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Howdy and Welcome back to our final episode of our Deep Dive into the life of Bass Reeves.

This has been an amazing series and thank you for all the support through emails, on social media, I can’t even explain how cool it is having a community to share my love of western history with! Y’all are awesome!

This week, we will talk about Bass’s retirement and his later years, talk about some common questions on Bass Reeves and finish with our discussion on the recent series Lawmen; Bass Reeves.

Going forward, I am going to release a few one off episodes while I work on the next Deep Dive, I’m thinking about going back to the time of the trappers, what do y’all think? If you have any suggestions, please email me!

I don’t know if I’ll have episodes available next week as I am also working on starting a Youtube, just add that to the to-do-list shall we.. but I will try my best!

But seriously, thank you everyone for the support and kind words, it means the world to me and makes me work that much harder to release the best content I can.

Follow me on Instagram and Tiktok at Wild West Deep Dives and as always, join me on Patreon! You’ll get access to episodes one week early and also access to some bonus episodes!

Sources for this episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://www.healthline.com/health/glomerulonephritis

o https://truewestmagazine.com/article/was-bass-reeves-the-real-lone-ranger/

o https://www.fox23.com/news/muskogee-county-officials-announce-new-public-safety-complex/article_c646aef0-6467-47be-bf38-6d25969bf8f8.html

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Howdy and Welcome back to Wild West Deep Dives.

This is our 7th episode of our deep dive into Bass Reeves, there will be one more episode next week and that’ll be the final one! These next two will be shorter episodes, sort of like the Seth Bullock series, I don’t want to rush the conclusion and I’d rather do 2 shorter ones then a long one and rush to the end.

This week, we will be talking about Bass’s reappointment, more racial tensions, talk about some other Black Deputy US Marshals, an attempt on Bass’s life and finish with the largest shootout in Muskogee History.

As always, join me on Patreon, the FINAL episode is now available!

Sources for this episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://allpoetry.com/T_Stich

o https://www.dimelibrary.com/post/bass-reeves

§ Photo from 1907 in Muskogee, Bass Reeves far left

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Howdy and Welcome back to Episode 6 of our Deep Dive into the life of Bass Reeves.

Last week, we discussed Bass’s encounter with Ben Billy, take a quick glance at him arresting a future Deputy Marshal, some tragedies in his personal life, the Bandit Queen’s son and the last major change of Bass’s career.

This week, we will talk about the background of Muskogee, Bass’s arrest of James McKellop, the Wybark Tragedy, some of his work in Muskogee, some personal events of Bass’s life and the arrest of his own son.

Join me on Patreon, you will get access to Episodes one week earlier, so Part 7 is already available and access to some bonus content as well!

Sources for this episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://www.newspapers.com/article/muskogee-phoenix-bass-reeves-arrests-5-w/2394621/

§ Wybark Tragedy article from Muskogee Phoenix

o https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2021/08/18/ben-reeves-at-the-national-archives/

§ Ben Reeves Article

o https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shaver-3537

§ WR Dick Shaver children

o https://theemancipator.org/author/justin-a-davis/

o https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/buffalo-soldiers

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Howdy and Welcome back to Wild West Deep Dives.

This is our 5th episode of our Deep Dive into Bass Reeves. We have been talking about Bass Reeves for what? A month now? And we still have so much more to discuss!

This week, we will talk about Bass’s encounter with Ben Billy, take a quick glance at him arresting a future Deputy Marshal, some tragedies in his personal life, the Bandit Queen’s son and the last major change of Bass’s career.

Join me on Patreon, episode 6 is now available and I released an episode a couple weeks ago on the First Stagecoach Robbery in United States History!! Thank you everyone for their support!

Sources for this episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://allpoetry.com/poem/18127336-Bass-Reeves--Cowboy-Marshal--by-ZZ-Tom

o https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/ethj/article/2699/&path_info=3_Paris_is_Burning_Lynching_and_Racial_Violence_in_Lamar_County.pdf

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/robert-christian-outlaw/

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/will-black-jack-christian/

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Howdy and Welcome back to Wild West Deep Dives.

Bass had already begun receiving notoriety and was in the papers constantly, some bad, but mostly good, him arresting criminals and bringing them in by the wagon loads but also some drama.

This week, we will look into the Tom Story Gang, him getting a new boss, start diving into the chaotic year of 1890 and finish with Bass Reeves, not being perfect.

