:21

Americans, sharpshooters and cowboys than

28:23

ever before. Nate and

28:26

Bill were about to establish the

28:28

Old West equivalent of a Las

28:30

Vegas residency for modern musicians. Buffalo

28:33

Bill's Wild West would perform at

28:35

Madison Square Garden for the whole

28:37

winter. Next

28:43

time on Legends of the Old West, Buffalo

28:46

Bill's Wild West plays its historic run

28:48

in New York and then heads to

28:50

Europe to perform for kings and queens.

28:53

But back home, all is not well.

28:56

New tensions rise between native American nations

28:58

and the Sioux government, and they explode

29:00

into violence with the murder of Sitting

29:03

Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee.

29:06

That's next week on Legends of the Old

29:08

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29:33

series was researched and written by Matthew

29:35

Kerns. Original music by Rob

29:37

Valier. I'm your host and producer,

29:40

Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the

29:42

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