In Touch With An Old Wild West Ancestor

By Betty Miller Buttram
Ink Spot Contributing Writer

There was a wild time in our American western history when the country was in a developmental stage; expanding its growth; dealing with who had what and getting that “what” by any means possible.

In 1875, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) was populated by cattle and horse thieves, whiskey peddlers, and bandits who sought refuge in this untamed territory that was free of courts of law. The only court with authority over Indian Territory was the U.S. Court for the Western District of Arkansas located in Fort Smith, Arkansas situated on the border of Western Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Somehow and someway, the law had to step in and bring law and order into the Indian Territory with duly appointed judges, lawmakers, and court systems.

In this lawless land, Isaac Parker, known famously as the “Hanging Judge,” ruled as the federal judge for the Indian Territory. Judge Parker appointed James F. Fagan as U.S. Marshall and directed him to hire two hundred deputy marshals. Fagan had been a senior officer of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and had settled in Arkansas. Fagan needed to hire the deputy marshals, and he had heard about a former slave named Bass Reeves who knew the Indian Territory and spoke several Native Languages.

Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas in 1838. Arkansas state legislator William Steele enslaved Reeves and his family. Bass was about eight years old when William Steele moved to Grayson County, Texas. It is believed that Bass was kept in bondage by William Reeves’ son, Colonel George R. Reeves, who was a sheriff and legislator in Texas, and one-time Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

At the beginning of the Civil War, George Reeves joined the Confederate Army, taking Bass with him. It is unclear how and exactly when Bass Reeves left his enslaver, but at some point, during the Civil War, he gained his freedom. One account recalls how Bass Reeves and George had an altercation over a card game. Bass severely beat George and fled to the Indian Territory where he lived among the Cherokee, Creeks and Seminoles. Bass stayed with these Native tribes and learned their languages until the Thirteen Amendment abolished slavery in 1865.

As a freeman, Bass Reeves moved to Arkansas and became a farmer. Reeves and his family farmed until 1875 when Fagan recruited him to serve as the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. His assignment was to the Western District of Arkansas which had responsibility for the Native reservation Territory. He served there until 1893 and that year was transferred to the Eastern District of Texas in Paris, Texas for a short while. In 1897, he transferred and served at the Muskogee Federal Court in the Native Territory.

Bass Reeves worked for thirty-two years as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory and became one of Judge Parker’s most valued deputies. He brought in dangerous criminals of the time, killed fourteen outlaws in defending his life, and had a record of over 3,000 arrests of felons. He was an expert shooter with a rifle and revolver; and developed superior detective skills during his lengthy career. When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, Reeves, then sixty-eight, became an officer of the Muskogee Police Department and served for two years before he became ill and retired. His health began to fail further after retirement, and he died on January 12, 1910.

Bass Reeves was married twice and was the father of eleven children. He was a great-uncle of Paul J. Brady who became the first Black man appointed as a federal administrative law judge in 1972. He retired in 1997. Judge Brady was also a civil rights advocate and author. Reeves’ great-great-great-grandson, Ryan Reaves (different spelling), is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.

In the movie, “Magnificent Seven,” (2016), Denzel Washington’s character, Sam Chisolm, is based on Bass Reeves. In the recent Netflix’s movie, “The Harder They Fall,” (it is a western that aired in November 2021), Delroy Lindo plays Bass Reeves. Reeves has been the subject of various television programs, film, theater, and games. In 1992, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In 2011, the US-62 Bridge, which spans the Arkansas River between Muskogee and Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, was renamed the Bass Reeves Memorial Bridge. In May 2012, a bronze statue of Reeves by Oklahoma sculptor Harold Holden was erected in Pendergraft Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And in 2013, Reeves was inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame.

Our African American history is rich with ancestors who helped build this country. We have become a diversified nation, and American history should be inclusive of all who made contributions to a country that is for all Americans.