Bass Reeves was a deputy U.S. Marshal, gunfighter, farmer, scout, tracker, and railroad agent who escaped from slavery. He spoke the languages of several Native American tribes including Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Muscogee. Reeves was one of the first black Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River, mostly working in the Indian Territory. Reeves is credited with more than 3,000 arrests during his career and with killing twenty men in the line of duty.