The UNTOLD Story of The Black Cowboys #blackhistory

welcome to one by black history i'm your host country boy and today's episode is about the netflix movie the heart of they fall the movie symbols are cast to black actors to play legendary western figures from across time to tell a fictional story about two rival groups the nate love gang and the rufus buck gang and if this is the type of content that you enjoy please hit the subscribe button also you can find more content like this at onemikehistory.com and if you'd like to support the channel you can do so in my patreon page in the description below without further ado let's get started in real life the nat love gang and the rufus bug gang most likely never crossed paths because that love had already settled down and began working at the pullman porter in 1890 and the rufus bug gang wasn't even created until 1895. the film does offer a rare representation of black cowboys and frontiersmen and lawmen erased from hollywood depletion of the old west the reality is at least one in four cowboys was black and the black powerboys were some of the first cowboys on the cattle trails using skills that they had learned from handling cows as slaves while the holiday fall tells a fictional story to depart from actual historical events the characters were very real and today we're going to talk about the historical people behind the characters in the heart of they fall and in particular we're going to talk about rufus buck played by idris elba aegis elba's rufus bug character in the movie follows a very similar path to the actual rufus buck buck in the movie was a lifelong criminal heartened by systematic racism and he believed that through a criminal enterprise he could build a legitimate business structure that could better his community and was willing to take ruthless means to get to that end see not much is known about the early life of rufus buck before he turned 18 and formed the rufus bug gang what little we do know is that he was born to a black mother and a creek father and the rufus butt gang was an interracial gang of african americans and creek native americans this included sam sampson mohammed july and the brothers louis and lucky davis all of them had been arrested for minor offenses and served time in the fort smith jail in arkansas before joining forces all the members of the gang wanted to be known as famous outlaws in the wild west buck allegedly boasted that his outfit would make a record that would sweep all other gangs in the territory into insignificance so the gang started to build up a small cache of weapons while staying in okimogi oklahoma and after killing a u.s marshal by the name of john garrett one of the few black marshals in the indian territory in july 30 1895 the gang started holding up stores and ranches around fort smith area and began preying on white settlers in one incident in particular an elderly salesman named callahan who the gang had just robbed was offered a chance to escape if he could outrun the gang when the old man was successful in outrunning the gang the gang brutally murdered his assistant out of frustration much later the gang killed a man named gus chambers when he attempted to stop them from stealing horses a few days later they robbed a stockman who was a man that raised livestock just so they could take his clothes and his boots they also started firing at him as he ran away butt naked two days later they raped a woman named rosalita hanson and forced her husband to watch this all came to a head outside of muskogee oklahoma when the combined forces of the u.s deputy marshals and the creek lightfoot police began to close in on the gang an ensuing gun battle between the marshals and the gang lasted almost a day before the gang finally surrendered the creek police wanted to hold the gang in indian territory for trial but eventually the u.s marshals prevailed the gang was taken back to fort smith and arkansas to face judge isaac parker when they were brought before the court later that year they were convicted on rape and murder and sentenced to death however the verdict was appealed and the execution was delayed in the end though the appeals failed and the judge re-sins them to death rufus bug and the four members of his gang were executed on july first 1896. the vicious robbery and murder spree only lasted a full two weeks why the apparent random violence terrified the local white settlers the violence wasn't actually that random in 1895 there were more whites in the indian territory than actual native americans and the dawes act in 1887 allowed the federal government to strip tribes of their land rights in indian territory so that land could be used with white settlements rufus buck dreamed the gang's murder spree would trigger a native american uprising that would expel the illegal white majority and reclaim indian territory for the native people one of the major characters in the holiday fall is nat love played by john d majors majors nat love engages to seek revenge on the man that killed his parents and branded him as a child the real nat love was an american cowboy and his exploits made him one of the most famous heroes in the old west nat love was born enslaved in 1854 on a plantation in davidson county tennessee his father was sampson love a slave foreman on a plantation and his mother was unknown but she was the manager of the kitchen despite laws that outlawed black slaves from learning to read love learned to read and write as a child with the help