Episode 176: Smollop: Bass Reeves
Gareth: I think he was just being cute.
Dave: No, it’s the Death Wink!
Black Cowboys of the Old West: True, Sensational, and Little-Known Stories from History * Tricia Martineau Wagner
Let us pause and remember Marshal Reeves’ compadre, White Crow, aka Stagecoach Mary Fields: episode 135. And don’t let anyone ever tell you that there were no badass black people fighting for and settling the Wild West. Next time someone makes a smart remark about Morgan Freeman‘s role in Unforgiven, smite them with The Dollop. Verbally. We don’t condone actual violence–head injuries tend to ruin the good learnin’ a person just received.
See? There’s even a blackcowboys.com. Tell ’em I sent ya.
And then, of course, a shoutout to our other favorite tracker: The Revenant himself, Hugh Glass.
The Art of Manliness Podcast: Best Lawman of the West
National Park Service: Fort Smith: Bass Reeves
mental_floss: The Life and Times of U. S. Marshal Bass Reeves
There actually were turkey shoots where I come from–rural southern North Carolina. I just remember, on the last turn before church–which was out in the country–a sandwich-placard sign would show up every autumn announcing the local turkey shoot. I had no idea what that could be, and, to my uber-smart-kid thinking, I should already know this I should already know everything I can’t ask. So I didn’t ask. I instead envisioned turkeys thrown like clay pigeons–
“Pull!”
But no.
Turkeys are two things: creatures of habit, and birds. So they flock, and they like to return to flick in the same damn spot, no matter what might be dangerous there. So a turkey shoot started as a method of hunting the wild feathered blockheads by the hunter deliberately disturbing a flock and scattering the birds–
and now we wait. The turkeys will return, transitioning from birds to easy targets to dinner.
Sometimes, in the rural US, a turkey shoot is a contest involving shooting at paper targets, using shotguns, and the prize is a frozen turkey.
Colonial-era turkey shoots involved ridiculous animal cruelty and absolutely no sport, and we shall leave it at that. Shame on you, Daniel Boone. For shame.
Buffalo Soldiers in the West: A Black Soldiers Anthology, ed. by Bruce A. Glasrud and Michael N. Searles
Black Cowboys of Texas by Sara Massey
Bright’s disease: kidney disease that involves edema, heart disease, and high blood pressure, and is basically something you do not want to have while out on a horse in Indian Territory
Speaking of which: Indian Territory, which is familiar to anyone like me who devoured Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoirs, at any one time contained what is now:
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Missouri
- Colorado
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming
Interesting cultural footprint: the 1921 Collier’s Encyclopedia article on Indian Territory
Oh! One last thing: There is back-and-forth about whether or not the Lone Ranger is based upon Marshal Reeves. (my vote is yes)
Band names from this episode:
- Hanging Judge
- Pockets Full of Warrants
- Death Wink
- Noogies with a Gun
Cultural references from this episode:
Member discussion