Bass Reeves

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Bass Reeves
Bass Reeves
Born	July 1838 Paris, Texas, U.S.
Died	January 12, 1910 Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA
Occupation	Deputy U.S. Marshal
Spouse	Nellie Jennie (1864 - 1896), Winnie Sumter (1900 - 1910)

Bass Reeves (July, 1838 - January, 1910) is thought by most to be one of the first Black Americans to receive a commission as a U.S. Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi River.

Born a slave in 1838 at Paris, Texas, Reeves took the surname of his master, George Reeves, a farmer and politician. When he got into a fight with his master in the early 1860s, Bass Reeves fled north into Indian Territory and lived with Seminole and Creek Indians.

Reeves became a crack shot with a pistol. He also became so skilled with a rifle that he was barred from competitive turkey shoots. When the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed him as a slave, Reeves moved to Arkansas and homesteaded near Van Buren. Once he got his farm going, he married Nellie Jennie from Texas. They began raising a family. In time, they had ten children – five boys and five girls.

Reeves and his family farmed until 1875 when Isaac Parker was appointed federal judge in Fort Smith. Parker appointed James F. Fagan as U.S. marshal. It was Fagan’s job to hire 200 deputy U.S. marshals. Fagan heard about Bass Reeves who knew Indian Territory and could speak several Indian languages. Fagan recruited Reeves as a deputy U.S. marshal.^[1]

Although he arrested some of the most dangerous criminals of the time, Reeves was never shot (despite having his hat and belt shot off on separate occasions). He had to arrest his own son for murder. Reeves worked a total of thirty-two years as a federal peace officer. During his career he worked the Indian Territory, pre-state Oklahoma. At statehood, Reeves became a member of the Muskogee, Oklahoma police department at the age of 68. Bass Reeves became a legend in the Indian Territory and was one of Judge Isaac C. Parker, of Fort Smith, Arkansas' federal court, most valued deputies. Reeves was an expert with rifle and pistol. During his long career he developed superior detective skills. Before he retired from federal service in 1907, Reeves had arrested over 3,000 felons. Reeves admitted having to shoot and kill fourteen outlaws in defending his life while making arrests. Many scholars consider Reeves to be one of the most outstanding frontier heroes in United States history.

Reeves' health failed in January 1910, when he died of Bright's disease. In 1972, his nephew Judge Paul L. Brady (1937 - ?), resumed his uncle's legacy. Judge Brady became the first African-American appointed a Federal Administrative Law Judge, retiring in 1997^[2]

[edit] See also

Adam Wright (author)

Art T. Burton, Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves. University of Nebraska Press, 2006.

Paulsen, Gary, The Legend of Bass Reeves - Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West Random House, Inc., New York, 2006. - Young Adult Literature; Historical Fiction