Saturday, January 10, 2015

Frontier Indian Police





Long before the Native Americans were moved to Indian Territory along the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee Nation organized the regulators to curb crimes like horse stealing, robbery, and to protect widows and orphans. Once they’d been moved to Indian Territory, the Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole, established a law enforcement system and judicial courts similar to what they had in the East.



In November, 1844, the Cherokee Advocate, published in Tahlequah, reported that the Cherokee National Council had passed a bill authorizing a Lighthorse Company. The bill authorized the Lighthorse to consist of a captain, lieutenant and twenty-four horsemen, and their main duty was to pursue and arrest all fugitives from justice and then turn them over to the Indian courts to be tried and punished. The Lighthorse were named after Revolutionary War hero, General Henry Lee who was called "Lighthorse Harry" because of his rapid cavalry movements during the conflict. Henry Lee was the father of Robert E. Lee. 

Sioux Indian Police

In some circumstances the early Lighthorse had to serve as policemen, judges, and jurors. Their job was eased in 1874 by the construction of a national prison in Tahlequah which was presided over by a high sheriff. The Cherokee Nation had a gallows for execution at Tahlequah. The other Indian nations didn't have a prison and used firing squads for execution.

A condemned man would often be released to his family for a year's time and then return for his execution. Most all Indians honored this tradition except a few who escaped their punishment as the era of the Indian nations moved closer to an end.
In 1874, the federal government ordered the consolidation of the four Indian Agents for the Five Civilized Tribes into one posi. The agent was moved into a new building at Muskogee on January 1, 1876. The new office was called the Union Agency. In February of 1880, Col. John Q. Tufts, United States agent for the Union Agency of Muskogee, Indian Territory, organized a unit of Indian police to operate throughout the Five Civilized Nations. The policemen were recruited from the Lighthorsemen from the various Indian nations. The official title for this group was United States Indian Police or U.S.I.P. It is interesting to note that also in the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations they had county or district sheriffs who were appointed by the Indian political leadership. Many of the larger Indian towns also had constables.

The United States Indian Police could travel through all the Five Tribes in pursuit of Indian citizen criminals. The Indian Police and Lighthorse police were also deputized on many occasions by deputy U.S. marshals to serve as federal possemen in pursuit of non-Indian citizens.

One of the first outstanding Indian police officers was the legendary Cherokee, Sam Sixkiller. At the age of nineteen, Sixkiller joined a Union Indian artillery company under the command of his father, 1st Lt. Redbird Sixkiller, during the Civil War. In 1875, Sixkiller was appointed high sheriff of the Cherokee Nation and warden of the National Penitentiary. On February 12, 1880 Sixkiller became the first captain of the United States Indian Police headquartered at Muskogee, Indian Territory. As captain, Sixkiller had forty men under his command. Besides this position, Sixkiller also held a commission as a deputy U.S. marshal and a special agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Sixkiller's duties included policing the streets of Muskogee, one of the most dangerous towns in the "Wild West." There were more lawmen killed in a fifty mile radius of Muskogee than anywhere west of the Mississippi River during the frontier era.
Here is an example of early Cherokee justice for the crime of rape: For the first offense, the rapist was punished with fifty lashes upon the bare back and his left ear cropped off close to the head: for the second offense, one hundred lashes and the other ear cut off, for the third offense, death.






Shoshone Indian Police
 Sixkiller most often dealt with the following issues: whiskey bootleggers, cattle thieves, murders, rapists, timber thieves, land squatters, train robbers, card sharks, and prostitutes servicing the railroad towns. During his six years as captain, Sixkiller was wounded only once.


Indian Lands In Oklahoma before statehood
Due to coming statehood, most of the Indian police powers were given to the federal government by 1898; except for the Seminoles, who only disbanded their Lighthorse shortly after the turn of the century.

Many of the Indian tribes in present day Oklahoma have regained full police powers. The Muskogee (Creek) Nation have resurrected the Lighthorse police. The Cherokee Nation has the Cherokee Marshals Service which is the largest with 14 officers. 


Credit: Art T. Burton http://lestweforget.hamptonu.edu/page.cfm?uuid=9FEC4BE4-0CFE-0ACA-15B57C52CED4B765



Gabe Coulter has a successful night gambling, but a drunken cowboy who wants his money back confronts him in a dark alley. Gabe refuses, and a gunfight ensues. The dying man tells Gabe the money was for his wife and son. Though the shooting was self-defense, Gabe wrestles with guilt. The only way he knows to get rid of it is to return the money he fairly won to the man’s wife. Lara Talbot sees Gabe as a derelict like her husband and wants nothing to do with him. But as she struggles to feed her family, she wonders if God might have sent the gambler to help.



Vickie McDonough is the best selling author of 35 books and novellas. Her novels include the fun and feisty Texas Boardinghouse Brides series and the 3rd & 6th books in the Texas Trails series. Her novel, Long Trail Home, won the Inspirational category of the 2012 Booksellers’ Best Awards. Song of the Prairie, the final book in her Pioneer Promises series, set in 1870s Kansas, recently released. Vickie had three Christmas novellas in collections releasing this fall: Westward Christmas Brides, The Christmas Brides Collection, and The 12 Brides of Christmas. To learn more about Vickie, visit her website: www.vickiemcdonough.com

13 comments:

  1. Do you happen to know the story behind Sixkiller's name? That's very intriguing.

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    1. You made me curious so I looked it up but didn't find much. The source I found says it might be a version of a German name. Knowing it belonged to an American Indian, I'd be more likely to believe it was a more literal name, such as the Indian who took on that name maybe had six buffalo kills. I'm just speculating though. The Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma had a woman name Wilma Mankiller as chief for a time. There's another interesting name.

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    2. Thanks for checking ... thought you might know just off the top of your head. I agree with you that the culture would have given that name for six kills of something ... hopefully it WAS buffalo LOL. Come to think of it,for one man to bring down six buffalo on the same hunt would probably be viewed as quite an accomplishment. Maybe I'll go with that meaning in my imagination.

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  2. Hi Vickie. Enjoyed your post. Both of the. I had never heard this about the Indians. Never even knew they were treated like regular men. Sounds like they did a good job. I also want to read your book at some point. GOD bless you in the coming year. Keep up the good writing. Maxie > mac262(at)me(dot)com <

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    1. Thanks, Maxie. The Indians that were part of the Five Civilized Tribes were educated and lived as farmers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and some even owned plantations before they were forced from their lands in the South and moved to Oklahoma. Most people don't realize that.

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    2. When I was working on masters we read a book title Between Two Fires about Indians in the Civil War. It was very enlightening, especially about the eastern and southern tribes.

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  3. Very intriguing history. Seems like a great character/setting for a historical mystery series.

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    1. You're right, Lori. I might have to include Sam Sixkiller in one of my books. :)

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  4. Great article, Vickie. I'd never considered the Indian law enforcement of the times. Thanks for sharing your research!

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  5. Thanks Regina! I learned a lot as I researched this article.

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  6. Very interesting post, Vickie. Something I never knew about before. Thanks for sharing your research.

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