The Guns of Wild Bill Hickok

In this video we’ll take a look at the guns actually used by the most famous gunfighter of the 19th century, Wild Bill Hickok.

Sources:
“They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok”, by Joseph G. Rosa“

“Famous Firearms of the Old West”, by Hal Herring

Mike Beliveau links:

Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/Duelist

Website – https://mikebeliveau.com/

Hi, I’m Mike Bell and today I want to discuss the guns actually owned and used by Wild Bill Hickok, the prince of the pistolers. You know, as I’ve said before, quite a few Old West gunfighters became famous in modern times on surprisingly thin resumes. And in the case of Hickok, he was the real deal. I mean, he was the prototypical gunfighter. And yet, he didn’t kill a hundred men in gunfights as I think uh Colonel Nicholls claimed in his Harper’s article. Uh his number was quite a bit smaller, probably seven. Now, how many men he killed during the Civil War, don’t know. Uh, probably quite a few. Uh, how many Indians he killed in battle as a scout, I don’t know, but you can be sure it’s several. I mean, we actually do know of a couple that that he killed, but the uh the seven are, you know, as as they say, uh, gunfights with white men. So, compared to 100, that doesn’t sound like much, but seven’s a lot. I mean, if if you’re a Los Angeles cop and you have seven uh killing shootouts, you’re probably on death duty for the rest of your life. I mean, that that’d be a tremendous number. So, you know, a lot of us who grew up on westerns and TV got totally desensitized and and think that western gunmen had to kill somebody every week uh you know to keep their reputation up and that just was not the case. And Hickok was by a long shot the real deal. He was absolutely fearless. He was very well respected and he was famous in his own lifetime which is kind of rare. Um, and he managed to carry a pretty good reputation into the 20th century. So, let’s take a look at the guns uh owned by well, Bill Hickok, James Butler Hickok, his actual name. We’re going to start with a cult dragoon. And he was reputed to have owned this in the 1850s when he was out in Kansas in the Nebraska area. Uh this did not survive to be handed down to us. But there were witnesses that attested that uh while Bill carried one of these and that he was a expert in its use. And Hickok started off as a crack shot with rifles and he was always an excellent rifle shot, but witnesses said that he could shoot his Colt dragoon and hit an oyster can. So, I mean, picture a can of corn, you know, standard can uh at 100 yards. And I’m telling you, that is some good shooting with a cold dragoon. Now, he also owned a Smith and Wesson number two. And these were very small revolvers, uh, 32 rimfire. They were the first Americanmade brass cartridge revolvers. Uh, Smith and Wesson licensed the Roland White patent to make these. They were made during the Civil War and they were a uh a hinged frame revolver, but unlike the later Smith and Wessons, there were known as top brakes where the hinge was at the bottom of the frame and you open the gun like this. These were tip up barrel. The hinge was at the top of the barrel and you flip the barrel up towards the the top strap and then you poke the empties out. Actually, I take the cylinder off and poke the empties out. So these were very popular during the Civil War. Uh sometimes as main guns, but I mean 32 pretty weak, but uh often as hideout guns and Bill carried one of these during the Civil War and for the rest of his life. And and in fact he had this gun on him when he was murdered by Jack McCall in Deadwood uh in 1876. Now, this gun is extent. I mean, we know it’s there. We know who owns it. Uh, it has an interesting history. When Hickok was killed, he was destitute basically. I mean, he was living as an itinerant gambler and not doing all that well. And uh Seth Bullock, who was the sheriff uh acting sheriff at the time in Deadwood, gathered up his belongings and auction them off to pay for the cost of his funeral. He didn’t auction off the Smith and Wesson number two. that went to a storekeeper uh whose name was Adolf Fishell and it was given to Fishell to settle Hickok’s outstanding debt with him. On November 18th in uh 2013, this Hickok revolver came up for auction. The high bid on it was $220,000, but it didn’t meet the reserve price and the owners held on to it. Uh, and as far as I know, it has not been up for auction since, so it may come up sometime. Uh, guns at Hickok are most or is most famous for shooting are Colts 1851 Navy revolvers. These were Hickok’s principal sidearms. from the time of the Civil War basically until his death. Uh, and it’s no surprise why he liked them. They were excellently balanced, uh, adequately powered, at least according to the lights of the time. We’ probably think of them as being underpowered today. But I would not want to get shot with one. So, you know, take that take that for what it’s