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Document TitleSTB-JA85 "BUFFALO BILL" CODY
STB-JA85
Music by Brother J. L. F. Mendelssohn.
"BUFFALO BILL" CODY
by
Ernest J. Goppert, Jr., P.G.M.
Grand Lodge Of Wyoming
The 110th Annual Communication of the Grand
Lodge Of Wyoming was held in Cody Wyoming
in August, 1984, and was dedicated to the memory
of the town's founder, Pony Express Rider, scout,
Frontiersman, showman, Brother William F.
"Buffalo Bill" Cody This Short Talk Bulletin has
been adapted from one of the presentations at that
memorable Annual Communication.
A child, destined to great fame, was born on
a farm in LeClaire, Scott County, lowa, on
February 26, 1846 to Isaac Cody and Mary
Leacock Cody. Isaac abandoned his farm to
work as a stage driver and the family moved to
the vicinity of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. At
the age of eleven, Bill lost his father in the Kansas border war. Bill's mother was a woman of
the highest character and developed in him
nobility of soul, fortitude and courage which
endeared him to the hearts of all who were
destined to meet and know him. She died when
Bill who was still in his teens was serving with
the Kansas Cavalry.
Following his father's death, Bill secured
employment as a "carrier boy" on a supply
train. Later at age fourteen he obtained a
lucrative job as a rider for the Pony Express.
Bill made the longest trip on record. Upon
reaching Three Crossings he learned that the
rider at Sweetwater had been killed and he was
requested to ride the next leg. He made a trip of
321 miles without stopping except for meals
and to change horses.
At seventeen, Bill enlisted in the 9th Kansas
Cavalry. Later he served as a Scout in Tennessee and as a Trooper in Missouri. In 1866 he
married Louisa Frederici in St. Louis. Bill contracted with the Goddard Brothers to furnish
the Kansas Pacific Railroad with all the buffalo
meat required to feed the laborers engaged in
road construction and in eighteen months
(1867-68) killed 4,280 buffalo which earned him
the name by which he is best known--"Buffalo
Bill. "
From September, 1869, when he first caught
the notice of General Phil Sheridan by some
daring riding through Indian country, until
December, 1872, when he resigned to go on the
stage, Cody was continuously on army payrolls
as a civilian scout. In July, 1869, he achieved
some fame for guiding the 5th Cavalry to its
spectacular victory at Summit Springs, Colorado. The troops returned in August, 1869, to
Fort McPherson, Nebraska. Cody felt sure
enough of his employment to send for his wife.
According to Mrs. Cody, when she saw him at
Fort McPherson, for the first time, he was
wearing long hair, moustache and goatee--
the style of prairie scouts of those days. In
September, while buffalo hunting with Major
Frank North to supply the garrison with meat,
Cody and North were surrounded by Indians
and barely fought their way back to the command. With the 5th Cavalry, they then pursued
the Indians for ninety miles to Standing Rock
Agency, Dakota. Finally, the expedition returned to Fort McPherson on October 28.
Within less than three weeks, Captain W.B.
Brown organized in his quarters the Plalte
Valley Lodge No. 32 of the A.F.& A.M. under
the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of
Nebraska. Cody and Brown were close friends,
and it is likely that Cody petitioned right away
for membership. One of the officers of the
Lodge was the post's physician, Dr. David
Frank Powell. Powell, later known as "White
Beaver," became fast friends with "Buffalo
Bill" and eventually died in Cody, Wyoming.
On his 24th birthday, Cody was elected to
membership. He was initiated March 6, 1870
and passed April 2, 1870.
During 1870, Cody was involved in only one
official Indian fight. However, he was kept
busy hunting and guiding visiting dignitaries.
One of those dignitaries Professor Othniel
Marsh, a Yale paleontologist, was on his way to
the Big Horn Basin to do some dinosaur
bone hunting. It is Marsh whom Cody credited
for exciting his interest in the Big Horn Basin
country. Cody also served in the capacity of
Justice of the Peace at Fort McPherson. He had
been appointed by the army commander
because he was the most reliable of the local
civilian employees. In addition to performing
routine chores such as marriages ("whom God
and 'Buffalo Bill' have joined together let no
man put asunder"). Cody also served as a sort
of unofficial detective and policeman. Certainly one of the biggest events in his life was the
birth late in the year of his only son, Kit Carson
Cody.
On January 10, 1871, Cody was raised to
the sublime degree of Master Mason. Within a
few months, he was cited for "conspicuous and
gallant conduct" for a skirmish on Bird Wood
Creek, Nebraska. He also began to achieve
wider national fame as a guide for distinguished
hunting parties. In September, 1871, he led the
famous Bennett/Jerome hunt which resulted in
an invitation to New York. General Sheridan
was so pleased with his conduct of that and a
subsequent hunt that he asked Cody to guide
the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia in January,
1872. Three months later, April, Cody was
awarded the Medal of Honor for a skirmish
while on detached duty with the 3rd Cavalry.