of his father when slavery ended love's parents stayed on the plantation as sharecroppers to attempt to raise tobacco and corn when nat love's father passed nat took on a second job at the local farm to help make ends meet during his time he was noted as having a gift for breaking horses and he won a few horse raffles and sold them back to the owner he used the money to leave town at only 16 and head out west this is where love ends up in dive city kansas where he's hired on with a crew of cowboys that already included several african americans on the duval ranch love co-workers gave him the nickname red river dick and he quickly adapted to life of a cowboy showing excellent skills as a ranch hand and practiced so often with revolver that he became very comfortable around a gun he quickly earned a reputation as one of the best all-around cowboys in the duval outfit and he soon became a buyer and a chief brand reader in this capacity he was sent to mexico on several occasions and this allowed him to become very fluent in spanish after a few years at the duval outfit love moved to arizona in 1872 where he went on to work for the gallagher ranch he traveled all over the western trails sometimes working in dangerous situations that included gun battles with native americans cattle rustlers and bandits during his years as an arizona cowboy nate claimed that he met a few very famous people from the old west including pat garrett and billy the kid in the spring of 1876 gallica cowboys were sent to her 3 000 stairs to deadwood south dakota when the crew arrived on july 3rd the locals were busy preparing for the july 4th celebration one of the many events was a cowboy contest with a 200 first prize contestants competed in rope bridling saddling and shooting and nat love won every single competition he walked away between the dollar prize and a new nickname of deadwood dick in one incident in 1877 love states that he was even captured by prima indians while rounding up stray cattle at the gila river in arizona he states that he was only spared because they respected his heritage because a large portion of the tribe was of mixed heritage themselves he said he was almost forced to marry the chieftain's daughter and the group nursed him back to health and asked him to join their tribe he would eventually run away after stealing a horse and escaping into west texas nat love continued to work as a cowboy in the southwest for another 15 years before he began to settle down and got married in 1889. in 1890 love said that he saw the march of progress with the coming railroads to the west and the red rose would soon make cowboys jobs obsolete so he took a job in denver colorado as a pullman porter on the denver rio grande railroad as such the route took him west of denver and his family moved several times from wyoming to utah to nevada before filing setting down in southern california in 1907 nat love published his autobiography the life and adventures of nat love better known in cattle country as deadwood dick he states that everything in that book actually happened but it was almost impossible for us to verify nat love's last job was at the courier for the general securities company in los angeles california and he died in 1921 at the age of 67. stage coach mira is played by zazzy beats and her stage coach mary is not love's romantic interest and she owns a saloon and is a burlesque dancer the real life stage coach mary was much older and at least six foot in 200 plus pounds she was the first african-american female star right mail carrier in the united states mary fields was born in 1832 phyllis was born into slavery and like many enslaved people the exact date of her birth is unknown and even her birthplace is in question there is very little known about her early life and what she did in the years immediately following the civil war and her emancipation because the slave people were treated like property and their numbers were recorded but their names weren't so after she was freed she went up the mississippi river working on riverboats and acting as a servant and a laundress in the 1870s she became a housekeeper at the ursuline convent in toledo ohio where she formed a close relationship with mother armadas feels was like i said six feet tall and more than 200 pounds so she was capable of doing what was regarded as men's work as well as the standard housekeeping chores such as maintenance repairs laundry gardening growing vegetables tending chickens repairing buildings and she eventually became the forewoman in 1884 mother amadeus was sent to montana territory to establish a school for native american girls at the saint peter's mission later when mother amadeus was stricken with pneumonia fields hurried to montana to nurse her back to health when mother amadeus recovered field stayed at the saint peter's mission and despite her devotion to the nuns she drank heavily in saloons with men and had a reputation of a quick temper and apparently the nuns complained about her difficult nature in any case the bishop at the montana diocese ordered the convent to dismiss fields kicked out of the convent in 1895 she got a contract from the post office to become a star route mail carrier not an actual employee of the united states postal service because they didn't hire or employ mail carriers for star routes a star route was a term used for a connection between the united states postal service and the contracting mail delivery services star route contracts were given to the lowest