The West: the words conjure up many emotions. Tall tales and legends spring into the mind. Hollywood and dime store fiction has created an image of the American “Wild West” that generations hold to be the truth. The Shootout at the OK corral, Custer’s last stand, and the exploits of Buffalo Bill have developed into part of American myth. The lives of the legends of the west are less glamorous than the fictionalized accounts we watch and read. Martha Jane Cannary, better known as Calamity Jane, has long been legendary Old West character. Novels, movies, and even musicals have been written about Calamity Jane. Separating fact from fiction can be difficult. Who was Calamity Jane and what was her life really like?
Much of what we know of Calamity Jane is questionable. She became a legend in the old west. Many stories were spread about Jane. Jane herself published an autobiography and gave many newspaper interviews. Jane used these interviews to further her own myth. Deciphering fact from fiction is not easy.
Jane moved with her family from Missouri to the mining town of Virginia City, Nevada when she was a young teenager. On this trip, Calamity Jane learned how to be a teamster. Men drove horses in Jane’s time. Society looked down on women who did “man’s work”. Calamity Jane would have to overcome this problem later in life.
Calamity Jane’s father died in 1866 and her mother followed a year later. Jane was orphaned. Much of Jane’s life is a mystery after this point until the 1870s. It is known that she worked as a muleskinner, railroad worker, and oxen driver. Jane dressed in men’s clothing and took to drinking hard. It was said, Calamity Jane could out-swear and out-spit any man. Jane even posed as a man to join General George Cook’s expedition to fight the Sioux in 1875. While swimming nude, Jane’s true identity was discovered.
Jane then traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota. Calamity Jane fit in well with the rough, hard drinking crowd of Deadwood. At this time Jane had met Wild Bill Hickok. Nothing definite is known about their relationship. They have been lovers, married, and just acquaintances account to one history or another. Hickok Jane’s fiancé according to one interview she had given and labeled only as a friend in her autobiography. Jane’s daughter claimed to have been fathered by Hickok, but that was never proven.
Calamity Jane did not spend all of her time drinking, cursing, and whipping oxen as some histories of her life claim. Jane’s had an extensive resume. Jane spent time as a cook, a laundress, and a dance hall girl. One Deadwood bartender sent Jane to recruit other girls for his bar. She returned with 10 girls whom Jane told there was vast wealth waiting for them in Deadwood.
Jane’s humanitarian efforts cannot be overlooked. Even two biographers who set out to label Calamity Jane as a “common prostitute, drunken, disorderly and wholly devoid of any conception of morality” still recognized her work. In 1878 smallpox broke out in Deadwood. Most refused to nurse any of the smallpox victims. Jane braved getting the disease to provide help. Deadwood citizens joked that Calamity Jane if she didn’t cure people she would give them great pox instead.
As Jane began to wander from Deadwood through Wyoming, Montana, and California her legend grew. She toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and the Palace Museum. Jane was fired from both because of drunkenness. Jane returned to Deadwood in 1899. Her daughter, Jessie, wished to attend a convent and Jane was looking to raise money for her education. Jane collected a good sum of money from a benefit held at a local theater. Jessie never received any of the money. Calamity Jane took the money and treated her friends to drinks.
A life of hard drinking caught up with Jane in 1903. Calamity Jane returned to Deadwood in July. While there she paid a visit to Wild Bill Hickok’s grave. Two or three days later she died at the age of 47. Her death was attributed to inflammation of the bowels. While awaiting burial Jane’s body had to be guarded. Women came from miles around to clip locks of Jane’s hair. Jane’s body was buried next to Wild Bill.
Doris Day’s portrayal of Calamity Jane portrayed a Disney version of the women, g-rated and a-historical. The recent HBO program “Deadwood” features a Jane who was nothing but a drunk. Each vision of Calamity Jane are untrue extremes. These two Janes represent images she herself propagated. The true Calamity Jane can be found somewhere between the two. Her history, like most, is about a balance of truths.
