Bass Reeves: U.S. Marshall

When those old gunfighters are sittin’ around Valhalla discussin’,”Who was the greatest of em all,” the name Bass Reeves is sure to be mentioned. Bass Reeves was a U.S. Marshal in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories during those wild and wooly days before Statehood came in 1907. It was estimated of the 22,000 whites living in the Indian Territory, 17,000 were criminals. African American deputy U.S. Marshals who worked the Indian Territory had the authority to arrest any whites, blacks