qualifying bid and once a contract wasn't awarded the contractor could either drive the route himself sublet the route or hire an experienced driver some individuals obtained multiple star route contracts and conducted operations as a business mary as an independent contractor carried mail using a stagecoach donated by mother amadeus she was only the second woman in the united states and the first african-american woman to serve in that role and it suited mary fields to a t and as a star out her job was to protect the mail and her routes from thieves and bandits and deliver the mail at all costs her dedication and reliability in this difficult often dangerous task earned her the nickname stage coach mary she worked for the postal service for eight years over two four-year contracts from 1895 to 1899 and from 1899 to 1903 afterwards she retired she operated a laundry service reportedly babysat children and she continued to drink heavily in saloons and was such a beloved figure in cascade montana that the town people rebuilt her home after it caught fire in 1912. fields would die in 1914 at the columbus hospital in great falls and her funeral was said to be one of the largest the town had ever seen cherokee bill is portrayed in the holiday fall by lake stanfield and cherokee bill didn't run with the rufus but gang like he did in the holiday fall although he was a feared criminal in his own right born crawford goldsby he was responsible for several murders and him and his gang terrorized indian territory for almost two years crawford goalsby was born to sergeant and ellen goldsby in february 8th of 1876 in fort concho in san angelo texas goldsby's father was from alabama and a sergeant in the 10th cavalry and was a buffalo soldier goldsby's mother was a free woman of african cherokee and white ancestry in 1887 when crawford goldsby was only two years old a gun battle broke out between cowboys and members of the 10th cavalry at the morris saloon in san angelo resulting in two people being killed and three others wounded texas rangers went an attempt to arrest george goldsby and charging him with being responsible for arming the soldiers so george went awol and escaped texas into indian territory allen goes to be moved back with her family to fort gibson in indian territory and she would leave cherokee bill in the care of a elderly black woman known as amanda foster by the time crawford was seven he had been sent to an indian school in kansas where he attended for three years afterwards he was sent to an industrial school for indians in carlisle pennsylvania for the next two years and despite attempts to provide him with good education some sources indicate that he could barely read or write and while he could barely read historians believe that he killed his first victim at only 12 years old but wasn't charged because of his age crawford goldsby will return home to fort gibson and upon returning home he would find that his mother had remarried to a man named william lynch cherokee bill did not get along with his stepfather and he began to associate with unsavory characters drink liquor and just generally rebel against authority by the time he was 15 he moved in with a man by the name of bob buffalington and began doing our jobs he worked on a ranch and by all accounts was well liked but soon in 1884 at just 18 he will begin his outlaw career becoming one of the most dangerous and feared men in indian territory cherokee bill's crown spree began when he shot a man named jake lewis for beating up his younger brother lewis would later recover from his wounds but bill was sure that he killed a man so he fled into creek in the seminal nations where he joined up with the outlaws jim and bill cook in june of 1894 the trio was confronted at 14 mile creek at telequa oklahoma by lauben with a warrant for jim cook a shootout occurred and cherokee bill shot and killed sequoia houston and jim cook was badly wounded the two men took him back before gibson where they were forced to leave him he was then arrested and in the meantime cherokee bill wrote to his sister's home her name was ma brown hiding from the law when her husband george brown who was a vicious drunk began to beat mod with the whip for not responding to his requests quickly enough so bill walked up behind the man and shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly afterwards cook and cherokee bill rounded up men for a new gang comprised mostly of black men with native blood and beginning to terrorize oklahoma starting out small they first accused of horse death and advanced to robbing banks storage and stage coaches and the outlaws would shoot anyone that even thought of getting in their way in one incident bill along with several other members of the gang rolled into telepath oklahoma while robbering the sheffield and son general store and innocent pastors by the name of ernest melton heard the commotion and stuck his head inside the store just to see what was going on his curiosity would get him killed because bill would take his rifle and shoot the man right in the head killing him instantly after the melted murder authorities stepped up their pursuit of building his gang with the pressure on the gang split up most of the men were either captured or killed but bill still managed to escape authorities offered a 1500 reward for the capture of cherokee bill and bill continued to lose marshals till he attempted to rob a train in natural oklahoma and he was captured in january 30th 1895 by u.s