Annie Oakley

Hello! My name is Annie Oakley. That’s the name most people know me by, but I was born with a different one: Phoebe Ann Mosey, on August 13th, 1860. I grew up with my big family in a small log cabin in Ohio. We didn't have a lot of money, and I really wanted to help my family. When I was just a little girl, I found my father’s rifle. I knew it could be useful, so I taught myself how to hunt in the woods. It felt natural to me, and I quickly became very good at it. Soon, I was bringing home lots of food for our family to eat. I was so good, in fact, that I could sell the extra food I hunted to the local store to earn money for my family.

When I was 15 years old, in 1875, something exciting happened. A famous traveling sharpshooter named Frank Butler came to my town. He was so sure of his skills that he made a big bet that he could beat any shooter in the area. My neighbors had seen me practice, and they knew how good I was. They decided to sign me up for the shooting contest! Mr. Butler was very surprised when he saw that his competition was a young girl like me. We took our turns shooting at the targets, and when the contest was over, guess what? I won! But Frank wasn't upset at all; he was amazed by my talent. We quickly became good friends, and after a while, we fell in love and got married a year later.

Frank and I made a great team, and we started performing our amazing shooting tricks together for crowds. Our big break came in 1885 when we were invited to join a huge and exciting show called Buffalo Bill's Wild West. That’s when I started using my famous stage name, Annie Oakley, and I became a star all over the world. People would cheer as I rode a horse while shooting targets perfectly. I could split a playing card in half from far away with a single shot, and for my most famous trick, I would even shoot a cigarette right out of my husband Frank's mouth. A famous Lakota chief named Sitting Bull saw my show and was so impressed that he gave me a special nickname: 'Little Sure Shot.' We traveled all across America and even sailed over the ocean to Europe to perform for kings and queens!

I loved performing for crowds, but I also had another important goal. I believed that women should know how to be strong and protect themselves. Over the years, I took the time to teach thousands of women how to shoot safely and confidently. I had a long and very exciting life. I lived to be 66 years old. People today remember me as a small girl from Ohio who became one of the best sharpshooters in the world. My story shows everyone that with a lot of hard work and practice, you can do anything you set your mind to.