Annie Oakley, Little Miss. Sure Shot

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Annie Oakley ~

Born Phoebe Ann Mosey

August 13, 1860

Darke County, Ohio, U.S.

Died November 3, 1926 (aged 66)

Greenville, Ohio, U.S.

Resting place Ashes buried in Brock Cemetery

Spouse(s) Frank E. Butler (m. 1876)

Parent(s) Susan Wise Mosey (1830–1908), Jacob Mosey (1799–1866)

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Wikipedia.

Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoverished family in western Ohio. At 15, she won a shooting contest against experienced marksman Frank E. Butler, whom she later married. The pair joined Buffalo Bill in 1885, performing in Europe before royalty and other heads of state. Audiences were astounded to see her shooting out a cigar from her husband's lips or splitting a playing-card edge-on at 30 paces, and she earned more than anyone except Buffalo Bill himself.

After a bad rail accident in 1901, she had to settle for a less taxing routine, and toured in a play written about her career, as well as instructing women in marksmanship, believing strongly in female self-defense. Her stage acts were filmed for one of Thomas Edison's earliest Kinetoscopes in 1894. Since her death, her story has been adapted for stage musicals and films, including Annie Get Your Gun.

Early life

Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann (Annie) Mosey on August 13, 1860, in a log cabin less than two miles (3.2 km) northwest of Woodland, now Willowdell, in Darke County, Ohio, a rural county along the state's border with Indiana. Her birthplace is about five miles (8 km) east of North Star. There is a stone-mounted plaque in the vicinity of the site, which was placed by the Annie Oakley Committee in 1981, 121 years after her birth.

Annie's parents were Quakers of English descent from Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania: Susan Wise, age 18, and Jacob Mosey, born 1799, age 49, married in 1848. They moved to a rented farm (later purchased with a mortgage) in Patterson Township, Darke County, Ohio, sometime around 1855.

Early home of Annie Oakley.

Born in 1860, Annie was the sixth of Jacob and Susan's nine children, and the fifth of the seven surviving. Her siblings were Mary Jane (1851–1867), Lydia (1852–1882), Elizabeth (1855–1881), Sarah Ellen (1857–1939), Catherine (1859–1859), John (1861–1949), Hulda (1864–1934) and a stillborn infant brother in 1865. Annie's father, who had fought in the War of 1812, became an invalid from hypothermia during a blizzard in late 1865 and died of pneumonia in early 1866 at age 66. Her mother later married Daniel Brumbaugh, had another daughter, Emily (1868–1937), and was widowed once again.

Because of poverty following her father's death, Annie did not regularly attend school as a child, although she did attend later in childhood and in adulthood. On March 15, 1870, at age nine, she was admitted to the Darke County Infirmary along with her sister Sarah Ellen. According to her autobiography, she was put in the care of the infirmary's superintendent, Samuel Crawford Edington, and his wife Nancy, who taught her to sew and decorate. Beginning in the spring of 1870, she was "bound out" to a local family to help care for their infant son, on the false promise of fifty cents per week (equivalent to $10 in 2019) and an education. The couple had originally wanted someone who could pump water, cook, and who was bigger. She spent about two years in near slavery to them, enduring mental and physical abuse. One time, the wife put Annie out in the freezing cold without shoes, as a punishment because she had fallen asleep over some darning. Annie referred to them as "the wolves". Even in her autobiography, she never revealed the couple's real names.

Annie learned to shoot at a very early age.

According to biographer Glenda Riley, "the wolves" could have been the Studabaker family, but the 1870 U.S. Census suggests they were the Abram Boose family of neighboring Preble County. Around the spring of 1872, Annie ran away from "the wolves". According to biographer Shirl Kasper, it was only at this point that Annie met and lived with the Edingtons, returning to her mother's home around the age of 15.

Annie began trapping before the age of seven, and shooting and hunting by age eight, to support her siblings and her widowed mother. She sold the hunted game to locals in Greenville, such as shopkeepers Charles and G. Anthony Katzenberger, who shipped it to hotels in Cincinnati and other cities. She also sold the game to restaurants and hotels in northern Ohio. Her skill paid off the mortgage on her mother's farm when Annie was 15.