marshals with the help of bill's former acquaintances who hoped to receive part of the 1500 reward soon afterwards he was sent back to fort smith arkansas to await sentencing for murder on february 26 cherokee bill was tried for the murder of ernest milton before the hanging judge isaac parker and found guilty on april 30th bill was sentenced to death while in jail awaiting execution bill planned a daring escape a man by the name of sherman van who was a trustee at the jail smuggled a revolver in for cherokee bill on july 26 of 1895 he attempted to break out a gun battle ensued between him and the prison guards with one of them being killed the shootout resulted in a standoff between cherokee bill and the prison guards however another outlaw whose old friends of bills offered to the czar bill if the guards promised they wouldn't kill cherokee bill afterwards so he went in and spoke a cherokee bill and convinced him that it was over and to give up his revolver star would turn the revolver over to the guards and the incident helped henry star later acquire his freedom meanwhile cherokee bill's lawyer began working on an appeal maintaining that bill had not received a fair trial at the court of judge isaac parker who had characterized him as a blood thirsty mad dog who killed for the love of killing and the most vicious of all the outlaws in oklahoma territory when his appeals failed on march 17 1896 he was hung before hundreds of spectators reportedly they asked him if he had any last words and he said i came here to die not to make a speech cherokee bill goldsby was only 20 years old when he died and it killed at least eight men and as many as 13. r.j seiler plays the cocky jim beckworth in the heart of they fall and jim believes himself to be the quickest draw in the west the real backworth was actually a mountaineer and explorer that went on for trapping expeditions across the rocky mountains james pearson beckworth was born in either 1798 or 1800 the exact date of his birth is in dispute and a lot of this uncertainty comes from the fact that beckworth was known for exaggerating and rewriting his own history but what is known is he was born to a white man a sir jennings beckworth and a slave woman in virginia he was said to have the features that resembled a native american man and was born into slavery his father took him to louisiana territory in 1810 and eventually to st louis where he enfranchised him and afterwards he was regarded as a free negro in 1823 beckworth signed with the fur trading expedition and the following year in 1824 he joined the general william ashley's rocky mountain fur trading company to handle the horses on the expedition to the rocky mountains wild west beckworth was known as a prominent trapper and a mountain man beckworth began to forge a close relationship with the crow indians and the crow indians were long known to be friendly to trappers they apparently welcomed back rover to the society and sometime around 1826 to 1828 he completely abandoned american society and joined the crow peoples he even married a series of native women learning the crow language their customs and eventually settled down for almost six years according to his own testimony beckworth greatly impressed the indians with his strength and skill he even participated in raids of neighboring nations and occasional white parties in 1833 he will return to white settlements and would abandon his native wives historians suggest that his stay with the crow nation was planned by the rocky mountain fur company to advance the company's trade with the tribe so when the fur company didn't renew his contract beckworth simply left in 1837 he returned to saint louis and joined the missouri volunteer force to scout for general zachary taylor he would see action in the seminal war in florida and in 1840 he left the army and began spending the next decade wandering around the old west in 1840 he became independent trader together with other partners they built the trading post in colorado in 1844 beckworth traded on the old spanish mission trail between arkansas river and california and at the time that area was controlled by mexico so when the mexican-american war began in 1846 beckworth returned to the united states and brought along 800 stolen mexican horses with him as a spoil of war during the war he would serve as a courier for the united states army and by the start of the gold rush in 1848 beckwith went to california and opened the store in sonoma he would then sell the store moved to sacramento where he lived as a professional car player in 1850 beckworth was credited as discovering the beckworth press which is a low elevation pass through the sierra nevada mountains that helped travelers make their way to california in 1851 he would improve on the beckworth pass using a native american path through the mountains the new beckworth path would cut almost 150 miles off the trip and spare travelers steep elevation grades and dangerous passes in 1850s beckworth would start a ranch a trading post in a hotel in the sierra valley this was the beginning of the settlement of beckworth california in the winter of 1854 to 1855 a traveling judge by the name of thomas d bonner stayed at deckworth's hotel and during the night would tell him his life story and bonner would write it down and would go on added material the following year and he offered the book to harper and brothers in new york it was published in 1856 and was called the life and adventures of james p beckworth