Produced by Papeters, Mary Meehan,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
1879
To GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, THIS BOOK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.
[Illustration: Yours Sincerely, W. F. Cody]
The life and adventures of Hon. William F. Cody—Buffalo Bill—as toldby himself, make up a narrative which reads more like romance thanreality, and which in many respects will prove a valuable contributionto the records of our Western frontier history. While no literaryexcellence is claimed for the narrative, it has the greater merit ofbeing truthful, and is verified in such a manner that no one can doubtits veracity. The frequent reference to such military men as GeneralsSheridan, Carr, Merritt, Crook, Terry, Colonel Royal, and other officersunder whom Mr. Cody served as scout and guide at different times and invarious sections of the frontier, during the numerous Indian campaignsof the last ten or twelve years, affords ample proof of hisgenuineness as a thoroughbred scout.
There is no humbug or braggadocio about Buffalo Bill. He is known far andwide, and his reputation has been earned honestly and by hard work. By acombination of circumstances he was educated to the life of a plainsmanfrom his youth up; and not the least interesting portion of his career isthat of his early life, passed as it was in Kansas during the eventfuland troubleous times connected with the settlement of that state.Spending much time in the saddle, while a mere boy he crossed the plainsmany times in company with bull-trains; on some of these trips he metwith thrilling adventures and had several hairbreadth escapes from deathat the hands of Indians. Then, for a while, he was dashing over theplains as a pony-express rider. Soon afterwards, mounted on the high seatof an overland stagecoach, he was driving a six-in-hand team. We nexthear of him cracking the bull-whacker's whip, and commanding awagon-train through a wild and dangerous country to the far West. Duringthe civil war he enlisted as a private, and became a scout with the Unionarmy; since the war he has been employed as hunter, trapper, guide, scoutand actor. As a buffalo hunter he has no superior; as a trailer ofIndians he has no equal. For many years he has taken an active part inall the principal Indian campaigns on the Western frontier, and as ascout and guide he has rendered inestimable services to the variousexpeditions which he accompanied.
During his life on the plains he not only had many exciting adventureshimself, but he became associated with many of the other noted plainsmen,and in his narrative he frequently refers to them and relates manyinteresting incidents and thrilling events connected with them. He hashad a fertile field from which to produce this volume, and has frequentlyfound it necessary to condense the facts in order to embody the mostinteresting events of his life. The following from a letter written byGeneral E. A. Carr, of the Fifth Cavalry, now commanding Fort McPherson,speaks for itself:
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"I first met Mr. Cody, October 22d, 1868, at Buffalo Station, on theKansas Pacific railroad, in Kansas. He was scout and guide for t