Bass Reeves: A Western Marshal--by Martha Hutchens

Bass Reeves, circa 1902
image from Smithsonian
Public Domain

Many men and women have overcome humble beginnings to build a successful live, be it great or small. Perhaps those whose life began in slavery had the hardest path of all. Two of the most famous men who succeeded in this difficult path are George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington. But today, I want to introduce you to a third man who managed this feat. His name was Bass Reeves.

Bass Reeves was born into slavery with the William Steele Reeves family. Later, this family and their slaves moved to Texas. Bass was assigned to the son of the family, William Reeves. In 1861, William Reeves joined the Confederate 11thCalvary regiment, and Bass accompanied him.

Image by Willard at Deposit Photos

In 1862 (probably), Bass and William had a fight over a card game. Bass knocked William out and escaped into Indian Territory (later to be Oklahoma.) Between 1863 and 1865, Reeves served with the Union army, serving mostly in Indian Territory.

After the Civil War (between 1866 and 1870), Reeves worked as a guide and interpreter for railroad surveyors in Indian Territory. If you are keeping track, this means that Bass spent 18 of his first 32 years in Indian Territory. He didn’t waste his time there, either. While there, he learned several Native American languages and became familiar with the customs of multiple tribes. This knowledge will soon stand him in good stead.

In 1870, Bass moved his family to Van Buren, Arkansas. Reeves once boasted that he knew Indian Territory “like a cook knows her kitchen.” This knowledge led to him finding work as a guide for Deputy U.S. Marshals working out of the federal court located at Fort Smith, Arkansas. In 1875, Judge Isaac C. Parker took over this court. He commissioned Bass Reeves as a Deputy US Marshal. Reeves is believed to be one of the first African-American Marshals to serve west of the Mississippi River—possibly the first.

Image by zim90 at Deposit Photos

It was here that Reeves found his true calling. David Kennedy, the historical curator of the US Marshals museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas, said that Reeves was the “most exemplary law enforcement officer the country has ever seen.”

You might wonder why. Let’s start with a few numbers. When Reeves started with the court, the jurisdiction he and other marshals patrolled was 75,000 square miles. US Marshals found this area the most dangerous in the country, with more than 130 men dying in the line of duty. Reeves patrolled the area for 30 years. He was never shot, though his hat was shot off and so was his belt. Well, that’s what the legend says, anyway. I’m not sure how that could happen, but I’ll leave it to your imagination.

Reeves arrested more than 3000 men and women who had broken federal laws. He arrested Jim Webb for the murder of a black preacher. When Webb did not show up for his day in court, Reeves went after him again. He found Webb in Indian Territory. Webb realized he had been found, and ran. From about 600 yards, he turned and fired several times at Reeves, several shots coming uncomfortably close. At this point, Reeves shot and killed Webb.

For one arrest, Reeves went undercover for three months, but came out with a signed confession from his target. He frequently masqueraded as many different people to find the information he needed to make an arrest. He was known for his observational skills.

Reeves had several tragedies in his life, but to me, two stand out. In 1884, he accidentally shot his camp cook while cleaning his gun. In 1886, he was arrested and was incarcerated for six months before he paid bail and was released. In 1887, he stood trial and was found not guilty.

Image by chinnapong at Deposit Photos

The second major tragedy in his life also attests to his integrity. In 1902, Bass Reeves’ son, Bennie, murdered his wife. An arrest warrant was issued, but Reeves’ boss faced a quandary. Reeves was held in high regard by all his co-workers, and none wanted to be the one to arrest his son. Reeves solved the dilemma by taking the warrant himself.

Accounts differ as to what Reeves was required to do for this arrest. One claims he tracked his son down in Indian Territory. Another claims that he arrested his son at his house. All agree, that Reeves alone arrested his son for murder. I can only imagine his turmoil.

His son stood trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment at Leavenworth Federal Prison. Reeves stood by his son through his trail and visited him in prison. Unfortunately, Bass did not live long enough to see his son’s sentence commuted after nearly 12 years. Bennie Reeves went on to live a honest life from the time of his release until his death.

Bass Reeves died in 1910.

It is claimed by some that he was the inspiration for The Lone Ranger, though I haven’t found strong evidence for this claim. He has been the focus of several recent movies, TV shows, and documentaries. His biography, Black Gun, Silver Star, by Art Burton is definitely on my to be read list.

Martha Hutchens is a transplanted southerner who lives in Los Alamos, NM where she is surrounded by history so unbelievable it can only be true. She won the 2019 Golden Heart for Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements. A former analytical chemist and retired homeschool mom, Martha is frequently found working on her latest knitting project when she isn’t writing.