Debut and marriage

Annie soon became well known throughout the region. On Thanksgiving Day 1875, the Baughman & Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Traveling show marksman and former dog trainer Frank E. Butler (1847–1926), an Irish immigrant, placed a $100 bet per side (equivalent to $2,300 in 2019) with Cincinnati hotel owner Jack Frost that Butler could beat any local fancy shooter. The hotelier arranged a shooting match between Butler and the 15-year-old Annie, saying, "The last opponent Butler expected was a five-foot-tall [1.52 m] 15-year-old girl named Annie." After missing on his 25th shot, Butler lost the match and the bet. Another account says that Butler hit on his last shot, but the bird fell dead about 2 feet (60 cm) beyond the boundary line. He soon began courting Annie and they married. They did not have children.

Annie Oakley & Frank Butler.

According to a modern-day account in The Cincinnati Enquirer, it is possible that the shooting match took place in 1881 and not 1875. It appears the time of the event was never recorded. Biographer Shirl Kasper states the shooting match took place in the spring of 1881 near Greenville, possibly in North Star as mentioned by Butler during interviews in 1903 and 1924. Other sources seem to coincide with the North Fairmount location near Cincinnati if the event occurred in 1881. The Annie Oakley Center Foundation mentions Oakley visiting her married sister Lydia Stein at her home near Cincinnati in 1875. That information is incorrect as Lydia didn't marry Joseph C. Stein until March 19, 1877. Although speculation, it is most likely that Oakley and her mother visited Lydia in 1881 as she was seriously ill from tuberculosis. The Bevis House hotel was still being operated by Martin Bevis and W. H. Ridenour in 1875. It opened around 1860 after the building was previously used as a pork packaging facility. Jack Frost didn't obtain management of the hotel until 1879. The Baughman & Butler shooting act first appeared on the pages of The Cincinnati Enquirer in 1880. They signed with Sells Brothers Circus in 1881 and made an appearance at the Coliseum Opera House later that year.

Regardless of the actual date of the shooting match, Oakley and Butler were married a year afterward. A certificate on file with the Archives of Ontario, Registration Number 49594, reports that Butler and Oakley were wed on June 20, 1882, in Windsor, Ontario. Many sources say the marriage took place on August 23, 1876, in Cincinnati, but no recorded certificate validates that date. A possible reason for the contradictory dates is that Butler's divorce from his first wife, Henrietta Saunders, was not yet final in 1876. An 1880 U.S. Federal Census record shows Saunders as married. Sources mentioning Butler's first wife as Elizabeth are inaccurate; Elizabeth was his granddaughter, her father being Edward F. Butler. Throughout Oakley's show-business career, the public was often led to believe that she was five to six years younger than she was. The later marriage date would have better supported her fictional age.

Annie and Frank Butler lived in Cincinnati for a time. Oakley, the stage name she adopted when she and Frank began performing together, is believed to have been taken from the city's neighborhood of Oakley, where they resided. Some people believe she took on the name because that was the name of the man who had paid her train fare when she was a child.

Career and touring

They joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1885. At five feet tall, Oakley was given the nickname of "Watanya Cicilla" by fellow performer Sitting Bull, rendered "Little Sure Shot" in the public advertisements.

During her first engagement with the Buffalo Bill show, Oakley experienced a tense professional rivalry with rifle sharpshooter Lillian Smith. Smith was eleven years younger than Oakley, age 15 at the time she joined the show in 1886, which may have been a primary reason for Oakley to alter her actual age in later years due to Smith's press coverage becoming as favorable as hers. Oakley temporarily left the Buffalo Bill show but returned two years later, after Smith departed, in time for the Paris Exposition of 1889. This three-year tour only cemented Oakley as America's first female star. She earned more than any other performer in the show, except for "Buffalo Bill" Cody himself. She also performed in many shows on the side for extra income.

While touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Annie, like other performers, lived in a large tent.

These tents were their living quarters and dressing rooms.

Annie's fame got her the same type of tent as Buffalo Bill had.

In Europe, she performed for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, King Umberto I of Italy, President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France and other crowned heads of state. Oakley supposedly shot the ashes off a cigarette held by the newly crowned German Kaiser Wilhelm II at his request.

Annie and Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The episode with Wilhelm was used in advertising as well.

From 1892 to 1904, Oakley and Butler made their home in Nutley, New Jersey.

Frank and Annie's home in Nutley, New Jersey.

Oakley promoted the service of women in combat operations for the United States armed forces. She wrote a letter to President William McKinley on April 5, 1898, "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should the U.S. go to war with Spain."

The Spanish–American War did occur, but Oakley's offer was not accepted. Theodore Roosevelt, did, however, name his volunteer cavalry the "Rough Riders" after the "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" where Oakley was a major star.

In 1901 (the same year as McKinley's assassination), Oakley was badly injured in a train accident but recovered after temporary paralysis and five spinal operations. She left the Buffalo Bill show and in 1902 began a less taxing acting career in a stage play written especially for her, The Western Girl. Oakley played the role of Nancy Berry who used a pistol, a rifle and rope to outsmart a group of outlaws.

Annie practices horseback stunts for Buffalo Bill's show.

An illustration of Annie shooting from horseback.

Annie showing her gun skills during a show.

Throughout her career, it is believed that Oakley taught more than 15,000 women how to use a gun. Oakley believed strongly that it was crucial for women to learn how to use a gun, as not only a form of physical and mental exercise, but also to defend themselves. She said: "I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies."

Buffalo Bill was friends with Thomas Edison, and Edison built the world's largest electrical power plant at the time for the Wild West Show. Buffalo Bill and 15 of his show Indians appeared in two Kinetoscopes filmed September 24, 1894.

In 1894, Oakley and Butler performed in Edison's Kinetoscope film The "Little Sure Shot of the Wild West," an exhibition of rifle shooting at glass balls, etc. which was filmed November 1, 1894, in Edison's Black Maria studio by William Heise. It was the eleventh film made after commercial showings began on April 14, 1894.

A group shot of the show's performers including Annie Oakley, Left, top and Buffalo Bill, lower center.

It was during her time with Buffalo Bill's show that Annie made friends with several performers including Chief Sitting Bull.

Shooting prowess

Biographers, such as Shirl Kasper, repeat Oakley's own story about her very first shot at the age of eight. "I saw a squirrel run down over the grass in front of the house, through the orchard and stop on a fence to get a hickory nut." Taking a rifle from the house, she fired at the squirrel, writing later that, "It was a wonderful shot, going right through the head from side to side".

The Encyclopædia Britannica notes that:

Oakley never failed to delight her audiences, and her feats of marksmanship were truly incredible. At 30 paces she could split a playing card held edge-on, she hit dimes tossed into the air, she shot cigarettes from her husband's lips, and, a playing card being thrown into the air, she riddled it before it touched the ground.

R. A. Koestler-Grack reports that, on March 19, 1884, she was being watched by Chief Sitting Bull when:

Oakley playfully skipped on stage, lifted her rifle, and aimed the barrel at a burning candle. In one shot, she snuffed out the flame with a whizzing bullet. Sitting Bull watched her knock corks off of bottles and slice through a cigar Butler held in his teeth.

Libel cases

In 1904, sensational cocaine prohibition stories were selling well. Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst published a false story that Oakley had been arrested for stealing to support a cocaine habit. The woman actually arrested was a burlesque performer who told Chicago police that her name was Annie Oakley.

William Randolph Hearst.

Most of the newspapers that printed the story had relied on the Hearst article, and they immediately retracted it with apologies upon learning of the libelous error. Hearst, however, tried to avoid paying the anticipated court judgments of $20,000 (equivalent to $570,000 in 2019) by sending an investigator to Darke County, Ohio, with the intent of collecting reputation-smearing gossip from Oakley's past. The investigator found nothing.

Oakley spent much of the next six years winning all but one of her 55 libel lawsuits against newspapers. She collected less in judgments than the total of her legal expenses.

Later years and death

In 1912, the Butlers built a brick bungalow style home in Cambridge, Maryland. It is known as the Annie Oakley House and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. In 1917, they moved to North Carolina and returned to public life.

She continued to set records into her sixties and also engaged in extensive philanthropy for women's rights and other causes, including the support of young women she knew. She embarked on a comeback and intended to star in a feature-length silent movie. She hit 100 clay targets in a row from 16 yards (15 m) at age 62 in a 1922 shooting contest in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

Christmas 1902,

In late 1922, the couple were in a car accident that forced her to wear a steel brace on her right leg. She eventually performed again after more than a year of recovery, and she set records in 1924.

Her health declined in 1925 and she died of pernicious anemia in Greenville, Ohio, at the age of 66 on November 3, 1926. She was cremated and her ashes buried at Brock Cemetery, near Greenville.

According to B. Haugen, Butler was so grieved by Oakley's death that he stopped eating and died 18 days later in Michigan; he was buried next to her ashes. Kasper reports that Butler's death certificate gave "senility" as the cause of death. One rumor claims that Oakley's ashes were placed in one of her trophies and placed with Butler's body in his coffin prior. Both body and ashes were interred in the cemetery on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1926.

Annie and Frank in their elder years.

Annie in 1922.

After her death, her incomplete autobiography was given to stage comedian Fred Stone, and it was discovered that her entire fortune had been spent on her family and her charities.

A vast collection of Oakley's personal possessions, performance memorabilia, and firearms are on permanent exhibit in the Garst Museum and the National Annie Oakley Center in Greenville, Ohio. She has been inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, the National Women's Hall of Fame, the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Annie's death certificate.

Surname

There are a number of variations given for Oakley's family name, Mosey. Many biographers and other references give the name as "Moses". Although the 1860 U.S. Census shows the family name as "Mauzy", this is considered an error introduced by the census taker. Oakley's name appears as "Ann Mosey" in the 1870 U.S. Census and "Mosey" is engraved on her father's headstone and appears in his military record; "Mosey" is the official spelling by the Annie Oakley Foundation, maintained by her living relatives. The spelling "Mosie" has also appeared.

According to Kasper, Oakley insisted that her family name be spelled "Mozee", leading to arguments with her brother John. Kasper speculates that Oakley may have considered "Mozee" to be a more phonetic spelling. There is also popular speculation that young Oakley had been teased about her name by other children.

Prior to their double wedding in March 1884, both Oakley's brother John and one of her sisters, Hulda, changed their surnames to "Moses".

Eponym

During her lifetime, the theatre business began referring to complimentary tickets as "Annie Oakleys". Such tickets traditionally have holes punched into them (to prevent them from being resold), reminiscent of the playing cards Oakley shot through during her sharpshooting act.

Influence

Oakley's worldwide stardom as a sharpshooter enabled her to earn more money than most of the other performers in the Buffalo Bill show. She did not forget her roots after gaining financial and economic power. She and Butler together often donated to charitable organizations for orphans. Beyond her monetary influence, she proved to be a great influence on women.

Oakley urged that women serve in war, though President McKinley rejected her offer of woman sharpshooters for service in the Spanish–American War. Beyond this offer to the president, Oakley believed that women should learn to use a gun for the empowering image that it gave. Laura Browder discusses how Oakley's stardom gave hope to women and youth in Her Best Shot: Women and Guns In America. Oakley pressed for women to be independent and educated. She was a key influence in the creation of the image of the American cowgirl. Through this image, she provided substantial evidence that women are as capable as men when offered the opportunity to prove themselves.

Annie taught women and girls how to shoot.

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"Aim at the high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you'll hit the bull's-eye of success."

Annie Oakley exhibit at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

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Photo Gallery ~

Young Annie Oakley

Middle Aged Annie Oakley

Elderly Annie Oakley

Annie and her dog

Annie and Frank with their dog.

Annie took the dog hunting with her.

The dog was even trained to sit still while Annie shot an apple from it's head.

Try doing this today with the USPCA.

Luckily for the dog, Annie never missed.

Annie had been a dog lover from an early age.

Annie Oakley's house - Dorchester.

Posters

Longhorn Ballroom, Dallas, Texas.

Annie Shooting ~

Oakley shooting over her shoulder using a hand mirror.

Frank Butler and wife, Annie Oakley.

Annie Oakley riding with Fred Stone

Annie poses with friends

Personal items belonging to Annie Oakley

Her powder horn, wallet and spires.

A heart used as a target.

Annie's Scofield pistol.

One of her trick shooting pistols.

Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Commemorative.

Television Series from 1954

Gail Davis starred as Annie Oakley.

Gail Davis was a Hollywood stuntwoman who took on the part. The show was fictional and not true to history.

Merchandise

Several BB guns and pellet rifles have been made using Annie Oakley's name.

An original Annie Oakley air rifle and gun set from the 1950s made by Daisy still in the original box.

Bullhide Women's Annie Oakley Hat. $45.

Oakley outfit. $180.

Comic books.

Comic books from the TV show.

Postage stamps.

Sheridan Inn - Annie Oakley Room.

Annie's Mottos

Thomas Edison's 1898 films of Annie Oakley shooting

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Collector gets Annie Oakley's gun for $143,500

Wild west sharpshooter's Parker Brothers shotgun and Stetson hat are part of memorabilia auction by great-grandnieces

Associated Press in McAllen, Sun 10 Jun 2012 21.59 EDT

A shotgun that once belonged to the western sharpshooter and entertainer Annie Oakley has sold for more than $143,000 (£92,000) at an auction in Dallas.

About 100 of her items were sold including several guns, her Stetson hat, photographs and letters. Oakley's great-grandnieces put up the items, which they had inherited them from their mother, Billie Butler Serene, who died in 2009.

Oakley became famous for her marksmanship while traveling in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. She died in 1926 at the age of 66.

