Bass Reeves, the first Black commissioned to serve as a deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River was born a slave somewhere in Crawford County, Arkansas, around July 1838. His parents were enslaved by William Steele Reeves, an Arkansas state legislator. He was named after his grandfather, Bass Washington. Bass Reeves grew up illiterate and remained illiterate for his entire life. In 1846, William Reeves moved his family and slaves to Grayson County, Texas, where he had a farm. Reeves grew up there, working as a stable hand before becoming a blacksmith’s apprentice. He later became the slave and a personal "body servant" of William Reeves's son, a Colonel in the Confederate Army who organized the 11th Calvary regiment.
When the Civil War began, George Reeves, joined the Confederate States Army, taking Bass with him. It is believed he served as a soldier with the Union Indian Home Guard Regiments during the Civil War. Once Reeves heard about the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln, he told Colonel Reeves that he was a free man. Colonel Reeves did not agree and the two fought. Colonel Reeves was severely beaten. Perhaps fearing punishment, Reeves escaped and ended up in the Oklahoma Territory. Reeves became friendly with members of the Seminole and Creek tribes in the region and they familiarized him with the territory and taught him tracking skills and their languages. The fact that he mastered these languages was remarkable considering that he was illiterate.
At the time, the Indian Territory was a dangerous place. Covering about 75,000-square miles, the area harbored outlaws and fugitives wanted by US officials, as well as warring American Indian tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes (the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole American Indian tribes) had control over the Indian Territory. This is where he became good friends with the Cherokee Indian tribe. During his time with them, Reeves learned how to shoot, ride, and track—as well as fluently speak five Native American languages. These skills helped him become a legendary U.S. Deputy Marshal. With the Emancipation Proclamation in place, and the passage of the 13th Amendment, Bass became a free man. Bass Reeves was no longer a fugitive.
Bass Reeves left the Indian Territory and purchased land near Van Buren, Arkansas in 1870, where he became a successful rancher and farmer. During this time, Bass also married his first wife, Jennie, with whom he would raise a total of ten children; five boys and five girls. Refining his skills as an outdoorsman, Bass became an expert sharpshooter. Because he was ambidextrous, he was alleged to have incredible accuracy shooting with either hand. Along with raising horses on his farm, Bass earned extra money as a scout and tracker in Indian Territory while assisting the U.S. Marshal's office in Van Buren. Following the Civil War but before statehood, different Native American nations had different visions of justice, and restitution was almost unheard of, a perfect place for criminals to hide.
On May 10, 1875, the Federal Western Court was moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Later that year, President Ulysses Grant ordered Judge Isaac Parker to get the territory under control and rid it of its outlaws. Indian territory was swarming with outlaws who specialized in ducking the laws. One of Parker’s first acts was to appoint U.S. Marshall James F. Fagan as head of 200 deputies to bring justice to the territory. Fagan had heard of Bass Reeves’ significant knowledge of the area, his reputation with a pistol and his ability to speak several tribal languages from his time living among the Native Americans there. White outlaws had so terrorized the interior groups, especially the Creeks and Seminoles, that Whites, with or without a badge, were unwelcome.
Fagan asked Judge Isaac Parker to commission Reeves as a deputy U.S Marshall. As an African American, Reeves did not suffer from the reputation for abuse produced by the activities of the White criminal element among the Native Americans. The fact that he was Black made Reeves more attractive to Judge Parker. He wanted people of color to be in the U.S Marshall service, because there were people of color in the Indian Territory. People of color may not relate to a White man, but they will to a Black man, even the Native Indians. Reeves became, the first Black deputy marshal to take the oath west of the Mississippi River. Actually Bynum Colbert of the 54th U.S Colored Infantry, a former Buffalo Soldier was commissioned as a U.S Deputy Marshall in 1872, three years before Bass Reeves.
On March 17th, 1877, two years after Bass Reeves began his commission as a U.S Deputy in Arkansas, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as the first Black U.S Marshall for Washington D.C. This decision was significant as it symbolizes the U.S Government commitment to integrate African Americans into prominent positions of authority. Bass Reeves was responsible for apprehending criminals in a 75,000-square-mile region of what is now mostly Oklahoma and Arkansas. It’s where outlaws went to hide with little fear that anyone would try to track them down in such a vast wasteland. Most marshals figured it was fruitless to follow the criminals. When marshals did pursue criminals there, they often died in the attempt. In fact more than 100 marshals were killed in the territory before Oklahoma gained statehood.
