William Fredrick Cody

Who is your hero? Is it Superman with the power to lift a car? Maybe it’s a famous scientist who discovered a life saving formula? My hero is a man who didn’t have super powers or was a great scientist. My hero is William Fredrick Cody also known as Buffalo Bill, the Wild West legend.

William Fredrick Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa in 1846. When Bill was 11 years old, he lost his father on March 10, 1857. He got his first job bringing oxen into town for fifty cents a day. By the time Bill was 12, he got another job with the Overland Freight Company of Russell. This work was dull for Bill’s adventurous nature, so he got a job as a herdsman.

Around this time, he got into a fight with someone much larger than him. By taking several hits, Bill finally took out a knife and attacked his opponent. To avoid being arrested, Bill hid in a wagon train. At the age of 15, Bill was hired as a rider for the Pony Express.

Before the Civil War was over, Bill enlisted in the Union Army. After the war, Bill married a woman named Louisa Frederica. In 1867 he was hired for the Kansas Pacific Railroad to provide meat for the construction crews. Bill was an excellent marksman killing 4,280 buffalo in just 18 months, earning the nickname “Buffalo Bill.”

The name Buffalo Bill spread like wild fire throughout the country for being an excellent marksman and scout. In 1883, Bill made the Wild West Show which was popular in America and Europe. Buffalo Bill was known by everyone in America by the 20th Century. William Fredrick Cody died at the age of 71 in 1917.

William Fredrick Cody is my hero because of his skill, bravery, and adventurous personality. He saved hundreds of people from Indian raids on settlements and wagon trains. He was a hero to many people because of his performance in the Wild West Show. William Fredrick Cody is my hero because of all of these qualities, but also for his determination to tame the wild west of his time. William Fredrick Cody might have died on March 10, 1917, but his legend will live on for years to come.