Wild Bill Hickok | Timeline

James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his work across the frontier as a drover, wagon master, soldier, spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales that he told about his life. Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation, along with his own stories. (Intro from Wikipedia)

May 27, 1837 - Troy Grove, Illinois - James Butler Hickok is born
January(?) 1(?), 1855 - Leavenworth, Kansas - After a fight with Charles Hudson (in which both fall into a canal, mistakenly thinking that one had killed the other), 18-year-old Hickok flees to Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, and joins Jim Lane's Free State Army (Jayhawkers) =(START)
January(?) 1(?), 1857 - near Lenexa, Johnson County, Kansas - Hickok claims a 160-acre tract in Johnson County, Kansas
March 22, 1858 - Monticello Township, Kansas - Hickok is elected one of the first four 
January(?) 1(?), 1859 - Joins the Russell, Waddell & Majors freight Company, the parent company of the "Pony Express"constables of Monticello Township
January(?) 1(?), 1860 - Hickok is badly injured by a bear while driving a freight team from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico
April(?) 30(?), 1861 - Rock Creek Station, southern Nebraska Territory - Hickok is hired by Rock Creek Station (a stagecoach and Pony Express station) as a stock tender
July 12, 1861 - Rock Creek Station, southern Nebraska Territory - David McCanles goes to the Rock Creek Station office to demand an overdue property payment from Horace Wellman, the station manager. McCanles reportedly threatens Wellman, and either Hickok (who was hiding behind a curtain) or Wellman kills him. Hickok, Wellman, and another employee, J.W. Brink, are tried for killing McCanles but are found to have acted in self-defense. McCanles may have been the first man Hickok killed. Hickok subsequently visits McCanles' widow, apologizes for the killing, and offers her $35 in restitution, all the money he had with him at the time
August(?) 1(?), 1861 - Sedalia, Missouri - Becomes a teamster for the Union Army in Sedalia, Missouri
December(?) 1(?), 1863 - Springfield, Missouri(?) - Works for the provost marshal of southwest Missouri as a member of the Springfield detective police
January(?) 1(?), 1864 - Missouri - Buffalo Bill finds Hickok in Missouri, disguised as a confederate officer
March 1(?), 1864 - Springfield, Missouri - Provost marshal of Springfield while it is under martial law
June 1(?), 1865 - Springfield, Missouri - Arrives in Springfield
July 21, 1865 - Springfield, Missouri - "Wild Bill" kills gambler Davis Tutt in a quick-draw duel in a public square
July 23, 1865 - Springfield, Missouri - Hickok is arrested for murder. However, he posts a bail of $2,000 on the same day, after the magistrate reduces the charge from murder to manslaughter
August 3, 1865 - Springfield, Missouri - Hickok's manslaughter trial begins
September 13, 1865 - Springfield, Missouri - Hickok is sought by Colonel George Ward Nichols, then a journalist for "Harper's New Monthly Magazine". The interviews he makes with Hickok in time turn the gunfighter into one of the legends of the Old West
January(?) 1(?), 1865 - Niagara Falls - Hickok puts on an outdoor demonstration titled "The Daring Buffalo Chasers of the Plains". He is accompanied by 3 other cowboys and six indians. As the event was outdoors, people could not be compelled to pay and the event was a financial fiasco and a failure in the end, when some buffalos trample some of the audience
September 1(?), 1865 - Springfield, Missouri - Comes in second in the election for city marshal of Springfield
January(?) 1(?), 1866 - Junction City, Kansas - While serving as a scout, reunites with his old friend William Cody
February 1(?), 1867 - (While in Junction City, Kansas)(?) - Colonel George Ward Nichols' article "Wild Bill" is published in "Harper's", immortalizing Hickok
May 11, 1867 - Fort Harker, Kansas - Wild Bill is attacked by a large number of indians, who flee after he kills two of them
July 2, 1867 - Fort Harker, Kansas - Departs in pursuit of indians who had killed four men near Fort Harker
December 1(?), 1867 - Hays, Kansas - Wild Bill Hickok arrives in Hays City, Kansas, and becomes a Deputy U.S.marshal
March 28, 1868 - Hays, Kansas - Picks up 11 union army deserters who had been charged with stealing government property. He is assigned to bring the men to Topeka for trial and he requests armed escort. The men assigned to him are William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), a sergeant and 5 privates
April 2, 1868 - Topeka, Kansas - Hickok, William Cody and ther prisoners arrive in Topeka
August 1(?), 1868 - Hays, Kansas - Wild Bill brings 200 cheyenne indians to Hays to be viewed by "excursionists" (as they called the tourists)
September 1, 1868 - Lincoln County, Kansas - Hickok is hired as a scout by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a segregated african-american unit
September 4, 1868 - Bijou Creek Basin, Colorado - Hickok is wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen who has been surrounded by indians
October 1(?), 1868 - Fort Lyon, Colorado - The 10th Regiment arrives at Fort Lyon, Colorado and remains there for the rest of 1868
July 1(?), 1869 - Hays, Kansas - Hickok returns to Hays and is elected city marshal and sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas
August 18, 1869 - Hays, Kansas - Acting as sheriff, Hickok arrests some offenders