Finally, in 1872, he accepted the invitation to
go to New York. There he saw himself portrayed in a stage play and was persuaded by
Ned Buntline to star in a drama written expressly for him. From that time forward, he and his
partner, Texas Jack Omohundro, spent half
their lives on the plains and half on the stages of
all the major cities of the East.
Cody founded his famous Wild West Show
in 1883. In 1887, he took the show to Europe
for the first time to be the featured attraction
during the celebration of Queen Victoria's
Golden Jubilee. Though he remained in
England as the toast of British society through
October he petitioned Euphrates Chapter No.
15, Royal Arch Masons of North Platte,
Nebraska by mail in September. Within a
month of the closing of the 1888 season on
November 18th, he was advanced to the degree
of Mark Master, inducted into the Oriental
Chair and received and acknowledged a Most
Excellent Master. On the following day he was
exalted to the Royal Arch Degree. In addition
to running the Wild West Show, which showed
on Staten Island in 1888, Cody was running a
stock ranch near North Platte and traveling
back and forth between the East and Far West.
Thereafter, Cody petitioned Palestine Commandery No. 13, order of Knights Templar of
North Platte, Nebraska, and duly elected and
received the Illustrious Order of the Red Cross
on April I, 1889 and on the following day
received the Order of Malta and was dubbed a
Knight Templar, just before sailing once again
to Europe. This European tour, which began in
Paris for the Centennial Exposition, lasted for
three years. Cody was back and forth between
Europe and America during that time.
Just before returning for another tour of
England, he petitioned Tangier Temple of the
Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine of Omaha, Nebraska on March 22,
1892, and walked the burning sands three days
later. In the meantime, he had found time to
lead a hunting expedition through the Grand
Canyon and into the Kaibab country of Utah,
serve as a marshal during the inauguration of
President Benjamin Harrison, and act as Chief
of Scouts for General Miles in a futile attempt
to head off what became the Wounded Knee
Massacre.
1893 had been his most successful year in
show business, perhaps the most successful year
in history in outdoor show business. The season
of 1894 in Brooklyn promised to be just as
good. Cody by this time had been seen in person by millions of people on two continents and
his name was a household word. He was well on
his way to being the most famous man,
perhaps, in the world, and certainly the most
photographed.
The Northern Jurisdiction of the Ancient
Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the
Valley of New York City honored "Buffalo
Bill" by conferring all of its degrees in the
Lodge of Perfection (4ø-14ø), the Council of
Princes (15ø16ø), the Chapter of Rose Croix
(17ø-18ø), and the Consistory (19ø-32ø) in the
same day, April 4, 1894. This special action by
this New York Body exemplified their desire
and that of all Masons of the time to recognize
not only "Buffalo Bill's" dedication to his
fraternal duties, but also to acknowledge the
adherence to the principles of friendship,
morality, and brotherly love.
By all accounts, Cody's life provided an exemplary model for Masons. he was a man of his
word in his dealings with all people. He dealt
with people of all races, religions, sexes, and
occupations, as equals, and was always open
handed in helping those less fortunate than
himself.
"Buffalo Bill" gave the last performance of
his Wild West Show at Portsmouth, Virginia
where he became ill with a cold and headed for
his Wyoming ranch. He stopped off at Denver
to visit his sister and died suddenly from uremia
on January 10, 1917. Although "Buffalo Bill"
left a will stating he wished to be buried on top
of Cedar Mountain about five miles west of his
town, Cody, Wyoming, he was actually buried
atop Lookout Mountain, 20 miles west of
Denver. After his remains had lain in state in a
bronze casket in the Capitol Rotunda in
Denver, a service was held, and his body was
placed in a temporary vault while a permanent
tomb could be cut out of the solid granite atop
Lookout Mountain.
At the request of Platte Valley Lodge of
North Platte, Golden City Lodge No. 1,
Golden, Colorado conferred Masonic burial
rites on June 3, 1917, atop Lookout Mountain,
at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon. Worshipful
Master G.W. Parfet, Jr. of Golden City Lodge
No. I appointed eight brother pallbearers who
were dressed in their Knight Templar uniforms.
At the request of Mrs. Cody, and almost five
months after his death, the casket was opened
and an estimated 10,000 viewed the dead
pioneer and trail blazer. It was estimated that
more than 20,000 persons visited the spot and
15,000 were present at the burial ceremony having walked or ridden to the top of Lookout
Mountain. It was certainly one of the largest, if
not the largest, Masonic burial ever. These
words were said by the Masons over the grave:
"His spirit ascends to God who gave it,
His memory we cherish in our hearts.
His body we consign to the earth."
Before his burial, a group of friends and family
members formed an organization to foster and
perpetuate the memory of "Buffalo Bill" in
Cody, Wyoming. From this timely but meager
start the world famous Buffalo Bill Historical
Center has developed.
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