Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1838. During the Civil War he escaped and found refuge in Indian Territory, the land that is now Oklahoma.
In 1875 he was commissioned as a deputy U.S. marshal for Judge Isaac Parker's federal court at Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was one of the first Black federal lawmen west of the Mississippi River.
Reeves had grown up enslaved and never learned to read. So he memorized his warrants and writs instead. By 1901, a newspaper reported that he had arrested more than 3,000 men and women for breaking federal laws. He wore the badge for 32 years.
Then came the hardest warrant of his life. His own son, Bennie, was charged with murdering his wife. Bass Reeves took the warrant himself and brought his son in. Bennie was convicted and sent to the federal prison at Leavenworth.
When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, his federal job ended. At 67, Reeves joined the police force in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and served for about two more years. He died in Muskogee on January 12, 1910.
For Bass Reeves, the law came first, even when it was his own blood.
