Buffalo Bill and the Lakota, 1903-4 (Exhibition Grounds, Pennycomequick)

At the end of July 1903 (30th July and 1st August), Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, the touring sensation of horse acrobatics, theatrical stunts and eccentric sights from all over the world arrived in Plymouth for three days of performances. They pitched their tents at the Exhibition Grounds in Pennycomequick, now Central Park in Plymouth, close to the railway station.

The programme read - “An exhibition, the intention of which is to educate the spectator, through the medium of animated pictures, in the picturesque life on the Western American Plains in the days just past, showing primitive horsemen who have attained fame; spiced with their counterparts of modern military horsemanship...”

Before sell-out crowds the performers produced six spectacular shows which featured a large contingent of Sioux performing dances, scenes and exhibitions of daring horse riding. Accompanied by women and children and dressed in brightly coloured feathered and beaded regalia the performance made a huge impression in Plymouth. The Cornishman newspaper wrote, "The sightseers were not disappointed . . . they were entertained by exciting incidents, some highly amusing, others intensely dramatic and all of absorbing interest."

The shows were spectacular, with huge casts of performers (800 people, hundreds of horses, with buffalo, elk and deer) re-enacting bison hunts, train robberies, attacks on burning buildings and wars with Native Americans. The company also usually paraded through the town when they arrived, as you can see in the video from 1901 (credit: The William F. Cody Archive).

Buffalo Bill was actually William Cody – from Iowa. He had ridden the Pony Express, hunted buffalo and served in the American Civil War. His exploits had become the subject of books and by the late 1800s, he was starring in his own shows. He recruited actively from the Lakota people, from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, although he asked them to perform the roles of different tribal people. 97 Native American performers appeared in Buffalo Bill’s 1903 show. From the passenger lists, we know that these included Sam Lone Bear, who often served as an interpreter because he could speak English, German, and French in addition to Lakota. Also performing were the famous Lakota leader, author, and later Hollywood actor Luther Standing Bear, his wife Laura Standing Bear, and their son.

Buffalo Bill returned to Plymouth on June 3, 1904, just a few days after the photographs here were taken at Penzance.