Lawmen- Bass Reeves

So I was really looking forward to this. And maybe it will change but the made up history I the very first episode is a travesty.

All that is known is that Bass Reeves “earned” his freedom at some point during the civil war.

And the very first episode of this show has him being cheated out of his freedom by his master in a card game and him beating him to death and going on the run.

Jesus. I guess showing a southern rebel officer to be of good character was too much to ask.

I have zero hope that anything else in this sham of a series will be historically accurate which really is a shame. He was a very interesting man in real life and I would have been really cool to see him come to life again. As a real flesh and blood person and not as a made up runaway slave hero.
 
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Chdamn said:
So I was really looking forward to this. And maybe it will change but the made up history I the very first episode is a travesty.

All that is known is that Bass Reeves “earned” his freedom at some point during the civil war.

And the very first episode of this show has him being cheated out of his freedom by his master in a card game and him beating him to death and going on the run.

Jesus. I guess showing a southern rebel officer to be of good character was too much to ask.

I have zero hope that anything else in this sham of a series will be historically accurate which really is a shame. He was a very interesting man in real life and I would have been really cool to see him come to life again. As a real flesh and blood person and not as a made up runaway slave hero.
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That’s pretty in line with the family story actually. That and the slave hunters scene, which is embellished in the shooting, are the two best going theories. Be warned, any info before he becomes a marshal is sketch at best. Take little to none of it as fact. Even the historical writings get a lot wrong.

The story of him arresting the brothers is spot on.

Some of the middle episodes not so much. Some combined. Some made up.

The Jim Webb shootout is a freaking travesty. The tv version is not nearly as good as the real story.

At this point I’ll give the show a solid rating for television. Is great tv. It’s mediocre to poor history if you know the story. His story is much better than anything they add into it. Bass is one of the best men this country ever produced and the baddest man the frontier probably ever saw.

If you do books look into Black gun, silver star. We just finished the audio version. Its an exhaustive history of his life. And jaw dropping in places.
 
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chiefjason said:
That’s pretty in line with the family story actually. That and the slave hunters scene, which is embellished in the shooting, are the two best going theories. Be warned, any info before he becomes a marshal is sketch at best. Take little to none of it as fact. Even the historical writings get a lot wrong.

The story of him arresting the brothers is spot on.

Some of the middle episodes not so much. Some combined. Some made up.

The Jim Webb shootout is a freaking travesty. The tv version is not nearly as good as the real story.

At this point I’ll give the show a solid rating for television. Is great tv. It’s mediocre to poor history if you know the story. His story is much better than anything they add into it. Bass is one of the best men this country ever produced and the baddest man the frontier probably ever saw.

If you do books look into Black gun, silver star. We just finished the audio version. Its an exhaustive history of his life. And jaw dropping in places.
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I may have to give it another chance.

I’ll definitely check those audibles out. Thanks for the tip.

As to the origin, there were a few slaves who were set free during the civil war for distinguishing themselves in combat.

That is more in line with the character of this man. Imo.

But it’s not proper story making these days.
 
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Chdamn said:
I may have to give it another chance.

I’ll definitely check those audibles out. Thanks for the tip.

As to the origin, there were a few slaves who were set free during the civil war for distinguishing themselves in combat.

That is more in line with the character of this man. Imo.

But it’s not proper story making these days.
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There is zero evidence of Bass even being in the Civil War other than his own statements. None. I'm confident he was. But even his own words seem to place him in battles out of order and that he should not have been in. And there is a chance he fought for the Union after his escape as a Choctaw Freedman. But all of that is super sketchy word of mouth stuff. There is not documentation at all.

The two most likely stories according to that author are that he did get in a fight with Mr Reeves and fled or that the slave patrol found him, beat him, then took him to Reeves expecting him to Lynch him. And Reeves let him go instead of killing him. But all that is based on family stories.

His early life is just completely undocumented.

The book I mentioned is insanely well researched and he comes to the conclusion that we will never know any of that for sure and only have the stories to fall back on. And oddly enough, it does not appear that he was involved with the series at all. And the guy dedicated a significant part of his life researching and writing this book.

Once he becomes a Marshall that book goes case by case through his career in ridiculous detail. Court records. Witness statements. Letters. Court testimony. And some first hand interviews of people that met him or knew of him. And some passed down stories. Plus any other historical documents he could find. The stories are just jaw dropping. If the series just documented know stories just the way they happened they would be hard to believe. Bass was just a bad dude. 6'2" tall. Apparently the dude was a physical monster of a man. And was an unbelievable shot with both pistol and rifle. There are 2 witnessed stories of him shooting guys at nearly 1/4 of a mile with a Winchester rifle. One of them in the neck, and he called that shot and told the Deputy he was going to break his neck. The other he put 2 rounds in a moving target at almost 1/4 mile and when they checked the guy they were 1/2" apart in the chest. The two in the chest might have been Jim Webb. That gunfight was wild! Webb shot a button off Bass's jacket and cut the reigns out of his hand with shots before Bass could get off his horse. Then they got in a running gun fight. He finally shot Webb with his rifle. And Webb gave Bass his pistol as he lay there claiming he had killed 11 men with it and Bass was supposed to be 12.

Bass himself killed 13 or 14 depending on who you read and arrested over 3000 people. At 67-ish he was involved in one of the biggest gunfights in Muskogee, OK history.

Funny thing is, the obituaries of the time get things wrong about Bass when he died. There is so much real history, folk history, and exaggeration woven into his story it's wild.
 
Well, episode 7 is an absolute freaking disgrace. They should be ashamed of tarnishing the mans reputation like that. The cook story is WAY different than that. Leave it to Hollywood. SMDH
 
I have known about him for a while and am now watching the show with my wife. I like it, not
Too many liberties taken. Anyone else seen it?
 
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