Post by conz on Oct 5, 2007 11:10:19 GMT -6
BB, of course, was a real Indian fighter as well as thespian, and Col. King gives a nice account of a combat he witnessed that later became one of BB's most famous stage acts, using the actual implements he personally captured in that fight.
This act also was not well received in New England, it is said, by the pacifists there, who thought it insensitive to the Native Americans and too violent...
Then Captain King: "I jump for my horse, and the vagabond, excited by the shots and rush around us, plunges at his lariat and breaks to the left. As I catch him, I see Buffalo Bill closing on a superbly accoutered warrior. It is the work of a minute; the Indian has fired and missed. Cody's bullet tears through the rider's leg, into his pony's heart, and they tumble in a confused heap on the prairie. The Cheyenne struggles to his feet for another shot, but Cody's second bullet crashes through his brain, and the young chief, Yellow Hand, drops lifeless in his tracks."
This was part of the 5th Cavalry's Warbonnet Creek fight. Then later upon driving these Southern Cheyenne back onto the reservation...
"One and all, they [the Cheyennes] wanted to see Buffalo Bill, and wherever he moved they followed him with awe-filled eyes. He wore the same dress in which he had burst upon them in yesterday's fight, a Mexican costume of black velvet, slashed with scarlet and trimmed with silver buttons and lace - one of his theatrical garbs, in which he had done much execution before the footlights in the States, and which now became of intensified value. Bill had carefully preserved the beautiful war bonnet, shield and decorations, as well as the arms of the young chieftain Yellow Hand, whom he had slain in single combat, and that winter ('76 and '77) was probably the most profitable of his theatrical career."
Kinda macabre entertainment, but did he copy his fashion designs from George Custer?!
Any chance that costume, or Yellow Hands personal effects, are preserved somewhere?
Clair
This act also was not well received in New England, it is said, by the pacifists there, who thought it insensitive to the Native Americans and too violent...
Then Captain King: "I jump for my horse, and the vagabond, excited by the shots and rush around us, plunges at his lariat and breaks to the left. As I catch him, I see Buffalo Bill closing on a superbly accoutered warrior. It is the work of a minute; the Indian has fired and missed. Cody's bullet tears through the rider's leg, into his pony's heart, and they tumble in a confused heap on the prairie. The Cheyenne struggles to his feet for another shot, but Cody's second bullet crashes through his brain, and the young chief, Yellow Hand, drops lifeless in his tracks."
This was part of the 5th Cavalry's Warbonnet Creek fight. Then later upon driving these Southern Cheyenne back onto the reservation...
"One and all, they [the Cheyennes] wanted to see Buffalo Bill, and wherever he moved they followed him with awe-filled eyes. He wore the same dress in which he had burst upon them in yesterday's fight, a Mexican costume of black velvet, slashed with scarlet and trimmed with silver buttons and lace - one of his theatrical garbs, in which he had done much execution before the footlights in the States, and which now became of intensified value. Bill had carefully preserved the beautiful war bonnet, shield and decorations, as well as the arms of the young chieftain Yellow Hand, whom he had slain in single combat, and that winter ('76 and '77) was probably the most profitable of his theatrical career."
Kinda macabre entertainment, but did he copy his fashion designs from George Custer?!
Any chance that costume, or Yellow Hands personal effects, are preserved somewhere?
Clair