Buffalo Bill and the Mormons

by Brent M. Rogers

In this never-before-told history of Buffalo Bill and the Mormons, Brent M. Rogers presents the intersections in the epic histories of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and the Latter-day Saints from 1846 through 1917. In Cody’s autobiography he claimed to have been a member of the U.S. Army wagon train that was burned by the Saints during the Utah War of 1857–58. Less than twenty years later he began his stage career and gained notoriety by performing anti-Mormon dramas. By early 1900 he actively recruited Latter-day Saints to help build infrastructure and encourage growth in the region surrounding his town of Cody, Wyoming.

In Buffalo Bill and the Mormons Brent M. Rogers unravels this history and the fascinating trajectory that took America’s most famous celebrity from foe to friend of the Latter-day Saints. In doing so, the book demonstrates how the evolving relationship between Cody and the Latter-day Saints can help readers better understand the political and cultural perceptions of Mormons and the American West.
 

312 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2024

Reviews

[timv · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting slice of western American history. Buffalo Bill comes off as a a phenomenon of the media in order to sell newspapers magazines and books, which certainly William Cody encouraged. The part I found most interesting about the book was learning about the nationwide controversies surrounding polygamy and the Mormons that raged in the United States in the late 1800s.

I could've done without the authors interpretation of the history and I thought it got in the way of telling the story.

[Kevin Folkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody’s interactions with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons to Cody and his contemporaries) make for a revealing and engaging story in the new book “Buffalo Bill and the Mormons” from the University of Nebraska Press. As historian Brent Rogers notes in his introduction, Buffalo Bill and the Mormons share a “history about creating narratives, those that were true and those that they wanted to be true.” [p11]

Those narratives mattered to both parties. Cody was a showman, passionately interested in promoting his stage persona, regardless of the facts. Cody was arguably one of the best-known American celebrities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries for his plays, dime novels, and especially his wild west shows that played throughout the United States and Europe. Cody promoted himself as the brave Western cowboy, nurturing the image of superior masculinity, courage, and virtue to sell tickets and finance his business ventures. At the same time, the LDS Church was struggling to redeem its image on the national scene after years of suffering under persecution for its practice of polygamy. The Church’s narrative involved projecting an image as wholesome patriots building communities in the arid West through agriculture, irrigation, and industry.

What is so interesting in Roger’s new book is how those competing narratives came together at key times for the benefit of both parties. Cody claims to have been an eleven-year-old teamster and laborer with Johnston’s army that marched west to put down a reported rebellion in Utah. It’s clear that Cody was employed in various capacities by the Army in 1856 at the time that the Utah Expedition was preparing to head west, but there is no firm evidence that Cody actually traveled with the troops and wintered in Wyoming. Later, after serving as a scout for the U.S. Cavalry, Cody began to embellish his resume, playing a role in stage productions as a rescuer of damsels in distress from Mormon agents trying to lure unsuspecting young women into polygamy. Playing to the national obsession with polygamy, Cody rapidly gained fame and fortune with his portrayal of a heroic rescuer, facing off against Brigham Young and Danite avengers.

When the Church issued a ban on polygamous marriages in 1890, efforts were put forward to show that Mormons were exemplary American citizens. Cody, on the lookout for business opportunities, toured Northern Arizona and much of Utah in 1892 in the company of Brig Young, a grandson of Brigham Young; Junius Wells, son of Apostle Daniel H. Wells; and other Mormon officials, along with a cadre of European military leaders. Cody was looking to expand his business beyond his wild west shows. Over the course of several weeks, Cody and his companions traveled through the Grand Canyon, the Arizona Strip, and Southern Utah, staying with Mormon families. Cody then met with the church’s first presidency in Salt Lake City. Impressed both with the wholesome nature of the LDS families he met along the way and the industrious nature displayed in community building through cooperative labor, Cody’s attitude towards the Church began to change. The next year, Cody’s Wild West Show and Congress of Rough Riders played to sold out crowds at the Columbian Exhibition and World Fair in Chicago, but without the evil subplot of Mormon polygamy. Inside the gates of the World’s Fair, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir entranced audiences and the official Utah State exhibit touted the marvels of desert irrigation and agriculture to great acclaim.

At the same time, Cody was trying to develop the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming where he owned thousands of acres along with water and mineral rights. However, such a large-cale project demanded lots of cash and an extensive canal system to bring water to otherwise unusable dry lands. Familiar with the Saints use of irrigation in Utah and surrounding areas, Cody reached out to acquaintances in and associated with the Church in hopes of luring Mormon settlers to the Basin. The Church at the same time was looking for new territory to send recent immigrant converts to settle. Both Cody and the Church found common ground where their individual narratives coincided. Mutual interests, however, did not mean a lack of complications, and neither Cody nor the Mormon settlers got all they wanted out of the arrangement. Yet in the end, Cody and the Utah church ended as friends and cooperative partners, overcoming decades of misunderstanding and prejudice.

