Buffalo Bill: Last of the Great Scouts is the entertaining and fascinating story of William F. Cody, known to millions for over a century as the legendary Buffalo Bill. Born in a log cabin in Iowa, he was a buffalo hunter, stagecoach driver, Pony Express rider, Civil War soldier, and a scout for the U.S. army before beginning his career as the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, which electrified audiences around the world from 1883 to 1917.

 

Bill’s sister, Helen Cody Wetmore, has written an affectionate biography that recalls fully both the man and the legend, his colorful personality and ironic wit, as well as his celebrated international status. Some of her anecdotes read like the dime novels they were probably based on, but others provide fascinating glimpses of frontier life. Before becoming a showman, Cody tried his luck as a land speculator, a hotelkeeper, and a justice of the peace. These pages also show the author herself growing up on the wild frontier. Humorous and informative, Buffalo Bill introduces us to an unforgettable and controversial figure in American frontier history.

 

This commemorative edition includes the full text of the original 1899 edition, a foreword and afterword by novelist Zane Grey, illustrations by Frederic Remington, E. W. Deming, and Rosa Bonheur from a rare 1903 edition, and an introduction by scholar Joy S. Kasson.

Helen Cody Wetmore was one of five sisters of Buffalo Bill and her book Buffalo Bill was often sold at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows. Joy S. Kasson is chair of the American Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the author of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History.