CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD.
My _debut_ upon the world's stage occurred on February 26th, 1845.

The scene of this first important event in my adventurous career, being in Scott county, in the State of Iowa.

My parents, Isaac and Mary Ann Cody, who were numbered among the pioneers of Iowa, gave to me the name of William Frederick.

I was the fourth child in the family.

Martha and Julia, my sisters, and Samuel my brother, had preceded me, and the children who came after me were Eliza, Nellie, Mary, and Charles, born in the order named.
At the time of my birth the family resided on a farm which they called "Napsinekee Place,"-- an Indian name--and here the first six or seven years of my childhood were spent.