The grave of Wild Bill Hickok in Mount Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood, S,. Dakota
Image details
Contributor:
Niall Ferguson / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
E89JHRFile size:
44.6 MB (1.9 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3533 x 4416 px | 29.9 x 37.4 cm | 11.8 x 14.7 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
8 September 2014Location:
Mount Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood, S,. Dakota, USAMore information:
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876)—known as "Wild Bill" Hickok—was a character of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and gambler, & his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his enduring fame. Born & raised on a farm in rural Illinois, Hickok went west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice, first working as a stagecoach driver, then as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas & Nebraska. He fought (& spied) for the Union Army during the American Civil War, & gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, actor, & professional gambler. He was involved in several notable shootouts. Martha Jane Canary, known popularly as Calamity Jane, claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok The two were believed to have met for the first time after Jane was released from the guardhouse in Fort Laramie and joined the wagon train in which Hickok was traveling. The wagon train arrived in Deadwood in July, 1876. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood. He usually sat with his back to a wall. The only seat available when he joined the poker game was a chair that put his back to a door. A former buffalo hunter, Jack McCall entered the saloon, walked behind Hickok, drew a pistol & shouted, "Damn you! Take that!" before firing. McCall's bullet hit Hickok in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The card hand he held at the time of his death (black aces and black eights) has come to be known as the "Dead Man's Hand". Hickok was buried in the Ingelside Cemetery, Deadwood's original graveyard. This cemetery filled quickly, preventing further use, and in 1879, on the third anniversary of his original burial, Utter paid to move Hickok to the new Mount Moriah cemetery. Hickok is currently interred in a ten foot square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery, surrounded by a cast-iron fence with a U.S. flag flying nearby. Calamity Jane was buried next to him.