Buffalo Bill’s Grass Dancers. William Fredrich Cody, Buffalo Bill as history remembers him, started life in modern-day Iowa. He was a hunter, a scout, and a Union soldier in the Civil War. When he was 23, he created a show called Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. As part of the show, two Oglala Lakota Indians, Elk and Black Elk, performed dances wearing traditional native gear, shells, and bells. They traveled with Bill as far as Europe, dancing for crowds and royalty.