Oakley's Parker Brothers 12-gauge shotgun garnered the highest price, $143,400. Tom Slater, the auction's director, would not identify the gun's buyer but said he was a private collector of Oakley and Buffalo Bill items and had purchased a number of Sunday's auction pieces.

"Annie Oakley was arguably America's first female superstar, touring the US and the world in the late 1800s and early 20th century and demonstrating her legendary wild west sharpshooting skills," Slater said.

One of the descendants, Terrye Holcomb, said the auction's success left her with a positive feeling but "there's a little bit of melancholy and sadness that goes with it."

The items had been passed down through generations. Holcomb remembered shooting the guns for target practice on Sunday mornings in California's Santa Monica Mountains and wearing Oakley's Stetson hat for Halloween. It sold at the auction for $17,925.

Also sold were two Marlin .22 calibre rifles – one for $71,700, the other for $83,650.

The 16-gauge Parker Brothers Hammer shotgun once belonged to famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley.Heritage Auctions.

Annie with her beloved shotguns

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Famed trick shooter Annie Oakley's shotgun sells for $293,000 at auction

Nov. 24, 2013, 5:19 PM EST

By Simon Moya-Smith, Staff Writer, NBC News

A shotgun once owned by one of America's most famous Old West sharpshooters sold at auction Sunday in Dallas, Texas, for $293,000.

Annie Oakley's "16-Gauge Parker Brothers Hammer shotgun" was sold by Heritage Auctions to an unidentified telephone buyer, auction house officials said. The new owner also procured several documents affirming the weapon's authenticity, as well as its scabbard.

"If you wanted to own an Annie Oakley artifact this is as good as it gets," Tom Slater, director of the Americana department at Heritage Auctions, told NBC News.

Born in 1860, by the late 19th century Oakley was performing as a sharpshooter with the famous Buffalo Bill's Wild West show — alongside Old West luminary Sitting Bull. Oakley became renowned nationwide for her prowess with a rifle.

The shotgun was consigned by Oakley's great grandniece, Slater said. A personal gold charm bracelet once owned by Oakley also went up for auction Sunday.

The bracelet sold for $250,000.

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Remington Beals

Annie Oakley’s Remington Beals .32 caliber rifle is a fine example of a rare, quality rifle with ties to arguably America’s greatest sharpshooter. Though unclear what role the Remington Beals played in her performances, experts assumed that she hunted with the gun and it remained in her personal collection. After her death the Remington Beals was one of the few guns retained by her family. According to NRA Museum documentation a relative sold the gun in the 1940s for the sum of $5. (Yes, you read that correctly. Five dollars.) While fewer than 800 Remington Beals were ever produced during the run of 1866-1868, Oakley’s was the most rare of all. It was the only known example to be factory engraved.

While the Remington Beals in the NRA Museum is perhaps one of Oakley’s most publicly viewed firearms today, she is also known to have loved her Stevens Tip Up and used it extensively for trick shooting. What has become of that gun is unknown.

Annie’s Beals Shotgun (Photo Credit; NRA.com).

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Recently discovered “Annie Oakley” Winchester Model 1895 lever action shotgun converted to 410 gauge

Recently discovered “Annie Oakley” Winchester Model 1895 lever action shotgun converted to 410 gauge by Thomas Bland & Sons of London and documented by factory letter shipped to Mr. Butler February 22nd , 1898. The letter further states that “The action and related hardware were best finished and scroll engraved by Bland and the stock and forend were to be of figured wood with a pull of 14 ¼” and was supplied with an oak and leather case. Frank Butler was the husband of famous American darling Annie Oakley and he was known to order her firearms and conduct her business affairs. The gun shows a reinforcement to the frame at the breach installed at the time of the conversion to 410 gauge. The barrel measures 22” and a raised rib was added which is knurled with five leaf rear sights and white inlay in back sight for quick and fancy shooting. The frame is nicely English style scroll engraved with name in banner on right side and left. The stock is select Walnut with a long pistol grip and English style slings swivels. The condition is very good plus with approximately 70% to 80% original blue which is evenly thinning and toning with still some very bright areas. The stocks show some even wear, minor dings, mars but generally very good plus and the action is tight with bright bore. Thomas Bland was also known to convert a pair of single action pistols to smoothbore for legendary showman Pawnee Bill and it was the practice of wild West show performers to use bored out or smooth bore rifles to shoot glass balls making it look tougher than it really was. Est.: $25,000 -$50,000.

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Another of Annie Oakley's personal guns

Marlin Golden M1897.

Winchester Model 1892 Smootbore Rifle.

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