worth. They were the most popular belt pistols of their day. Now, in the early period of his life, uh, and that would include up through the Davis Tutt gunfight that made him famous, Hickok’s navies were the standard walnut gripped Navy revolvers, 7 and a half inch barrels. Uh, he wore a pair of them. He wore them in crossdraw holsters butts forward. Uh sometimes in town he would wear them tucked into a silk sash. He felt they were faster to draw that way than from the leather. There was no binding. Uh but always uh always a cavalry you’re a twist draw. Now, when Hickok used his Colt navies in a gunfight with Davis Todd, uh, where he and Todd shot at the same time, they were across the square in Springfield, Missouri, a a measured distance of 75 yards, and he and Tot fired so close together that most of the onlookers thought there had only been one shot. Uh, Touch shot went high. Hickock shot went right into Tut’s heart and he staggered about 10 ft and dropped dead. And it was with these woodengripped Navy revolvers. Now, when he shot Tutt, he already had a local reputation as a good man with a handgun. Uh but after the touch shooting uh he was written up in the national press uh George Ward Nichols wrote him up in Harper’s Monthly magazine and repeated every wild tale that anybody cared to tell him about about Hickok’s prowess with a six gun. So, I mean, the story was pretty unbelievable. And most of the locals who read it later, people who knew Bill got a good laugh out of it. But, of course, a lot of the public just believed everything they were fed on this. And and Hickok ended up developing the first national reputation as a gunfighter for for good or for real. Now, Bill apparently used these plane navies until 1867. Now, the reporter Henry Stanley, who would later be famous for going to Africa to locate Dr. Livingston, you know, Dr. Livingston, I presume that’s Stanley. uh he was present on a military campaign that Hickok was scouting for. Now, Stanley uh was a pretty credible witness, but this fight was also witnessed by a fellow scout, Thomas Conincaid. On May 11th, 1867, Stanley wrote, I’m going to read this. Wild Bill, who was an ineterate hater of Indians, was chased by six Indians lately and had quite a little adventure with them. It is his custom to always be armed with a brace of ivory-handled revolvers, with which weapons he is remarkably dextrous. During that fight, while Bill killed two of the Indians pursuing him, the other four warriors broke off the fight for easier pickings. Hickock’s name was misspelled on the backstrap uh and then corrected later in the 1930s, but these guns were manufactured in 1868. Uh as I said, they they may or may not be true, but the Audrey Museum has them. Now, one set that we are much more certain is true were also manufactured in 1868, uh, these guns feature plain ivory grips and full factory engraving. One of these guns is in the, uh, Buffalo Bill, the William F. Cody Museum of the American West in Cody, Wyoming. And the other one is still in private hands. Um, now I saw one of these guns many years ago when I was at the Cody and it is beautiful. Uh, it’s believed to be authentic and there’s a pretty good providence behind it. Now, this gun and its mate were auctioned off by Seth Bullock. As I said before, each of these navies went for 25 cents in that auction of deadwood. Can Can you believe that? 25 cents. Ivory grip engraved. Uh, man, if if only. Huh? Now, from that point, the gun went through several hands until it made its way into the collection of Dr. Robert Azar. And from there it went to auction at the Rock Island uh auction company. Now this is an interesting thing. When it was taken out of the old trunk it was stored in by Dr. Azar, it was loaded. And I’m here to tell you that is not unusual. Uh, I’ve I have examined a number of original guns, uh, both long guns and, uh, and revolvers. And I’ve I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that. I mean, people come to me for appraisals sometimes, which which I do for free. And if it’s somebody within reasonable distance, I’ll drive out and, you know, look at them, not just take pictures, uh, evaluate from pictures. But my appraisals are not binding like say Jim Sulus, but it gives people an idea of what they’ve got. And I’m always happy to do it for people if if I can. Uh, but to the point, a number of those guns I’ve looked at when I dropped a ram rod down the barrel or took a look in the uh in the cylinders were loaded and you know it been loaded for a hundred years or more. And if you wonder if they’ll still go off, they will. Uh, so you know, if you come across an original gun, you should always check it to see if it’s loaded. Um, and don’t just try firing it just for the heck of it, for fun, until you’ve checked that because you might really be surprised and really really caused some serious problems. So anyway, this gun was loaded, as as I said, many of them are uh before before it went up for auction. So those were the