Calamity Jane: Hands up, rascal!

Martha Jane Cannary was one of the most interesting female figures of the 19th century, a non-conformist and not exactly a paragon of virtue for polite society. Seen in the context of her time, she becomes even more unusual.

Martha was born in 1852 in Princeton, Missouri, the eldest of six children in a family of preachers. Orphaned at the age of 15, she became responsible for her siblings. She looked for ways to support the family – and the young woman did so in a very unconventional way, not thinking of earning a living in the ways usually open to women, but taking a very different path.

The American West was not populated by dainty ladies of the drawing rooms, because the settlers' wives worked incredibly hard. Without these strong women, the great treks and the development of the country would not have been possible – and they did it in the worst and most dangerous conditions, wearing bonnets and long calico skirts. But Martha chose not to – she put on men's clothes and set out to earn money. For women from modest backgrounds, the only way to earn a meagre living was as a laundress or cleaner, at least if it was 'honourable' work. There was little talk of good pay.

Martha demanded more of herself and did things that men did. She drove stagecoaches, dug for gold and worked as a courier. She worked in saloons, was a nurse and even a scout for General Custer. In a man's world, she had to do a lot to get noticed – and she did. Her marksmanship is legendary, at least it was good enough to earn the respect of the men. She also chewed tobacco, swore like the devil and probably did a few other things to top it all. In short, as a woman in this world, she had to be more of a man than the 'real' men – and she was.

How she got her nickname, which was to become famous throughout the West, is not entirely clear. But she became a legend in her own right: 'Calamity Jane' was how people referred to her when talking about the heroes of the Wild West. Jane lived an unstable life, probably driven. Anyone who managed to survive the harsh life of the outdoors and among men in the circumstances of the time would probably never be able to return to a normal life as a housewife and mother. Not that such a life would not have been just as hard – but in a different way.

Reading her autobiography, one could be forgiven for thinking that Wild Bill Hickok was the love of her life. It is not clear whether the feeling was mutual – the fact is that Jane immortalised 'Wild Bill' in her written memoirs. As good a rider as she was a shot, she joined Buffalo Bill's famous Wild West Show and continued to build her own legend. Her life was wild and hard – but probably not a happy one. Martha never stayed anywhere for long, was aggressive and dominant when it suited her, and would pick fights with people without thinking twice – even if it meant hurting herself – so she usually ended up in trouble with her employers and had to move on.

Her health was not the best in the last years of her life – she died alone in a hotel room at the age of 51. It would have been easier if she had been a happy dropout, a role model and a frontwoman – but it wasn't quite like that. We don't know what made her do what she did – but there must have been moments when she was torn. Among her belongings were many letters to her daughter that she had given away – a bundle of letters that were never sent.

You can imagine that Martha sometimes suffered for her choices – even though there was no way she could have made any other. She was simply 'Calamity Jane' – part of her legend is that she lived a wild, intense and short life.

© 'Calamity Jane: Hands up, rascal! Martha Jane Cannary: A legend of the Wild West': An article by Pressenet (translation by Izabel Comati), 03/2025. Image credit: Calamity Jane, circa 1880, licence: public domain.