Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917, American plainsman, scout, and showman, b. near Davenport, Iowa. His real name was William Frederick Cody. His family moved (1854) to Kansas, and after the death of his father (1857) he set out to earn the family living, working for supply trains and a freighting company. In 1859 he went to the Colorado gold fields and he claimed, apparently falsely, to have ridden for the Pony Express in 1860. His adventures on the Western frontier as an army scout and later as a buffalo hunter for railroad construction camps on the Great Plains were the basis for the stories later told about him.

On his first visit to the East in 1872, Ned Buntline persuaded him to appear on the New York stage, and, except for a brief period of scouting against the Sioux and Cheyenne in 1876, he was from that time on connected with show business. In 1883 he organized Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and toured with it for many years throughout the United States and Europe. Wyoming granted him a stock ranch, on which the town of Cody was laid out. He died in Denver and was buried on Lookout Mt. near Golden, Colo. The exploits attributed to him in the dime novels of Buntline and Prentice Ingraham are only slightly more imaginative than his own autobiography (1920).

known as Buffalo Bill

(born Feb. 26, 1846, Scott county, Iowa, U.S.—died Jan. 10, 1917, Denver, Colo.) U.S. buffalo hunter, army scout, and Indian fighter. He became a rider for the Pony Express and later served in the American Civil War. In 1867–68 he hunted buffalo to feed construction crews for the Union Pacific Railroad; he became known as Buffalo Bill after slaughtering 4,280 head of buffalo in eight months. He was a scout for the U.S. 5th Cavalry (1868–72, 1876) as it subdued Indian resistance. His exploits, including the scalping of the Cheyenne warrior Yellow Hair in 1876, were chronicled by reporters and novelists, who made him a folk hero. He began acting in dramas about the West, and in 1883 he organized his first Wild West Show, which included stars such as Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull. The show toured in the U.S. and abroad to wide acclaim.

Learn more about Cody, William F(rederick) with a free trial on Britannica.com.