The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

The grand processional review with which the proceedings open, to the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" by the Cow-boy Band, brings into the field Buffalo Bill, and in rapid succession the Indian chiefs and braves with their hoarse war-cries, as they madly gallop to the front and wheel round to face the grand stand. A curious picture, with their headgears of eagles' feathers, and the brilliant beaded work done by the dusky squaws, all of which are more or less the marks of aristocracy, and their brilliant coloured vestments, all native-dyed and marvels of vivid hues. Picturesque in its fashion, too, is the near proximity of the cow-boys in rough-and-ready attire. It is only a flash, a wild whirl, and off they go madly racing down the ground. The scene changes. On spirited Spanish-American horses, a cow-boy, a Mexican, and an Indian race round the ring, giving an admirable show of horsemanship and pace. Then comes forward Miss Annie Oakley, "Little Sure Shot," as she was named by the great chief, Sitting Bull, killed in the battle of Wounded Knee Creek last spring, at the period when her marvellous shooting feats were brought under his notice, and he adopted her in the tribe. "Little Sure Shot" is a frontier girl, an accomplished equestrienne, and one who, ever since she could toddle, has had an inherent love of fire-arms. She has accomplished many wonderful performances, on one occasion, in 1885, breaking 4,772 balls out of 5,000, and out of the second thousand did the best on record of 984 out of 1,000. She shot with the greatest ease everything thrown from the trap, loading the gun herself and very rarely missing, sometimes laying the weapon on the ground and then running, picking it up after the balls were thrown, and hitting the object. This was at a period when the "rain or shine" proud boast of the show was tested to the utmost; but the canvas cover was impervious, and only the performers experienced the soaking effects of the steady downpour.