Martha’s current novella is set in southeast Missouri during World War II. It is free to her newsletter subscribers. You can subscribe to my newsletter at my website, www.marthahutchens.com

After saving for years, Dot Finley's brother finally paid a down payment for his own land—only to be drafted into World War II. Now it is up to her to ensure that he doesn't lose his dream while fighting for everyone else's. No one is likely to help a sharecropper's family.

Nate Armstrong has all the land he can manage, especially if he wants any time to spend with his four-year-old daughter. Still, he can't stand by and watch the Finley family lose their dream. Especially after he learns that the banker's nephew has arranged to have their loan called.

Necessity forces them to work together. Can love grow along with crops?

The Birth of the Cowboy

By Miralee Ferrell

Cowboys--a subject of fascination for little boys and girls through the years--with many a young girl smitten and young boy wanting to be one when they grew up. My sister wanted to be a cowboy when she was little--not a cowgirl, mind you. 

Have you ever wondered where and when the cowboy came into being? The Old West would be most people's guess, but his origin goes back a little beyond that, and even has roots in different countries. 

From www.history.com/topics/cowboys I discovered this interesting bit of information.  "Predecessors of the cowboy date back to colonial times. In western Massachusetts, in the uplands of the Carolinas, in Florida, and across the northern, red clay hills of Georgia and Alabama, cattle-raising societies existed long before the Great Plains had been cleared of buffalo. It was in Florida that much of the protocol involving branding evolved. Yet the cattle industry of the Southeast never attracted national attention. The herders never became heroes. They remained little known and were recognized for what they were—illiterate, unmounted trespassers on the public domain, drifting from grazing ground to grazing ground, trailing their beasts to markets at Ohio River towns or to Savannah or Jacksonville."

Cowboys came in all shapes and sizes. We often envision them as rugged, tall, handsome, and strong. But history shows they could as easily have been short, stout, scrawn, or homely, but undoubtedly most were brave and had incredible internal strength to maintain the rugged life they chose to live. Long days, weeks, and sometimes months, were spent on the trail herding cattle to market, or alone on a vast range guarding, branding, doctoring, and keeping track of their boss's (or their own) cattle or horses. It was often a solitary life, sleeping on the ground or in a bunkhouse with a number of other men, with few, if any luxuries to call their own. 

Vaqueros were the Spanish and Mexican version of our Old West cowboy. At http://www.americancowboy.com/article/history I discovered the following: 

1519–1700s After the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519, ranches were established and stocked with cattle and horses imported from Spain. Landowners mounted native Indians on well-trained horses and taught them to handle cattle. By the early 1700s, cattle ranching had spread north into what is now Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico and south to Argentina. The native cowboys were called vaqueros(from the Spanish word for cow) and developed roping skills, using braided rawhide reatas (the root word for lariat). Starting in 1769, a chain of 21 Franciscan missions eventually stretched from San Diego to San Francisco, marking the beginning of California’s livestock industry.
The golden age of the cowboy, 1866-1886, had it's beginnings post-Civil War, in Texas. Cattle were allowed to roam free, grew wild, and had few natural enemies when traveling in a herd. Their numbers grew to be over 5 million in the Texas territory, and the lure was great for a cowboy to attain their own small herd. The need for beef back east drove the market, and the cattle industry began to boom. At times, range wars arose and were settled by gun-play, and at other times, sheep farmers tried to invade the cattle land and created tension and bloodshed. 

Cowboys had to fight outlaws bent on stealing their cattle, Indians angry at the white man usurping their land, homesteaders wanting to farm or put up fences, as well as predators, disease, and long hours with low pay. But most of the men who chose this life wouldn't have it any other way. They loved the freedom it provided, as well as the camaraderie they often found working on a ranch.  

A little known fact is, that after the Civil War, about one-quarter of the cowboys

were black. I found the following at this website: The life of the black cowboy was tougher than most. It was the black cowboy who broke the horses and herded the cattle across the rivers. Though they took on the toughest jobs, it was better to be a black cowboy on the ranch than a slave on the plantation picking cotton.

Little to no attention was given to the black cowboys who made their mark in western history by Hollywood. Riders like William “Bill” Pickett, Stagecoach Mary, Nat Love and Bass Reeves were among the most famous. Documentary filmmakers John Ferguson and Gregg MacDonald have created “The Forgotten Cowboys,” in which they follow the contemporary black cowboys of today, like Jason Griffin, who is a four-time world champion bareback bucking horse rider, while also reflecting on the black riders in the past.

I have two new books out, both released March 1, and both are full of historical cowboy stories, Heart of a Cowboy, a collection of novellas by four award-winning authors, and The Cowboy's Bride, by nine different authors, which recently hit the ECPA best-seller list. I think you'd enjoy both of these, and I'd love if you'd pick up a copy. 

Miralee Ferrell is an award-winning, best-selling author. She has 18 books released with two more releasing during 2016. She's also the publisher at her company, Mountain Brook Ink, which published Heart of a Cowboy, and can be found at her personal website or her business website.