Calamity Jane was a woman from the Old West known for her drinking, swearing, and shooting skills. She was educated and raised her siblings after being left alone at age ten. She met Wild Bill Hickok and saved six people in a stagecoach. She married and had a daughter before finding work in shows like Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. She has been featured in movies and books, including The Plainsman and Calamity Jane.
Calamity Jane was a woman from the Old West. She was born Martha Jane Canary on May 1, 1856 in Princeton, Missouri. Calamity Jane had a reputation for drinking, swearing, chewing tobacco, and shooting a gun, as well as helping others.
When Calamity Jane was just a few years old, her mother died and the family moved to a town in Montana called Virginia City. A few years later, her father and her siblings were involved in conflict with Native Americans, and Calamity Jane was left alone at the age of ten. Although she had little or no formal education, Calamity Jane was educated and also raised her siblings from the age of sixteen.
At the age of twenty, Calamity Jane was in South Dakota joining the fight against Native Americans as a scout. She met Wild Bill Hickok in 1876 when he was traveling on a wagon train to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Hickok died in a poker game in August 1876 at the hands of Jack McCall. McCall received a death by hanging for killing Hickok.
Calamity Jane is credited with saving six people in a stagecoach by taking the reins of the driver when he was shot by an arrow. She managed to get everyone to safety. She also nursed people with smallpox. Legend has it that she earned her nickname by saving Captain Egan from being killed in a fight with Native Americans at Goose Creek Camp. According to her story, she rode on horseback in the midst of the calamity of battle, gambling on the idea that the Native Americans would not harm her since she was a woman.
Calamity Jane met Clinton Burke in 1884, married him in 1885, and gave birth to a daughter in 1887. Seven years later, the marriage was over and starting the following year, Calamity Jane found work that would last for the rest of her life . She has been on shows like Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.
Jean Arthur played Calamity Jane in the 1936 film, The Plainsman with Gary Cooper playing Wild Bill Hickok. A movie called Calamity Jane with Doris Day in the lead role was released in 1955. Other movies and some books also mentioned Calamity Jane. The Home Box Office (HBO) series Deadwood also featured a character based on Calamity Jane.
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