Bass Reeves: The Real Lone Ranger

Bass Reeves: The Real Lone Ranger

Reeves was born into slavery in 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas. Reeves was named after his grandfather, Basse Washington. Bass Reeves and his family were slaves of Arkansas state legislator William Steele Reeves. When Bass Reeves was eight (about 1846), William Reeves moved to Grayson County, Texas, near Sherman in the Peters Colony. Bass Reeves may have served William Steel Reeves son, Colonel George R. Reeves who was a legislator in Texas until the time of his death from rabies in 1882. George Reeves was the Speaker of the House. 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 (now Oklahoma) and lived with the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek Indians until he was freed by the thirteenth amendment, which abolished slavery in 1865.

Later Reeves moved to Arkansas and farmed near Van Buren. He married Nellie Jennie from Texas, with whom he had eleven children. 

Career

Reeves and his family farmed until 1875, when Isaac Parker was appointed federal judge for the Indian Territory. Parker appointed James F. Fagan as U.S. Marshal, directing him to hire 200 deputy U.S. Marshals. Fagan had heard about Reeves, who knew the Indian Territory and could speak several Indian languages.  He recruited him as one of his deputies and Reeves was the first black Deputy, West of the Mississippi River.[2][5] Reeves was initially assigned as a Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas, which also had responsibility for the Indian Territory.[6] Reeves served in that district until 1893, when he transferred to the Eastern District of Texas in Paris, Texas for a short while, then in 1897 he was transferred to the Muskogee Federal Court.

Reeves worked for thirty-two years as a Federal peace officer in the Indian Territory. He was one of Judge Parker's most valued deputies. Reeves brought in some of the most dangerous criminals of the time, but was never wounded, despite having his hat and belt shot off on separate occasions.[2] Once he had to arrest his own son for murder.

In addition to being a marksman with a rifle and pistol, Reeves, during his long career, developed superior detective skills. When he retired in 1907, Reeves claimed to have arrested over 3,000 felons. He is said to have shot and killed fourteen outlaws to defend his own life.

One of his sons, Bennie Reeves, was charged with the murder of his wife. Marshal Reeves was disturbed and shaken by the incident but demanded to accept the responsibility of bringing Bennie to justice. Bennie was eventually tracked and captured, tried and convicted. He served his time in Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas before being released and living the rest of his life as a responsible and model citizen.

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, Reeves, then 68, became an officer of the Muskogee, Oklahoma police department. He served for two years before he became ill and had to retire.

He was himself once charged with murdering a posse cook. At his trial before Judge Parker, Reeves was represented by former United States Attorney W.H.H. Clayton, who had been his colleague and friend. Reeves was acquitted.

Death

Reeves' health began to fail, and he died of Bright's disease (nephritis) in 1910. He was an uncle of Paul L. Brady, the first black man appointed an Federal Administrative Law Judge (in 1972).

Legacy

In 2007, the U.S. Route 62 bridge crossing the Arkansas River between Muskogee and Fort Gibson, Oklahoma was named the Bass Reeves Memorial Bridge in his honor.  On May 16, 2012, a bronze statue of Reeves by sculptor Harold Holden, of Enid, Oklahoma, was cast at a foundry in Norman, Oklahoma. It was then moved to its permanent location at Pendergraft Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

In popular culture Film

Bass Reeves, a fictionalized film of his life and career, was released by Ponderous Productions of San Antonio in 2010.

It is believed by some that Bass Reeves was the inspiration for The Lone Ranger radio and television series, even though he was never a Texas Ranger and spent little time in Texas.

Morgan Freeman has expressed interest in playing Reeves in a motion picture about his life.

Print

The only scholarly research book on the life of Bass Reeves was written by historian Art T. Burton, the book is titled Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves, which was published in 2006. The book is currently available also as an audio book. Reeves' story has been presented to kids. Vaunda Micheaux Nelson's book, Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal, won the 2010 Coretta Scott King Award for best author.

Illustrator and historian Joel Christian Gill published a graphic novel in 2014 called Tales of the Talented Tenth, Volume 1, which featured the story of Bass Reeves.

Authors Ken Farmer and Buck Stienke have penned four novels based on and inspired by the exploits of Bass Reeves, The Nations, Haunted Falls (winner of the Laramie Award for best action western, 2013), Hell Hole, and Across the Red.

Author Elizabeth Bear depicted Bass Reeves in her 2015 wild-west/Steampunk novel Karen Memory.

Reeves 'guest-stars' in the ninth volume of the Atomic Robo comic book series, "Atomic Robo and the Knights of the Golden Circle." The story, which takes place in 1884, features Robo, Reeves, and Doc Holliday teaming up to fight a mad scientist.

Television

Reeves figures prominently in an episode of How It's Made, in which a Bass Reeves limited edition collectors' figurine is shown in various stages of the production process.  The story of Bass Reeves, portrayed by Jaleel White, is told on an episode of Drunk History by Mark Gagliardi.
"Bass Reeves: The Real Lone Ranger" is the title and subject of "Legends and Lies: The Real West" Season 1, Episode 9 (2015).
"Bass Reeves - The Real Lone Ranger" is also the title and subject of "Gunslingers" Season 2, Episode 4 (2015). Reeves is portrayed by Joseph Callender.

It has been suggested that Reeves was an inspiration for the fictional character The Lone Ranger.  The origin of this may have been a 2008 biography in which the author stated "that Bass Reeves is the closest real person to resemble the fictional Lone Ranger." However, Reeves was never a Texas Ranger, and records of the creation of The Lone Ranger show no evidence of this.