Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal

First Black Marshal West of the Mississippi

Bass Reeves (played here by retired lawman Sam Allen) was a former Texas slave who had spent time in the Indian territory or what we now call Oklahoma, USA. In 1875, Judge Isaac C. Parker, was given the task of cleaning up the territory by President Ulysses Grant. Reeves was one of the first deputy’s hired and the first Black United States Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi River. He possessed a superior knowledge of Native languages, the people, towns and Indian territory.

It was immediately known that he was not one of the ruthless White outlaws who had plagued law abiding citizens, stagecoaches, trains and settlers. He often wore disguises (he once even dressed as a woman) and worked with an Indian partner to bring felons and fugitives to justice.

Although he could not read and write, he arrested over 3,000 and killed fourteen outlaws in gun battles; never being shot or wounded himself, although they did get his hat one time. He escaped numerous assassination attempts on his life while over 120 peace officers lost their lives before statehood.

Reeves is the only deputy on record who started working for Judge Parker's court in 1875 and worked up to statehood in 1907. He worked a total of thirty–two years as a deputy U.S. marshal in the Indian Territory.

Bass Reeves lawman and master of disguises.