Born near LeClaire in Scott County, Iowa, in 1846, Buffalo Bill Cody rode on the Pony Express at the age of 14, fought in the American Civil War, serving as a scout for the Army, and was already an Old West legend before mounting his famous Wild West show, which traveled the United States and Europe.

Cody received the nickname "Buffalo Bill" after the American Civil War, when he had a contract to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo (American bison) meat. Cody is purported to have killed 4,282 buffalo in eighteen months between 1867 and 1868.

In the years before the Civil War, Kansas was a hotbed of controversy over the slavery question. Isaac Cody was against slavery. He was invited to speak at Rively's store, a local trading post where pro-slavery men often held meetings. His antislavery speech so angered the crowd that they threatened to kill him if he didn't step down. A man jumped up and stabbed him twice with a Bowie knife. The store's owner rushed Cody to get treatment, but he never fully recovered from his injuries.

Cody and another hunter, Bill Comstock, competed in an eight-hour buffalo-shooting match over the exclusive right to use the name "Buffalo Bill", which Cody won by killing 68 animals to Comstock's 48. Comstock, part Cheyenne and a noted hunter, scout, and interpreter, used a fast-shooting Henry repeating rifle, while Cody competed with a larger-caliber Springfield Model 1866, which he called Lucretia Borgia, after the notorious Italian noblewoman, the subject of a popular contemporary Victor Hugo opera.

Rome, Kansas was the first town established within what would become Ellis County, followed very shortly after by rival Hays City. Although the town quickly failed, Cody maintained an interest in the location. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition, he convinced I. M. Yost (the husband of a cousin) to build a water-powered grain mill there.

Cody was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1872 for documented gallantry above and beyond the call of duty as an Army scout in the Indian Wars. It was revoked in 1917, along with medals of 910 other recipients dating back to the Revolutionary War, when Congress decided to create a hierarchy of medals, designating the "Medal of Honor" as the highest military honor it could bestow. Subsequent regulations authorized the War Department to revoke prior Medal of Honor awards it considered not meeting requirements since the introduction of strict regulations promulgated under the 1917 law. Cody was one of five scouts affected.

In December 1872, Cody traveled to Chicago to make his stage debut with his friend Texas Jack Omohundro in The Scouts of the Prairie, one of the original Wild West shows produced by Ned Buntline. The effort was panned by critics, who compared Cody's acting to a "diffident schoolboy," but the handsome performer was a hit with the sold-out crowds.

In 1873, Cody invited "Wild Bill" Hickok to join the group in a new play called Scouts of the Plains. Hickok did not enjoy acting and often hid behind scenery. In one show, he shot at the spotlight when it tried to focus on him. Needless to say, he was released from the group after a few months.

Having spent years in the presence of legendary women like Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane, it comes as no surprise that Bill Cody was an ardent supporter of women's suffrage. And he didn't just talk a big game--he put his money where his mouth was and insisted on equal pay for all members of his traveling shows, regardless of gender.

Many historical western figures participated in the show, including Sitting Bull who appeared with a band of 20 of his braves. The show was said to end with a re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand, in which Cody portrayed General Custer, but this is more legend than fact. The finale was typically a portrayal of an Indian attack on a settler's cabin.