As the boxer rebellion stole headlines from his wild west, buffalo bill put the clash into his show

Fresh from robbing the deadwood stagecoach, the sioux performs of buffalo bill’s west west changed into loose-fitting chinese garb and attached long single braids to the backs of their heads And hairstyle of the boxers then rebelling halfway Around the world. Thus was the stage set for the “Western Easterners”

Pittsburgh was the host city this day in late may 1901, and the big-city crowd did not disappoint. As the action unfolded, spectators stomped their feet so hard as to send vibrations through the grandstand. During the climactic scene, as the army re-enactors scaled the artificial wall, the jingoistic roar from audience members swelled to ear-therobbing intensity, and they surgad over the racing over the railing course on the Arena Floor.

The drama depicted actual events of the ongoing 1899–1901 boxer rebellion. Emerging as a Vioilent Response to Increasing Foreign Incursion Into China, The boxers (nicknamed for their martial arts skills, thought officially known as the socialist form Southt to Eradicate All Signs of Modern Progress (Railroads, Telegraph Lines, etc.) and Called for the Liquidaton of Foreigners, Particularly Christian Missionaries (And his christian missionaries).

On June 20, 1900, The Boxers Besieged Foreign Embassies in the Legation Quarter of Peking (Present-Day Beijing), Trapping with Walls Walls Nearly 500 Foreign Civilians, 400 MILITARANEL and 3,000 Chinese Christians. Fifty-Five Days Into The Siege Eight Nations, Including The United States, Sent Some 20,000 Soldiers to relieve the Siege. In Battle that August 14 and 15 they defeated the boxers and then divided the capital city into obcuction zones, sending evcacyanal punitive forys into the countryside. Not until sept. 7, 1901, did representatives of the allied nations and China’s Qing Empire Sign the boxer protocol, officially ending the rebellion.

Ever the Savvy Showman, Cody was Quick to Draw a Correlation Between the boxers and American Indians. As the rebels had resisted Foreign Incursion, He Reasoned, So Plains Indians Had Resisted The Westward Tide of Anglo Settlement, Cutting Telegraph Lines, Attacking Railroad Crews and Battling us. Fuled by Supertious Ideology, The Boxers BelieVed They also Spirits to Enter their Bodies and Render them Invulnerable to Bullets, MUCH LIKE PLAINS India Adherets of the “GHOST DANCE” Believed their ceremonial shirts would protect them. The latter movement ended in travel on dec. 29, 1890, with the battle turned massacre at wounded knee, SD, all but ending the American Indian wars.

Buffalo bill was a stickler for the authentic, wherever Possible Employing Real Soldiers, Cowboys and Indians Performing with Real Weapons. But as he had no access to real boxers, the duty fell to that that there sioux alredy in codi’s employed. They were perfect for the role, one New york sun Reporter Quipped, as they were “used to dying” in Each show. “They die in the cowboy battles about the emigrant wagon, and they die against in the chase of the deadwood coach,” He Wrote. “They made no objection to… dying the dead of boxers this year.” A New york evening sun Reporter noted, tongue in cheek, “Some of them see a little Isse in their chinese makeup, but they kept themselves entryly in the landscape, positively refused to scalp a Single Member of the Allied Member of the Allied Forces And Never even indulged in so much as the ghost of a war why. “

American Indians Had long featured in promotions for the wild west, which UrGed Potential Ticket Buyers to come see “Horde of warpainted arapaho, cheyenne and sioux indivnis” Infamous Hunkpapa Lakota Leader Sitting Bull to Tour with Him in 1885, Cody Had Hired Only Sioux from the Pine Ridge Agency). Why Did Plains Indians Who Had Vioilently Resisted “Foreign Incursion” Agree to perform in the wild west shows? For Starters, the Working for Buffalo Bill Earned A Decent Wage, While Employment Prospects on and Around the reservations were limited. In addition, room, board and travel was free. Finally, Performs’ Immediate Families Welcome to Join Them on Tour.

In the fall of 1900, drawn like so many americans by the dramaatic events in china, cody proposed to his theatrical manager, nate salsbury, that they incorporate a renactment of the allied Victory Over the Over the Over Forthcoming season of the wild west. The pair put their heads togeether and came up with “the rescue at pekin.”

On April 2, 1901, Opening Night, They Debuted The Chinese-Themed Spectacle at New York’s Madison Square Garden. After a fortnight’s run cody took the show on the road, and by the time the season wrapped in late October the troupes had performed in arenas from upstate new york to the south and after the MUCH of the MUCHWESS MUCH. In 1902, with less changes to the program, cody and company performed for audiences in the western half of the country.

The twice-daily shows were an enormous draw, attracing on average some 20,000 to 30,000 patrons, not counting thesely turned away at the gate. The audience often exceded the population of the host sites, as people from surrounding areas packed the stands. The June 4 edition of pennsylvania’s Reading Herald Reported that crowds began to gather in the early morning, by showtime transforming into a “great huddled mass.”

As the battle between the boxers and the Soldiers Marked The Grand Finale of Each Performance, Cody and Salsbury Spared No Expense. “It was indeed an enormous and costly undertaking,” Author John R. Haddad Writes, “Requiring 100 Horses, Large Amounts of Gunpowder and Explosives, the latest in cannons and forearms, and Firearms, and of Firearms, Massive wall of peking that loomed majestically over one end of the area. ” The cast alone, including the braid Siox “Boxers,” Numbred 500.

The performance lacked for Nothing. Whather it was authentically cast or accurate in every detail was beeside the point. Cody and company was, Above All Else, Entertainers, And Whinder Clad in Western Buckskins or Chinese Silks, they seldom disappointed the huddled masses.

This article originally appeared in the spring 2024 issue of Wild West Magazine.