William F. Cody

William Frederick Cody (1846–1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American scout, bison hunter, and showman who became a global symbol of the frontier. Born in Iowa, he worked as a Pony Express rider, served as a Union scout during the Civil War, and earned his nickname hunting buffalo for railroad crews. His fame grew through dime novels and stage performances, leading him to create "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," a traveling spectacle that featured reenactments, sharpshooting, and Native American performers. Cody's autobiography, "The Life of Buffalo Bill" (1879), is a key text in Western American literature, blending fact with self-mythologizing adventure. Though criticized for romanticizing conquest, the book remains a primary source for understanding how the West was imagined and commodified in popular culture.