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James Butler Hickock was born May 27, 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois. In the years prior to the Civil War, he worked as a hunter, a muleskinner, a bodyguard for a St. Louis abolitionist and as a wagonmaster on the Santa Fe trail. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hickock became a civilian scout at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Throughout the war, he was employed as both a scout and a wagonmaster.

At the end of the war, Hickock went to Springfield, Missouri, where he was involved in the famous July 21, 1865 shootout with David Tutt, in the "Wild West's" first classic street shootout. Between 1867 and 1871, Hickock would serve in various positions as a lawman and army scout. He served with Custer's 7th Cavalry and the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry, and starred in Buffalo Bill's "Scout of the West" show as well.

During this period, Hickock faced many men who were trying to make a name for themselves by killing him in a gunfight. During one such encounter, in October, 1871, in Abilene, Kansas, Wild Bill accidentally shot and killed his own deputy. After this, Hickock left town and became a professional gambler.

On August 2, 1876, Hickock was killed at Nuttall & Mann's No. 10 saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, while he played poker with three other men. Instead of sitting with his back to the wall as he always did, Hickock sat with his back to the door. A 25-year old drifter, Jack McCall, walked in and shot Wild Bill in the back of the head. The cards that Hickock was holding, two black eights, two black aces and the Jack of diamonds, is now known as the "dead man's hand".

According to legend, Hickcock was a civilian scout working on General Curtis' staff who posed as a Confederate soldier, learned of Van Dorn's plans, then slipped away to warn Curtis that the Confederates were moving.  Contrary to the myth, which has found its way into a number of publications and articles on the battle, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickcock was not present at Pea Ridge, nor was involved in any way with the Army of the Southwest. 

In 1871, the book, Buffalo Bill, the King of the Border Men was written by Edward Zane Carroll Judson, under the pen-name Ned Buntline.  The book, which the author claimed was based "entirely on fact", had "Buffalo Bill" Cody and his partner, Wild Bill, leading a company of scouts against a band of Missouri border ruffians led by Dave Tutt.  Near the battle's climax, Cody's men killed Generals McCulloch and Van Dorn and saved Curtis' army with a wild cavalry charge.  Unfortunately, every man in Cody's company was either killed or wounded in the battle, including Hickcock, who was killed by Dave Tutt's girlfriend.

This book most likely gave rise to the Hickcock / Pea Ridge myth.  Although there is no basis in fact for this story, Buntline's book did have one element of truth.  Dave Tutt and Wild Bill did have a "shoot out", although it was after the war, in a Springfield, Missouri street in the Wild West's first classic gunfight. 

Henry Halleck | Samuel Curtis | Franz Sigel | Alexander Asboth | Peter Osterhaus | Jefferson Davis | Eugene Carr | Grenville Dodge | Philip Sheridan | Frederick Benteen | James "Wild Bill" Hickock

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