Buffalo Bill was half deaf

Written By Bug



William F Cody as Buffalo Bill

William F Cody is known to most of us simply as Buffalo Bill. He was all the “heroes” of the American West Buffalo Bill. He worked on the wagon trains, he hearded cattle, he rode for the Pony Express, he trapped for behaver, he hunted buffalo, he prospected for gold, he hunted down horse thieves and, most importantly of all, he scouted for the army during the Indian wars.

Later in his life, he lost his hearing in left ear because of cold winter. That winter was terrible so Buffalo Bill suffered frostbite on one of his ears. The damage left him permanently partially deaf on that side. He also had grown his hair long as well as grown a moustaches and goatee.

Did Buffalo Bill know sign language? Nobody really know the answer. He wrote in a book saying that he went to the place in the very heart of Indian Country. He happened to sit and watched the meeting where the greatest Indian councils were held. It had became the most famous meeting-place of the plains. He wrote: ” I used to sit for hours and watch him and the others talk to the Indians in the sign language. Without a sound they would carry on long and interesting converstations, tell stories, inquire about game and trails, and discuss pretty much everything that men find worth discussing.”

Also it was said that Buffalo Bill’s knowledge of the tongues of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow Indians and his marvelous proficiency in the universal sign language made him an extremely desirable acquistion to the service. Universal Sign Language? Actually, there is no “universal sign language” or real ” international sign language.” In Europe, Deaf people would called it as “international sign language” (ISL) if other Deaf visitors from other countries come together and try to communicate with each others so they use a lot of gestures, mimes, facial expression, some signed words, etc. It is not really a language, more a vocabulary of signs that they all agree to use at international meetings. I suspected that he knew some Indian Sign Language. read more