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The case of Joe Johnson, Jr. a Seminole Native American convicted of murder in Wewoka in 1977, is one of the first to be taken under consideration for appeal by the Supreme Court following their July 9 decision regarding McGirt v. Oklahoma.
Read moreThe City of Wetumka will have a roll off Dumpster at the City Barn on Saturday, August 8th for City Clean Up. Hours will be from 8 am to 12 Noon.
Read moreThe deadline to register to vote or update your voter registration for Oklahoma’s August 25 Runoff Primary election is Friday, July 31, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said today.
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Front Row: Nick Jacob’s, Katlyn Flanagan and Hailey Ward, Cherekee Summers, Alex Proctor. Second Row: Jacob Gambler, Keeian Heneha, Kekoa White, Deondre Pigeon. Back Row: Austin Fife, Josh Harmon, Braydon Nguyen, Jayme Whitaker and Alec Proctor. Photo by Wanda Mankin
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There were several outstanding Black men who served as Marshalls under federal Judge Isaac Parker at Fort Smith. Shortly after Judge Parker was sworn in as federal judge, blacks were recruited as Deputy U.S. Marshals working out of his court. Their duties took them mostly into Indian Territory, and some worked as far south as Texas, as far west as the Oklahoma Territory, and as far north as Kansas. These African American men were of varying backgrounds–some had been born slaves some were Black Indians, some were well educated, while others had little formal training.
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Rufus Cannon was commissioned on September 15, 1892 according to the Ft. Smith National Historic Site. He served directly out of Ft. Smith under Judge Parker. He was said to have been of African Cherokee origin and was familiar with many of the Cherokee native customs and the language. Cannon captured the father of the outlaw gang, The Christian brothers in Pottawatomie, Indian Territory in 1895, when William Christian was among his captives. Cannon was also on the posse that tracked Bill Doolin. But one factor to note is that all posse men were rewarded for the capture of Doolin— all except Cannon. It is not known exactly why he was not paid, though Heck Thomas was believed to have shared part of his reward with Cannon. He was later known to have been in a gunfight with outlaw Henry Starr. Not much is known of his life after the capture of Doolin. He later left the Ft. Smith region and moved to Kansas City where he resided till his death. He did have a daughter Lizzie with a Creek Freedwoman, Amy Garrison who remained in Indian Territory.
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Bass Reeves, was born in 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas and died January 12, 1910 at Muskogee, Oklahoma. Reeves was one of the first deputy U.S. marshals of African descent in the American West. He was born a slave in Arkansas but grew up in Grayson County, Texas, following the relocation of his owner, William S. Reeves. Reports regarding Reeves’s activities and whereabouts during the American Civil War are ultimately unclear. He claimed to have served in the Battles of Pea Ridge (March 1862), Chickamauga (September 1863), and Missionary Ridge (November 1863) under William S. Reeves’s son, Col. George Reeves, for the Confederacy. Reeves’s family members, however, claimed that at some time be-tween 1861 and 1862 he attacked his owner following an argument during a card game and escaped to Indian Territory. It is considered unlikely that Reeves served at Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, though it is possible that he escaped later in 1862 following his service at Pea Ridge. Following the war, he worked as a guide for U.S. government officials interested in traveling through Indian Territory.
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