Annie Oakley and Her Amazing Exploits Quiz

In November 1875, 15-year-old Phoebe Ann Mosey (her birth name) entered a sharpshooting contest in Cincinnati, Ohio, against Frank Butler, an established traveling marksman who had bet $100 he could beat any local challenger. Mosey won the match by hitting all 25 of her targets, while Butler missed his final shot and finished with 24.

Instead of sparking a bitter rivalry, the defeat blossomed into a romance; the two began courting and eventually married, becoming one of history's most famous show business couples.

Phoebe Ann Mosey had married Frank Butler in 1876. In 1882, Frank Butler's regular shooting partner fell ill, prompting Phoebe to step into the spotlight and join the traveling act permanently. At this point, she decided to take on a stage name. While "Annie" was a nickname she had used since childhood, she chose "Oakley" as her professional surname, most likely inspired by the Cincinnati neighborhood of Oakley, Ohio, where she and Frank were living at the time.

In March 1884, Annie Oakley was performing in St. Paul, Minnesota, when she caught the attention of the legendary Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull. He was deeply impressed by her incredible accuracy and was surprised she was only five feet (1.5 m) tall.

He insisted on meeting the young sharpshooter back stage. He was so taken with her that he offered her $65 for a photograph of them together. He affectionately called her "Watanya Cicilla," which translates to "Little Sure Shot" and he symbolically adopted Annie as his daughter, reinforcing their mutual respect.

They remained friends for the rest of their lives.

In April 1885, Annie Oakley made a career move that changed her from a regional theater act to a global star when she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. William "Buffalo Bill" Cody had initially turned Annie and Frank down because he already had a star marksman, Captain A.H. Bogardus.

But when Bogardus abruptly quit, Cody gave the 24-year-old Oakley a tryout. He was instantly mesmerized by her charm and flawless shooting, signing her on the spot. Recognizing her immense appeal, Cody put Annie near the very beginning of the three hour show.

Her energetic and fast-paced performance (such as shattering glass balls thrown in the air while running or riding horseback) set the tone for the rest of the arena events.

In 1886, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show announced the arrival of Lillian Smith. Just 15 years old, Smith was a prodigy rifle shot from California billed as The Champion Rifle Shot of the World. This began an immediate rivalry with Annie Oakley. The two were polar opposites in terms of personality and presentation.

The show began to slowly squeeze Oakley out of the top spot while focusing on the younger, brash girl.

In May 1887, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show traveled to London to anchor the American Exhibition, coinciding with Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrating her 50th year on the throne. The Queen broke her long mourning period to attend the show. On May 11th, the troupe gave a private performance to Queen Victoria and her guests. Annie Oakley was a huge hit and was personally invited to greet the monarch (at which she famously shook hands instead of curtsying).

The adoration from the royalty and the British people made Oakley even a bigger global sensation.

After the London performance to Queen Victoria in 1887, Oakley had quit the Wild West Show out of frustration with her rivalry with Lillian Smith. When Smith left the show in 1889, Oakley rejoined it in time for a massive, multi year European tour that officially kicked off in Paris, coinciding with the 1889 World's Fair. During seven months in that city, prominent French artists, writers, and aristocrats flocked to her private tent to meet her.

In Germany, the kaiser himself, completely entrhalled with her, asked to be part of her act (to which she agreed and shot the ash off a lit cigarette held in his mouth).

By the time the European tour ended, Oakley was a global phenomenon.

On November 1, 1894, Annie Oakley made history by stepping in front of a motion picture camera, becoming one of the very first women ever captured on film. The recording took place at Thomas Edison's studio in West Orange, New Jersey, the world's first commercial movie studio.

The film, appropriately titled "Little Sure Shot", is incredibly brief and lasted only about 21 seconds. Because early cameras were massive, static, and bound to the indoor studio, Oakley couldn't do her usual routine of riding a galloping horse or running across an arena.

Instead, she repeatedly fired a lever-action rifle at small glass balls tossed into the air by an assistant.

When the Spanish-American War broke out in April 1898, Annie Oakley's intense patriotism prompted her to make an extraordinary, unprecedented offer to the United States government. She volunteered to recruit, train, and lead a regiment of 50 women sharpshooters into battle.

She wrote a letter to President McKinley explaining the endeavor. McKinley politely declined her offer since the idea of women serving in a direct, armed combat role was completely foreign. The offer, however, cemented her reputation as a visionary ahead of her time and she spent the rest of her life fiercely promoting firearm safety and education for women.

In the early morning hours of October 29, 1901, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show was traveling through Linwood, North Carolina, when disaster struck. Their 28-car troupe train collided with a speeding freight train. The results were catastrophic with animals killed and many injured performers. Annie Oakley was pulled from the wreckage with a deeply traumatized spine that left her partially paralyzed.

She underwent five agonizing spinal surgeries and spent months in intense rehabilitation. At 41 years old, she officially resigned from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

However, she went on to have a brilliant comeback by pivoting to stage performances highlighting her amazing life.