description Annie Oakley Overview
Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Mosey in 1860 in rural Ohio, became one of the most famous sharpshooters of the late nineteenth century. She began hunting as a child to support her family and gained national attention after defeating marksman Frank Butler in a shooting match in 1875; she and Butler later married and toured as a performing act. In 1885 she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West, where she remained a featured performer for seventeen years, demonstrating her skill before audiences across the United States and Europe.
insights Ranking position
Annie Oakley ranks #21 of 161 in the Vaudeville ranking, behind Keith-Albee Circuit, ahead of Tony Pastor's Music Hall (New York).
help Annie Oakley FAQ
Did Annie Oakley really beat Frank Butler in a shooting match?
According to Oakley's own account, she defeated traveling marksman Frank Butler in a Thanksgiving shooting match in Cincinnati when she was around fifteen years old. Butler was reportedly so impressed that he began courting her, and they married around 1876 and eventually performed together in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
How long was Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show?
Oakley joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1885 and became one of its star attractions for most of the next sixteen years. She performed trick-shooting feats such as shooting the ashes off a cigarette held in Butler's mouth and hitting airborne targets while standing on a moving horse.
How accurate is the musical Annie Get Your Gun about her real life?
The 1946 Irving Berlin musical, which made Ethel Merman a star on Broadway, was very loosely based on Oakley's life and took significant liberties with the timeline and events. The real Oakley never deliberately lost a shooting contest to win Butler back, as the show's plot suggests, and many supporting characters were fictionalized or composited.
What happened to Annie Oakley after she left the Wild West Show?
After a serious train accident in 1901 injured her back, Oakley left the Wild West Show and performed in a stage play written for her called *The Western Girl*. She continued giving shooting exhibitions and setting records into her sixties, and even offered to raise a regiment of woman sharpshooters during World War I.
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