In “Buffalo Bill and the Mormons,” Rogers has written a compelling and little known story, vibrantly written, and thoroughly researched. “Buffalo Bill and the Mormons” tracks both the changes in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its perception by the American public through the eyes of its premier frontier showman. The closing of the American Frontier coincided with the opening of the nation to a more favorable view of Utah and its predominant religion. “Buffalo Bill and the Mormons” stands as an important addition to the literature of that transition.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took an awful lot of padding to turn what could have been a journal article into a book.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buffalo Bill and the Mormons by Brent M. Rogers is a fun and interesting book about the intersections of “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s life with the Latter-day Saints. The basic idea is that the American superstar, soldier, bison hunter, and showman launched his acting career at a time when anti-Mormon propaganda had become a profitable and popular area of storytelling. Cody embraced using Latter-day Saints as stock villains in his storylines, portraying Latter-day Saints as enemies of the proper home. Cody was, of course, the defender of the proper home in the plays in which he performed and seems to have initially believed the messages of that propaganda to some degree.

Eventually, however, Cody warmed up to the Latter-day Saints. After the official end of polygamy as a practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890, an experience where Cody traveled through Utah and visited with Latter-day Saints in their homes on his way to explore the Grand Canyon, and the way Latter-day Saints represented themselves as pioneers of the west and masters of irrigation at 1893 Chicago World Fair helped to shift Cody’s mindset. He gradually came to respect Latter-day Saints, particularly for their ability to cooperatively irrigate and settle the arid western U.S. And it just so happened that a few years later, that was exactly what he needed to establish the town of Cody, Wyoming in the arid land of the Big Horn Valley. He secured an alliance with some Latter-day Saint settlers, though occasionally regretted that decision as they pushed for him to donate more land to their cause.

The discussion of Cody’s anti-Mormon performances has some nice overlap with Convicting the Mormons: The Mountain Meadows Massacre in American Culture, by Janiece Johnson. Both books discuss the ways in which Latter-day Saints were portrayed in popular culture, including discussions about ideals of true masculinity and the proper structure of the family and how those shaped the portrayal of Latter-day Saints as a violent and sexually deviant minority group. Both books discuss plays and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows as mediums through which anti-Mormon propaganda were shared (though Buffalo Bill and the Mormons tended to go into more detail in showing what those stories entailed). Both discuss the role of the John D. Lee trials in shaping public opinion about Latter-day Saints (though Convicting the Mormons goes into greater detail on that aspect).

Another book with which Buffalo Bill and the Mormons has some notable overlap is The Last Called Mormon Colonization: Polygamy, Kinship, and Wealth in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin, by John Gary Maxwell. Both books have a lot of focus on the efforts of Latter-day Saints to settle the area around Cody, Wyoming. They do, however, differ in focus—Buffalo Bill and the Mormons is more focused on the relationship between Buffalo Bill Cody and the Latter-day Saints, while The Last Called Mormon Colonization is more focused on the Latter-day Saint settlers, their leaders, and the potential for the area to become a haven for post-manifesto polygamists.

What sets Buffalo Bill and the Mormons apart as an important contribution to the history of the western United States is that it ties the settlement of Latter-day Saints in the Big Horn Valley of Wyoming with the earlier activities of William Cody. By doing so, it shows the complexity of his relationship with Mormons as well as highlights changing perceptions of Latter-day Saints in the U.S. It is well-written, too—I would say that it was actually the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a while.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Soon after my first book came out (about Western territories), a senior scholar asked me what I was working on next. I mentioned I had questions about Buffalo Bill and his ties to Utah and the Latter-Day Saints. This person curtly queried, "Well, who the hell would care about that?" I cannot recall how I answered in the moment, but my answer is that I care."
-Rogers


I don't know about you, but I love when someone is passionate about what they do. History can be a dry subject when it's presented badly. So I appreciate when a passionate person takes us down the road less traveled. I feel like I learned quite a bit about how all of the different settlements across the U.S. affected the culture we have today. And every historical figure is more complex and 3D than we assume. Good job, sir.

[Makinsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was very well written. It had really good research, and was a fun historical read. I thought that the author explained the story very well, whether it was through the authors point of view or through quotes. It helped me understand this history much more. I hope you all enjoyed this book.

[Steven Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book unfolds an excellent history of both Buffalo Bill and the Mormons and the connections between the two. It is well conceived, well researched, and well written.

[William R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in the life and career of Buffalo Bill Cody, the Latter-day Saints, and the history of the American West.