William Frederick Cody, also known as Buffalo Bill, was born
into an anti-slavery family. He had a rough childhood, but despite
this hardship he grew up to be an adventurous wild west showman, and
achieve many historical goals.
On February 26, 1846, near the small town of LeClair, Iowa,
William F. Cody was born to Isacc and Marry Ann Cody. At the time
William had two sisters, Martha and Julia, and a brother, Samuel.
But he ended up with three more sisters, Eliza, Helen, and May, and
another brother, Charlie.
In the first eight years of his childhood, William grew up on a farm
his father owned and worked. During this time, William had plenty of
space on the Plains to play with his brother Sam and his black dog,
Turk. William also had some young Indian friends he met while on a
picnic with his sisters. The Indians were trying to steal the Cody's
lunch, but Bill stopped them and became friends with them.
Buffalo Bill Cody
Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, 1885
Buffalo Bill Cody in 1903Besides
picnics, young Will also enjoyed riding horses, having pretend Indian
fights with Sam, and hunting in the woods. Sadly, Samuel died when
he was thrown from his horse. Because of this, William not only lost
a brother but he lost a very good friend.
In 1854 William, along with his anti-slavery family, moved
near the city of Leavenworth, Kansas. This was not an easy move for
the Cody family seeing how most of that part of Kansas was pro
slavery. They were worried about this because earlier in Iowa a
dispute about slavery between Isacc and his brother Elijah, led to
Elijah stabbing Isacc. Luckily, he survived and nothing like this
happened in Kansas. While in Iowa, Bill had received no education.
After moving to Kansas he attended several sessions of country school...