Born in 1837 in little town in Illinois, you would probably recognize this famous gambler from his nickname – Wild Bill. Hickok was a famous gunfighter with phenomenal skill with a gun. He learned his skill when he was just a boy, helping his father when their farm was a stop on the Underground Railroad, aiding slaves in running away to freedom.
At 18, Hickok went off to what was then the Kansas Territory. He continued his fight against the injustice of slavery by joining the "Red Legs", a vigilante group led by General Jim Lane. When the Civil War broke out, Hickok joined the Union army serving as a scout. He even served for a short time in Custer’s ill-fated 7th Calvary.
After the war, Hickok went west and was a buffalo hunter for a time. He was a wandering man, never settling down to one spot for a long time. At various times he served as a lawman in different places. Although his reputation had him killing hundreds in gunfights, most of these are not substantiated. His first confirmed fatal gunfight that history records is the shooting in 1865 over a gambling dispute. Yup, apparently Hickok dealt swift justice to gambling cheats as did most in those rough and tumble times.
Hickok was well-known as a poker player and could be seen at the gambling tables down at the local saloon in any town he was in. One of these games resulted in his most famous poker hand – the one he held when a coward walked up and shot him in the back of the head. Hickok was holding a pair of Aces and a pair of eights, a hand that has been forever memorialized as the "Dead Man’s Hand".
