Bass Reeves

Reeves was born into slavery in 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas.^[1][2]Reeves was named after his grandfather, Basse Washington. Bass Reeves and his family were slaves of Arkansas state legislator William Steele Reeves.^[1]When Bass Reeves was eight (about 1846), William Reeves moved to Grayson County, Texas, near Sherman in the Peters Colony.^[1] Bass Reeves may have served William Steel Reeves son, Colonel George R. Reeves who was a legislator in Texas until the time of his death from rabies in 1882. George Reeves was the Speaker of the House.^[3] During the American Civil War, Bass parted company with George Reeves, perhaps "because Bass beat up George after a dispute in a card game."^[2][3][4] Bass Reeves fled north into the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and lived with the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek Indians until he was freed by the thirteenth amendment, which abolished slavery in 1865.^[3]

Later Reeves moved to Arkansas and farmed near Van Buren.^[5] He married Nellie Jennie from Texas, with whom he had eleven children. ^[5]

Career[edit]

Reeves and his family farmed until 1875, when Isaac Parker was appointed federal judge for the Indian Territory. Parker appointed James F. Fagan as U.S. Marshal, directing him to hire 200 deputy U.S. Marshals. Fagan had heard about Reeves, who knew the Indian Territory and could speak several Indian languages.^[5] He recruited him as one of his deputies and Reeves was the first black Deputy, West of the Mississippi River.^[2][5] Reeves was initially assigned as a Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas, which also had responsibility for the Indian Territory.^[6] Reeves served in that district until 1893, when he transferred to the Eastern District of Texas in Paris, Texas for a short while, then in 1897 he was transferred to the Muskogee Federal Court.^[6]

Reeves worked for thirty-two years as a Federal peace officer in the Indian Territory. He was one of Judge Parker's most valued deputies. Reeves brought in some of the most dangerous criminals of the time, but was never wounded, despite having his hat and belt shot off on separate occasions.^[2] Once he had to arrest his own son for murder.^[2]

In addition to being a marksman with a rifle and pistol, Reeves, during his long career, developed superior detective skills. When he retired in 1907, Reeves claimed to have arrested over 3,000 felons.^[2][5] He is said to have shot and killed fourteen outlaws to defend his own life.^[5]

One of his sons, Bennie Reeves, was charged with the murder of his wife. Marshal Reeves was disturbed and shaken by the incident but demanded to accept the responsibility of bringing Bennie to justice. Bennie was eventually tracked and captured, tried and convicted. He served his time in Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas before being released and living the rest of his life as a responsible and model citizen.^[2]

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, Reeves, then 68, became an officer of the Muskogee, Oklahoma police department.^[2] He served for two years before he became ill and had to retire.^[5]

He was himself once charged with murdering a posse cook. At his trial before Judge Parker, Reeves was represented by former United States Attorney W.H.H. Clayton, who had been his colleague and friend. Reeves was acquitted.^[7]

Death[edit]

Reeves' health began to fail, and he died of Bright's disease (nephritis) in 1910.^[5] He was an uncle of Paul L. Brady, the first black man appointed an Federal Administrative Law Judge (in 1972).^[8]

Legacy[edit]

In 2007, the U.S. Route 62 bridge crossing the Arkansas River between Muskogee and Fort Gibson, Oklahoma was named the Bass Reeves Memorial Bridge in his honor. ^[9] On May 16, 2012, a bronze statue of Reeves by sculptor Harold Holden, of Enid, Oklahoma, was cast at a foundry in Norman, Oklahoma. It was then moved to its permanent location at Pendergraft Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas.^[10]

In popular culture[edit]