guns that uh Bill is probably best known for. But there were other guns in his life. In 1874, u while Bill had been working with Buffalo Bill Cody uh on a play called The Scouts of the Plains. And uh though Cody loved show business, Wild Bill absolutely hated it. In fact, he shot the uh flood lights out at one of the shows just because they were bothering his eyes, which which were probably being affected uh at at that point by venerial disease or lead poisoning or one of a variety of things, but his his eyes were going bad and the glare of of those spotlights was really bothering him. And he drew one of his navies that uh was not loaded with blanks and shot the light out. uh which caused pandemonium but also it was a huge public relations coup for Cody. So Cody had shoot the light shoot a light out in other shows as well just because the audience got to expect it. But but Bill while Bill hated show business in 1874 he left the show and one of the other stars of the show Texas Jack Ajandro who who was another actual cavalry scout. Uh Texas Jack had Smith and Wesson 44 American revolvers, the first uh the first model of the number three, and he thought those were the greatest guns in the world. And and he gifted uh Wild Bill with a pair of them in 44 uh American. And um I don’t know what happened to those. They were not part of his estate in Deadwood. He doesn’t seem to have carried them. So, he may have not liked the balance, which which I don’t like the balance of them. Uh I don’t know. But he owned those guns. Now, the other guns that uh he supposedly owned were cartridge conversions of Colt’s 1851 Navy. Now, he’s said to have had a pair of those when he went to Deadwood. Uh, and these guns have been attested to by several eyewitnesses. Uh, the best known was whiteyed Jackie Anderson. Um, who referenced, you know, Bill having that pair of cartridge conversion revolvers, uh, when he was traveling to Deadwood. Did he or did he not? I mean, it’s, you know, Hickok was no fool. So, did he or did he not have a pair of conversions? Well, Hickok was no fool. I mean, he liked the Colt Navy, but I’m sure he could see the benefits of fixed ammunition. Uh, and guns were how he stayed alive. So, it’s quite reasonable to assume that he had a set of cartridge conversions when he was in Deadwood. The sticking point is they were not part uh of his estate when Bullock settled it and they have not appeared uh on the market where certainly they would be worth a fortune uh subsequently. So did he or didn’t he? I I think we won’t know until they show up and they have providence that really backs it up. Now, there are some other guns in Hickok’s life. Those are the main ones. Uh but there are a few others. The first is a cartridge conversion of a 44 caliber Colt uh 1860 Army, which uh which he was believed to have. Uh now that also did not make it into his estate and and you know Hickok as a professional gambler Hickok often ran into money problems. So would not be surprising if he sold guns or at least pawned guns that he was not actively using. Uh so I would guess that’s what happened at some point to this 1860 army. He also had a pair of 41 caliber Williams dual ignition daringers that he carried his hideout weapons. Now he does not appear to have had those on him in Deadwood. So once again, you know, did he pawn them, sell them? I don’t know. Now, Bill also is known to have owned several rifles. We know he owned a model 1866 Winchester leveraction rifle. Uh after the fight with the seventh cavalry troopers in Hayes, Kansas, where he killed two of them, I think bar fight, um he went back to his his room and he got his 1866 and 100 rounds of ammunition and then forted up in the town cemetery because he assumed that the Seventh Cavalry troopers would be coming after him in force. So they never did. He also owned a somewhat customized Springfield trapdo and he had that in Deadwood and it was buried with him but later disinterred. Uh it came up for auction at Bonum’s auction house and they listed it as a 4570 made in uh 1870 but no 4570s were made in 1870. the 4570 didn’t exist. So, it’s probably actually a 5070 trap door Springfield. As I said, that trapoor Springfield was buried with Hickok in Deadwood in 1876 after his murder, but his body was disinterred and it was moved to the Mount Mariah Cemetery uh in 1879 and the rifle was removed by John Bradley. It passed through a variety of hands until it was acquired by Terresa Earl and eventually passed through her family’s hands and came up for auction uh here in the 21st century. So, that’s my look at the actual guns used by Wild Bill Hickok. Uh I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, you know what to do, right? like, share, comment, and subscribe. And uh I do enjoy the comments, so feel free to tell me what you thought, good or bad. I I always read them, and you know, I try to try to take them on board if it’s something I need to improve. So feel free to let me know. And until next week, bye.