His Story shows his Devotion to Duty as a Child when Supporting
his Widowed Mother, his Valuable Services to the Government
while riding in the Famous "Pony Express" and Vividly
Portrays his Thrilling Experiences as Hunter and
Scout while acting as Guide to the Army and
Trains of Prairie Schooners -- His many
Hair-breadth Escapes and Fights with
Indians, Desperadoes and while
Hunting Buffalo and other
Wild Animals, as well as
his Later Triumphs in
Conducting the Tours
of his Great Wild
West Exhibition
in the United
States and
Europe.

The whole work comprising an Authentic History of many Events inseparably interwoven with the Exploration, Settlement and Development of our Great Western Plains.

1917

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DEDICATION

To the American and English publics, at whose generous hands have received so many favors, hospitable attention and numerous special kindnesses;

and

To the army of the frontier, the brave comrades and pioneers whose valorous deeds, though unwritten in their country's annals, and whose graves are unmarked save by the soughing oak or the modest daisy, but who have left the heritage of a million happy and prosperous homes in the redeemed West,

THIS BOOK

Is inscribed, by one who holds their courageous lives in grateful remembrance.

W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill)

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INTRODUCTION
The evolution of government and of civilisation, and the adaptation of one to the other, are interesting to the student of history; but particularly fascinating is the story of the reclamation of the Great West and the supplanting of the wild savages that from primeval days were lords of the country but are now become wards of the Government, whose guardianship they were forced to recognize. This story is one well calculated to inspire a feeling of pride even in the breasts of those whose sentimentality impels to commiserate the hard lot of the poor Indian; for, rising above the formerly neglected prairies of the West are innumerable monuments of thrift, industry, intelligence, and all the contributory comforts and luxuries of a peaceful and God-fearing civilisation; those evidences that proclaim to a wondering world the march of the Anglo-Saxon race towards the attainment of perfect citizenship and liberal, free and stable government.

For the small part I have taken in redeeming the West from savagery, I am indebted to circumstances rather than to a natural, inborn inclination for the strifes inseparable from the life I was almost forced to choose. But to especially good fortune must I make my acknowledgments, which protected me or preserved my life a hundred times when the very hand of vengeful fate appeared to lower its grasp above my head, and hope seemed a mockery that I had turned my back upon. Good fortune has also stood ever responsive to my call since I first came before the public, and to the generous American and English peoples, as well as to kind fortune, I here pour out a full measure of profound thanks and hearty appreciation, and shall hold them gratefully in my memory as a remembrance of old friends, until the drum taps "lights out" at the close of the evening of my eventful life.

Sincerely Yours,
W. F. Cody
Buffalo Bill