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Sam Sixkiller: Frontier Cherokee Lawman
Although his exploits on the job were as courageous as those of Bill Hickok or Wyatt Earp, the name of Sam Sixkiller is scarcely recognized today. The criminal class that invaded the Indian Nation in the region now known as Oklahoma from 1870 to 1886 had to contend with an Indian police force known as the Lighthorsemen, of which Sam Sixkiller was a member. His ability to fearlessly handle horse thieves, bootleggers, murderers, and rapists that perpetrated such illegal acts on Indian land earned him the respect of his people and fellow officers.
As High Sheriff in Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, Sixkiller apprehended white lawbreakers selling rotgut whiskey to Indians and squared off against hostile half-breeds like “Badman” Dick Glass. Glass had a reputation that rivaled Jesse James; some said he was even more ruthless. Sheriff Sixkiller wasn’t intimidated by the outlaw and did what was needed to bring him in. Sam Sixkiller not only arrested outlaws and put them in jail but also served as the warden of the very facility that housed the lawbreakers.
From Tahlequah, Sixkiller moved on to Muskogee, in present-day Oklahoma, where he was promoted to captain of the Lighthorsemen and helped to bring peace to the volatile area. When the railroads sliced through the landscape, Captain Sixkiller was named a special agent to the rail lines, thwarting attempted robberies and staving off whiskey peddlers hoping to transport their goods across the territory. Isaac Parker, the famous 12th Judicial Circuit judge who held court at Fort Smith, Arkansas, from 1868 to 1898, was so impressed with Captain Sixkiller’s tenacity and dedication to law and order that he recommended the officer be given a commission as a US deputy marshal. These additional responsibilities further exposed the lawman to some of society’s most dangerous characters.
A legal altercation between Sixkiller and a pair of violent repeat offenders named Richard Vann and Alf Cunningham sparked a vendetta that eventually led to the lawman’s death. Off duty and unarmed, Sixkiller was ambushed and killed by the criminals on Christmas Eve in 1886.
The death of Captain Sixkiller exposed a serious void in federal law as it pertained to those who murdered Native American US deputy marshals: There was nothing on the books that made it a federal offense to kill an Indian officer. Although legislation to correct this deplorable oversight eventually passed, it came too late to affect the cowards that robbed Sixkiller of his life.
Sam Sixkiller died a martyr to the cause of law and order. His story is not only about his life and untimely demise, but also about the everyday life of frontier lawmen and the duties they performed, from the mundane to the perilous.
To learn more about this courageous lawman read
Sam Sixkiller: Frontier Cherokee Lawman
