Home: William Frederick Cody

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show Ticket Wagon

Some names are very memorable because of associations with things or events.  Yell "Marco!" in a crowd, and someone will probably holler back "Polo!".  If you use names in association games, "Jesse" will likely prompt "James", "Wyatt" will get you "Earp", and "Buffalo" will get you "Bill".  Buffalo Bill of the Wild West: Buffalo hunter, Pony Express Rider, Indian fighter, Army scout, Congressional Medal of Honor awardee, Wild West Show promoter.  Intrepid hero?  Consummate showman?  Ultimate fraud?  Who knows for sure, probably all of the above, just like most people.

Cody Homestead House - limestone portion is original

William Frederick Cody was born in a log cabin near LeClaire, Iowa Territory, just north of the modern-day Quad Cities on 26 February 1846.  His father Isaac Cody built a handsome house of limestone on a hill in the Wipsinicon River valley of Scott County, Iowa with walnut floors and trim.  The house stands today with some additions and serves as a museum to the Cody family and pioneer families of Iowa.  Although a celebrated native, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody did not spend much time at all here.  The family inhabited this particular house for scarcely a year.

Wooden frame additions to Cody Homestead

Isaac Cody, Bill's father, was a wandering sort.  From 1846-1853, the Cody's lived in four residences in and around LeClaire.  In 1850, Isaac set out for the California gold fields, but came home before he got very far, the reason for which was unknown to William Cody.  Kansas Territory was slated to open for settlement in 1854 and the family sold all of their Iowa properties in 1853 for $2000 (about $60,000 in 2016 dollars).  This may have been precipitated by the death of Samuel Cody, Bill's older brother, in a horse-riding accident.   In 1854, they left for Weston, Missouri, where Isaac's brother Elijah lived.

Bison kept on grounds of the Cody Homestead

Historic homes are interesting for several reasons, including: architectural style; sense of family style; sense of family status; and sense of family priorities.  A home can fill in some of the blank spaces in our picture of an individual.  Only two houses from Cody's boyhood are still in existence: this one and one that was moved from LeClaire to Cody, Wyoming.  Looking at this house, you can see the skill and care used by Isaac Cody to build the house, as it is still standing (with additions and renovations) after almost 170 years.  You also get the feeling that Isaac Cody liked the finer things in life, but was never quite satisfied with what he had, always chasing after the next better thing just beyond his reach.

The Codys in Kansas

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show covered wagon

The move West was a fateful one for the Cody family.  Isaac's brother Elijah was a dry goods merchant and sold goods to emigrants on the Oregon-California Trail and settlers in Kansas at Weston, Missouri and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory.  Elijah was also a slave-owner and supported the Border Ruffian cause to bring Kansas into the Union as a slave state.  Isaac originally expressed no strong political convictions, he was in Kansas for material gain.  The family settled in the Salt Creek Valley just north of Ft. Leavenworth (near present-day Kickapoo, KS), an area that was settled primarily by pro-slavery families.  Most people just assumed that Isaac was pro-slavery because they knew of his brother's stance.  When pushed to make a speech about his position at Rively's Store in Salt Creek Valley on 18 September 1854, Isaac tried to walk a fine line:  he was no abolitionist; where slavery was legal it should be left in place; he did not want to see slavery extended to new territories; in fact, he envisioned a white state in which no blacks, slave or free would be welcome.  The speech did nothing to help Isaac's position with either camp, and Charles Dunn, an employee of Elijah Cody's, stabbed Isaac twice in the chest with a Bowie knife, damaging a lung.

Wild West Show Poster

The attack was noted in the 28 September 1854 edition of the Democratic Platform (Liberty, Missouri):  "A Mr. Cody, a noisy abolitionist, living near Salt Creek, in Kansas Territory, was severely stabbed while in a dispute about a claim with a Mr. Dunn, on Monday week last. Cody is severely hurt, but not enough it is feared to cause his death. The settlers on Salt Creek regret that his wound is not more dangerous, and all sustain Mr. Dunn in the course he took. Abolitionists will yet find 'Jordan a hard road to travel!'”  You see that the notion of objective journalism is a fairly recent idea, and already out of style.

Although not active in Kansas politics up to that point, Isaac Cody became more outspoken as a Free Soil supporter and helped establish the Free State colony of Grasshopper Falls (now Valley Falls) on the Delaware River.  The Codys became marked, with pro-slavery men stealing their livestock and property, and threatening to kill Isaac should they find him.  Isaac began splitting time between Grasshopper Falls and the Salt Creek Valley, as the violence in "Bleeding Kansas" increased.  Despite the animosity between settlers in Kansas, the venom did not seem to spread in the Cody family, as Elijah continued to aid his brother and his family through the years.   In 1857, Isaac traveled to Ohio to recruit anti-slavery settlers to Grasshopper Falls.  Epidemics of scarlet fever and mumps broke out among the emigrants and Isaac Cody took ill.  He died of pneumonia at his home on 10 March 1857, his stab wounds listed as a contributing cause of death.  Isaac Cody was buried on Pilot Knob in Leavenworth, Kansas. This event pushed young William to look for work to support the family.  He found gainful employment with Russell, Majors and Waddell driving wagons at age 11.  William Cody was off on his life of adventure, becoming a personage as big as the American West itself.

