Wild Bill Hickok

American folk hero and lawman (1837–1876)

  • Fame61.8
  • Momentum10.0
  • Wikipedia69.5K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1837–1876, aged 39United States
  • Wikipedia
    33 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1837–1876
    Aged 39
  • Awards
    1
    recognised work
Summary
Updated 2026-06-21

A lawman, gambler, and gunslinger who spent as much time inventing his own legend as living it. Wild Bill Hickok fed the frontier press outlandish tales about himself, and the fabrications stuck harder than the truth.

Biography

About

James Butler Hickok grew up on an Illinois farm amid the chaos of prairie banditry, then fled west at eighteen as a fugitive. He drifted through stagecoach driving, scouting, and spying for the Union during the Civil War before settling into frontier law enforcement across Kansas and Nebraska. Between 1861 and 1871 he killed six or seven men in shootouts — though he claimed far more — and parlayed his reputation into work as a gambler, showman, and actor. On August 2, 1876, an unsuccessful gambler named Jack McCall shot him dead while he played poker in a Deadwood saloon, holding two black ace…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok
said
I suppose I am called a red-handed murderer, which I deny. That I have killed men I admit, but never unless in absolute self-defense, or in the performance of an official duty.
Conversation with Annie D. Tallent in Cheyenne, Wyoming, summer 1875. The Black Hills, or, The Last Hunting Ground of the Dakotahs (St.
Wild Bill Hickok
said
I hardly know where to begin. Pretty near all these stories are true. I was at it all the war.
Interview with G[eorge] W[ard] N[ichols], "Wild Bill", in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 34, no. 201 (February 1867) p. 281
Deep cuts

Awards

Low confidence
  • Poker Hall of Fame
Where to find them

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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
61.8
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum10.0
Historical24.4
Now attention30.8
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence