"Wild Bill" Hickman
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- For other people with similar names, see Wild Bill
William Adams Hickman, also known as "Wild Bill" Hickman (April 16, 1815 - August 21, 1883), was a frontiersman. He also served as a representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature.
Hickman was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1839 by John D. Lee. He later served as a personal bodyguard for Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young. Hickman was reputedly a member of the Danites.
In 1854 Hickman was elected to the Utah Territorial Legislature. He was an important figure in the Utah War. He torched Fort Bridger and numerous supply trains of the Federal Army.
Hickman was excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 1868. Shortly thereafter, 9 of his 10 wives left him.
Around Sept 1871, while under arrest for the murder of Richard Yates years earlier, Hickman wrote an autobiography/confession in which he confessed to numerous murders. Years later, his confession was given to J.H. Beadle, who published it under the sensational title Brigham's Destroying Angel. It's unclear how much of the account is factual and how much is exaggerated, but in his confession he implicated Brigham Young as being the one who order Yates' murder, as well as most of the other murders to which Hickman confessed. Federal law enforcement authorities at the time gave Hickman enough credence to hold off charging him with the murders so that he could be a material witness in a case they were attempting to build against Brigham Young. During this time, Hickman was held at Fort Douglas, guarded by the military, rather than in a local jail cell because federal authorities believed Hickman needed witness protection from a perceived threat by the Danites.
Nothing ever became of the case against Brigham Young, and Hickman, who had struck a deal with federal law enforcement to testify against Young if he were ever brought to trial over ordering these and other murders, was never convicted of the crimes to which he confessed, although he lived the remainder of his life as somewhat of a pariah.
LDS online records show he fathered 36 children. He was the grandfather of Mormon metaphysical and inspirational author Annalee Skarin. He died in Wyoming in 1883.
[edit] External links
- Biography from University of Utah website
- Bill Hickman page on Hickman family website
- Bill Hickman: Brigham's Destroying Angel: Being the Life, Confession, and Startling Disclosures of the Notorious Bill Hickman, The Danite Chief of Utah, 1904 edition, ed. J.H. Beadle, Esq.
- Hope A. Hilton, "Wild Bill" Hickman and the Mormon Frontier, Signature Books, SLC, Utah, 1988.
- LDS Ancestral File pedigree record with Annalee Skarin and William Hickman.