according to the contract beckworth was entitled to half the proceeds but he stated he never received a dime from bonner or the harper and brothers company in 1859 beckworth settled in denver colorado territory and started working as a store keeper once again in 1864 beckworth was a guy an interpreter used in the campaign against the cheyenne in the apache he worked for the frontier paramilitary volunteer militia who was formed to remove native inhabitants from the colorado territory for white settlers the colorado territory campaign resulted in the sand creek massacre in which the militia killed an estimated 70 to 163 friendly cheyenne men women and children who were camped in an area suggested by them by the previous fort commander and they were flying an american flag to show their peaceful intentions outraged by beckworth's association with the massacre the cheyenne banned all trading with beckworth afterwards he was well into his 60s and beckworth was said to return to trapping and abandon american society once again and returned to his crow tribe it was not long after he passed away and like his birth the details around beckworth's deaths are very unclear some accounts say that he died around 1866 or 1867 around his adopted people and was laid to rest in crow fashion in a tree platform others indicate that he died in denver in 1867 but a personal friend of beckworth a man by the name of william byers claimed that the crow poisoned beckworth and the tribe said that they could no longer trust him because of his involvement in the sand creek massacre although he could produce no evidence to support this notion bill pickett is played by eddie gatherkey the real bill pickett was not a sharpshooter like the movie character the real picket was a cowboy a wild west performer an actor and perhaps the most famous black rodeo writer of the 20th century bill pickett's actual birth year is unknown bill was the second of 13 children born to thomas jefferson pickett a former slave and mary gilbert bill was of african white and cherokee ancestry his family lived in the area of texas known as jinx branch community and the land was settled by a man named miller who opened up the land to other african americans shortly after the civil war bill attended the school up into the fifth grade and afterwards got a job on a ranch where he became a writer and a ranch hand in 1888 his family moved to taylor texas and pickett and his brothers started their own horse breaking and cowboy services the company was known as picket brothers bronco busting and rough rider association in the advertisements promise the catching and taming of wild cattle was their specialty in 1890 bill pickett got married to maggie turner a former slave and the daughter of a white southern plantation owner and the couple went on to have nine children bill pickett would perform at local rodeos and was known for doing tricks and stunts at county fairs bill picker's name soon became synonymous with successful rodeos bill pickett with a group traveled from texas to arizona to wyoming to oklahoma bill pickett invented a rodeo technique known as bulldogging the skill of grabbing a cattle by his horns and wrestling to the ground he developed his method based on trained bulldogs who would sometimes be used to help steer rae run away cattle the dogs would use their teeth to clamp down on the steer's upper lip a very sensitive area for the cattle and once the dog snapped down on the steer's lip the steel wouldn't move bill pickett seen this happen on several occasions and thought if a bulldog could do it he could too bill practiced this stunt by riding hard springing from his horse wrestling the steer to the ground and in his method for bulldog he would bite down the cow's lip and fall backwards he would also go on to help teach other cowboys the technique of bulldogging but this method would eventually fall out of favor as the sport morphed into steel wrestling in rodeos in 1905 pickett joined the 101 ranch western show that features the likes of cherokee bill will rogers tom mix lee hull gray and zach and lucille mulhall he performed under the stage name the dusky demon and bill pickett was a famous performer who toured all over the world but because he was black he was unable to appear in some places he often was forced to claim that he was of comanche heritage just so he could perform and many times he was still banned in one of his most famous incidents in 1908 while in mexico city pickett wrestled a mexican fighting bull and for a grueling seven minutes before a rider's crowd in his interpretation of bullfighting in the early 20th century pickett also was the first hollywood black cowboy he worked with the all black production company the richard e norman studios starring in the crimson skull in 1921 and the bulldogger in 1922 after world war one ended america's fascination with wild west shows faded and the 101 ranch show closed in 1931. in 1932 bill pickett was kicked in the head by a bronco and after a multi-day coma he died from injuries sustained from his accident he was buried near a 14-foot stone monument in monument hill in clay county oklahoma 39 years after the death in 1971 bill pickett was inducted into the national rodeo hall of fame he was the first african-american to receive this honor and in 1994 he was also honored by being selected to be featured on a postage stamp kathy cuthby williams is played by danielle deadweiler kathy williams was an african-american woman who was listed in the united