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Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley, an icon of the American West, was a modern woman idolized by millions all around the world. Her shooting skill became legendary, and despite her fame,

Little Miss Sure Shot

Forever Remained A Lady.

Born Phoebe Ann Mosey on August 13, l860, in Woodland, Drake County, Ohio, the girl who was to become Annie Oakley had what she later termed "an inherent love for fire-arms and hunting." In her autobiography, The Story of My Life, Oakley wrote fondly "of our little Ohio farm." Suddenly and. traumatically however, the idyllic farm life changed. Her father went, off "one morning to lay in coffee, sugar and rice and to take the corn and wheat to the mill, 14 miles away, to be ground. A blizzard came on and Daddy did not come home." Finally, her father returned at midnight, his hands frozen, his speech gone. The wagon remained outside in the snow, not to be dug out for another two days. "The doctor came to see daddy all winter but in February 1866 he died." Like an early Hollywood melodrama, the family lost the farm, and moved to another on a cash lease for two years.

Annie's natural affinity for the out-of-doors led to trapping and shooting: "Somehow we managed to struggle along for several years. I remember how I struggled to master the 40-inch cap and ball Kentucky rifle, which I finally did, much to my pride, though my mother and sisters thought my prowess with the gun was just a little tomboyish. I was eight years old at the time."

A Champion Shooter

Shooting came naturally to Annie, and the woods of Darke County proved a paradise. As a teen-age shooting sensation, in an age where marksmanship, at least for most men, was a crucial part of one's identity, her reputation spread rapidly. In 1881, a widely known, traveling, professional exhibition shooter, Irish-born Frank Butler, came to Cincinnati. Jack Frost, whose Cincinnati hotel was a buyer of Annie's game, arranged a match in the nearby North Star-Woodland area. Butler, whose skill was such that he felt only Adam Bogardus and Doc Carver could beat him, had no idea he was about to be defeated fair and square by a petite 21-year-old girl!

Later he spoke of what became a pivotal moment in both their lives: "I got there late and found the whole town, in fact, most of the county out ready to bet me or any of my friends to a standstill on their unknown. I did not bet a cent. You may bet, however, that I almost dropped dead when a little slim girl in short dresses stepped out to the mark with me . . .I never shot better in my life, but never did a person make more impossible shots than that little girl. I was a beaten man the moment she appeared for I was taken off guard." They courted during the year after that match, by mail, while Butler continued his travels. On June 20, 1882, Phoebe Ann Mosey became Mrs. Frank E. Butler.

The Wild West Show

When it was clear that Annie had extraordinary show business potential, Butler set about not only to train her as the consummate exhibition shooter, but to perfect her skills as a horsewoman, to master the art of training dogs, develop a stagecraft savvy, and improve her ability to read and write. At the same time she adopted the stage name of Annie Oakley, the exact origin of which remains a mystery. With practice and experience, their program, first billed as Butler and Oakley, became Annie Oakley, The Peerless Wing Shot. In the first few years the couple played variety theaters and skating rinks, traveled on a budget, and lived in moderately priced hotels. "I owe whatever I have to my husband's careful management. Of course, we were poor when we started, and I remember him saying tome, 'Well, Annie, we have enough this week to buy you a pretty hat."

In 1885, the act got its big break: signing with Buffalo Bill's Wild West. She became a headliner, one of the best paid of all the performers next to Cody himself, while Butler played a supporting role. Cody and the Butlers became good friends; Annie was known to Buffalo Bill as Missie, while she addressed him as the Colonel. Because her act was made up of masterful shooting skills, combined with humor, drama, pantomime and even pouting, Miss Oakley's show captured the attention of the audience. She left them, after her customary 10 minutes, wanting more. Within her act were moments standing in concentration, considering the difficult shot she was about to attempt. These would be followed by little kicks, revealing her pleasure at making the attempt successfully.

The Butlers Retire

Tired from all the traveling, at the close of the Young Buffalo season of 1913, Oakley rode in her last pre-show parade and shot in her last Wild West exhibition. The show was in Marion, Illinois, October 4, 1913. Soon the Butlers were moved into a new residence on Maryland's eastern shore, at Hambrooks Bay, Cambridge, described by Butler as a sportsman's paradise. The Butlers had also discovered Florida, and began traveling there during the shooting days with the UMC team. They enjoyed four balmy Florida winters beginning in 1911, staying at the Lakeview Hotel, Leesburg.

A tour the couple made of the United States in the summer of 1915, reflected their restless ways. With a rented car, the planned itinerary ran from Cambridge, Maryland, all the way to San Francisco. Among those whom the Butlers saw on the extended journey was an aging and then sickly Buffalo Bill Cody, looking feeble (and seeming] to be living his last days. Her last paid performance was in October 1922, at the Brockton Fair, Massachusetts. For $700 she put on five performances, of five minutes each.

Will Rogers' Salute

The Butlers were both in a weakened condition when Will Rogers, a great American and entertainer in his own right, stopped to visit them in Dayton. His syndicated column of April 30, 1926 on Oakley is believed to have reached as many as 35 million readers. The article appeared under the heading: Worst Story I Have Heard Today. "This is not the worst story. It is a good story about a little woman that all the older generation remembers. She was the reigning sensation of America and Europe during all the heyday of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. She was their star. Her picture was on more billboards than a modem Gloria Swanson. It was Annie Oakley, the greatest woman rifle shot the world has ever produced. Nobody took her place. There was only one. I went out to see her the other day as I was playing in Dayton, Ohio. She lives there with her husband, Frank Butler, and her sister. What a wonderful Christian character she is. I have talked with Buffalo Bill cowboys who were with the show for years and they worshipped her. She is a greater character than she was a rifle shot. Circuses have produced the cleanest living class of people in America today, and Annie Oakley's name, her lovable traits, her thoughtful consideration of others will live as a mark for any woman to shoot for."

In the summer following, Miss Oakley moved to Darke County. The end was near. The news of her death, on November 3, 1926, went far and wide on the Associated Press wire service. When her weakened husband learned she was no more, "he never ate a bite ... he said he could not swallow." Frank Butler died on November 21; his body was returned to Darke County to be buried beside his wife in the simple plot at Brock Cemetery.

A Remarkable Woman

Although she had every opportunity to enjoy polite society, Annie Oakley never lost her love of shooting and of the great outdoors: "Any woman who does not thoroughly enjoy tramping across the country on a clear frosty morning with a good gun and a pair of dogs does not know how to enjoy life ... God intended women to be outside as well as men, and they do not know what they are missing when they stay cooped up in the house enjoying themselves with a novel."

Of all the heroic figures associated with the American West, few could claim the purity and majesty of Annie Oakley, and the nobility of her husband and partner, Frank Butler. Idolized by millions, Miss Oakley particularly represented stability and responsibility strength and determination hard work and natural skill modesty and beauty. In an increasingly troubled and complex world, and a society which to many seemed in moral decline, she forever remained a lady.

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