By Brad Dison
Martha Jane Canary was among the most famous women of the nineteenth century. Tales of her exploits were printed in newspapers across the country, but most of us have never heard her name.
Martha was born in Princeton, Missouri, in 1851. In 1864, she traveled with her family to the gold fields of Montana to claim their fortune. By all accounts, the silver mine camps of Montana were a rough place to raise a family. In 1866, Martha’s mother died. In the following year, her father also died. Fifteen-year-old Martha was solely responsible for the care of her much younger siblings, seven-year-old Lena and five-year-old Elijah. Shortly after her parents’ deaths, Martha abandoned her younger siblings and moved around from town to town. Most people that knew her described her as absolutely ordinary in every way with the exception of her extraordinary love for whiskey.
Martha could tell a good story and the central character in her tales was always herself. In the nineteenth century, before technology allowed people to verify or discredit tales such as Martha’s within seconds, it was difficult to determine if her stories were true or false. Mark Twain once said, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Being a contemporary of hers, Mark Twain could have easily aimed this quote at Martha.
Martha was illiterate. She left no letters or journals behind for historians to mine. Although historians have searched through countless records over the past century, not even a single signature of Martha’s has been found. Had she been able to write, it is possible that she could have become a well-respected author such as Mark Twain. Because she was illiterate, her stories were published by numerous authors who were eager to cash in on her tales. Martha was a master at creating her own identity, and the public was enthralled by tales of her exploits. As was customary at this time of high illiteracy, people gathered in small groups, paid a small fee of a penny or two each, to have someone read her stories to them. There were tales of bandits, battles with Indians, and at least one stagecoach robbery. In all of the tales, Martha was the heroine. Rumors spread that Martha was with General George Armstrong Custer at his last stand. Martha told a newspaper reporter in Billings, Montana, “That is wrong. I was with Custer for several months and in different engagements, but if I had been with him in his last battle, I would probably be with him now. On the other hand, had Custer paid attention to warnings and a message I sent him, he and his brave band might be now in the land that I am in.” Again, Martha masterfully connected herself to a significant historical event.
Many of Martha’s stories were little more than fantasy. People that knew her, described her as being generous and courteous when not intoxicated. When on a drinking binge, they condemned her wild behavior. She refused to conform to what were the generally accepted customs of society. In a time when a woman could have been arrested for dressing in men’s clothing, she wore the buckskin suit of a scout. She was arrested on numerous occasions in numerous towns for “drinking and carousing on the public streets.” She openly smoked cigarettes and cigars, which was taboo for women at the time. Whenever Martha arrived in a town, newspaper reporters printed notes of welcome, but by the time she left town they had soured to her presence due to her hard drinking, carousing, and self-destructive ways.
Martha had no trouble finding work but had trouble keeping it due to her drinking. She once worked as a cook in a brothel run by Dora DuFran. Dora recalled that Martha had been sober for a full six weeks. On the day after one payday, Martha bought some new calico aprons, underwear, and other clothing accessories, but Martha failed to arrive at work the following morning. Dora remembered that “from the distance came wild howls.” Dora said “the old urge overcame [Martha’s] good resolution.” They found her on a whiskey binge wearing, not her new clothing, but her buckskin suit.
In 1876, she purportedly ended up in a wagon train with another famous figure, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok. Martha and Wild Bill certainly knew of each other but how well is up for debate. Both of their reputations preceded them, although both reputations were exaggerated. Many people claimed they were nothing more than two people who happened to end up in the same town, while others argued that they had a relationship somewhere on the spectrum between a one-night stand to marriage. Wild Bill was murdered while playing poker in 1876. Martha kept silent on the subject of their relationship but used the rumors to bolster her own image as she had several photographs of herself standing in front of his grave. Although there was no documentation that they were officially married, when she died in 1903, she was buried next to Wild Bill per her request.
In one tale which supposedly happened in 1872, Martha was a scout for Captain James Egan in a campaign against the Nez Perces Indians. During one battle of the campaign, Captain Egan was shot by one of the Indians. Martha killed the Indian, put Captain Egan across the saddle of her horse, and rode at full speed to safety as Indians fired upon them. According to her own account, it was because of this moment that Captain Egan called Martha “the Heroine of the Plains” and gave her a nickname which stuck. Martha Jane’s contemporaries argued that this event never happened. Rather than the fascinating tale that Martha Jane told, she probably earned the nickname because of her self-destructive habits. Few people remember the name Martha Jane Canary, but she was a walking calamity. You know her as Calamity Jane.
Sources:
1. The Billings News, July 13, 1901, p.1.
2. The Livingston Enterprise, July 13, 1901, p.1.
3. The Herald-Advance, August 7, 1903, p.1.
4. The Madison Daily Leader, August 19, 1903, p.4.
5. McLaird, James D., “Calamity Jane: The Life and the Legend.” South Dakota Historical Society Press, July 31, 2023, sdpb.org/rural-life-and-history/2023-07-31/calamity-jane-the-life-and-the-legend.
