The Feminist and Martial Legacy of Annie Oakley

Guns, talent, and female empowerment

(Public domain)

One cannot talk about the Wild West without mentioning the name Annie Oakley. Annie Oakley was a fascinating character. She was a showman, a marksman, and a fierce believer in women’s rights and women’s empowerment. Her trade tool was the gun, which she wielded better than almost anyone alive.

Oakley came to fame when she won a shooting contest against a sharpshooter by the name of Frank E. Butler. Butler was thirteen years Oakley’s senior and would eventually marry her. Oakley’s victory over Butler won her a chance to join his shooting act, which was a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

Oakley believed that women should both own and know how to use firearms for their own protection. She would go on to instruct women in the art of shooting and won many converts to her way of thinking. Some of the women she taught became quite good. So good in fact, that Oakley believed that they could fight alongside the trained men of the US Army.

In 1898, after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Annie Oakley sent an astonishing letter to the president at the time, William McKinley. In the letter, Oakley offered to supply 50 soldiers for the war effort. All of them would be women trained in the art of shooting, and each woman would supply her own gun and ammunition. This remarkable letter sums up the character of Annie Oakley in just a few concise words.

The letter reads as follows:

Hon Wm McKinley, President,

Dear Sir I for one feel confident that your good judgement will carry America safely through without war.

But in case of such an event I am ready to place a company of fifty lady sharpshooters at your disposal. Every one of them will be an American and as they will furnish their own arms and ammunition will be little if any expense to the government.

Very truly
Annie Oakley

The letter oozes confidence, pride, and patriotism. Oakley was confident that her women could fight for the United States. She was proud of the fact that they had become so skilled. And she was a patriot, looking to further the aims of the United States abroad. They didn’t need the…