One of the most intense episodes in Buffalo Bill’s life occurred in 1876, during his return to the frontier as a scout after the death of his young son.
Shortly after losing Kit Carson Cody and ending his dramatic partnership with his best friend Texas Jack, Bill learned of the tragic fate of his old friend, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and the U.S. 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Custer’s death propelled Buffalo Bill to take up arms again, seeking both revenge and justice. Cody quickly rejoined the U.S. Army as a scout, his sights set on intercepting and battling the Native American forces still resisting U.S. expansion into their lands.
In July of that year, Buffalo Bill engaged in a skirmish with a group of Cheyenne warriors. During this battle, he famously killed and scalped a warrior named Yellow Hair in an act he later called his "First Scalp for Custer." Bill’s dramatic re-enactment of this battle in his later Wild West shows cemented the incident as one of the most iconic moments of his life. Audiences were thrilled by his reenactments, which exaggerated and mythologized frontier violence and heroism, allowing him to transform a personal act of vengeance into a nationally celebrated tale of bravery.
The painting above, created by artist Louis Maurer, captures the bold, romanticized spirit of Buffalo Bill as a frontier hero. Maurer, who was the last surviving artist known to have worked for Currier and Ives, created this vivid portrayal of Cody astride a powerful horse, gun raised against a backdrop of plains and Native American figures—a scene straight out of Cody’s own Wild West mythos. This artwork, a prized piece of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s collection, is now up for auction on November 12th.
For more details on the auction, visit the Hindman Auctions page at:
And learn more about Louis Maurer at:
