Wild Bill’s Shining Moment

The gunfight with Davis Tutt brings fame.

July 21, 1865. Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt face off in the Springfield, Missouri town square. The issue: a gambling debt. Tutt had taken Hickok’s pocket watch as collateral the day before and showed it off in public, embarrassing Wild Bill. At about 6 pm, the two stand 75 yards away from each other. Tutt fires first and misses. Some accounts report that Hickok balances his pistol on his left arm before shooting and hitting Tutt in the chest. The face-to-face gunfight is one of the only such contests in Western history. It catapults Hickok to international fame.