Sam Sixkiller
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Sam Sixkiller (1842–December 24, 1886) was a prominent Native American leader during the American Civil War and the postbellum period.
Sixkiller was born in the Going Snake district of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory—now Adair County, Oklahoma. He served on both sides during the Civil War, offering his support to the Confederacy as a private in the 1st Cherokee Cavalry before switching allegiance to the Union and serving with his father at Fort Gibson in an artillery battery.
Following the war, he became the first captain of the Indian Police, providing police services for the lands of all five tribes. He was also a Deputy U.S. Marshal and a special agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
Sixkiller was murdered December 24, 1886, in Muskogee, Indian Territory.
[edit] References
- Burton, Art, Black, Red and Deadly: Black and Indian Gunfighters of the Indian Territory, 1870-1907. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1991.