1. The American West Biographies Lewis & Clarke Billy the Kid Buffalo Bill John Wesley Hardin ‘Judge’ Roy Bean James Marshall Joe Meek Joseph Smith Leland Stanford General Sherman General Sheridan Brigham Young Goodnight & Loving George Custer More biographies Colonel Chivington

2. The American West Biographies Little Crow Chief Joseph Black Kettle Wovoka More biographies Sitting Bull Bat Masterson ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok Wyatt Earp Jesse James Butch Cassidy Calamity Jane

3. WILLIAM LEWIS AND MERIWETHER CLARK LED THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY INTO THE UNCHARTED LANDS OF THE NORTH-AMERICAN CONTINENT FROM 1803 TO 1806. LEWIS AND CLARK WERE SENT BY PRESIDENT JEFFERSON FOLLOWING THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE OF 1803 WHICH SAW THE USA BUY THE GREAT PLAINS REGION FROM FRANCE. JEFFERSON WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THIS VAST NEW TERRITORY. THEIR WORK IN MAPPING THE LANDS AND DISCOVERING ROUTES ACROSS THE WEST WAS VITAL TO THE LATER PIONEERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WHEN THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST BEGAN Meriwether Lewis & William Clark

4. JOSEPH MEEK LEFT HIS HOME IN THE EASTERN STATE OF VIRGINIA TO SEEK ADVENTURE AND FORTUNE AS A YOUNG MAN. HE WORKED IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS DURING THE 1820S AND 1830S TRAPPING FURS TO SELL. MEEK WAS FAMOUS FOR HIS ABILITY TO TELL TALES OF HIS ADVENTURES AT THE ANNUAL RENDEZVOUS. HE WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN TO FIND THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. MEEK SUFFERED AN ATTACK BY A GRIZZLY BEAR, WAS NEARLY KILLED BY A BLACKFOOT WARRIOR AND MARRIED A NEZ PERCE INDIAN. AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE FUR TRADE AND THE END OF THE ERA OF THE MOUNTAIN MEN, MEEK LED ONE OF THE FIRST WAGON TRAINS OF AMERICAN SETTLERS ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS TO OREGON IN 1840. Joe Meek

5. JOSEPH SMITH FOUNDED THE MORMON CHURCH IN 1830. HE CLAIMED THAT MORMONS WERE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE AND LED HIS FOLLOWERS ACROSS THE EASTERN USA DURING THE 1840S. SMITH FIRST TOOK HIS FOLLOWERS TO KIRTLAND, OHIO. HE THEN TOOK THEM TO INDEPENDENCE, MISSOUR. HOSTILE LOCALS CHASED THE MORMONS AWAY FROM EACH PLACE. FINALLY SMITH LED THE MORMONS TO NAUVOO, ILLINOIS. SMITH DECLARED POLYGAMY TO BE ACCEPTABLE AND ANNOUNCED HE WAS RUNNINNG FOR PRESIDENT OF THE USA. HE THEN SMASHED UP THE PRESSES OF A NEWSPAPER THAT CRITICISED HIM. SMITH WAS KILLED ESCAPING FROM A JAIL IN ILLINOIS IN 1844. Joseph Smith

6. BRIGHAM YOUNG TOOK OVER THE MORMON CHURCH AFTER THE DEATH OF JOSEPH SMITH IN 1844. YOUNG REALIZED THAT THE MORMONS MUST LEAVE THE HOSTILE EAST AND GO TO A PLACE WHERE THEY WOULD BE SAFE. IT WAS YOUNG’S DECISION TO LEAVE THE EAST OF THE USA AS HE BELIEVED THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE MORMONS TO STAY THERE. YOUNG CHOSE THE GREAT SALT LAKE BECAUSE IT WAS IN MEXICO AND THE EXPLORERS’ REPORTS STATED THAT IT WAS UNFIT FOR FARMING. THEREFORE YOUNG KNEW THAT THE MORMONS WOULD BE SAFE FROM AMERICANS THERE. YOUNG LED THE FIRST MORMONS THEIR IN 1846. YOUNG ORGANISED THE MORMONS TO BUILD THE STREETS AND HOUSES OF SALT LAKE CITY. Brigham Young

