Calamity Jane played the cards she was dealt in life the way she wanted. She went down in history as a woman who was mischievous, uncanny, and a little bit louder than a woman should be.

Calamity Jane was a relentless, rowdy woman who made her own path in life; one that was seen as disobedient in a man's world.

She made history, unapologetically.

-Corryn La Rue

Calamity Jane Biography

Calamity Jane was a woman of the Wild West renowned for her sharp-shooting, whiskey swilling, and cross-dressing ways – but also for her kindness towards others.

Calamity Jane’s fame grew even more in 1895 when she joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show performing sharpshooting skills astride a horse. For several years, she toured the Midwest, bringing a commercialized version of the rip-roaring west to American audiences. The work was never steady, as she reputedly got drunk and disorderly throughout the tours. Wherever she performed, she brought copies of her greatly exaggerated autobiography, which she sold to fans for pennies.

By the turn of the century, her hard life was catching up with her. She suffered from severe alcoholism and poor health. In July 1903, she arrived at the Calloway Hotel in Terry, near Deadwood, where she died on August 1 or 2 at age 51. She was buried next to Wild Bill Hickok at Mount Moriah Cemetery in South Dakota.

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A little bit about a woman who did what she wasn’t supposed to; and then made history doing it.

Calamity Jane was born as Martha Jane on May 1, 1852 in Princeton, Missouri. Her parents were Robert and Charlotte. Her father had a gambling problem and her mother had spent time working as a prostitute. Calamity Jane was the eldest of six children. In 1865, Robert and his family moved by wagon train from Missouri to Virginia City, Montana. In 1866, Charlotte, Calamity’s mother, died along the way of pneumonia. After arriving in Virginia City in the spring of 1866, Robert took his six children on to Salt Lake City, Utah. They arrived in the summer, and Robert started farming on 40 acres of land. The family had only been in Salt Lake City for a year when he died in 1867.

At age 14, Calamity Jane took charge of her five younger siblings, loaded up their wagon once more, and took the family to Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, where they arrived in May 1868. From there, they traveled on the Union Pacific Railroad to Piedmont, Wyoming.

In Piedmont, Calamity Jane took whatever jobs she could find to provide for her large family. She worked as a dishwasher, cook, waitress, dance-hall girl, nurse, and ox team driver. Finally, in 1874, she found work as a scout at Fort Russell. During that time, Jane also began her on-and-off employment as a prostitute at the Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch.

In the Anaconda Standard (Montana, April 19, 1904,) a passage she wrote reads: “It was during this campaign in 1872–1873 that I was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming where the town of Sheridan is now located. Capt. Egan was in command of the Post. We were ordered out to quell an uprising of the Indians, and were out for several days, had numerous skirmishes during which six of the soldiers were killed and several severely wounded. When on returning to the Post we were ambushed about a mile and a half from our destination. When fired upon Capt. Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt. Egan on recovering, laughingly said: "I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains." I have borne that name up to the present time.”

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