states army under the pseudonym william cathy and she was the first woman to enlist in the united states army although as a man kathy williams was born to an enslaved mother and a free father in independence missouri in 1844 although her father was free she was technically a slave during her adolescence williams worked as a house slave for the johnson plantation on the outskirts of jefferson city missouri in 1861 union forces occupied jefferson city in the early stages of the civil war at the time captured slaves were officially designated as union contraband and many were forced to serve in the military and support roles as a cook or laundress or as a nurse so william served as an army cook and a washerwoman in the union army and in this role she accompanied the infantry all over the country and served under general philip sheridan witnessed the red river campaign the battle of pea ridge and travel with the military to iowa missouri louisiana and georgia when the civil war is over congress passed an act authorizing the establishment of the first all-black units in the military in 1866 despite a prohibition on women's servant in the military williams enlisted for a three-year engagement in the united states regular army passing herself off as a man under the false name of william cathy williams was assigned to the 30th united states infantry regiment assuming she passed a medical examination this exam should have outed her as a woman but at the time the army was not requiring full exams so she'd be quickly found fit for duty on february 13 1867 williams was sent to jefferson barracks missouri and a few months later the unit marched to fort riley kansas and then on to fort harker kansas and next to fort union new mexico and lastly in october the regiment moved to fort comics new mexico they were stationed there for eight months to protect minors from apache attack during this time williams contracted smallpox and was hospitalized williams would join her company in new mexico and possibly due to the effects of smallpox or the heat or the months of marching but her body was showing signs of strain and her health was failing she was recorded as being in four different hospitals on five separate occasions and still no one knew that she was a woman it wasn't until june 6 of 1868 when the company marched to fort beard new mexico and in july 13th she was admitted into fort beard hospital this time diagnosed with neuralgia which is a catch-all term for acute intermittent nerve pain it was during this hospitalization that she was finally discovered as a woman on october 14 1868 william cathy was discharged from fort beard with a certificate of disability which included statements from her captain and from the post-assistant surgeon and the captain stated that williams had been under his command since may 20th 1867 and had since been feeble both physically and mentally and had been quite unfit for duty and his condition predates her enlistment over her two-year stint with the army williams participated in regular garrison duties but there was no record that she actually saw any direct combat while enlisted she was honorably discharged and her legacy is being the first and only female buffalo soldier to serve following her discharge kathy williams went on to work as a cook for fort union new mexico and then moved to pueblo colorado where she got married the marriage ended poorly when her husband stole money and a team of horses from her williams had him arrested and then moved to trinidad colorado where she made a living as a laundress as a part-time nurse and may have owned a boarding house it was around this time that her story first became public when a reporter from the saint louis daily times heard a rumor of a female african-american that had served an army and came to interview her her life in military service was published in the paper in january 2nd of 1876. some years later her health started failing again and she was hospitalized in early 1890 for almost a year and a half by the time she left the hospital she was almost completely broke and in june of 1891 she filed for a disability pension from the united states army her application claimed that she suffered from deafness rheumatism and neuralgia and that she had contracted all while she was in the military although there was a president for granting pensions to female soldiers deborah sampson and molly williams had disguised themselves in men in the revolutionary war and had all been granted their pensions when the doctor employed by the united states pension bureau examined kathy williams she was definitely suffering from diabetes she had all her toes amputated and was walking with the crutch the doctor decided that she did not qualify the disability payments stating that no disability existed further they found that their discharge certificate indicated her feeble condition pre-dated her enlistment and was not due to service lastly and most obviously her service in army was not legal any type of pension disability or otherwise would thus be denied afterwards what happened to kathy williams is unknown it is assumed that she died shortly after being denied her pension sometime between 1892 and 1900 because she no longer appears on census rolls after 1900 in the holiday fall the nat love gang finds an unlikely ally and us deputy marshall bash reeves played by dale roy lindo he helps hunt down rufus buck and the real bass reeves was very similar to his movie counterpart he was the first black deputy u.s marshal