7. JAMES MARSHALL WAS WORKING ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SAWMILL ON THE BANKS OF THE AMERICAN RIVER IN CALIFORNIA IN JANUARY 1848. WHILST EXAMINING THE RIVER NEAR THE MILL ONE MORNING, HE SPOTTED A NUGGET OF GOLD LYING ON A ROCK IN SIX INCHES OF WATER. HIS DISCOVERY SET OFF THE GREATEST GOLDRUSH IN AMERICAN HISTORY. WITHIN TWO YEARS THERE WERE OVER 50 000 MINERS IN CALIFORNIA. THE RESULTS OF HIS DISCOVERY BROUGHT THE EAST AND WEST OF THE USA TOGETHER AND MADE THE FULFILMENT OF THE AMERICANS’ ‘MANIFEST DESTINY’ A MORE REALISTIC PROSPECT. James Marshall

8. CHARLES GOODNIGHT AND OLIVER LOVING CREATED THE FIRST CATTLE TRAIL FROM TEXAS IN 1866. GOODNIGHT RETURNED FROM THE CIVIL WAR IN 1866 TO FIND THAT HIS 180 COWS HAD TURNED INTO 5000. GOODNIGHT TEAMED UP WITH LOVING TO DRIVE THESE COWS TO THE US ARMY BASES AND INDIAN RESERVATIONS OF NEW MEXICO AND COLORADO. THIS ROUTE WAS KNOWN AS THE ‘GOODNIGHT-LOVING TRAIL’. THE MASSIVE PROFITS THEY MADE LED TO OTHER CATTLEMEN DRIVING THEIR CATTLE NORTH TO SELL TO THE GREAT CITIES OF THE EAST STARTING THE CATTLE BOOM OF THE 1860S TO 1880S Charles Goodnight & Oliver Loving

9. LELAND STANFORD WAS ONE OF THE LEADING FIGURES IN THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY THAT BUILT THE WESTERN SECTION OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD CONNECTING THE EAST AND WEST OF THE USA. STANFORD BECAME RICH SELLING EQUIPMENT TO MINERS DURING THE 1848 GOLDRUSH. HE WENT ON TO BECOME A POLITICIAN IN CALIFORNIA, SERVING AS STATE GOVERNOR FROM 1861. STANFORD USED HIS POLITICAL CONTACTS TO GET HIS COMPANY THE CONTRACT TO BUILD THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD FOLLWING THE 1861 PACIFIC RAILROAD ACT. STANFORD ENSURED HIS COMPANY RECEIVED MASSIVE FUNDING AND LAND GRANTS FROM THE US GOVERNMENT FOR BUILDING THE RAILROAD. Leland Stanford

10. PHILIP SHERIDAN WAS COMMANDER OF THE US ARMY IN THE WEST DURING THE PLAINS WARS OF THE 1860S – 1880S. HE WAS RUTHLESS IN HIS PURSUIT OF INDIAN TRIBES SUCH AS THE KIOWA, COMANCHE, ARPAHO AND CHEYENNE ACROSS THE PLAINS. SHERIDAN FORCED ALL ONTO THE RESERVATIONS THAT THE US GOVERNMENT SET UP TO CONTROL THE TRIBES OF THE PLAINS. IN 1868 SHERIDAN PLANNED AND EXECUTED THE RIVER WASHITA CAMPAIGN IN WHICH CUSTER MASSACRED THE CHEYENNE OF BLACK KETTLE. SHERIDAN PLANNED THE LITTLE BIGHORN CAMPAIGN OF 1876, GETTING CUSTER RETURNED TO THE 7TH CAVALRY FOR THE BATTLE. General Philip Sheridan

11. GENERAL SHERMAN WAS MADE COMMANDER OF THE US ARMY ON THE PLAINS IN 1866. HE PURSUED A RUTHLESS POLICY OF FORCING TRIBES ONTO RESERVATIONS. SHERMAN WAS INVOLVED IN THE FORT LARAMIE TREATY NEGOTIATIONS IN 1868. SHERMAN SAW THE MASSACRING OF THE BUFFALO AS PART OF HIS TACTICS OF DESTROYING THE STRENGTH OF THE INDIANS TRIBES ON THE PLAINS. SHERMAN ONCE SAID ‘WE MUST ACT WITH VINDICTAVE EARNESTNESS AGAINST THE SIOUX, EVEN TO THEIR EXTERMINATION, MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN’. SHERMAN PERSONALL REINSTATED CUSTER IN 1876 FOR THE LITTLE BIGHORN CAMPAIGN. General William Tecumseh Sherman

