The Life and Times of Lawman Sam Sixkiller
Sam Sixkiller was one of the most outstanding members of the Longhorse Police in Indian Territory , Sixkiller was born in the Going Snake District (now Adair County) of the Cherokee Nation in 1842. At the age of 19, he joined a Union Indian artillery company, commanded by his father, 1st Lt. Redbird Sixkiller, during the Civil War. In 1875, Sixkiller was appointed high sheriff of the Cherokee Nation and warden of the National Penitentiary.
Five years later, in February, 1880, Sixkiller became the first captain of the United States Indian Police headquartered at Muskogee, Indian Territory . He also held a U.S. Deputy Marshal’s commission that allowed him to pursue these outlaws out of Indian Territory into Texas , Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, as well as being a special agent for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, which gave him access to any railroad property in pursuit of any bandit. With forty men under his command, tasked with policing Muskogee, one of the most dangerous towns in the Wild West, Sixkiller and his men dealt with bootleggers, cattle rustlers, murderers, train robbers, and all manner of lawless characters.
