U.S. Deputy Marshal and Muskogee Police Officer

Bass Reeves roamed the American West for more than three decades, chasing murderers, thieves and whiskey smugglers. He usually either brought his outlaw in or left him dead.

Reeves was born into a Paris, Texas, slave family circa 1838, and was the first African-American to be commissioned a U.S. Deputy Marshal in the flatlands west of the Mississippi River.


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Bass Reeves front row left.