Results: The True Story and Legends of Famous Outlaws in the Wild, Wild West ** Part Seven ** Wild Bill Hickok A legend during his life and considered one of the American West's premier gunfighters, James Butler Hickok born May 27, 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois.

For the next several years, Hickok worked as a stagecoach driver. During the Civil War, Wild Bill Hickok served in the Union Army as a civilian scout and later a provost marshal. Though no solid record exists, he is believed to have served as a Union spy in the Confederate Army before his discharge in 1865. Bestselling author Tom Clavin has sifted through years of western lore to bring Hickock fully to life in this rip-roaring, spellbinding true story. The definitive true story of Wild Bill, the first lawman of the Wild West, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dodge City. Have you read any of Ton Clavin's books?

Wild Bill Hickok's iconic status is rooted in a shootout in July 1861 in what came to be known as the McCanles Massacre in Rock Creek, Nebraska. The incident began when David McCanles, his brother William and several farmhands came to the station demanding payment for a property that had been bought from him. Hickok, just a stable-hand at the time, killed the three men, despite being severely injured.at the time, The story quickly became newspaper and magazine fodder. Perhaps most famously, Harper's New Monthly Magazine printed an account of the story in 1867, claiming Hickok had killed 10 men. Overall, it was reported that Hickok had killed over 100 men during his lifetime. The news reporters of the day did not concern themselves with accuracy. Do you think this has improved in reporting today's news?

Wild Bill Hickok's legend only grew further when other stories about his fighting prowess surfaced. One story claimed he killed a bear with his bare hands and a bowie knife. The Harper's piece also told the story of how Hickok had pointed to a letter "O" that was "no bigger than a man's heart." Standing some 50 yards away from his subject, Hickok "without sighting his pistol and with his eye" rang off six shots, each of them hitting the direct center of the letter. During the next several years he appeared in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, living off his fame as the consummate gunfighter. Have you attended a Wild West Show or a Rodeo?

In July, 1865, in Springfield, Missouri's town square, Hickok killed Davis Tutt, an old friend who – after personal grudges escalated – became an enemy. The two men faced each other sideways for a duel. Tutt reached for his pistol but Hickok was the first to draw his weapon, and shot Tutt instantly, from approximately 75 yards. Have you ever been to Springfield Missouri?

Wild Bill Hickok moved to Kansas where he was appointed sheriff in Hays City and marshal of Abilene. Both towns had become outposts for lawless men before Hickok arrived and turned things around. In an 1871 account that changed his life, Hickok was reportedly involved in a shootout with saloon owner Phil Coe. In the melee, Hickok caught a glimpse of someone moving towards him and responded with two shots killing his deputy Mike Williams. The event haunted Hickok for the rest of his life. After in inquest where other incidents of Hickok's brand of "frontier justice" was revealed, he was relieved of his duties. Do you find it surprising, that Wild Bill went on trial many times and was never found guilty?

In 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was suffering from glaucoma. Relegated to making a living through other means than law enforcement, he traveled from one town to another as a gambler. Several times he was arrested for vagrancy. On March 5, 1876, he married Agnes Thatcher Lake, an owner of a circus in Cheyenne, Wyoming territory. He left his wife a few months later to seek his fortune in the goldfields of South Dakota. It was here that he supposedly became romantically linked to Martha Jane Canary, also known as "Calamity Jane," but most historians discount any such amorous relationship between the two. Have you seen any of the movies about Wild Bill Hickok and, or Calamity Jane?