Martha Jane Canary was born in 1852 in Missouri. Her mother abandoned the family soon after a younger child was born. The search for her had led the family to the gold fields of Virginia City, Montana Territory, where Martha Jane learned to shoot a rifle and ride a horse as well as any man. Martha Jane and her sisters saw destitution after their father’s death, and she was forced to beg and use whatever means necessary to feed her siblings.

Although her claim to be a scout for General Custer was never substantiated, Martha Jane insists it was true. She moved on through Wyoming and Colorado, where she nursed miners infected with small pox. Some of the miners believed that where Martha Jane went, calamity followed. Thus the nickname by which she would be known the remainder of her life, was born. She had signed on for several military expeditions as a bullwacker but was fired when her gender was discovered.

She ultimately married Clinton Burk in El Paso and gave birth to a daughter. In 1896, after returning to Deadwood, Burk departed town after embezzling money. Jane’s daughter was taken from her and placed in a convent to be reared by the sisters.

If Calamity Jane liked shooting and riding, she loved whiskey even more. Her binges were notorious, and she spent more than one night in local jails for drunken, disorderly conduct.

Her alleged love affair with Wild Bill Hickok is another point on which historians disagree. Some say they were a couple; others say Calamity Jane’s imagination worked overtime in that regard. Whichever the truth, when Calamity Jane died in 1905, at just 52 years of age, her final wish to be buried next to Wild Bill in Deadwood was fulfilled. Her final words addressed to her daughter.