Harmony Posters

    A framed portrait of Annie Oakley hangs on the wall of the Sliver Dollar Saloon in ‘Living In Harmony’ She was born Phoebe Ann Mosey on August 13th1860 in Darke County, Ohio. She died on November 3^rd 1926 aged 66 in Greenville, Ohio.

    She was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. In 1885 she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Annie also was variously known as “Miss Annie Oakley.” “Little Sure Shot,” or “Little Miss Sure Shot,” At five feet tall, Oakley was given the nickname of “Watanya Cicilla” by fellow performer Sitting Bull, rendered “Little Sure Shot.”

   She earned more than any other performer in the show, except for “Buffalo Bill” Cody himself. She also performed in many shows on the side for extra income. In Europe, she performed for Queen Victoria of Great Britain, King Umberto I of Italy, President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France and other crowned heads of state. Oakley supposedly shot the ashes off a cigarette held by the newly crowned German Kaiser Wilhelm II at his request.

   She promoted the service of women in combat operations for the United States armed forces. She wrote a letter to President William McKinley on April 5, 1898, offering the government the services of a company of 50 “lady sharpshooters” who would provide their own arms and ammunition should the United States of America go to war with Spain. The Spanish-American War did occur, but Oakley's offer was not accepted. Theodore Roosevelt, did, however, name his volunteer cavalry the “Rough Riders” after the Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World where Oakley was a major star.

    Throughout her career, it is thought that Annie Oakley taught more than 15,000 women how to use a gun. She believed strongly that it was crucial for women to learn how to use a gun, as not only a form of physical and mental exercise, but also to defend themselves. She said “I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies.”

   Annie never failed to delight her audiences, and her feats of marksmanship were truly incredible. At 30 paces she could split a playing card held edge-on, she hit dimes tossed into the air, she shot cigarettes from her husband's lips, and, a playing card being thrown into the air, she riddled it before it touched the ground. She playfully skipped on stage, lifted her rifle, and aimed the barrel at a burning candle. In one shot, she snuffed out the flame with a whizzing bullet. Sitting Bull watched her knock corks off bottles and slice through a cigar Butler {her husband} held in his teeth.

   She continued to set records into her sixties, and also engaged in extensive philanthropy for women's rights and other causes, including the support of young women she knew. She embarked on a comeback and intended to star in a feature-length silent movie. She hit 100 clay targets in a row from 16 yards (15 m) at age 62 in a 1922 shooting contest in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

   Her health declined in 1925 and she died of pernicious anaemia in Greenville, Ohio at the age of 66 on November 3, 1926. Her body was cremated in Cincinnati two days later and the ashes buried at Brock Cemetery, near Greenville.

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