James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837-August 2, 1876) better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a semi-legendary figure in the American Wild West. This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... Jump to: navigation, search May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Great Basin region, typical American West The Western United States has played a significant role in history and fiction. ...

Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois. He left his father's farm in 1855 to be a stagecoach driver on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. His gunfighting skills led to his nickname. In 1857, he claimed a 160 acre (0.6 km²) tract of land in Johnson County, Kansas (in what is now the city of Lenexa) and became constable of Monticello Township [1]. In 1861, he became a town constable in Nebraska. He became well-known for single-handedly capturing the McCanles gang, through the use of a ruse. On several other occasions, Hickok confronted and killed several men while fighting alone. His famous statement to Phil Coe, who supposedly stated he could "kill a crow on the wing," (flying) is one of the Old West's most famous sayings, and showed that Hickok was certainly a cool customer in a fight. He answered Coe by sneering "did the crow have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be." Hickok later killed Coe. Whether Coe had actually made the crow brag, and Hickok answered as reported, it certainly personified the reputation Wild Bill accrued. Troy Grove is a village located in La Salle County, Illinois. ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Buffalo soldiers guard a Concord style stagecoach somewhere in the American West, ca. ... The Santa Fe Trail was a historic 19th century transportation route across southwestern North America connecting Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. ... For other uses of the term, see Oregon Trail (disambiguation) The route of the Oregon Trail is shown in red in the western United States The Ox Team or the Old Oregon Trail 1852-1906 by Ezra Meeker. ... A firearm is a kinetic energy weapon that fires either a single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced by action of the rapid confined burning of a propellant. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Johnson County (standard abbreviation: JO) is a county located in the state of Kansas. ... Lenexa is a city located in Johnson County, Kansas. ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... A Constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly that of law-enforcement. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Cornhusker State Other U.S. States Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Governor Dave Heineman (R) Senators Chuck Hagel (R) Ben Nelson (D) Official languages English Area 200,520 km² (16th)  - Land 199,099 km²  - Water 1,247 km² (0. ... The McCanles were known as an outlaw gang in the early 1860s that was wanted for alleged train robbery, murder, bank robbery, cattle rustling, and horse theft. ...

After the American Civil War, Hickok became an army scout and a professional gambler. In 1867, his fame increased from an interview by Henry Morton Stanley. Hickok's killing of Whistler the Peacemaker with a long range rifle shot had influence in preventing the Sioux from uniting to resist the settler incursions into the Black Hills. In 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas. His encounter there with John Wesley Hardin resulted in the latter fleeing the town after Wild Bill managed to disarm him. Hickok toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in 1872–1873, where he befriended "Calamity" Jane Cannary-Burke, who was later to claim a romantic relationship which appears dubious, Hickok being newly married and greatly enamored of his wife. He was fired from the show due to drunkenness. The two were to meet again in Charlie Utter's 1876 wagon train from Colorado to Deadwood, South Dakota, where the three of them remained close friends. Jump to: navigation, search The American Civil War (1861–1865) was fought in North America within the United States of America, between twenty-three mostly northern states of the Union and the Confederate States of America, a coalition of eleven southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right... Jump to: navigation, search 1867 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Sir Henry Morton Stanley (orginal name John Rowlands and also known as Bula Matari (Breaker of Rocks) in Congo) (January 29, 1841 – May 10, 1904) was a 19th-century, British-born American journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David... Jump to: navigation, search 1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Abilene is a city located in Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. ... Buffalo Bill Cody Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa, near Le Claire . ... Jump to: navigation, search 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Calamity Jane at the age of 33. ... Charlie Utter (born near Niagara Falls, New York, 1838 - death unknown) was an early figure in the American Wild West, best known as a great friend and companion of Wild Bill Hickok. ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Wagon Train was a television series on NBC from 1957 to 1965. ... A photograph of Deadwood in 1876. ...

