One day, Billy went to the trading post for supplies when he met up with his cousin Horace Billings. Billings was a scout and mountain man. Billings took Billy on an expedition to search for wild horses. Billy loved being outdoors and learning everything he could about tracking animals and reading trail signs, and surviving in the wild. After returning home, he had a hard time concentrating on his chores.
One day in 1855 Billy and his father rode in to Rively's for supplies. Some men were there who talked loudly about Kansas becoming a salve sate. They badgered Mr. Cody into giving his opinion on the matter. When he said he was against slavery the men attacked and stabbed him. One day while his father was recuperating, Billy heard the men were planning to come out to their farm and finish the job. Billy's new little baby brother Charles had just been born at this time. Mr. Cody was forced to hide while the men were looking for him.
There were several raids and gunfights between pro- and anti-slavery factions. One night a man warned Billy that a gang lie in wait for his father. Billy set out to warn him, even though he was very sick with a fever. When he reached a certain point, his father's enemies tried to gun him down. But he somehow escaped and reached his father unharmed.
His father died in April 1857, when Billy was 11. It was up to Billy to provide for the family. He hired out with the Russell, Majors & Waddell Company, which operated out of Leavenworth. He was basically a go-fer, doing odd jobs for wagon trains that supplied the frontier forts. In May 1857, he shipped out on his first expedition. The trip out was uneventful. But on the way back, they were attacked by Indians. The Indians drove off the cattle. Three white men were killed and one was wounded. They hid in a high creek bank and managed to chase off the Indians. A few minutes later they started ransacking the wagons.