The danger that Bass Reeves faced was immense. Although he could not read or write, Reeves would have the information on the warrant read to him and committed it to memory. He would be able to recall the information upon apprehending the fugitives. The deputies were directed to ‘clean up’ the Indian Territory and on Judge Parker’s orders, bring them in alive or dead. His weapons of choice were the Winchester models 1873 and 1892. Reeves also liked to carry two .45 caliber six-shooters which he wore with their handles facing forward (he believed that this would allow him to pull them out faster, employing a cross-handed draw). Reeves was fearless and determined in his attempts to bring in felons and fugitives. He wore disguises and used ruses to deceive his targets and gain their trust so he could apprehend them without violence.
As a deputy marshal, Reeves soon became respected for his hard work, courage, and ingenuity. The deputies from Fort Smith rode west to Fort Reno, Fort Sill, and Anadarko, a round trip of more than eight hundred miles. When a deputy marshal left Fort Smith to capture outlaws in the territory, he took with him a wagon, a cook who served as guard, and at least one posse man. Reeves transferred to Wetumka, Indian Territory, in 1897 and then to Muskogee OK, in 1898 after federal courts opened in the territory. Reeves was known to be an expert with pistol and rifle, and a master detective and a remarkable horseman. Racial tensions at the time caused some White people to feel anger toward a Black man who had the power to arrest them, when just a few short years before he had been enslaved.
Deputy Reeves, captured some of the most notorious outlaws of the time. Among Reeves' most famous exploits was a shoot-out with notorious horse thief and murderer Jim Webb, who had been on the run for two years after killing a Black preacher over a minor dispute. The story has Reeves picking off Webb from a quarter mile away. Another successful account was when he captured Bob Dozier, a murderer, land swindler and cattle and horse thief who eluded Reeves for several years before being tracked down and killed after refusing to surrender. Another outlaw was Tom Story, expert horse thief and murderer, who sold stolen horses south of the Red River from 1884 to 1889, and who lost his life at the Delaware Bend crossing in an attempt to beat Reeves to the draw.
He was so successful that he used to head out with a wagon, a cook, and one other lawman, do a circuit of Oklahoma, and return with a dozen wanted criminals tied behind the wagon. On one occasion, he bumped into three notorious outlaws coming down a trail. A short gunfight later, two of the outlaws were dead and the third had surrendered. On another occasion, he rode into the middle of a lynch mob and rescued their intended victim. Nobody in the mob even tried to stop Bass Reeves. Later, he halted a budding race war in a small town by arresting everyone involved. Reeves' devotion to duty was legendary. If the man Reeves arrested could not read, then the deputy had to locate someone who could to make sure that he had the right person. He was always acquitted of the deaths of his prisoners.
Bass Reeves was committed to his duty as a Marshal, even at a personal cost. It was his refusal to make exceptions that was extraordinary. On June 7, 1902, Bass Reeves's son, Bennie Reeves had murdered his wife and ran away, escaping the wrath of the law. The warrant for his son's arrest moved from desk to desk among the other deputies, who were too hesitant to take it up while Bass was away. When he returned, he saw the warrant and asked for it in a soft voice, bearing the responsibility for bringing his son in. Benjamin Reeves was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison in January 1903. He ultimately served eleven years and released on good behavior from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon his return to Muskogee, Benjamin Reeves found work at a local restaurant and remained for several years.
Bass Reeves worked as a U.S. Deputy Marshal in the Indian Territories for 32 years. Judge Parker who was in charge of the Indian Territories considered Reeves one of his most valued deputies, if not the most valued. In 1907, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were united as the state of Oklahoma, which immediately adopted the Jim Crow laws that made Black Americans second-class citizens throughout the South. The federal marshals were replaced by state authorities. At the age of sixty-nine Reeves accepted a job as patrolman out of Muskogee. He was hired to walk a beat as a member of the Muskogee police force, working a segregated beat in a segregated city which he did for two years before retiring due to health reasons.
A story in the Muskogee Phoenix newspaper on January 15, 1910, three days before he died, lionized the old marshal and said he "knew no master but duty." "He had such great respect for the law because the law had set him free." He only shot 14 people in self-defense and managed to never get injured during his career. Reeves always said that he “never shot a man when it was not necessary for him to do so in the discharge of his duty to save his own life.” A legendary figure whose life has been shrouded in a blend of fact and folklore, Reeves stands as a testament to the challenges and triumphs faced by lawmen in the Wild West. During his long, legendary career, his incredible exploits were recounted diligently in area newspapers. His career was marked with more such tales of dramatic daring, shootouts, and near-death escapades, where he brought down entire gangs.