Needless to say, Calamity Jane's real name wasn't Calamity Jane. Instead, she was actually born Martha Jane Cannary (though some say Canary) in Missouri at some point in the year 1852. Biography.com tells us that by the time she was 12, she was an orphan in Salt Lake City, Utah, supporting her numerous siblings (five, maybe six) by whatever means necessary and available.

There weren't a lot of options in those days for women, especially if they lacked even the rudiments of education. So Martha Jane became a camp follower — one of the women who traveled unofficially with troops, perhaps doing laundry, cooking, providing a woman's presence, and perhaps engaging in prostitution.

As for all those tall tales about her, some Calamity Jane stories might not be verifiable, but they are plausible, depending on the veracity of the period newspapers in question. For example, many say that she helped victims of a smallpox epidemic. And she also claimed that she saved a stagecoach when the driver was killed during an attack by Native Americans. Maybe that one's a bit far-fetched, but as an old theater professor once said, "All my stories are true. Some of them really happened."

We do know that she ended up in Deadwood (yes, that Deadwood), South Dakota. However, she didn't actually capture Jack McCall, the man who killed Hickok with a bullet to the back of the head. And believe it or not, she and Hickok were never intimately involved, nor secretly married, though they were at least friends, and she mourned him deeply when he was murdered.

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