Calamity Jane made a lot of claims about her accomplishments and many more people added their own stories and bits of knowledge about her crazy life. It was not until her death in 1903 that at least one man came forward and said that the stories about her were all lies.
Truth or merely legends, here are a few of the stories surrounding the great Calamity Jane.
They Knew She Was a Woman
Calamity Jane was born in Princeton, Missouri as Martha Jane Canary in 1852. She was always a restless child and soon became an expert horse rider – something that would later aid her in her wild adventures.
By the time Jane was fifteen years of age, she had lost both of her parents and was on her own. She took on a lot of odd jobs for stage coaches and the railroads, but it was her work as a scout that made her legendary.
It was highly unusual for a woman to work as a scout, but Jane seemed to have a talent for it. She dressed like a man, talked like one, and knew how to take care of herself.
She clipped her hair, put on a cowboy suit, and pretended to be a man. She rode her horse to Fort Russell in Wyoming and offered her services as a scout.
She was given the position, but it was soon discovered that Jane was a woman.
Was she let go? Heck no. General Custer gave her a good lecture and afterwards kept her as a scout because she had already proven her skills to the men.
How She Got Her Name
While attached to a small group of soldiers outside of Goose Creek Camp in Wyoming, 1872, the group became surrounded by hostile Native Americans. There was an attack and several soldiers were killed.
When the officer in command, Captain Egan, was injured, Jane rode her horse up to his side, pulled the man onto her horse, and made a mad dash through the Native American ranks.
It was a crazy escape, but it worked. Jane got Captain Egan safely back to camp where he made a joke about how Jane was always where the danger was. He called her “Calamity Jane” and the name stuck. The danger Jane had faced once would return over and over again during her career as a scout and soldier.
Captain Jack Crawford said, in an article printed after Jane’s death, that Jane being a scout was a bunch of baloney. According to him, Jane was never a scout and there was no attack on Captain Egan and his men.
How did Captain Crawford know Jane had been lying? Because he claimed he was there and rode with Captain Egan.
Pneumonia Saved Her Life
As the relationship between the Native Americans and the United States government continued to get worse, Jane joined General Custer’s campaign in northern Wyoming, 1876.
Jane carried dispatches through the extremely dangerous Bighorn country. The weather was damp and cold, and she often had to cross the river to get messages through to the armies on the other side.
It was little surprise that Jane eventually succumbed to pneumonia. Wearing wet leather through the chill would have wiped out the healthiest among people, and Jane was given a leave of absence to recover.
Soon afterwards, the tragedy of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand, happened. Custer, 263 U.S. soldiers, and thousands of Native American warriors died in the battle. Calamity Jane would have perished beside her men if she had not gotten sick.
Of course, there are no records proving this wild legend about Jane’s lucky escape from the deadly battle. In fact, Colonel Cody, a.k.a. Buffalo Bill, told a different story about Calamity Jane that occurred in the same year as the battle.
People Used Her
Because of the fame of her past and the crazy legends surrounding her supposed career, people found that they could make money off of Jane’s appearance.
One very notable instance was when novelist Josephine Winfield Brake went in search of the heroine of her dime novels. She found the nearly fifty-year-old woman living in a hut with another African American woman.
Jane was sick with fever and, supposedly heartbroken by the conditions the heroine was living in, the author offered Jane a room in her home in Buffalo, New York. Jane accepted and travelled east with the author.
The author gave Jane room and board. She also set Jane up to sell the woman’s novels about her, earning Jane a mere thirty cents a week for her work. However, Jane soon found out that the author was making much more money just showing her off to the public.
Disgusted with not being able to buy anything for herself with her meager earnings, Jane soon left the author’s home for yet another adventure.
When Drinking Got Her into Trouble
Early newspaper reports stated that as a scout, Jane drank in moderate amounts. She drank casually with the men, her co-workers, and liked to visit the dance halls. It was not until 1901 that there were open reports about her drinking a touch too much.
One of the reports happened right after she had left the author’s home. Jane negotiated her employment with the Indian Congress, a midway show, where she would make an appearance as a novelty.
Suddenly, Calamity Jane had money and on her first pay day, she took her earnings and went across the way to the saloon. It must have been one heck of a night because she was arrested for drunkenness and released in the morning.
In an attempt to keep Jane out of trouble, the midway show assigned a guard to keep her in line, but that was a huge mistake. No one was going to stop Jane from doing what she wanted and she sent the guard “spinning on his head.” A few days later, she was in court for intoxication and for creating a disturbance.
Life in the east did not suit Jane in the slightest, and as soon as Colonel Cody arrived at the midway show, she asked him for help to get back west. He bought her a train ticket and gave her $25 for food.
After Jane’s death, however, a few men came forward to say that she had a drinking problem throughout her life. She was often in trouble with the law for public drunkenness, but the romantic wild West historians of the past failed to mention this downside to her character.
