Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley was the most famous American woman of the late 19th century and a legend in her own time. She entertained U.S. presidents, European royalty, and the general public, and was one of the featured acts of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. She was also a proponent of arming women and teaching them to shoot, and she herself gave instruction to thousands of women.
Born Phoebe Ann Mosey (also recorded as Moses) in 1860 to Quaker parents Jacob and Susan, Annie spent her early years on the family farm in Darke County, Ohio. The dark-haired, blue-gray-eyed girl liked hunting with her father and brother in the woods that surrounded the farm rather than staying home with her sisters. She learned to trap game before she learned to shoot, but quickly became an expert at both.
Young Annie was an absolute natural with a rifle. “I was eight years old when I took my first shot,” said Annie, “and I still consider it one of the best shots I ever made. I saw a squirrel run down over the grass in front of the house, through the orchard and stop on a fence to get a hickory nut. It was a wonderful shot, going right through the head from side to side.”
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