Buffalo Bill (1846–1917)

Born Feb. 26, 1845
1849-1852 age 5-8; Learned to ride a horse
1855 age 10; Hired at $25/mo. to herd cattle
1855-56 age 10-11; Attended school, until had a fight with another school boy over a girl and stabbed the other boy; ran away and herded cattle for several months, then returned to school for a few more weeks

1857 age 12; Father died, he left school and herded cattle to Salt Lake City; Killed first Indian; Hired on to a wagon train; meets Wild Bill Hickock (10 years older); he throws a boiling pot of coffee in the face of a bully & Wild Bill protects him from death at the hands of the bully; Held off attack by Indians

1858 age 13; Joined another wagon train; tried trapping for furs
1859 age 14; Attended school again—for 2.5 months—and then set out west to pan for gold; becomes a Pony Express rider, an Army Scout, etc. until 1879 when he stopped writing this biography.

As Cody gains in physical stature he gains in strength and experience and confidence and then it just gets busier and busier and more and more daring. Almost every chapter in this autobiography describes a life-and-death encounter and is just too cluttered to summarize. At no time does Cody sound like he feels any need to exaggerate his adventures because they didn’t feel like such adventures to him at the time. And his writing style just feels “right” for someone who knows a good story doesn’t need embellishment…and has almost no proper education anyway. I do believe that that’s how they really talked to each other. It may be worth it to find a more detailed description of Buffalo Bill’s life, just to see what he left out.

In short, I found the book very entertaining and informative and well written and recommend it to "wild west" buffs and anyone, starting from age 10 and up, that wants some first hand descriptions of life just outside of the U.S. of A.… (mere)