James Butler Hickok a.k.a "Wild Bill" Hickok: Poker Legend

Hickok was born on May 27, 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois. As a boy in rural Illinois, young James was reliable enough, lean and wiry, and at the same time inordinately interested in guns, shooting, and combative bravado. For what it was worth in that context, he became recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol.

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 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.

In August 1861, he enlists as a civilian scout in the Union army. He fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek where the Union general was killed and his men were slaughtered. In the fall, he worked as a wagon master at Sedalia, Kansas. In 1864, he was employed as a scout. In 1865, he went on a spying mission for the Union.

From there, he went on to Springfield, Missouri, where he killed his next man. On July 21, 1865, he shot and killed Davis K. (Dave) Tutt, an Arkansas gambler, in a street shootout. Again he was arrested and again he was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.

After the American Civil War, Hickok became an army scout and a professional gambler.

In 1866 he was appointed U.S. Marshall at Fort Riley, Kans. His duties included recovering stolen government property, mostly livestock, arresting thieves, returning deserters to the army, escorting prisoners to Topeka. "Buffalo Bill" Cody worked with him.

In 1867, Wild Bill and other scouts led Custer's 7th Cavalry and other units on the war path against the hostile Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho, who had been harassing the Overland Stage. Writers also exaggerated this story, contributing to Wild Bill's legend. His fame also increased from an interview by journalist and adventurous reporter Henry Stanley. Wild Bill contributed to his own legend by purposely telling lies that nobody questioned. The writers were too willing to believe because they liked the wild west image.

In 1868, Wild Bill is attacked by a Cheyenne war party and injured. He was acting as a scout for the 10th Calvary. He returns to Troy Hills to recover from the wounds. He then acts as a guide for Senator Wilson's tour of the plains. At the end of the job he receives his famous ivory handled pistols from the Senator.

In August 1869, he is elected Sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas. He winds up shooting two men while in office that were seeking to gain fame by killing Wild Bill.

In 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas. He toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in 1872-1873, where he was romantically linked to Calamity Jane. He was fired from the show due to drunkenness.

At some point during 1876 he marries Agnes Thatcher and they move to Deadwood, South Dakota.where there was a gold rush going on and, likely, people ready to gamble their money away.

On August 2, 1876, while playing poker at Nuttal and Mann's "Saloon No. 10" in Deadwood (then part of the Dakota Territory but on Indian land) Hickok was shot dead by Jack McCall. He had his back to the door and is shot in the back of the head. The motive for the killing is still debated.

McCall may have been paid for the deed, he may have suspected Hickok of an earlier slaying of his brother, or it may have just been the result of a recent dispute. The brother theory probably was correct, considering that Lew McCall was a thief and had met his end in Abilene in a gunfight at the hands of a "lawman."

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."

James Butler Hickok was buried in the cemetery outside Deadwood. In 1979, more than a century after his dead, he was and inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.