Annie Oakley's great skills as markswomen was apparent at an early age. She was shooting small gime with a riffle at the age of nine, and by the time she turned sixteen she was winning cash prizes at local shooting contests. News of her extraordinary talent spread and soon she found herself in a shooting match against Frank Butler, a professional sharp-shooter who performed in vaudeville shows. Not only did Annie win the match and the one hundred dollar cash prize, but she won the heart of Frank Butler as well. Within a year they were married.

Annie started out as an assistant in Frank's show, but soon joined him onstage where they performed together as "Butler and Oakley." During their tour of the Midwest it became apparent that Annie was a far better shooter than her husband, so Frank decided to retire as a performer and take on the role of Annie's assistant and manager. By this time Annie's skill with a riffle was astonishing. Her show was so popular that she got a job in the Sells Brothers Circus where she performed for a year before joining the massive traveling spectacle known as Buffalo Bill's Wild West show run by the legendary frontiersman and showman Buffalo Bill Cody. For seventeen years Annie delighted audiences in American and Europe with a mind-boggling diplay of trick shots and precision marksmanship.

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