The Life of Buffalo Bill · Chapter
Early Influences explained
Young Bill Cody encounters the emigrant wagon trains, soldiers at Fort Leavenworth, and his first Indians, while being deeply influenced by the daring horseman Horace Billings, who teaches him to ride and throw a lasso.
What happens
Young Bill Cody encounters the emigrant wagon trains, soldiers at Fort Leavenworth, and his first Indians, while being deeply influenced by the daring horseman Horace Billings, who teaches him to ride and throw a lasso. The chapter also describes the family's move to a trading camp in Kansas and Cody's early fascination with frontier life.
Themes in this chapter
Frontier Expansion and Manifest Destiny
The valley filled with emigrant wagons bound for Utah and California illustrates the massive westward movement and the spirit of Manifest Destiny.
Self-Invention and Celebrity
Horace Billings, a former Californian, reinvents himself as a skilled horseman and becomes a hero figure for young Cody, foreshadowing Cody's own self-invention.
Masculinity and the Frontier Hero
Billings' daring horsemanship and the armed, rough men at Rively's trading post embody the rugged masculine ideal of the frontier.
Characters to notice
- Buffalo Bill
Young Bill Cody experiences his first encounters with soldiers, Indians, and emigrant trains, and learns horsemanship from Horace Billings.
- Horace Billings
A skilled horseman and former Californian who teaches Cody to ride and throw a lasso, and later leaves after a dispute with Cody's father.
- Elijah Cody
Bill's uncle who gives him a saddle and bridle for his pony.
- Little Gray
Cody's pony, used by Horace Billings for catching wild government horses.
- Mr. William Russell
Mentioned as part of Majors & Russell, the great government freighters whose wagon trains are seen in the valley.
Key passages
“I thought he was a magnificent looking man. I envied his appearance, and my ambition just then was to become as skillful a horseman as he was.”
Cody admired Horace Billings so much that he aspired to match his riding skill.
Shows Billings as a formative role model for young Cody.
“The day had been an eventful one to me, for all the incidents were full of excitement and romance to my youthful mind, and I think no apology is needed for mentioning so many of the little circumstances, which so greatly interested me in my childhood’s days, and which no doubt had a great influence in shaping my course in after years.”
Cody reflects that the day's experiences, though small, were thrilling and helped shape his future as a scout and hunter.
Highlights the chapter's role in explaining Cody's later career.
“My love of hunting and scouting, and life on the plains generally, was the result of my early surroundings.”
Cody attributes his passion for the outdoor frontier life to his childhood environment.
Direct statement of the chapter's thesis about early influences.