"Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves" by Art T. Burton

This book has been on my wishlist for a while now.  When I spotted the updated new edition at the Hole in the Wall Bookstore at Wall Drug in South Dakota while on vacation earlier this month, I snapped it up.  What better time to read about a great Old West hero than while driving around the West?

Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in the summer of 1838.  He became one of the most-respected and feared Deputy U. S. Marshals in American history.  While enforcing the law under the jurisdiction of Judge Isaac Parker in the Indian Territory, Marshal Reeves served more than three thousand arrest warrants, but rarely resorted to gun violence.  He killed an estimated 14 people during more than thirty years as a peace officer, survived numerous assassination attempts, and was only wounded once at the most.  

This book is a meticulously researched deep-dive into Reeves's life, especially focusing on his career as a lawman.  It includes many, many court records, letters, telegrams, and even interviews with a few people who had met him.  It could have become a dry recitation of facts, but Burton fleshes out the litany of arrests with descriptions of Indian Territory and newspaper articles, as well as recollections of people involved when available.

One of the things I found most interesting was how the nature of keeping the peace on the frontier changed during Reeves's career.  When he first started enforcing the law, Indian Territory was a haven for lawbreakers and bad people of every sort.  Reeves arrested murderers, peddlers of illegal alcohol, and thieves of every sort for decades.  But, as the frontier gradually was settled by more and more farmers and tradesmen, and eventually was turned into actual states, he had fewer violent criminals to track down, and more disturbers of the peace, swindlers, and so on.

It was also interesting that there was such a focus on arresting people for "introducing and selling" alcohol in Indian Territory in the wildest years.  From what I could gather, the Marshals had an approach somewhat similar to the way New York City cut down on crime for several decades -- if we can stop people from committing "small" crimes and convince them that even "minor" crimes don't pay, that will cut down on the "big" crimes too.

Also very interesting was how racial relations changed during his career.  When he was one of a handful of men brave enough to ride into Indian Territory after lawbreakers, the color of Bass Reeves's skin was rarely an issue.  Black and white Marshals worked together with American Indian peace officers, and everyone arrested anyone who broke the law, regardless of race.  But, as the area became more "civilized," there were more and more instances of white people taking offense at his authority.  Black lawbreakers also seemed to submit to his authority more readily than to a white Marshal's, at least in the instances described.  

I found this especially interesting because it agrees with other research I have done into Old West history, which points to the idea that, when survival was everyone's primary concern, racial conflict was more rare.  But whenever people got comfortable with their surroundings and started to feel safe about life-and-death issues like water, food, shelter, and "public safety," then racial conflicts increased.  Certainly bigotry and hatred of people with perceived differences have existed since Cain killed Abel and fled, marked as "other."  And, also, there was a lot of racial hatred from both sides involved in the wars between the American Indians and the white settlers.  But it's really fascinating how people were more willing to peacefully live and work with someone who was somehow "other" when they were all trying to survive.

ANYWAY!

Even if you've never heard of Bass Reeves before, you have probably heard of a fictional character that was most likely based on him.  Historians think that when George W. Trendle and Fran Striker created The Lone Ranger radio show in 1933, they took inspiration from Marshal Reeves's dedication to bringing in suspects alive as often as he could, his habit of teaming up with American Indians when pursuing lawbreakers, and the way that good and bad people alike feared him, as well as his tendency to use disguises.

I wrote a column about Bass Reeves for the Prairie Times last fall, which you can read online here if you want to know a bit more about his life and legacy.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for matter-of-fact and non-sensational mention of murder, rape, and other violent acts.  You will definitely come away from this book convinced of the depravity of humankind, but it is not gross or gruesome.

This is my 35th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023 (though it technically never made it to my TBR shelves because I bought and read it while on vacation).