Hickok, ‘Wild Bill’

views updated May 11 2018

Hickok, ‘Wild Bill’ ( James Butler) (1837–76) US frontiersman. A renowned marksman, he was a scout first with the Union Army during the American Civil War, and then with George Custer. He served as US marshal in Kansas (1869–71), and later toured with the Wild West show of ‘Buffalo Bill’. He was shot dead while playing poker.