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1836 - Arkansas Statehood
Arkansas is granted statehood, entering the United States as a slaveholding state. -
1838 - Birth of Bass Reeves
Bass Reeves is born in Crawford County, AR. He is named for his grandfather, Bass Washington. His parents are enslaved by the Arkansas State Legislator William Steele Reeves. -
1846 - Move to Texas
William Reeves moves to Grayson County, Texas. His son, George Reeves, keeps young Bass enslaved. During this time, young Bass impresses the owner of his family with his pleasant demeanor and aptitude for working with livestock. -
1851 - Western District Established
The Western District of Arkansas is established. (http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/courts_district_ar.html) The region develops a reputation for lawlessness: as federal and state jurisdiction do not exist there, the frontier becomes a haven for criminals, fugitives and escaped slaves. -
1861 - American Civil War Begins
The American Civil War begins when confederate soldiers open fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina and union soldiers surrender. -
1861 - Arkansas Secedes from the United States
Arkansas secedes from the United States, joining forces with the Confederate south. -
1862 - Bass Reeves Escapes Slavery
George Reeves joins the confederate army. He takes Bass, now a grown man, with him as a guard and valet – and still as his slave. Although details are unclear, it is believed that during an argument over game of cards, Bass struck George. Understanding that the penalty for a slave to strike his master was death, Bass fled to Indian Territory and lived as a fugitive among the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole peoples. He learned their languages and became familiar with the landscape during this time. -
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation Issued
-1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation is issued by President Abraham Lincoln; Bass Reeves, still living in confederate territory, is now legally a free man and no longer must live as a fugitive. -
1864 - Bass Reeves Marries
Bass Reeves marries Texas native Nellie Jennie. -
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1866 - Bass Reeves settles down
Reeves buys farmland near Van Buren, AR. Together with his wife, spend the next ten years farming and raising ten children (five sons and five daughters): Newland, Benjamin, George, Lula, Robert, Sally, Edgar, Bass Jr., Harriet, Homer and Alice. (1870 US Census, 1880 US Census) -
1865 - American Civil War ends
The American Civil War ends. Desperate bands of deserters turn to banditry to survive in isolated parts of Arkansas. -
1865 - Slavery Abolished in United States
The 13th Amendment is proclaimed, abolishing slavery in the United States. -
1875 - Bass Reeves commissioned as Deputy US Marshal
Judge Parker appoints James Fagan as U.S. marshal. Directed to hire 200 deputies, Fagan commissions Reeves as a deputy US marshal on his reputation for knowing the landscape of the Indian Territory and learning the languages of the indigenous people with whom he lived as a fugitive. Reeves is the first Black deputy US marshal to receive a commission west of the Mississippi river. He spends the next 32 years as a federal peace officer in Indian Territory. -
1875 - Judge Parker Installed in Fort Smith Federal Court
Judge Isaac Parker – known notoriously as “the Hanging Judge” from sentencing numerous defendants to their deaths – is installed at Fort Smith Federal Court. His authority extends throughout Indian Territory and covers about 75,000 square miles – at the time, the Fort Smith Federal Court was the largest in the nation. -
1884 - Reeves Survives An Ambush
Reeves is almost killed while pursuing four men along the Seminole Whiskey Trail. Three men ambush and corner him. Reeves, thinking quickly, explains that he needs to write down the date of their capture, buying him enough time to draw his revolver, which he used to shoot dead one of his attackers. He then quickly disarmed a second and shot a third, only injuring him. (Fort Smith Times) -
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1884-1889 - Bass Reeves Kills Tom Story
Reeves is sent to apprehend Tom Story for horse theft and murder south of the Red River. After five years in flight from the law, Tom Story attempts to shoot Reeves. The quicker of the two, Reeves shoots first, killing his quarry in self-defense. -
1887 - Bass Reeves accidentally shoots an innocent man
Reeves’s gun accidentally discharges while he is cleaning it at a posse encampment. The stray gunfire kills an unfortunate camp cook. Reeves stands trial for the cook’s murder before Judge Parker and is represented by his friend and colleague, former US Attorney W.H.H. Clayton. Possibly based on his exceptional record, Reeves is acquitted. -
1890 - The Oklahoma Territory Act
The Oklahoma Territory Act extends civil and criminal laws of Arkansas over Indian territory. -
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1895 - Bass Reeves Kills Jim Webb
Reeves embarks on a manhunt for Jim Webb, a horse thief and cowboy believed to have killed eleven people; after a fierce gunfight, a dying Webb gives Reeves his scabbard and his pistol – carved with notches from prior kills. -
1896 - Nellie Reeves Dies
Nellie Reeves, the wife of Bass Reeves, dies of tuberculosis. -
1898 - The Muskogee Years
Reeves transfers to Muskogee, Indian Territory -
1901 - Reeves's Arrests Make the Press
According to the Chickasaw Enterprise newspaper, at this point in his service as deputy US marshal, Reeves had apprehended more than three thousand people for violating federal laws in Indian Territory. -
1907 - Oklahoma Statehood Brings Changes for Reeves
The land comprising Indian Territory becomes the state of Oklahoma. State and local authorities replace federal marshals. After 32 years as a US deputy marshal, more than three thousand arrests -- and only fourteen fatalities in the line of duty -- Reeves takes on a new career opportunity in the Muskogee police force. -
1909 - Newspapers Remember the Younger Days of Bass Reeves
The Muskogee Times Democrat reported that “in the early days when the Indian country was overridden with outlaws, Reeves would herd into Fort Smith, often single handed, bands of men charged with crimes from bootlegging to murder. He was paid fees in those days that sometimes amounted to thousands of dollars for a single trip . . . trips that sometimes lasted for months." During this time, Reeve’s health diminishes, forcing him out of the Muskogee police force. -
1910 - The Death of Bass Reeves
At 71, two months after leaving the Muskogee police force, Bass Reeves dies of Bright’s disease. During the prior two years, not a single crime was committed in his patrol area. A beloved community figure, his funeral is attended by hundreds. -
2010 - Bad News for Outlaws
A century after Reeves’s death, a nonfiction biography of Reeves for children, "Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy US Marshal,” wins the Coretta Scott King Book Award. This award is “given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values” (source: ALA.org/rt/emiert/cksbookawards) -
2012 - Bronze Statue in Fort Smith
A 25 foot bronze statue of Reeves is unveiled at Pendergraft Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
(http://newsok.com/feed/statue-of-u.s.-marshal-to-travel-from-oklahoma-to-arkansas-wednesday/article/3675994?custom_click=pod_headline_news)
(https://fortsmith.org/bass-reeves-monument)