Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Date: October 6, 1895

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

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[portrait]

The Buffalo Bill Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World.

Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), President.
Nate Salsbury, Vice-Pres't and Manager.
John M. Burke, . . . General Manager.
Albert E. Scheible, . . . Business Manager.
Jule Keen, . . . Treasurer.

Wilmington N. C.
Oct 6 [1]

Dear George

I have not heard if you approove of nameing the streets after the leading Generals [2] if you do I will send you my favorites they come in rotation as I write them. I leave it to you to put in and name the Southern Generals. I dont know how many streets you are going to have but here goes [3]

How many streets will you have—

Note 1: The year is not inscribed by Cody but is 1895 as determined by the Routes List: Buffalo Bill's Wild West performed in Wilmington, North Carolina, October 7, 1895; there was no performance on Sunday, October 6. [back]

Note 2: In previous letters Cody refers to naming streets in the first planned town site, and the initial plats of the town of Cody in that original location show the streets named for generals. This was an idea that apparently did not catch on, as Cody remarks. In the town site's subsequent location, the main street of Sheridan Avenue is the only street honoring a general (Philip Sheridan); the principal east-west streets were and still are named for founders of the town. [back]

Note 3: The following are full names and life dates in the order in which Cody has them listed in his letter:

  • Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885.
  • Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891.
  • Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888.
  • Custer, George A. (George Armstrong), 1839-1876.
  • Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839-1925.
  • Carr, E. A. (Eugene Asa), 1830-1910.
  • Merritt, Wesley, 1834-1910.
  • Crook, George, 1829-1890.
  • Guss, Henry R., 1825-1907.
  • Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827-1890.
  • Royall, William B. (William Bedford), 1825-1895.
  • Emory, William H. (William Hemsley), 1811-1887.
  • Gibbon, John, 1827-1896.
  • Augur, Christopher Columbus, 1821-1898.
  • Sumner, Edwin Vose, 1835-1912.
  • Harney, William S. (William Selby), 1800-1889.
  • Forsyth, George, Alexander "Sandy," 1837-1915.
  • Forsyth, James W. (James William), 1836-1906.
  • Stanton, Edwin McMasters, 1814-1869.
[back]

Note 4: Henry R. Guss, 1825-1907, was Cody's uncle, having married Cody's mother's sister, Eliza C. Laycock. General Guss was commissioned a Major General in 1867; he commanded the 97th Pennsylvania Regiment in the Civil War. [back]