Getting There

William F. Cody c. 1860

Exit I-80 at Exit 306 (LeClaire/Bettendorf) to US-67 north through LeClaire and Princeton, Iowa.  Turn west onto Bluff Road (CR-F33) just north of Princeton (you cannot miss the signs).  Take Bluff Road to 230th Ave.  Directly in front of you and just to the north will be the entrance to the Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead.  A small log schoolhouse is near the entrance, the house is further up the driveway.

Street Address: 28050 230th Avenue, Princeton, Iowa 52768

Waypoint: Latitude 41.713671 N; Longitude 90.4536868 W

Open every day April-October 9 AM - 5 PM
Admission $2

Just north on US-67 is a nice campground, Rock Creek Marina and Campground.  Turn east onto 291st Street to enter the campground.

The wagons pictured are actually in the Circus World Collection in Baraboo, Wisconsin on the grounds of what was the headquarters and winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers Circus.

Further Reading

An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill Cody

Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead

The Cody Graves in Leavenworth, KS

Grave Matters: President for a Day (Not)

Portrait of David Atchison by
George Caleb Bingham

Every election cycle, some smug smart-aleck is going to ask if you know who the US president with the shortest term in office. They will probably want the answer: David Rice Atchison, who was President of the United States for one day on 04 March 1849. How did this go down? Zachary Taylor won the 1848 Presidential election, and his inauguration was to take place on 04 March 1849 (because the US Constitution took effect on 04 March 1789). According to the story, President-elect Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn-in on Sunday for religious reasons, and he and Vice-President elect Millard Fillmore were inaugurated on 05 March. Since President Polk's term ended on 04 March, many people think that there was an interregnum during which there was either no official President or no government. Without an inaugurated President or Vice-President, the thought is that the job of "acting President" falls to the next person in line, in this case President pro tempore of the Senate - David Rice Atchison, Senator from Missouri.

Atchison foot marker

I really hate to throw a wet blanket on a great party, but that is really a stretch. The Constitution does not state the the president-elect had to take the oath of office on 04 March to be considered President, just that they take the oath before they perform the official duties of the office. Zachary Taylor became president on 04 March, but was not required to take the oath on that day since no official business was conducted. In fact, that is the real reason that Taylor's swearing-in was delayed; the government was closed for business on Sundays.

David Rice Atchison headstone

This was not the first time that the official Inauguration Day should have been a Sunday. In 1821, March 04 was a Sunday at the start of James Monroe's second term, and the inauguration was held the next day. No controversy arose since Monroe effectively succeeded himself.  The Consitution does not distinguish between a first term and subsequent terms, in which case Monroe ceased to be President on 04 March and the Senate President pro tempore would have been acting president until March 05 by the "President Atchison" argument. Monroe was comfortable postponing taking the oath of office after consulting with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, who saw no legal impediment. Inauguration Day fell on Sunday, 04 March 1877 at Rutherford B. Hayes' term, but he avoided the interregnum issue by taking the oath privately on Saturday 03 March and publicly on 05 March.  Woodrow Wilson took the oath privately on Sunday, 04 March 1917 and publicly on the 5th.

Since the adoption of the 20th Amendment, which changed Inauguration Day to 20 January, Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan and Obama have been publicly sworn in on Monday, 21 January because Sundays are not federal office days. No problems were perceived with these modern delayed swearing-ins because they occurred at the second term for each AND these Presidents avoided the issue altogether by following Wilson's precedent and taking the oath of office privately on Sunday and again publicly on Monday.

David Rice Atchison was not "President for a Day" by any realistic stretch of the law. Even Atchison did not consider himself to have been president, when asked about it in 1882: "It was in this way: Polk went out of office on the 3d of March 1849, on Saturday at 12 noon. The next day, the 4th, occurring on Sunday, Gen. Taylor was not inaugurated. He was not inaugurated till Monday, the 5th, at 12 noon. It was then canvassed among Senators whether there was an interregnum (a time during which a country lacks a government). It was plain that there was either an interregnum or I was the President of the United States being chairman of the Senate, having succeeded Judge Magnum of North Carolina. The judge waked me up at 3 o'clock in the morning and said jocularly that as I was President of the United States he wanted me to appoint him as secretary of state. I made no pretense to the office, but if I was entitled in it I had one boast to make, that not a woman or a child shed a tear on account of my removing any one from office during my incumbency of the place. A great many such questions are liable to arise under our form of government".

