The Frontier Army and the Destruction of the Buffalo: 1865-1883
David D. Smits. Western Historical Quarterly, 1994
Archived copy (Wayback Machine). Course-site copy (MSU), archived.
Park Vibes How the Largest Animal Massacre in History Changed America Forever
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Views updated Oct 19, 2026, from YouTube
Where this comes from
5 sources
6 claims
Every claim below links to the sources behind it. Peer-reviewed research and public records come first.
1 Peer-reviewed 1 Court and legal records 1 Agencies and public records 2 Reporting 2 Reference
What the film says
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William F. Cody was born in 1846 in Iowa Territory and is buried on Lookout Mountain, Colorado.
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In 1869 Cody met Ned Buntline, whose novel 'Buffalo Bill, King of the Bordermen' made him famous; in December 1872 he debuted on stage in Chicago in 'The Scouts of the Prairie'.
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Cody founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883 and toured Europe from 1887; Queen Victoria attended a performance.
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The US Army sanctioned the slaughter of bison herds; Col. Richard Irving Dodge is quoted as saying 'Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.'
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The Nature Conservancy's Zapata Ranch in the San Luis Valley covers about 100,000 acres.
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Colorado's 2025 Protect Wild Bison law classifies bison as big-game wildlife unless they are livestock.
Sources
Peer-reviewed
Court and legal records
Senate Bill 25-053, Protect Wild Bison (signed act)
Colorado General Assembly, 2025
Effective January 1, 2026.
Agencies and public records
Reporting
Bison at Zapata Ranch
The Nature Conservancy
'Buffalo Bill' Cody wowed Chicago with his 'Wild West' shows
Geoffrey Johnson. Chicago Tribune, 2017
Archived copy (Wayback Machine).
Reference
Zapata Ranch Preserve
The Nature Conservancy
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