Col. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody was already a celebrated and highly decorated international celebrity by 1915, but the governor of Wyoming decided Colonel Cody deserved a promotion.
In April 1915, Gov. John Kendrick promoted Colonel Cody to the rank of general.
“Now it’s Gen. William F. Cody,” Kendrick wrote in a statement to The Denver Post. “Not colonel any longer – please remember that – but general: full general. And judge advocate general of the military organization of the Commonwealth of Wyoming.”
General Cody “took his new honors modestly,” the Post reported, but the consummate showman never promoted his promotion. In his case, he might have decided that the lower rank was a better brand.
Up until then, the world had known the famous Wild West showman as Col. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
“He was Colonel Cody, that’s how he was known,” said Sam Hanna, the curatorial assistant for the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. “He would sign letters as ‘colonel’ quite often, and I've yet to see one ever signed ‘general.’”
Military Man
Cody had a military background. In 1863, he enlisted as a private in the 7th Kansas Calvary at 17. He was still a private when he was discharged in 1865.
Cody went on to serve as Chief of Scouts for the 5th and 3rd Cavalry Regiments and even earned the Medal of Honor in 1872 for “documented gallantry above and beyond the call of duty as an Army scout.”
However, the position of Chief of Scouts was a civilian one in the 1800s. Because of this, Cody’s Medal of Honor was rescinded shortly after he died in 1917.
The Medal of Honor was reinstated in 1988, thanks in part to the efforts of his grandson, Bill Cody, and Wyoming U.S. Sen. Al Simpson.
Colonel Cody
Cody’s military service was in the distant past when he suddenly rose through the ranks. John Milton Thayer, a Civil War general and governor of Nebraska, promoted Cody to colonel of the Nebraska Militia, the forerunner of the Nebraska National Guard, in 1887.
Hanna characterized this promotion as a strategic move with “very deliberate” timing. Cody was about to embark on the trip that would turn the national icon into an international celebrity.
“Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was part of the American Exhibition in London in 1887,” he said. “Cody was one of the commissioners appointed to represent Nebraska at the American Exhibition. He was promoted right before he left for England, and the promotion would have lent some gravitas and credibility to him and his enterprise while he was there.”
It was a great honor for Cody — and a marketing goldmine for his career.
“He was known worldwide as Col. William F. Cody,” Hanna said. “If you look at the promotional posters that advertised the show, most promote him as ‘Col. William F. Cody.’ His fame exploded after the season in London, and that’s how he was known.”
A young Buffalo Bill Cody, left, in this undated portrait. At right, wearing a suit in another undated photo talken later in his life. (Getty Images) 
Portrait of Col. William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody on horeback in 1899. (Getty Images) 
Col. William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, left, and with Prince Albert 1st of Monaco meeting with an Indian chief in 1913. About two years later, Cody was promoted to the rank of general. (Getty Images) 
A marching band leads a funeral procession in honor of Buffalo Bill in Denver after his death in 1917. (Library of Congress via Getty Images)
General Cody
Cody’s promotion from colonel of the Nebraska National Guard to general of the Wyoming National Guard was “an honor conferred upon the West's greatest scout in appreciation of his long period of service in the West, and to Wyoming in particular,” Governor Kendrick said.
Gen. George Sliney, adjunct general of Wyoming, was dispatched to Denver to personally deliver the governor’s message to Cody. By then, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show had gone bust, and Cody was touring with the Sells Floto Circus.
Sliney reportedly said it gave him “great pleasure” to deliver the message “to my old and very dear friend of more than 45 years standing.” Cody accepted the promotion with the same flair and eloquence that made him an international icon.
“I appreciate this honor conferred upon me by my friend, his excellency the governor of Wyoming,” General Cody told the Park County Enterprise. “I appreciate each and all of the honors conferred upon me by my fellows, whether they have been the gifts and courtesies of kings and emperors or the friendship of the children who are getting ready to meet me now in the tour.”
Cody said he intended to “take up my duties as judge advocate general of Wyoming” when he finished his tour with the Sells Floto Circus. “It is a pleasant thing to be well thought of by the great human family as it is something that has always given me a feeling of contentment.”
Self-Demotion
General Cody could have touted his title until his death in January 1917, but he never did.
Despite the plethora of books, movies, and documentaries about or featuring Buffalo Bill, his promotion to general is entirely overlooked. Hanna suspects that might partially be because of Cody himself
“We did not see him use the title of general where you would think he would have,” he said. “Perhaps ‘Colonel Cody’ had a better ring to it, or maybe his branding was so strong by then that he stuck with it.”
It wasn’t even Cody’s first promotion to the top brass. Hanna said that Governor Thayer promoted Cody to Brigadier General in 1889. However, he was still promoted as Colonel Cody everywhere he went and on every poster that preceded him.
The best years of Cody’s career were over by 1915, so there weren’t as many opportunities for “General Cody” to tout himself and his rank. Even so, the consummate showman seemed content to remain Colonel Cody until the end of his days.
“Showmanship took precedence over everything in Buffalo Bill’s life,” Hanna said. “If you're known as Colonel Cody worldwide, what would be the point in changing that?”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
