Martha Jane Canary was born in Missouri around 1852. Her family moved west, but both her parents died when she was a teenager. She took up prostitution to survive, but decided life as a man was the route to go. She had learned to be a teamster during her family’s trip west. She could crack a bull-whip with the best of men. She could also drink like the worst of men. Soon she was dressing in men’s clothing and doing men’s jobs. She moved from mining camps to army posts. She served as courier and scout for the cavalry until her gender was discovered. Somewhere along the line she acquired the nickname “Calamity Jane”. She met and befriended the legendary Wild Bill Hickok and they ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876. When he was shot during a poker game, she stayed in town but became an even heavier drinker. She did help with a smallpox epidemic. By this time, eastern dime novelists made her famous. Except they glamorized her and made her beautiful, which she wasn’t. She toured for a while with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but was fired for drunkenness. She returned to wandering and drinking. When she died, she was buried next to Hickok.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/calamity-jane
Amazing pp. 413-4
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