12. ARROGANT, HEROIC, FOOLHARDY AND EXCEPTIONAL - ALL THESE ARE WORDS THAT COULD BE USED TO DESCRIBE CUSTER. GEORGE CUSTER CAME 29TH OUT OF 29 STUDENTS IN HIS WEST POINT CLASS, BUT WENT ON TO BECOME THE YOUNGEST EVER GENERAL IN THE US ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR. CUSTER WAS NEARLY THROWN OUT OF THE ARMY IN 1875 WHEN HE ACCUSED PRESIDENT GRANT’S BROTHER OF CORRUPTION. CALLED BACK TO SERVICE BY GENERAL SHERMAN, HE LED THE 7 TH CAVALRY TO DEFEAT AT THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIG HORN IN 1876. CUSTER’S FAILURE TO FOLLOW ORDERS IS SEEN AS A MAIN CAUSE OF THE DEATH OF 250 OF HIS SOLDIERS AT THE HANDS OF THE SIOUX AND CHEYENNE WARRIORS. George Custer

13. JOHN WESLEY HARDIN WAS THE MOST PROLIFIC GUNFIGHTER IN THE WEST, KILLING 29 PEOPLE. HARDIN WAS GREATLY FEARED FOR HIS RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE AND MURDER. DESPITE THE ROMANTICISED VIEW OF GUNFIGHTERS IN THE WEST, HARDIN ACTUALLY SHOT MOSTLY NON- WHITE AMERICANS OUT OF HATE. HARDIN WAS ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH HIS CRIMES DUE TO THE GENERAL LACK OF LAW AND ORDER IN THE WEST AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SETTLEMENT ON THE GREAT PLAINS IN THE 1860S AND 1870S. AS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTRODUCED SHERIFFS AND MARSHALS, MEN LIKE HARDIN WERE LESS COMMON. John Wesley Hardin

14. BILLY THE KID IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS GUNFIGHTERS TO COME OUT OF THE AMERICAN WEST.HE WAS FAMOUS IN HIS OWN LIFETIME, APPEARING IN THE ‘DIME NOVELS’ PUBLISHED IN THE EASTERN CITIES OF THE USA. HE WORKED ON A RANCH, AS WELL AS ACTING AS A ‘REGULATOR’ FOR THE ENGLISH CATTLEMAN JOHN TUNSTALL. BILLY BECAME INFAMOUS DURING THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR, A BATTLE BETWEEN CATTLEMEN IMMORTALISED IN THE FILM ‘YOUNG GUNS’. IT IS CLAIMED THAT BILLY SHOT 21 PEOPLE BEFORE HIS OWN DEATH AT THE HANDS OF SHERIFF PAT GARRETT AT THE AGE OF 23. Billy the Kid

15. ROY BEAN WAS NOT A REAL JUDGE. HE SIMPLY SET HIMSELF UP AS ONE IN THE NEW SETTLEMENT OF LANGTRY, TEXAS. SEEN AS A RESPECTABLE AND INTELLIGENT CHARACTER HE WAS ACCEPTED BY THE LOCAL POPUALTION AS THEIR JUDGE. THE NEW SETTLEMENTS OF THE PLAINS LACKED OFFICIAL LAW AND ORDER FORCES, AND SO MEN LIKE ‘JUDGE’ ROY BEAN FILLED THE GAP. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW WAS PATCHY AND HIS DECISIONS WERE NOT ALWAYS SOUND. ON ONE OCCASION HE FOUND A MAN ACCUSED OF THE MURDER OF A CHINAMAN NOT GUILTY BECAUSE “THERE AIN’T A DAMN LAW THAT SAYS IT’S ILLEGAL TO SHOOT A CHINAMAN”. ‘Judge’ Roy Bean

