Many remember the story of ‘Calamity Jane’ from the classic movie starring Doris Day. While the film proves to be entertaining and fun, it does little to tell the true story of the life of this adventurous woman. Born Marthy Cannary in 1852, she gained her moniker when she seemed to be followed frequently by calamitous events. As a child she was merely known as Marthy, the oldest of three children and the most adventurous. At a young age she was an accomplished horsewoman and spent much of her day training stubborn horses that even grown men could not tame.

In 1865 Calamity’s family began to emigrate west, as many did in those days. The journey took five long months and during that time Calamity learned to hunt alongside the men; she in fact spent almost all of her time with the men until eventually they stopped in Virginia City, Montana. She was merely a young girl of 13 but possessed many skills that most women would never obtain. Just a year after their arrival in Virginia City, Calamity’s mother died and Calamity decided to move on. She and her father left Montana for Utah, but tragedy fell again and her father died there.

After the deaths of her parents Calamity was on her own. She moved on to Wyoming and became a scout for General Custer. Despite her masculine habits, Calamity had dressed in female attire up until this time. Upon her employment as Custer’s scout she began wearing a soldiers uniform and quickly became accustomed to it.

In 1871, Calamity was in Arizona and it was here that she had a great many dealings with the Indians. She gained a reputation as a reckless and daring woman. It was during her campaign with Custer that she gained her nickname, "Calamity Jane": During a skirmish with some Indians, a captain was shot and Calamity turned in her saddle just in time to see him about to fall from his horse. She galloped alongside his mount and caught him just before he hit the dirt and lifted him onto her saddle. From then on she was always referred to as Calamity Jane, and most never knew her given name.

Calamity’s time spent in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territories is where she gained most of her notoriety and fame. This time in her life also sets the backdrop for the dramatization starring Doris Day. It is here that she began her great friendship with Wild Bill Hickock. In the city of Deadwood, she worked as a pony express rider, shuttling mail back and forth between deadwood and Custer’s camp. Due to frequent theft this route was considered the most dangerous route in the territories. Hollywood chose to glamorize this time in Calamity’s life, portraying her as a sweet-natured, singing beauty that overcame her masculine sensibilities. In truth, she was a hard-drinking woman who slept under a wagon or in a field. A hell-raising woman who could have a drink in any ‘men-only’ bar she pleased. She prostituted herself because she enjoyed it, not to turn a profit. And although she may not have been a singing beauty, she was known as a kind and generous woman who would tend any sick prospector who needed care.

Calamity loved Bill Hickock but her love for him was unrequited, as he considered her only a very good friend. A man named Jack McCall shot Wild Bill at a gambling table in Deadwood. Calamity heard her dear friend had been killed and rushed to the scene. She tracked down McCall and held him at knifepoint until the authorities arrived. In an odd turn of events, Jack McCall had been saved by Calamity when his stagecoach was overcome by Indians, a short time prior to Hickcock's shooting. Eventually he was hanged.

Although Bill Hickock’s death took a toll on Calamity, she remained in Deadwood for a time. Many adventures followed her and she continued to live up to her name. That same quest for adventure led her to leave Deadwood for good. Her travels took her through many new parts of the west, but it was her time in El Paso that changed her life. In 1885 she met a man named Clinton Burke and they were married not long after. Calamity settled down and led a quiet home life, giving birth to a daughter who she said had, ‘the temper of her mother’. After running a hotel for some years, the couple packed up their small family and traveled through some of Calamity’s old stomping grounds. In 1895, she returned to Deadwood after an absence of 17 years.

Her reputation had preceded her and many of the townspeople had heard the legends of "Calamity Jane". Calamity died in 1903 at the age of 51. The townsfolk of Deadwood honored her with an ostentatious funeral and buried her next to her good friend, Wild Bill Hickock..

Calamity Jane's Genealogy Coming Soon

Biography and musings by Lisa Munoz

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