Who's Who: People of the Old West Quiz

Answer: William F. Cody

Born in LeClaire, Iowa, Buffalo Bill lived quite an extraordinary life. In his early teens he rode on the Pony Express; when he was seventeen he enlisted in the army as a teamster, a person who drove wagons drawn by animals. The famous nickname was earned while employed to provide food to workers on the Kansas Pacific Railroad.

It is said that in eighteen months, he killed 4,282 bison. During the Indian Wars, while serving as a scout, he received the Medal of Honor for bravery. Later in life, his Wild West Show gained notoriety in the United States, as well as Europe.

Answer: Wyatt Earp

Made famous by stories and movies made about the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp moved from town to town in the Old West, working in a variety of jobs. In cow towns like Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, lawmen were needed to contain rowdy, drunken cowboys, who had money to spend at the end of a drive; it was in these towns Earp gained experience as a peacekeeper.

After deciding to move to Tombstone, Arizona, with family members, Wyatt operated a gambling establishment and worked from time to time as a lawman with his brothers, eventually coming into conflict with a group of bandits called the Cowboys.

The day of the famous gunfight, his brother, Virgil, was in charge, not Wyatt; he did, however, lead the famous Earp Vendetta Ride to punish cowboys who had killed his brother, Morgan, and severely injured Virgil.

Answer: James Bowie

Although there are several stories involving the design of the famous knife and who originally made it, it is believed that Bowie's expertise was first noticed during a duel he fought called the Sandbar Fight. He used the knife, which was described as a butcher knife, to disembowel his opponent! Yikes! After the duel, he moved to Texas, where he became a Mexican citizen, however, when war broke out between Texas and Mexico, Bowie was chosen to be one of the leaders of the Texas militia. Already ill and confined to bed, it is believed that he died at the Battle of the Alamo after running out of ammunition.

Answer: Belle Starr

Born in Missouri, Belle Starr supposedly knew the James and Younger families while she was growing up, and her brother is said to have ridden with Confederate guerilla fighters during the Civil War. How a woman who was given a classical education turned into the "bandit queen" is easy to explain: she married men who consorted with bandits and gangs. Cattle rustling and stealing horses were lucrative businesses, and Belle was good at her job!

Answer: Sitting Bull

Displaced from the reservation when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1876, Sitting Bull became one of the principal leaders of his people in the Battle of Little Bighorn, defeating General George Custer's army. Eventually receiving a pardon from the U.S. government, Sitting Bull was allowed to travel; during one of his journeys he met Annie Oakley, and eventually named her "Little Sure Shot".

His friendship with Oakley led him to join Buffalo Bull's Wild West Show, but he only stayed with the production for about four months.

It is said that he earned a small fortune during that time, however, and gave much of his money to impoverished people he saw along the way.

Answer: James Butler Hickok

Having a variety of nicknames, such as "Duck Bill", and "Shanghai Bill", Hickok used the first name "William" from time to time as an alias. Apparently "Wild Bill" was a nickname that he gave to himself! Although there is no proof to substantiate the story, it is believed that he served the Union as a spy in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Gaining quite a reputation as a tough lawman, he worked in some of the roughest areas of his day, including Hayes County and Abilene, Kansas. After being diagnosed with glaucoma, Wild Bill made his living as a gambler, which is what he was doing at the time of his death.

The famous poker hand he was holding, "aces and eights", is commonly called the "dead man's hand".

Answer: Martha Jane Canary

After the deaths of her parents, Martha Jane needed to provide for her younger brothers and sisters. She held a variety of jobs from ox team driver to scout in order to provide for them. In an autobiographical account, she claimed that she was working as a scout for the U.S. Army during an Indian uprising. Seeing that the commander of the group, Captain Egan, had been shot and was close to falling off his horse, she rescued him and took him safely back to the post.

It was Egan who said, "I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains".

Answer: Christopher Carson

Christopher "Kit" Carson left home when he was just sixteen and eventually became a mountain man/fur trapper, which was a difficult life. A mountain man typically had only himself to rely upon against the weather, Indians, and wild animals as he tried to earn a living. Carson gained notoriety when he was asked to join the expeditions of John C. Fremont as a scout. Fremont explored and mapped much of the western United States in an attempt to attract settlers to the area.

After the Mexican-American War he was chosen to serve as an Indian agent to the Jicarilla Apaches and Ute Indians.

As leader of a group of volunteers, he fought at the Battle of Valverde during the Civil War; after that he fought in wars against Indian tribes, including the Navajo.

Answer: Geronimo

Geronimo was not an Apache chief; however, working with a small band of followers, he led raids as both Mexican and American forces encroached on Apache lands during the period of the Mexican War. After the war, as more settlers came to the area of New Mexico and Arizona, more raiding occurred.

These raids were not only carried out for the trespassing on Apache territory, but also because, from time to time, food and supplies were needed. Often times the stealing of supplies included acts of violence against innocent people; however, one must wonder if Geronimo was really only trying to preserve his way of life.

Answer: Meriwether Lewis

As luck would have it, Meriwether Lewis and Thomas Jefferson grew up in the same area of Virginia; in fact, members of Jefferson's family married into the Lewis family, and Meriwether's uncle and guardian represented Jefferson while he worked in Paris with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Jefferson said that Lewis was hired due to his military and frontier knowledge, and because they were from the same community.

The job as private secretary led to the appointment as leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the West, which included the new acquisition, the Louisiana Purchase.

In regard to his choice, Jefferson stated, "I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him".