Calamity Jane: Sharpshooter, Midwife, and Healer

Calamity Jane was the popular name of Martha Jane Canary Burk, born in Princeton, Missouri, in about 1852 (her exact birthdate is not known).

An expert sharpshooter and rider who dressed as a man, Calamity Jane was a companion to “Wild Bill” Hickok and wife to Clinton Burk.

Calamity Jane allegedly wore many hats, including those of a pony-express rider, a gambler, a stage driver, a mule skinner, midwife, railroad woman, and scout for General George Custer.

She was a tough woman, able to hold her own in a rough mining-town society, and also a compassionate one.  She was a heroine during the 1878 smallpox epidemic in Deadwood, South Dakota, for her care of the sick and dying.

Calamity Jane herself died in poverty in 1903 and was buried beside Hickok in Deadwood.

Share This