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Submitted: 7/7/13 • Approved: 2/6/19 • Last Updated: 2/9/19 • R674-G0-S3
January 1, 1829 - Triangle, New York
March 21, 1916 - Wichita, Kansas
The original "Buffalo Bill" was a daring explorer, hunter, Indian scout and fighter. Through his 26 years as a trader and trapper he earned the respect and trust of most of the Native Americans he encountered. His Indian name was "Long-Bearded Dangerous Man," which was given to him by the Kiowa chieftain, Satanta, after the warrior had received a severe beating from the trader at the Cow Creek post in 1861. Mathewson used the trust he
had cultivated with the Indians to gather delegations of them in 1865 to negotiate the Little Arkansas Treaty and in 1867 for the Medicine Lodge Council meeting, the latter resulted in Indian lands being consolidated
into smaller tracts and opened up Kansas for railroad expansion.
In his later years Mathewson settled in Wichita and enjoyed a profitable career as a civic leader and banker. He built one of the first homes in that area in 1868, established the Wichita Savings Bank, and remained there
until his death in 1916.
Although a man of great accomplishments, news of his exploits rarely was printed in the newspapers or the dime novels published on the East Coast.
Mathewson was a modest man who refused to talk to newsmen or sell the story of his life to a publishing house. This modesty is why when someone usually talks about "Buffalo Bill" they are referring to William F Cody, instead
of William E Mathewson.
Contributed on 7/7/13 by tomtodd
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Record #: 674