west of the mississippi river and he worked mostly in arkansas and oklahoma territory bass reeves was born into slavery in crawford county arkansas in 1838 he was named after his grandfather bash washington and reeves and his family were enslaved by arkansas state legislator william steele reeves when bass was only eight years old in 1848 william reeves moved to grayson county texas bass was left with william steele reeves son colonel george r reeves when the civil war broke out george reed joined the confederate army taking baths with them at some point bass escaped into indian territory where he lived for the cherokee the creeks and the seminoles while indian territory is governed by a system of tribal courts the court's jurisdiction only extends to members of the five major tribes this meant that anyone that wasn't a part of those tribes like escaped slaves or petty criminals could only be pursued at a federal level within its boundaries with this backdrop bad state with the native american tribes and learn their languages until he was freed by the 13th amendment in 1865. as a freedman reeves moved to arkansas to farm their reason his family farmed until 1875 when judge isaac parker was appointed to a federal judgeship in indian territory judge parker appointed james f fagan as u.s marshal and directed him to hire 200 deputy marshals to police indian territory fagin knew about reeves who knew the territory and could speak several native languages he stood at 6-2 with prolific shooting skills from his time in the civil war so he recruited him as a deputy reeves was the first black deputy to serve west of the mississippi river and as such he was responsible for native reservation territory and he served there until 1893 where he was transferred to the eastern district in paris texas and in 1897 he was transferred yet again to muskogee federal court in native territory the deputies were taxed with cleaning up indian territory and judge parker's orders were to bring them in alive or dead reeves would ride oklahoma territory searching for outlaws in an area that covered almost 75 000 square miles although reeves could not read or write this didn't slow down his effectiveness in pursuing criminals before he headed out he would have someone read the warrants to him memorize the contents and which ones were which and then when he was asked to produce the warrants he never failed to pick out the correct one when he left fort smith with a pocket full of warrants reeve will return months later hurting a number of outlaws charged with crimes ranging from bootlegging to murder and he was paid in fees and rewards and he would make a handsome profit he would then spend a little time with his family before returning to the range to do it all over again bass reeves had to come up with creative ways to pursue criminals sometimes disguising himself and creating new backstories in order to get close to his targets in one such incident bass reeves was pursuing two brothers in a red river valley near the texas border it required bass to study the terrain and make a plan so he disguised himself as a beggar on the run from the authorities he hid handcuffs a pistol and a badge underneath his clothes and set out walking almost 30 miles he arrived at the home of his targets and their mother answered the door he told her his feet ached from being pursued by a posse that had shot three bullets into his hat after asking for a bite to eat she suggested that he stay the night bass accepted the offer and watched the pair carefully as they drifted off to sleep when they were snoring he handcuffed the pair without waking them and early in the morning he kicked the boys awake marching them out the door and made the pair march the full 28 miles back to camp where bass collected a 5 000 reward in another famous incident in 1878 bass pursued a notorious criminal by the name of bill dozer dozer was known as a jack of all trades when it came to committing crimes he was committing crimes from cattle rustling to holding up banks and stores and stage crosses to murder and land swindling because dozer was so unpredictable he was extremely hard to catch and many lawmen had tried to apprehend him before bass reeves dozer eluded reeves for several months until the lawmen had tracked him into indian territory refusing to surrender a gunfight ensued with reed shooting and killing those are dead the legendary law man was eventually removed from his position in 1907 when oklahoma gained the statehood as an american bass was unable to continue his position as a deputy marshal under the state's new laws reeves then 68 became an officer at the muskogee police department where he served for an additional two years before he became ill and retired he was diagnosed with brice disease which is an acute neuritis of the kidneys he would pass away in january 12 1910 bass reeves had a record of over 3 000 arrests and he had shot and killed at least 14 outlaws although there is no concrete evidence that bass reeves inspired the creation of the fictional lone ranger he is the closest real world counterpart thank you this is one mike black history and this is the type of content that you enjoy please hit the subscribe button and if you like to support the channel you can do so at my patreon page or my buy me coffee at the description below and peace

Channel: One Mic History

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Length: 41min 50sec (2510 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 26 2022