Episode 5 is now available on Patreon, I appreciate y'all for your support! THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Sources for this episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/jacob-yoes/

o https://ramblingbob.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/ned-christie-cherokee-outlaw-cont/

o https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH061#:~:text=Ned%20Christie's%20resistance%20ended%20on,killed%20him%20on%20November%203.

o https://www.okhistory.org/images/research/IT.4.1889.pdf

§ 1889 Indian Territory

o https://www.vintagebentonville.com/slaying-of-deputy-marshall-dan-maples-in-1887-still-unsolved.html#gsc.tab=0

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Howdy and welcome back to Wild West Deep Dives.

This is our 3rd episode of our Deep Dive into Bass Reeves. Last week, we talked about some of the early years as a US Deputy Marshal, a horse race he was involved in, some work drama and his shootout with Jim Webb.

This week, we are going to talk about the history of the Fort Smith jail, his encounter with an Indian Medicine man, some more arrest, his friendship with Belle Starr and the murder of his cook.

Part 4 is now available on Patreon, as always, I greatly appreciate y'alls support!

Sources for episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/historyculture/reforming-the-hell-on-the-border-jail.htm#:~:text=The%20Fort%20Smith%20jail%20completed,of%20the%20building%20became%20burdensome.

o https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/frontier-lawman-deputy-u-s-marshal-bass-reeves/

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Howdy and Welcome back to Wild West Deep Dives.

Last week, we discussed Bass’s childhood, his time as a slave, his escape to Indian Territory, becoming a Deputy United States Marshal and some his first years on the force, including his shootout and trick he pulled on Bob Dozier.

We just got our feet wet last week with the life of Bass Reeves. This episode we will discuss some more arrest, the Brunter brothers incident, some work drama and his legendary shootout with Jim Webb.

Episode 3 is now available on Patreon! Thank you for your support!

Sources for this episode;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o Everything up is for every episode

o https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2015/08/19/why-have-humans-evolved-to-be-taller-over-the-last-three-hundred-years/#:~:text=From%20around%201710%20to%201830,cm%20down%20to%20169%20cm.

o https://www.okcemeteries.net/love/lovehist.htm

§ Billy Washington

o https://www.harriganland.com/historic-washington-cattle-ranch-for-sale-hunting-and-horse-property-mansion/

§ Billy Washington’s Ranch

o https://hi-luxoptics.com/blogs/history/the-gun-that-won-the-west#:~:text=Winchester%20'73%20or%20'76%20Mount&text=Iron%20(then%20steel)%20receiver.,also%20became%20popular%20in%20handguns.

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Our long awaited series on Bass Reeves is finally here!

Bass Reeves was born into slavery and became one of the first black United States Deputy Marshals. He would repeatedly travel into Indian Territory and return with a wagon load of prisoners, from murders to whiskey peddlers, he brought ‘em in. He arrested the infamous Belle Starr, chased Ned Christie and killed Bob Dozier. But who was he as a man? Was he really the real Lone Ranger? Is it true he arrest his own son? How accurate was the recent series, Lawmen Bass Reeves?

Episode 2 is available on Pateron, I appreciate all the support y'all have given me and it motivates me to keep working hard!

Sources for Episode 1;

o Black Gun, Silver Star by Art. T. Burton

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

o https://usgenwebsites.org/TXGrayson/bio/reeves_ws/reeves_ws.html

§ William Reeves Background

o https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/james-fleming-fagan

§ James F. Fagan Background

o https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/james-fleming-fagan-3053/

§ James F. Fagan Background

o https://www.cowboysindians.com/2023/12/the-real-bass-reeves/

o https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=IN018

§ Indian Territory History

o https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bass-Reeves

o https://biographics.org/bass-reeves/

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/jacob-yoes/

o https://www.vintagebentonville.com/slaying-of-deputy-marshall-dan-maples-in-1887-still-unsolved.html#gsc.tab=0

o https://www.legendsofamerica.com/bob-dozier-oklahoma-outlaw/

§ Bob Dozier Background

o https://ramblingbob.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/ned-christie-cherokee-outlaw-cont/

o https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/reeves-george-robertson

o https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/bass-reeves-site-bulletin.htm

o https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/black-confederates-truth-and-legend

o https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/battle-of-helena-1129/

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Social Media Links;
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