Wild Bill Hickok: Difference between revisions

James Butler Hickok was born May 27, 1837, in Homer, Illinois, (present-day [[Troy Grove, Illinois]]) to William Alonzo Hickok (1801{{snd}}18521801–1852), a farmer and [[abolitionism|abolitionist]], and his wife, Pamelia Hickok (née Butler;, 1804{{snd}}18781804–1878). Hickok was of English ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-12-12|title=James Butler Hickok May 27 1837 -– August 2 1876 Better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok|url=http://www.countryside-lavie.com/article/2013/12/12/james-butler-hickok-may-27-1837-august-2-1876-better-known-wild-bill-hickok|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.countryside-lavie.com|archive-date=December 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224173104/http://www.countryside-lavie.com/article/2013/12/12/james-butler-hickok-may-27-1837-august-2-1876-better-known-wild-bill-hickok|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok''. pp. 4–5.</ref> James was the fourth of six children. His father was said to have used the family house, now demolished, as a station on the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ostrom |first=Gene F. |title=Vi's Secret: A Family's Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YpQwhk28YtIC&pg=PA9 |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |year=2008 |page=9 |isbn=9780595466252}}</ref> William Hickok died in 1852, when James was 15.<ref name="odrowaz">Odrowaz-Sypniewska, Margaret. [https://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/WBHickok.html James Butler Hickok/"Wild Bill"].</ref>

Hickok was a good shot from a young age, and was recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol.<ref name="Black Hills">{{cite web | title = James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok, Early Deadwood | work = Black Hills Visitor Magazine | url = http://www.blackhillsvisitor.com/all-articles-directory.html?pid=878&sid=918:James-Butler-Wild-Bill-Hickok-Early-Deadwood| access-date=February 20, 2013}}</ref> Photographs of Hickok appear to depict dark hair, but all contemporaneous descriptions affirm that it was red.{{efn|Red objects generally appear black in early photographs, as the photographic processes were insensitive to red light.}}<ref>Rosa, Joseph G. (1979). ''They Called Him Wild Bill''. University Press of Oklahoma. p. 306. {{ISBN?}}</ref>

Hickok used his late father's name, William Hickok, from 1858, and the name William Haycock during the [[American Civil War]]. Most newspapers referred to him as William Haycock until 1869. He was arrested while using the name Haycock in 1865. He afterward resumed using his given name, James Hickok. Military records after 1865 list him as Hickok, but he was also known as Haycock.<ref>Miller, Nyle H. (200). ''Why the West Was Wild''. University Press of Oklahoma. pp. 184–191. {{ISBN|0-8061-3530-1}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}<ref>Rosa, Joseph G. (2003). ''Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter: An Account of Hickok's Gunfights''. University Press of Oklahoma. {{ISBN|0-8061-3535-2}}.{{page?}}</ref> In an 1867 article about his shootout with [[Davis Tutt]], his surname was misspelled as Hitchcock.<ref name="twain">{{cite web|url=http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/roughingit/map/herhickok.html|title=Wild Bill in Harper's Magazine|publisher=Mark Twain in His Times|access-date=July 9, 2018}}</ref>