Buffalo Bill and Nicholas Black Elk — Catholic Converts of the Wild West...

Long before cowboy churches entered the Protestant landscape of the United States, one quite well known cowboy made his journey into the Catholic Church. William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, was one the most famous figures of the American Old West. Gaining his moniker due to his work as a buffalo hunter after the American Civil War, Cody would go on to create Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a circus-type stage show portraying a version of life in the American West. This show would eventually become a world-wide phenomenon, traveling across the U.S. and Europe, and included Native Americans invited by Cody to tour with him to provide an accurate representation of their heritage.

William Cody was not an overly religious man for much of his life, though he grew up in a religious household, his mother a devout Quaker. Cody’s way of living certainly did not betray any affinity to a life of Christian virtue—rumors of his infidelity and drunkenness were widespread, especially after his attempt to divorce his wife. This began to change in the early 1900s, however, as his correspondence with his sister Julia would reveal. He writes,

“Let us show the Lord we are Christians. And will carry our cross. God ever bless you my patient brave sister. Remember our brave Christian mother and what she endured.” (Letters from Buffalo Bill)

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