William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in Le Claire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US Army as a scout. One of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill became famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes, which he toured in Great Britain and Europe as well as the United States.
1896: Founded Cody, WY.
Adopted son is Ranger Bill Miller.
Pictured (as Buffalo Bill) on one of a set of twenty 29 US commemorative postage stamps celebrating Legends of the West, issued 18 October 1994. A set of twenty 19 US postcards with pictures of the stamps was issued on the same date. Other persons honored in the two sets are Annie Oakley , Bill Pickett , William Tilghman , Jim Bridger, Wyatt Earp , John C. Fremont, William Barclay Bat Masterson , Chief Joseph, Wild Bill Hickok, Kit Carson, Geronimo , Charles Goodnight, Nellie Cashman, Sacajawea and Jim Beckwourth.
6/6/88: Pictured on a 15 US definitive postage stamp in the Great Americans series.
1872: Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his role as a scout for the United States Army (1868-1872).
Before he went into show business, he had been a trapper, a bullwhacker, a Colorado "Fifty-Niner", Pony Express rider (1860), wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, Civil War soldier, and even hotel manager.
By the time he died, he was almost broke.
1883: Staged his first Wild West Show in Omaha, NE.
1958: Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Supported Indian and womens rights; he was also a conservationist.
Son of Isaac Cody and wife Mary Ann Bonsell Laycock, daughter of Samuel Laycock and wife Hannah Taylor and, by her, a distant relative of both Richard Nixon and Al Gore.
First cousin five times removed of Dawn Cody.
Was mentioned in an Allan Sherman song entitled "Oh Boy" as "Buffalo Bill" Cody.
Inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2012.
