Wild Bill Hickok: His Army Exploits Begin

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

Well, in the last post about Wild Bill Hickok he had just killed his first
men in the incident which started his legend. I forgot to mention that
the girl that he had been seeing in the cabin across from the station..
remember her? With Wild Bill there was usually a woman involved.

Well you would have thought that he'd "get the girl" after the fight was
over between him and the bully McGanles but that's not the case
because she got on a stage the very next morning headed back East
and was never heard from again.

I believe that she was afraid of being blamed for McGanles's death
and didn't want anything to do with it so she ran. Wild Bill left for
Fort Leavenworth to join the Union Army as a scout and wagon
master.

James earns his nick name..

James was assigned to a supply wagon train headed to Missouri
to supply Union troops but the wagon train was ambushed and
captured by Rebel forces. James and a number of teamsters were
able to escape and made their way toward Independence.

When they arrived in town there was a crowd or rather a mob in
front of the saloon composed of ruffians and Southerners who
were demanding revenge on the bartender who had wounded
one of their men and they wanted blood.

Well we know how James felt about slavery and didn't like the
mob mentality so when he learned what the ruckus was about
he made his way to the front door of the saloon as the mob was
advancing.

He drew his two pistols and demanded that they stop. When they
kept advancing he fired two shots over their heads. This time they
stopped but were still angry. James told them to disperse or he
would shoot the first man who moved forward. They gradually
turned away.

James didn't think much of it but that night he was at a town
meeting about vigilantes because he wanted to find some men who
would go with him to take back the supply wagons. Well, a lady in
the crowd recognized him from earlier in the day in his stand off with
the ruffians and shouted out "Good for you, Wild Bill!" And the name
stuck.

rare photo of Wild Bill in his Army days

source

He WAS able to get a group of men together and they caught up with
and retook the supply wagons and delivered the supplies to the Army
as intended. From that point on he worked as a courier riding back
and forth between units with orders and messages.

He was shot at many times and went through three horses with one
being shot out from under him but he was never hit. His work and
mission led him into many dangerous circumstances and it was said
that he killed many rebel soldiers. He hated everything about slavery
and viewed all Confederates as traitors worthy of death.

The incident at Sandy River

One of the many perilous tasks of the war which Wild Bill volunteered
for was spying and he spent alot of time with enemy forces under
assumed names and identities. One of the most famous adventures
he had was when he was acting like a rebel soldier in a Confederate
army in Missouri.

He had gained the knowledge he needed about the force as far as
number of soldiers, supplies, cannon etc and it was time to make his
get away across the river where there was a Union army but with
rebel soldiers guarding the banks of river he had no way of getting to
them.

The two armies would shout back and forth across the river at times
and one time the rebels asked for coffee in exchange for tobacco.
There was a little sand bar in the middle of the river and they agreed
to meet on that for the exchange. Wild Bill was one of the men who
went out to make the exchange and when the Union soldiers got out
there he and one of the Union soldiers recognized each other and
knew who each other were.

Neither Wild Bill nor the Union soldier let on of course but the
exchange was made and Wild Bill knew that the Union army now
knew that he was with the rebel army. But he still didn't have a way to
make it across to the Union side.

One of the sargents with the rebels was a big bragger, always boasting
about how he had killed more Union soldiers than anyone. So Wild
Bill dared him that he could ride closer to the Union side of the river
than the sargent, he did this in front of the sarg's men of course and
although he was hesitant he agreed when all his men started yelling
at him to do it. lol. boy, are men stupid or what?

So Wild Bill and him mount up and start moseying down toward the
water's edge when Union soldiers start firing at the sargent but with
bullets zipping by they kept going, but they weren't aiming for Wild
Bill because they knew who he was. By the time they got to the water
a Union soldier yelled "Bully for Wild Bill!" and the sargent said "By
God I believe yer a Yank!"

The sarg went to draw his pistol but Wild Bill drew his first and put a
bullet in him and he fall off his horse. The Union soldiers gave a
tremendous shout and began firing at the rebels as they were firing
at Wild Bill!

The bullets zipped by him and skipped on the water all around him
but he made it to the other side without a scratch and the Union
forces brought such a barrage of firing to the other side that it forced
the rebels back.

Well that's it for today folks, his life is totally full of crazy adventures
like the ones I talked about today. It seems he always had Lady Luck on
his side or perhaps the Hand of Providence..but it was remarkable!

Thanks for reading, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

ps- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

You go to a stock car race and don't need a program!