Wild Bill Hickok

His contemporaries called him Wild Bill, and newspapermen and others made him a legend in his own time. Among western characters only General George Armstrong Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody are as readily recognized by the general public. In writing this biography, Joseph G. Rosa has expressed the hope that "Hickok emerges as a man and not a legend." For this comprehensive revision of his earlier biography of Wild Bill the author was allowed to work from newly available materials in the possession of the Hickok family. He also discovered new material pertaining to Wild Bill’s Civil War exploits and his service as a marshal and found the pardon file of his murderer, John McCall. Additional, rare photographs of Wild Bill are published here for the first time. The results of Rosa’s additional research make this second edition the best biography of Wild Bill likely to be written for years to come.

A #1 New York Times Bestselling AuthorJames Butler Hickok was known across the frontier as a soldier, Union spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. But in July 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in Springfield, MO -- the first quick-draw duel on the frontier. Thus began the reputation that made him a marked man to every gunslinger in the Wild West. Even before his death in 1876, Wild Bill became a legend, and he is brought fully to life in this rip-roaring, spellbinding true story.

Chronicles the lives of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, describing their legendary relationship and how novelists, journalists, and movie makers portrayed them.

Find out about the life of Wild Bill Hickok, a scout, lawman, and showman of the Wild West.

“James Butler Hickok, generally called ‘Wild Bill,’ epitomized the archetypal gunfighter, that half-man, half-myth that became the heir to the mystique of the duelist when that method of resolving differences waned. . . . Easy access to a gun and whiskey coupled with gambling was the cause of most gunfights--few of which bore any resemblance to the gentlemanly duel of earlier times. . . . Hickok’s gunfights were unusual in that most of them were ‘fair’ fights, not just killings resulting from rage, jealousy over a woman, or drunkenness. And, the majority of his encounters were in his role as lawman or as an individual upholding the law.”--from Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok (1837–1876) was a Civil War spy and scout, Indian fighter, gambler, and peace officer. He was also one of the greatest gunfighters in the West. His peers referred to his reflexes as “phenomenal” and to his skill with a pistol as “miraculous.” In Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter, Joseph G. Rosa, the world’s foremost authority on Hickok, provides an informative examination of Hickok’s many gunfights. Rosa describes the types of guns used by Hickok and illustrates his use of the plains’ style of “quick draw,” as well as examining other elements of the Hickok legend. He even reconsiders the infamous “dead man’s hand” allegedly held by Hickok when he was shot to death at age thirty-nine while playing poker. Numerous photographs and drawings accompany Rosa’s down-to-earth text.

Eulogised and ostracised, James Butler Hickok was alternately labelled courageous, affable, and self-confident; cowardly, cold-blooded, and drunken; a fine specimen of manhood; an overdressed dandy with perfumed hair; an unequaled marksman; and a poor shot. Born in Illinois in 1837, he was shot dead in Deadwood only 39 years later. By then both famous and infamous, he was widely known as Wild Bill.

Profiles the life and exploits of William Hickok, the legendary Western sharpshooter known as Wild Bill.

On the afternoon of August 2, 1876, in the Number Ten Saloon of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back and killed while playing cards. A man named Jack McCall was charged with the murder, but found innocent. In 1877, however, McCall was re-arrested for the murder, re-tried, and executed by hanging. Through the author's inside knowledge and meticulous research, questions about Hickok's death can now be answered, including what involvement the Dead Rabbits, an Irish gang from New York, had in the murder of Wild Bill.