If you were to believe half the stories in the book, "Last of the Great Scouts," the biography of William F. Cody--aka: "Buffalo Bill," the man had one heckuva life. Written by his sister, it contains page after page of daring do--tho' painted in a glowing and positive life, written by his sister, it story underneath the dime novel-ish late Victorian-era romanticism, (First published in 1899) paints the picture of an impulsive, spoiled, sometimes temperamental--yet an often humble, good hearted and certainly courageous, young man.
Born during the westward movement, and having had grown-up adventures at an early age--leaving home on his own around the age of 13 or 14, venturing into the pre-Civil War wilderness of the Rocky Mountains--the man had countless adventures...but wasn't always fearless about them, in one account, young will was severely injured and had to be abandoned on the prairie to fend for himself for a month, totally alone--with winter coming on, and most of his blankets and food stolen by Indians. His sister paints a picture of a young man--still in his teens, who for the first time comes face to face with his own vulnerability, his own mortality. And, apparently, it scared him half to death. When his friend returned with help, a month later, Cody's sister tells of how the great frontiersman, upon seeing his friend walk through the door of the dugout where he was holed up, Cody broke down and bawled like a child, from relief and joy.
Cody was much-loved by his fellow westerners. One of his closest friends was none other than famous gun-slinger, Wild Bill Hickock, who, at one point, did stage shows with Cody and another famous western figure of that time. The lively accounts of his travels west with his family, his trips with the fur trappers and gold miners, his spying during the Civial war, Scouting for the US Cavalry during the Indian wars, stories of how the man wept over the loss of his childhood dog, and his favourite horse, the blossoming of his Wild West Show and his first British and European tours, the sad account of the death of his son and its affect on Cody, and other stories, made this a page-turner for me.
A facinating book--how much of it is truth, and how much embellishment, we'll probably never know. His sister often writes as if she witnessed many of these events personally--though she was there at times, other times it would have been impossible, and one has to take into account, that Bill Cody, was a western story teller--as most westerners were actually very good story tellers--that was their main entertainment in the wilderness. But, one wonders what stories are close to factual truth--like probably the abandonment tale, and what were stories perhaps slightly (or perhaps even wholly) embellished in the re-telling by Cody and/or his friends and family members.
Still, this long out-of-print book (a second or third American edition, published by Grossett and Dunlap, dating from 1918) is a wonderful read, and for a book of that era, highly colourful and entertaining. Though no longer published (that I'm aware of), used copies can be found, from anywhere from $10 on Amazon for a used newer edition, to a good first edition for $100 from antiquarian booksellers.
Or, you can save your cash, and read this book online, here:
http://www.kancoll.org/books/cody/
SOME OF HIS "WILD WEST SHOW" PERFORMERS-- (my late-aunt/godmothers hubby was a wrangler and roustabout with the Wild West Show)
