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Last of the Great Scouts, by Helen Cody Wetmore |
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Last of the Great Scouts, by Helen Cody Wetmore
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Zane Grey.
Genealogy of Buffalo Bill.
Preface.
I. The Old Homestead in Iowa.
II. Will's First Indian.
III. The Shadow of Partisan Strife.
IV. Persecution Continues.
V. The "Boy Extra."
VI. Family Defender and Household Tease.
VII. Indian Encounter and School-Day Incidents.
VIII. Death and Burial of Turk.
IX. Will as Pony Express Rider.
X. Echoes from Sumter.
XI. A Short but Dashing Indian Campaign.
XII. The Mother's Last Illness.
XIII. In the Secret-Service.
XIV. A Rescue and a Betrothal.
XV. Will as a Benedict.
XVI. How the Sobriquet of "Buffalo Bill" was Won.
XVII. Satanta, Chief of the Kiowas.
XVIII. Will Made Chief of Scouts.
XIX. Army Life at Fort McPherson.
XX. Pa-has-ka, the Long-Haired Chief.
XXI. The Hunt of the Grand Duke Alexis.
XXII. Theatrical Experiences.
XXIII. The Government's Indian Policy.
XXIV. Literary Work.
XXV. First Visit to the Valley of the Big Horn.
XXVI. Tour of Great Britain.
XXVII. Return of the "Wild West" to America.
XXVIII. A Tribute to General Miles.
XXIX. The "Wild West" at the World's Fair.
XXX. Cody Day at the Omaha Expedition.
XXXI. The Last of the Great Scouts.
Zane Grey Adds the Finishing Touch
to the Story by Telling of the
Last Days of the Great Scouts.
List of Illustrations.
Foreword,
by Zane Grey
It is an honor and a pleasure for me to add a few words to this splendid book, The Last of the Great Scouts, by Colonel Cody's sister, Mrs. Helen Cody Wetmore.
When the history of our western frontier is at last written, the name of Buffalo Bill will stand out perhaps as no other. He was symbolical of the heroic west. He inspired the pioneer, guided the soldier, and helped the builders of the railroad. And his life was more thrilling than any wild, adventurous and moving romance. Facts may not be so strange as fiction, but they are more convincing. And some facts, if written as fiction, would be unbelievable.
The early West bred men of heroic mould. They resembled the Indian in many ways, and were superior to him in all ways except perhaps the noble worship of nature. The like of Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, Buffalo Jones, and many other famous frontiersmen will never be met with again in this world. The time needed them, and they developed. These three types of the West were singularly unlike -- Buffalo Bill was the scout and pathfinder and hunter; Wild Bill was the gunman, the killer, the foe of the rampant desperado class; Buffalo Jones was the preserver.
And so a narrative of Buffalo Bill's life, by a relative, written simply and truthfully from first-hand facts, is an absorbingly interesting story as well as a valuable adjunct to history.
It will show a man growing great through the life of the times -- an outdoor life of swift action, of various service, of perilous adventure, of unselfish devotion to an ideal, of magnificent effrontery in the face of death, of steadfast friendship, of inexplicable hardihood and endurance through heat, storm, cold, desert thirst and mountain loneliness -- all that some day men might have free, happy homes in the boundless West.
ZANE GREY.
Genealogy of Buffalo Bill
The following genealogical sketch was compiled in 1897. The crest is copied from John Rooney's "Gehealogical History of Irish Families."
It is not generally known that genuine royal blood courses in Colonel Cody's veins. He is a lineal descendant of Milesius, king of Spain, that famous monarch whose three sons, Heber, Heremon, and Ir, founded the first dynasty in Ireland, about the beginning of the Christian era. The Cody family comes through the line of Heremon. The original name was Tireach, which signifies "The Rocks." Muiredach Tireach, one of the first of this line, and son of Fiacha Straivetine, was crowned king of Ireland, Anno Domini 320. Another of the line became king of Connaught, Anno Domini 701. The possessions of the Sept were located in the present counties of Clare, Galway, and Mayo. The names Connaught-Gallway, after centuries, gradually contracted to Connallway, Connellway, Connelly, Conly, Cory, Coddy, Coidy, and Cody, and is clearly shown by ancient indentures still traceable among existing records. On the maternal side, Colonel Cody can, without difficulty, follow his lineage to the best blood of England. Several of the Cody family emigrated to America in 1747, settling in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The name is frequently mentioned in Revolutionary history. Colonel Cody is a member of the Cody family of Revolutionary fame. Like the other Spanish-Irish families, the Codys have their proof of ancestry in the form of a crest. The lion signifies Spanish origin. It is the same figure that forms a part of the royal coat-of-arms of Spain to this day -- Castile and Leon. The arm and cross denote that the descent is through the line of Heremon, whose posterity were among the first to follow the cross, as a symbol of their adherence to the Christian faith.
Preface
In presenting this volume to the public the writer has a twofold purpose. For a number of years there has been an increasing demand for an authentic biography of "Buffalo Bill," and in response many books of varying value have been submitted; yet no one of them has borne the hall-mark of veracious history. Naturally, there were incidents in Colonel Cody's life -- more especially in the earlier years -- that could be given only by those with whom he had grown up from childhood. For many incidents of his later life I am indebted to his own and others' accounts. I desire to acknowledge obligation to General P. H. Sheridan, Colonel Inman, Colonel Ingraham, and my brother for valuable assistance furnished by Sheridan's Memoirs, "The Santa Fe Trail," "The Great Salt Lake Trail," "Buffalo Bill's Autobiography," and "Stories from the Life of Buffalo Bill."
A second reason that prompted the writing of my brother's life-story is purely personal. The sobriquet of "Buffalo Bill" has conveyed to many people an impression of his personality that is far removed from the facts. They have pictured in fancy a rough frontier character, without tenderness and true nobility. But in very truth has the poet sung:
"The bravest are the tenderest-
The loving are the daring."
The public knows my brother as boy Indian-slayer, a champion buffalo-hunter, a brave soldier, a daring scout, an intrepid frontiersman, and a famous exhibitor. It is only fair to him that a glimpse be given of the parts he played behind the scenes -- devotion to a widowed mother, that pushed the boy so early upon a stage of ceaseless action, continued care and tenderness displayed in later years, and the generous thoughtfulness of manhood's prime.
Thus a part of my pleasant task has been to enable the public to see my brother through his sister's eyes -- eyes that have seen truly if kindly. If I have been tempted into praise where simple narrative might to the reader seem all that was required, if I have seemed to exaggerate in any of my history's details, I may say that I am not conscious of having set down more than "a plain, unvarnished tale." Embarrassed with riches of fact, I have had no thought of fiction.
H. C. W.
Codyview, Duluth, Minnesota,
February 26, 1899.
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