Annie Oakley's inspiring life
July 26, 2010
Phoebe Ann Moses (a.k.a. Mosey, Mauzy, Mozee) emerged from desperate circumstances to become one of America’s most legendary women in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She took up a man’s sport of sharp shooting, and excelled beyond imagination. Annie Oakley encouraged women to learn how to use firearms, which inspired women’s love of hunting and sport-shooting.
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A tough early childhood
“Annie” was born in Western Ohio on August 13, 1860, the sixth daughter of Susan and Jacob Moses. She loved exploring the woods around their farm, and liked to help her father with chores outside rather than doing household chores inside.
Annie lost her father during the winter of 1866 when he succumbed to pneumonia, a result of being nearly frozen in a blinding snowstorm.
When Annie turned seven, she helped her mother and siblings out by making animal traps and baiting them with grain to attract game birds and squirrels. Her traps caught fresh meat for the family’s meals.
Eight-year-old Annie one day climbed up and took her father’s rifle down from where it hung above the fireplace. On her first rifle hunt, she killed her squirrel with one shot!
Tough times continued, and in 1870, Annie’s mother sent her to live with the Edington’s who ran a Darke County Infirmary in Greenville, Ohio. Annie worked there in exchange for room and board. She learned to embroidery, knit and sew, and later used these skills to make beautifully adorned costumes to wear for shows.
From the infirmary, and with her mother’ permission, Annie took a job living with a farmer’s family as a nanny. Unfortunately, Annie learned quickly that she would be treated as a slave, and called them “wolves. She endured the slave-like conditions for almost two years until she ran back to the Infirmary where she remained for another two years, working as a seamstress and learning to read and write.
By 1875, Annie went back to live with her family. Annie began hunting again. With the surplus game she shot and the family didn’t eat, Annie sent to a grocer in Greenville, who supplied Cincinnati hotels with the meat.
A shooting match invitationLater that year, Annie went to Cincinnati to visit her married sister. A hotel owner who bought some of Annie’s game meat, invited her to participate in a shooting match with a sharpshooter who was in town for an exhibition. Hoping to win the prize money, Annie gladly accepted. Ten days later near North Star, Annie met her opponent, 25-year-old Frank Butler. The competition was for each to shoot 25 pigeons as they flew out of traps, one at a time. Frank and Annie took turns, shooting perfectly until Frank missed his 25th pigeon. Annie took her final perfect shot and won the money! Little did she know that she also won Frank’s heart.
Accepting free passes to Frank’s show in Cincinnati, Annie and her family attended. During the show, they watched Frank shoot an apple off the head of his French poodle, George. Supposedly, George laid the apple at Annie’s feet, and thereafter became their messenger, delivering candy, notes and eventually a proposal! They were married on August 23, 1876 (Note: Annie wrote that they were married on this date, however, an 1881 marriage certificate contradicts this date).
Frank continued his exhibitions, and on May 1, 1992, Frank and his partner, John Graham, were scheduled to appear at Crystal Hall in Springfield, Ohio. When Graham fell ill, Frank asked Annie to assist him, and she accepted. However, following the show, Annie insisted that she take every other shot, and Frank reluctantly agreed. To say the least, the audience went wild over Annie’s shooting. Frank liked the crowd’s reaction, so Annie became his new partner, and took her stage name, Annie Oakley. Frank taught her trick shots and she became the central focus of their show. The rest is history!
Annie and Frank’s TravelsFrank and Annie, as shooting partners, joined the Sells Brothers Circus in 1884, visiting 187 cities. They became interested in a new show first seen in New Orleans, “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West," which was in its second year as a traveling show, and included several shooting and riding acts. After two requests to join Buffalo Bill’s show, with skepticism, Bill asked Annie to try out when the show arrived in Louisville, Kentucky in 1885. Annie was only 5-feet tall, and weighed only 110 pounds. Bill wondered if Annie could handle the 10-pound shotgun left by the previous sharp shooter, Adam Bogardus. Annie demonstrated her skills, shooting clay targets, holding her shotgun right side up, upside down, left-handed and right-handed. When she finished, Bill’s business partner, Nate Salsbury, asked Annie for her photograph. That clinched it; Bill hired her on the spot.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
Annie and Frank traveled with The Wild West for the next 17 years. All of its stars were authentic cowboys, Indians and Pony Express riders, and they fit right in. They traveled the United States, Canada, and on March 31, 1887, the entire ensemble sailed for London, England on its first European tour to recognize Victoria’s 50th year as Queen, and the Golden Jubilee celebration. Royalty from around Europe came to view the Wild West, and Annie Oakley. The Wild West also toured 14 countries in Europe from 1889 through 1892. After a train wreck on October 29, 1901, Annie resigned from the Wild West Show, and pursued other interests. Thomas Edison, inventor of the motion picture camera, had filmed Annie. She starred in plays, made guest appearances, promoted shooting sports and guns as protection for women, and toured Army camps.
Annie and Frank traveled with The Wild West for the next 17 years. All of its stars were authentic cowboys, Indians and Pony Express riders, and they fit right in. They traveled the United States, Canada, and on March 31, 1887, the entire ensemble sailed for London, England on its first European tour to recognize Victoria’s 50th year as Queen, and the Golden Jubilee celebration. Royalty from around Europe came to view the Wild West, and Annie Oakley. The Wild West also toured 14 countries in Europe from 1889 through 1892. After a train wreck on October 29, 1901, Annie resigned from the Wild West Show, and pursued other interests. Thomas Edison, inventor of the motion picture camera, had filmed Annie. She starred in plays, made guest appearances, promoted shooting sports and guns as protection for women, and toured Army camps.
A Scandal
In August 1903, two Chicago newspapers reported that Annie Oakley was in a Chicago jail after stealing money to buy illegal drugs. Annie had an excellent reputation, was a role model and hero, and she demanded a retraction. It seems there was an “Any Oakley” jailed, who was once a stage actress. Annie filed lawsuits against 55 newspapers and won, being awarded nearly one quarter million dollars.
Final Days
Annie began writing her memoirs in 1925, but became weak and was diagnosed with pernicious anemia. Frank’s health was also failing. By Fall 1926, Annie realized she needed full-time care, and entered a home in Greenville, Ohio.
The girl known as “Little Sure Shot” died on November 3, 1926. Just 18 days later, Frank died on November 21.
References:
Amateur Trapshooting Association, http://www.traphof.org/Inductees/Oakley-Annie.html
Amateur Trapshooting Association, http://www.traphof.org/Inductees/Oakley-Annie.html
Bull’s-Eye: a photobiography of Annie Oakley, by Sue Macy, Foreward by Bess Edwards (Great-niece of Annie Oakley), National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C. 2001.
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