16 Facts About Billy Dixon

William Dixon was an American scout and bison hunter active in the Texas Panhandle.

Billy Dixon helped found Adobe Walls, fired a buffalo rifle shot at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, and for his actions at the Buffalo Wallow Fight became one of eight civilians to be awarded the US Medal of Honor.

Billy Dixon was born in Ohio County in the panhandle region of West Virginia, on September 25,1850.

Billy Dixon worked in woodcutters' camps along the Missouri River until he started working at age 14 as an ox driver and a muleskinner for a government contractor in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Billy Dixon was a skilled marksman and occasionally scouted for eastern excursionists brought by the railroads.

Billy Dixon scouted Texas as far south as the Salt Fork of the Red River when the bison hunters moved into the Texas Panhandle in 1874.

Billy Dixon led the founders of Adobe Walls to the Texas Plains, where he knew bison were in abundance.

Billy Dixon knocked the native man off his horse, killing him.

Billy Dixon's shot was measured at over 1,500 yards, earning him a position on the list of longest recorded sniper kills.

Billy Dixon stated in his biography that it was a "scratch shot".

At daylight, Billy Dixon went for help, soon encountering troops under the command of Major Price.

In 1883, Billy Dixon returned to civilian life and built a home near the Adobe Walls site.

Billy Dixon was postmaster there for 20 years and served as the first sheriff of newly formed Hutchinson County.

Billy Dixon served as state land commissioner and a justice of the peace.

In 1894, Billy Dixon married Olive King Billy Dixon of Virginia, who for nearly three years was the only woman in Hutchinson County.

Billy Dixon died from pneumonia at his Cimarron County homestead in 1913 and was buried in Adobe Walls battle site in Hutchinson County.