16. WILLIAM ‘BUFFALO BILL’ CODY WAS A PROLIFIC HUNTER OF BUFFALO ON THE PLAINS IN THE 1870S. HE WAS ALSO A DECORATED US ARMY SCOUT. HE BECAME FAMOUS AS AN ICON OF THE WEST WHEN HIS STORY WAS TOLD IN DIME NOVELS SOLD IN THE CITIES OF THE EASTERN USA. BUFFALO BILL THEN SET UP HIS 'WILD WEST' SHOW AND TOURED THE WORLD. HIS SHOW INCLUDED DISPLAYS OF COWBOYS SKILLS, BUFFALO HUNTING AND A RE- ENACTMENT OF CUSTER’S LAST STAND. THE SIOUX CHIEF SITTING BULL, CONQUERER OF CUSTER, EVEN JOINED THE SHOW FOR A YEAR. BUFFALO BILL IS ONE OF THE KEY FIGURES OF THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WEST. William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody

17. JOHN CHIVINGTON WAS A METHODIST PREACHER, WHO EARNED THE NICKNAME OF ‘THE FIGHTING PREACHER’ WHEN HE STOOD IN HIS PULPIT WITH TWO PISTOLS. SOME OF HIS PARISHIONERS OPPOSED HIS STANCE OF ANTI-SLAVERY AND THREATENED TO RUN HIM OUT OF TOWN. CHIVINGTON MOVED TO DENVER, COLORADO AT THE START OF THE CIVIL WAR IN 1861 AND BECAME A HERO OF THE US ARMY FOLLWING HIS ACTION AT GLORIETTA PASS IN 1862. IN 1864 HE BECAME INFAMOUS BY LEADING THE MASSACRE OF BLACK KETTLE’S CHEYENNE AT SAND CREAK IN COLORADO. CHIVINGTON LEFT ARMY SERVICE. HE REMAINED A HERO TO THE SETTLERS OF COLORADO UNTIL HIS DEATH. Colonel Chivington

18. THE SANTEE LAKOTA (SIOUX) CHIEF LITTLE CROW LED HIS STARVING PEOPLE IN A WAR AGAINST THE SETTLERS OF MINNESOTA IN THE YEARS 1861 - 1862. THE WAR WAS CAUSED BY THE APPALLING CONDITIONS ON THE MINNESOTA RESERVATION WHERE 12 000 SANTEE SIOUX LIVED. THE SANTEE RELIED ON THE RATIONS AND MONEY SENT BY THE US GOVERNMENT UNDER THE 1851 FORT LARAMIE TREATY. IN 1861 CUTWORM DESTROYED THE SANTEES’ CROPS AND WHEN THE GOVERNMENT MONEY DID NOT ARRIVE, THE INDIAN AGENT ANDREW MYRICK TOLD THE SANTEE TO ‘EAT GRASS OR THEIR OWN DUNG’. LITTLE CROW’S WARRIORS KILLED 700 SETTLERS BEFORE BEING DEFEATED BY THE US ARMY. 38 WARRIORS WERE HUNG AND LITTLE CROW WAS EVENTUALLY SHOT WHILST PICKING RASPBERRIES IN A FARMERS FIELD. Little Crow

19. WOVOKA WAS A PAIUTE MYSTIC WHO LED THE GHOST DANCE MOVEMENT. WOVOKA CLAIMED THAT IF THE INDIANS TOOK PART IN THE GHOST DANCE THAT THE WHITES WOULD BE SWALLOWED UP BY THE EARTH AND THE DEAD INDIANS AND BUFFALO WOULD RETURN TO EARTH. THE GHOST DANCE MOVEMENT SPREAD ACROSS THE DESPERATE RESERVATIONS OF THE PLAINS INDIANS IN 1890. THE US ARMY AND THE INDIAN AGENTS WERE APPALLED BY THIS RETURN TO TRADITIONAL MYSTICISM. THE GHOST DANCE WAS ENDED BY THE BATTLE OF WOUNDE KNEE IN DECEMBER 1890. THIS CAN BE SEEN AS A LAST ATTEMPT BY THE DEFEATED NATIVE AMERICANS TO PRESERVE THEIR CULTURE AND RIGHTS. Wovoka