"Wild Bill" Hickok, 1869

August 21, 1869 - Hays, Kansas - Hickok is praised in a letter from the commander of Fort Hays to the assistant adjutant General, for his work in apprehending deserters
August 23, 1869 - Hays, Kansas - Hickok is elected city marshal and sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas
September 1(?), 1869 - Hays, Kansas - Hickok kills Bill Mulvey, a drunken man who was rampaging through town with his rifle and who threatened to kill sheriff Hickok
September 27, 1869 - Hays Kansas - Hickok kills Samuel Strawhun, a cowboy that was causing a disturbance in a saloon
November 2, 1869 - Hays, Kansas - Hickok looses to his deputy Peter Lanihan in the regular county elections, however, they remain in their jobs of sheriff and deputy
July 17, 1870 - Hays, Kansas - Hickok is attacked by two 7th U.S.cavalry soldiers in a saloon. He kills one and wounds the other in the knee
April 15, 1871 - Abilene, Kansas - Hickok becomes marshal of Abilene, Kansas, replacing Tom "Bear River" Smith, who had been killed on November 2, 1870
August 1(?), 1871 - Abilene, Kansas - Hickok seeks to arrest John Wesley Hardin for killing Charles Couger in an Abilene hotel "for snoring too loud". However, Hardin leaves Kansas before Hickok could arrest him

"Wild Bill" Hickok (left),
Texas Jack Omohundro (standing)
and Buffalo Bill (right)

October 5, 1871 - Abilene, Kansas - Phil Coe, a gambler and businessman, shoots twice against Hickok, missing both times. Hickok fires back and seriously wounds Coe. Unfortunately, Hickok also mistakenly kills Coe's deputy, Mike Williams, something that would haunt him for the rest of his life
September 25, 1873 - (While in Abilene, Kansas)(?) - A daughter named Jean is reportedly born of a relationship between Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok
January(?) 1(?), 1876 - Kansas City, Missouri - Hickok is diagnosed with glaucoma and ophthalmia
March 5, 1876 - Cheyenne, Wyoming - Bill Hickok marries Agnes Thatcher Lake, a 50-year-old circus proprietor in Cheyenne, Wyoming
June 27, 1876 - Cheyenne, Wyoming - Hickok and Colorado Charley Utter depart to the Black Hills, intending to establish a transportation line
June 30, 1876 - Hickok and Utter reach John Hunton's road ranch
July 1(?), 1876 - Fort Laramie, Wyoming - Wild Bill (officially) meets Calamity Jane. They join a wagon train headed north
July 15, 1876 - Deadwood, Dakota - Hickok and Calamity Jane's wagon train arrives in Deadwood, Dakota
August 1, 1876 - Deadwood, Dakota - While playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood, a seat opens up at the table and a drunk man named Jack McCall sits down to play. McCall looses heavily. Hickok encourages McCall to quit the game until he could cover his losses and offers to give him money for breakfast. Although McCall accepts the money, he is apparently insulted
August 2, 1876 - Deadwood, Dakota - Jack McCall shoots Hickok from behind in the back of the head while he was gambling. Hickok dies instantly, aged 39 =(END)