Bass Reeves
| Bass Reeves | |
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Bass Reeves
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| Born | July 1838 Crawford County, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | January 12, 1910 (aged 71) Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States |
| Occupation | MPD Police Officer |
| Spouse(s) |
Nellie Jennie (m. 1864–96) Winnie Sumter (m. 1900–10) |
| Children | Robert, Lula, Sally, Benjamin, Newland, Harriet, Homer, Edgar, Georgia, Alice, Bass Jr. |
Bass Reeves (July 1838 – 12 January 1910) was one of the first black Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River. He worked mostly in Arkansas and the Oklahoma Territory. During his long career, he was credited with arresting more than 3,000 felons. He shot and killed fourteen outlaws in self-defense.
Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 1838. He was named after his grandfather, Basse Washington. Bass Reeves and his family were slaves of Arkansas state legislator William Steele Reeves. When Bass was eight (about 1846), William Reeves moved to Grayson County, Texas, near Sherman in the Peters Colony. Bass Reeves may have served William Steele Reeves' son, Colonel George R. Reeves, who was a sheriff and legislator in Texas, and a one-time Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives until his death from rabies in 1882.
During the American Civil War, Bass parted company with George Reeves, perhaps "because Bass beat up George after a dispute in a card game." Bass Reeves fled north into the Indian Territory. He lived with the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek Indians, learning their languages, until he was freed by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, in 1865.
As a freedman, Reeves moved to Arkansas and farmed near Van Buren. He married Nellie Jennie from Texas, with whom he had eleven children.
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Wikipedia