20. THE CHEYENNE CHIEF BLACK KETTLE WAS LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE WHEN THEY WERE ATTACKED BY COLONEL CHIVINGTON’S COLORADO MILITIA IN 1864 AT SAND CREEK. BLACK KETTLE WAS A LEADING PEACE CHIEF WHOSE EFFORTS FAILED TO CONVINCE THE COLORADO AUTHORITES TO AVOID CONFLICT. BLACK KETTLE HAD SPENT MONTHS NEGOTIATING WITH THE COLORADO AUTHORITIES AND THE US ARMY, AND EVEN BELIEVED THAT A PEACE DEAL HAD BEEN STRUCK AND THAT THE CHEYENNE HAD US ARMY PROTECTION WHEN CHIVINGTON ATTACKED. BLACK KETTLE WAS KILLED DURING CUSTER'S ATTACK ON THE RIVER WASHITA IN 1868. Black Kettle

21. CHIEF JOSPEH LED THE NEZ PERCE TRIBE WHO LIVED IN OREGON. HIS FATHER, ALSO KNOWN AS JOSEPH HAD HELPED LEWIS AND CLARKE ON THEIR EXPEDITION OF 1803 - 1806. LEWIS AND CLARK HAD PROMISED HIM THAT THE USA WOULD ALWAYS BE THE FRIENDS OF TH NEZ PERCE. BY THE MID-1870S, SETTLERS WERE MOVING INTO THE NEZ PERCES’ LANDS. IN 1877 HE LED HIS PEOPLE ON A 1 400 MILE MARCH TO ESCAPE THE US ARMY. THE NEZ PERCE WERE CONTINUALLY VICTORIOUS OVER THE CHASING SOLDIERS. THEY GOT TO WITHIN 40 MILES OF THE CANADIAN BORDER BEFORE FINAL DEFEAT. HIS STORY IS ONE OF UNFILFILLED HOPE FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Chief Joseph

22. SITTING BULL WAS THE LEADING SIOUX CHIEF OF THE 1870s. HE LED A GREAT FORCE OF SIOUX, CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO TO A CAMP ON THE LITTLE BIGHORN RIVER IN THE SUMMER OF 1876 AFTER THE US HAD ALLOWED GOLD MINERS TO INVADE THE SIOUX LANDS IN THE BLACK HILLS. SITTING BULL SAID OF THE INVASION ‘THE BLACK HILLS BELONG TO ME. IF THE WHITES TRY TO TAKE THEM I WILL FIGHT’. SITTING BULL GATHERED UP TO 12 000 INDIANS IN 1876, AND THIS LED TO THE DEFEAT OF THE US ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF THE ROSEBUD AND THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN. SITTING BULL ESCAPED TO CANADA, BUT EVENTUALLY RETURNED TO THE STANDING ROCK RESERVATION IN DAKOTA. SITTING BULL WAS SHOT BY A SIOUX POLICEMAN IN 1890 WHILST BEING ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY PROMOTING THE GHOST DANCE. Sitting Bull

23. Like many, Bat Masterson had a colourful career. At various times he was a buffalo hunter, a gambler and a sports journalist. Masterson moved to Dodge City in 1876, and became County Sheriff. His brother Ed, a Town Marshal, was killed by a drunken cowhand in Dodge City two years later. He became closely associated with Wyatt Earp and even moved to Tombstone for a while. He was later appointed as a New York State Deputy Marshal by President Theodore Roosevelt. Bat Masterson’s life covered many stages of the development of the American West. He was involved in the massacre of the Plains Indians’ food supply. He was then involved in civilising the West and its new towns. He also lived long enough to leave the West and use his skills in the East. Bat Masterson

24. Wild Bill Hickock’s real name was James Butler Hickock. He earned his nickname in the Civil War, and he continued to serve in the US Army for a few years after the war as a scout. He was one gunfighter and lawman who fully deserved his fearsome reputation. By the time he was appointed Town Marshal of Hays, Kansas, in 1869, he had already killed a number of men. After his time in Hays, he became a marshal in Abilene. Hickok arrived in Deadwood in 1876. Many hoped that he would bring law and order to the town, but he decided to bide his time. He gambled in the saloons, got married, and thought about gold mining until he was eventually shot while playing poker. Wild Bill Hickock

