Annie Oakley was born on a farm in the United States in the mid-19th century. She had no formal education, but she taught herself a valuable skill: shooting. Taking her father's cap rifle, she learned to hunt. She became so skilled that she was able to sell the quail she killed to pay off her family's mortgage. She began to become famous for her abilities. During this time she met Frank Butler and they married, and she began to accompany Butler on tour. Later when Butler's partner fell ill, she would fill in for him and shoot. Oakley became very popular and soon became Replaced Butler's partner, performing under the stage name Oakley, after her grandmother's name.
She and Butler began performing with the Sellers Brothers Circus, and after the circus ended, they joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild Wild West. Her votes were low at first, but the audience loved her. When she appears on the stage, she looks like a cute girl, but when she has a big gun, she becomes very powerful. She will perform shooting of glass balls thrown in the air. Her outstanding performance makes the audience Shocked. Due to her rave reviews, boss Cody elevated her status on the show.
Her husband, Butler, became her agent and told stories about her, taking advantage of the Oriental's fascination with the wild west. One of his favorite stories tells of Chief Bull's admiration for her. Later, when Bill Cody brought his show to the UK, he was joined by 15-year-old Lillian Smith, and as the rivalry between the two intensified, so did the tension between Oakley and Lillian. The situation worsened, and Oakley and Butler severed ties with the show in October 1887. In the spring she joined the vaudeville circuit, but it was a rough year.
By February, Buffalo Bill's "Wild Wild West" invited her back, and she came back and went to Paris with the performance troupe. Around this time, her story spread. A dime novel tells the story of her childhood on a farm, and some claim she saved a Bavarian prince from being trampled by wild horses, with Butler and Oakley themselves included in the stories. The story remained popular throughout the 1890s. That was until 1901, when her spine was injured in a train accident.
Due to illness and injury, she decided to quit the performance troupe and later started her career as an actress. Unfortunately, a false story about her was published and she was upset about the damage to her reputation and spent six years suing the newspaper. She later returned to the show, but her popularity waned and she turned her attention to fighting for women's rights, though not universal suffrage. In 1922, Annie Oakley held her last shooting exhibition at an arena in Long Island, after which she sold her shooting medals and donated the money to charity. She died in her sleep on November 23, 1926. Her husband Frank died 18 days later and they were buried in Greenville, Ohio, near Anne's childhood home.
