Annie Oakley died in Greenville, Ohio, at age 66, from complications of pernicious anemia.
Annie Oakley died on November 3, 1926, in Greenville, Ohio—not far from her birthplace—at the age of 66. Her death followed a prolonged illness attributed to pernicious anemia, a condition that had progressively weakened her in her final years, compounded by the lingering effects of her 1901 train accident injuries.
By the time of her death, Oakley had largely retired from public performing but remained a beloved and celebrated figure in American popular culture, having spent over four decades as one of the most famous entertainers and sharpshooters in the world. Her husband and professional partner of fifty years, Frank Butler, was so devastated by her death that he reportedly stopped eating and died just eighteen days later, on November 21, 1926—a poignant coda to their lifelong partnership.
Oakley's death marked the end of an era defined by the Wild West show phenomenon she had helped popularize globally. Her legacy endured well beyond her lifetime: she became the subject of the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946), numerous films, television adaptations, and continued induction into halls of fame related to shooting sports, entertainment, and women's history. She remains an enduring symbol of women's capability and achievement in fields long considered the exclusive domain of men, and her legend continues to shape American popular memory of the frontier era.