25. Wyatt Earp was born in Illinois in 1848. After working as a freight hauler and a buffalo hunter, he became Assistant Marshal of Dodge City in 1878. Wyatt Earp’s main claim to fame rests on the time he spent in Tombstone, Arizona where his brother Virgil was a Deputy Marshal. Wyatt became Deputy Sheriff of the county. Tombstone was best known for its silver mines, but it was also a center for ranching, and this attracted many cattle rustlers. Earp identified himself closely with the local business community. They were keen to establish Tombstone as a respectable town and put an end to the rustling and violence. Morgan Earp. Two families, the Clantons and the McLaurys, were thought to be the cause of most of the trouble. The showdown came on 26th October 1881. This was the famous ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’. The shooting actually lasted less than 1 minute, but two of the McClaurys and Billy Clanton were killed. Some said the Earps had killed them in cold blood. The fight did not stop the violence. Morgan Earp, another of Wyatt’s brothers, was shot dead the following year. Wyatt Earp sought to avenge his murder, and eventually shot the two men suspected of the crime. Wyatt Earp had a long and eventful life, and died in 1929 aged 80. In his last years he helped to turn himself into a legend by telling his life story to writers and Hollywood film makers. Wyatt Earp

26. Jesse James was born in Missouri in 1847, the son of a Baptist minister. Together with his brother Frank he formed the James Gang, which often teamed up with the four Younger brothers. Between 1866 and Jesse’s death in 1882, they robbed countless banks and trains. Jesse James was surprisingly popular with the public. Some viewed him as a kind of Robin Hood figure. He had fought for the South in the Civil War, and many in Missouri still opposed the Union. In addition, the railroad companies were unpopular because they had bought up such large amounts of land. In 1876, the gang attempted to rob a bank in Northfield, Missouri. The raid went horribly wrong for the James-Younger Gang as the townspeople armed themselves in anticipation of the raid. Three of the gang were killed. After this, big rewards were on offer to anyone who stopped Jesse James. In the end, it was a member of his own gang who killed him. Jesse James was shot in the back by Bob Ford as he straightened a picture in his own home. THIS PHOTO IS OF BOB FORD AS THERE IS NO PHOTO OF JESSE JAMES EXCEPT AFTER HIS DEATH Jesse James

27. Butch Cassidy was christened Robert Leroy Parker by his Mormon pioneer parents. The Sundance Kid's real name was Harry Longabaugh. The two and their gang, known as the Wild Bunch, held up banks and robbed the trains of the Union Pacific Railroad in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Montana in the 1890s. With the law following them, they fled to Argentina in 1901, along with Sundance's girlfriend, Etta Place. The three homesteaded a ranch in the Cholila Valley. By 1905, though, they were back to robbing banks. Butch and Sundance died in a shoot-out in San Vincente, a town in southern Bolivia, where they had fled after robbing the payroll of the Aramayo Mining Co. that was being carried on a mule. After a patrol discovered them holed up in a rented hut, gunfight ensued, ending when darkness fell. Later that night, townspeople reported hearing screams and two shots. In the morning, they found the outlaws dead, both shot in the head. Badly wounded during the gunfight, the outlaws had chosen to commit suicide rather than fall captive. Butch Cassidy

28. Calamity Jane was a wandering American frontierswoman who dressed like a man and frequented bars, telling stories of her adventures. She was born Martha Jane Canary in Princeton, Missouri on May 1, 1852. She was orphaned by 1867 and began roaming the mining districts of the west. In the late 1870s she was a familiar sight in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. In 1891 she married Clinton Burke, but he soon deserted her. She toured in Wild West shows and claimed to have been a pony express rider and a scout with General Custer's forces. How Calamity Jane received her nickname is uncertain, like much else about her legendary life. "Calamity" may have referred to her hard-luck times, to her willingness to help those in trouble, or to the fate of her enemies (because of her skill with a pistol). Martha "Calamity Jane" Canary Burke died in 1903 in Terry, South Dakota. She was buried in Mount Moriah cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota, next to Wild Bill Hickok. Although many fictional accounts pair Calamity Jane with Wild Bill Hickock, the two were never romantically involved. Calamity Jane