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National Geographic : 1981 Jul
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vulnerable," Larry said. "They don't dis perse. They follow the leader." ILL CODY'S marksmanship, tracking ability, and bravery made him a highly valued, well-paid Army scout. Once he made his way through blinding snow storms to find a command lost in the Texas Panhandle. Often he carried dis patches through hostile country in the dead of night. Bill admitted to occasional high jinks and "partaking too freely of 'tangle foot,' " but that didn't affect his work. Gen. Philip Sheridan, admiring his "endurance and courage," named the 23-year-old the chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry in 1868. With the job went a log house at Fort McPherson near North Platte, Nebraska, for his growing family. By 1872 the Codys had three children, Arta, Orra, and Kit Car son. Sadly they lost Orra and Kit to child hood diseases. Their last daughter, Irma, was born in North Platte in 1883. For 30 years Cody's loyalty to the West would focus on North Platte, today a major agricultural warehouse and rail yard. Back in 1871 the little fort-today the site is a farmer's cornfield-was a center of activity. When soldiers weren't out chasing raiders, they were entertaining tourists. In a master ful public relations gesture, General Sheri dan invited prominent New Yorkers for a hunt: James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald; financier Leonard Je rome, grandfather of Winston Churchill; and others. Sheridan selected Cody as guide; the Army supplied china, ice, and French chefs. Recognizing that it was to be a "nobby and high-toned outfit," Bill recalled, "I de termined to put on a little style myself." Cody selected a high-stepping white horse, a broad sombrero, and a suit of light fringed buckskin with a crimson shirt, em broidered, no doubt, by Louisa, a skilled seamstress. Guests expecting a braggart found "a mild, agreeable, well-mannered man, quiet and retiring in disposition, though well informed and always ready to talk well and earnestly upon any subject." The New Yorkers declared the ten-day hunt a success, counting among their kill the meat of 200 elk and 600 buffalo. Bennett
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