What a bummer for Missouri tourism, right? Eh...why let facts get in the way of a good story? There are still plenty of documents bragging on the "President for a Day" and the "First President from Missouri". Personally, I find satisfaction in debunking the myth because this trivial designation really takes away from Atchison's true impact on American history. He is memorialized in at least three place names: Atchison, KS; Atchison County, KS; and Atchison County, MO.  In my estimation, David Rice Atchison carries more responsibility for starting the American Civil War than any one other person.

Antebellum Atchison

David Rice Atchison 1850

David Rice Atchison was born in Frogtown, Kentucky on 11 August 1807.  He attended college at Transylvania University in Lexington and counted among his classmates Jefferson Davis, later President of the Confederacy.  He began reading law and was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1829.

Atchison's association with Missouri began in 1830 when he moved to Liberty in Clay County and took up law practice there.  The practice flourished and he counted among his clients Joseph Smith, prophet and founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS).  Atchison represented Smith and the LDS in disputes with non-LDS landowners in Caldwell (Far West) and Daviess (Adam-ondi-Ahman) counties.

David Atchison's first foray into politics was his election to the Missouri State House of Representatives in 1834, an office he was re-elected to in 1838.  During this time, Atchison served on a commission that pushed for the Platte Purchase, which was completed in 1836.  The land to the west of a line due north of the mouth of the Kansas (Kaw) River and east of the Missouri River was reserved for American Indian use.  The addition of this land to Missouri made it the largest state (by area) in the United States at the time.  The extension of slavery into this new area was also a violation of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which blocked the extension of slavery in lands gained by the Louisiana Purchase north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north, except for the boundaries of Missouri as defined in 1820.  This would not be the last time that Atchison's actions attacked the Missouri Compromise.

1838 Mormon War Conflict Site map by John Hamer

During 1838, the conflict between the LDS Church (Mormons) and non-Mormons came to a head.  The church was a victim of its own success.  As converts to the LDS church grew, they gathered together into settlements and controlled the politics of the area by voting in blocs.  Resentment from non-Mormon settlers led to the expulsion of the church from Jackson County in 1833.  As the LDS members moved into Clay County, Atchison's law partner, Alexander Doniphan, pushed forward a law establishing Caldwell County as a place for Mormon settlement in 1836.  In 1837, in the wake of a bank failure scandal in Kirtland, OH the church moved its headquarters to Far West, MO.  The sudden influx of church members resulted in the establishment of new settlements in Daviess and Carroll Counties.

Needless to say, this caused hurt feelings among settlers who felt that they were being invaded by people who had been given their own place.  In a country where Whigs and Democrats were evenly balanced, the Mormon influx changed the political landscape.  Long story short, the conflicts prompted Governor Lilburn Boggs to issue Missouri Executive Order 44 ("Extermination Order") which said "the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary".  During this conflict Atchison and Doniphan both were appointed generals in the state militia and were among the leaders attempting to suppress violence done by non-Mormons and Mormons to each other.

After he had served out his terms in the Missouri legislature, Atchison was named a circuit judge in Platte County in 1841.  Late in 1843, Atchison became a US Senator, the first from western Missouri, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Lewis Linn.  David Atchison had tremendous skill as a politician, and Atchison was elected President pro tempore of the US Senate on 13 different occasions from 1846-1854 to preside over the Senate when the vice-president was absent.  From 20 December 1852 - 04 December 1854, Atchison was effectively the acting vice-president, since there was no sitting vice-president at the time.  Millard Fillmore had become president at the death of Zachary Taylor, so there was no vice-president from 09 July 1850 until 04 March 1853.  Franklin Pierce was elected president in 1852 with William R. King as vice-president.  King was ill with tuberculosis and in Cuba when he took the oath of office on 24 March 1853.  King died on 18 April 1853 without ever executing duties as vice-president, leaving the position vacant until the next election, so any Senate President pro tempore serving 18 April 1853 - 03 March 1857 was essentially the acting vice-president.

Was David Rice Atchison a  President of the US? No.  A Vice-President of the US? Maybe.  Missouri State Representative, Major General in Missouri Militia, US Senator, US Senate President pro tempore?  Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.  How did this guy light the fire that started the US Civil War?  Stay tuned to this BatChannel for more.

Getting There

Well, dead guys don't run fast, so it is easy enough to track them down.  MO-116 runs right through Plattsburg, and is easily reached from US-169, I-35 or MO-13.  In Plattsburg, turn south on County Highway C.  Several adjoining cemeteries can be found on the south side of town.  Follow the signs to the Atchison grave.

Waypoint:  Latitude: 39.5580724 N; Longitude:  94.4458898 W