On August 2, 1876, while playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's "Saloon No. 10" in Deadwood (then part of the Dakota Territory but on Indian land), Hickok could not find an empty seat in the corner, where he always sat in order to protect himself against sneak attacks from behind, and instead sat with his back to the door; unfortunately, his previous caution proved wise, as he was shot in the back of the head with a double-action .45 caliber revolver by Jack McCall. The motive for the killing is still debated. (McCall may have been paid for the deed, it may have just been the result of a recent dispute, or McCall may, in a drunken rage, have become enraged over what he perceived as a condescending offer from Hickok to let him have enough money for breakfast after he had lost all his money playing poker the previous day.) McCall claimed at the resulting two-hour trial by a motley group of assembled miners and businessmen that he was avenging Hickok's earlier slaying of his brother and was acquitted, resulting in the Black Hills Pioneer editorializing: Jump to: navigation, search August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Jump to: navigation, search Wikibooks Poker has more about this subject: Poker Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, which is awarded to the remaining player... Dakota Territory was the name of the northernmost part of the Louisiana Purchase of the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search The word caliber (American English) or calibre (British English) designates the interior diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Colt Single Action Army, one of the most popular revolvers of all time A revolver is a multishot firearm, usually a handgun, in which the rounds are held in a revolving cylinder that rotates to fire them through a single barrel. ... Jack McCall (also known as Crooked Nose Jack) (born in the early 1850s in Jefferson County, Kentucky - died March 1, 1877 in Yankton, South Dakota) is the man who gained notoriety as a coward and a drunkard by shooting James Wild Bill Hickok in the back, to the point where... The Black Hills Pioneer, published by A. W. Merrick along with W. A. Laughlin, was the first newspaper in Deadwood, South Dakota. ...

"Should it ever be our misfortune to kill a man ... we would simply ask that our trial may take place in some of the mining camps of these hills."

McCall was subsequently rearrested and a new trial was held. Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler Hickok, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial. This time McCall was found guilty and hanged. After his execution it was determined that McCall had never even had a brother. Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Land of Lincoln, The Prairie State Other U.S. States Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) Senators Richard Durbin (D) Barack Obama (D) Official languages English Area 149,998 km² (25th)  - Land 143,968 km²  - Water 6,030 km² (4. ...

Grave of Wild Bill Hickok.

The saloon proprietor claimed that, at the time of his death, Hickok held a pair of aces and a pair of eights, with all cards black, and this has since been called a "dead man's hand". ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (480x640, 175 KB) Summary Grave of Wild Bill Hickok. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (480x640, 175 KB) Summary Grave of Wild Bill Hickok. ... The dead mans hand, aces over eights. ...

Utter claimed the body, and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, which read: The Black Hills Pioneer, published by A. W. Merrick along with W. A. Laughlin, was the first newspaper in Deadwood, South Dakota. ...

"Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickok (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter's Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o'clock, P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend."

Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading:

"Wild Bill, J. B. Hickok killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2d, 1876. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter."

At the urging of Calamity Jane, Utter in 1879 had Hickok reinterred in a ten foot square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery, surrounded by a cast-iron fence with an American flag in the ground. A monument has since been built there. In accordance with her dying wish, Calamity Jane was buried next to him. Jump to: navigation, search 1879 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Shortly before Hickok's death, he wrote a letter to his new wife, which in retrospect seems eerily prescient:

"Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife - Agnes - and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore".

Trivia

The last days of Hickok's life are a subject of the Deadwood TV series, where he is portrayed by Keith Carradine. Deadwood is a weekly HBO television drama that premiered in March 2004. ... Keith Carradine Keith Carradine (born August 8, 1949, in San Mateo, California) is an actor born into a family of actors. ...

Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. The Poker Hall of Fame is a group of poker players who have played poker well against top competition for high stakes over a long period of time. ...

Hickok's supposed death chair is now in a glass case above the saloon entrance, though the saloon itself was moved after the original 10 burned down; the original site is down the street to the north about a block away.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Wild Bill Hickok

• The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
• Deadwood, South Dakota