Introduction
Nathan "Nate" Salsbury is credited with tempering William "Buffalo Bill" Cody's exuberant tendencies and providing the business acumen that transformed Buffalo Bill's imaginative vision into a successful enterprise.
Buffalo Bill is widely regarded as one of the greatest showmen and Wild West gunslingers in history. However, the individual instrumental to his success traced his heritage back to Wales and was influential in persuading Cody to perform his Wild West show in Wales on 21 occasions.
Nathan "Nate" Salsbury was a theatre impresario, businessman, and gambler who had accumulated a $20,000 fortune before turning 20, which enabled him to establish his own acting company.
In 1884, Salsbury met William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, marking the beginning of their legendary partnership.
Stephen McVeigh, professor of American cultural history at Swansea University, likened their relationship to that of Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman.
"Salsbury was a very accomplished performer in his own right, but he had much more of a business brain, which enabled him to put Cody's visions into practice,"McVeigh said.
"Buffalo Bill wanted to reenact the exploits of his youth with hundreds of Native Americans, buffalo, horse-stunts and theatrical battle depictions, but had absolutely no idea of how he could make that endeavour profitable.
"Nate Salsbury was the man who made the numbers work."
Welsh Heritage and Early Life
Salsbury's family originated from north Wales nobility before emigrating to the North American colonies in the 17th century. Although Nate led a relatively private life, he frequently spoke about his Welsh roots.
Professor McVeigh noted that despite the distance from his heritage, Salsbury took pride in his Welsh lineage at a time when many immigrants to the United States preferred to distance themselves from their British ancestry.
"Nate traced his patrilineal Welsh ancestry to the 'Salusbury' family of north Wales, specifically the family seat of Lleweni Hall in the Vale of Clwyd, located near the market town of Denbigh."
McVeigh added that Salsbury's great-great-great-grandfather William, born in Denbighshire around 1622, emigrated to New England in the 1630s and eventually settled in Massachusetts, including a period in a town called Swansea.
"He died in June 1675, slain by what were then referred to as Indians."
According to McVeigh, Salsbury's strong desire to emphasize his natural father's family tree, who died during Nate's childhood, may have stemmed from his aversion to his stepfather, whose cruelty led Nate to flee and join the Unionist army as a teenager.
Regardless of motivation, it is believed that Salsbury relied heavily on Cody to bring their show to Wales during two tours in 1891 and 1902-03.
Military Service and Early Careers
Both men had similar adolescent experiences during the outbreak of the American Civil War.
By age 20, Buffalo Bill served as a scout for General Phil Sheridan's Unionist army in Kansas. Three years later, he worked as a buffalo hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, supplying meat to workers constructing the transcontinental railroad.
Similarly, Salsbury volunteered for the 15th Illinois Regiment. He was taken prisoner and held at Andersonville Prisoner of War Camp in Georgia, where approximately 13,000 men died from starvation and disease.
During his captivity, Salsbury passed time by playing poker with fellow Unionist inmates, amassing the money that would later enable his business ventures.
While Buffalo Bill boasted of his roles as a Pony Express rider, buffalo hunter, gold prospector, and soldier in conflicts against the Confederacy and Native Americans, Salsbury maintained a lower profile.
Business Partnership and Showmanship
"Salsbury preferred to play his cards closer to his chest, whereas Cody was the showman who picked up on the nostalgic desire for entertainment which depicted a rural frontier life when nearly all the west coast of the USA had been conquered and agricultural life was rapidly giving way to industries like Henry Ford's car factories."
Buffalo Bill's Wild West show attracted approximately 200,000 spectators across 21 open-air venues in Wales, ranging from Pembroke Dock to Ruthin.
Invited by opera singer Adelina Patti, 28,000 people attended the 1903 performance at Swansea's Victoria Park, where buffalo were chased by skilled Native American horsemen, culminating in a staged "Cowboys and Indians" battle.
The shows sold out in the presence of dignitaries including Queen Victoria and the Royal family, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Pope Leo XIII.
"Salsbury knocked off the rough edges from Cody. Buffalo Bill was a contradiction of a man.
On the one hand he was a fervent supporter of women's suffrage and placed females such as Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane at the heart of his shows, but on the other he treated his own wife appallingly.
Similarly, he boasted of having scalped Native Americans during the 'Indian Wars', but treated them incredibly well in his theatrical troop, paying them the same as white performers - far more than they could ever have hoped to earn in the US."
During a performance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Germany, it is said that Annie Oakley shot a cigar from the mouth of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Later Years and Legacy
By the turn of the century, Salsbury and Cody had a falling out, partly over financial disagreements but primarily due to Cody's growing ego, which led him to claim increasing credit for the Wild West show's success, overshadowing Salsbury's contributions.
Salsbury died during the 1902-03 European tour, while Cody continued the show for another decade.
Professor McVeigh concluded:
"I think Wales saw the best of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, not only the shows themselves, but the spectacle of Indian teepees and buffalo grazing in parks like Cardiff's Sophia Gardens. However, as Cody neared 70 he was often too infirm and drunk to mount his horse for the main scenes of the show."
McVeigh also noted that, in modern terms, the only comparable longevity of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" (1883-1913) are productions like Les Miserables and The Mousetrap.
A testament to Cody's international fame was the fact that upon his death in 1917, leaders from warring nations—King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and US President Woodrow Wilson—all paused hostilities to honor his remarkable life.
