Samuel Sixkiller, High Sheriff of the Cherokee Nation

Samual was a Cherokee man

Biography

Sam Sixkiller (1842–December 24, 1886) was a prominent Native American leader during the American Civil War and the postbellum period.

Sixkiller was born in the Going Snake district of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory—now Adair County, Oklahoma. He served on both sides during the Civil War, offering his support to the Confederacy as a private in the 1st Cherokee Cavalry before switching allegiance to the Union and serving with his father at Fort Gibson in an artillery battery.

Following the war, he became the first captain of the Indian Police, providing police services for the lands of all five tribes. He was also a Deputy U.S. Marshal and a special agent for theMissouri Pacific Railroad.

Sixkiller was murdered December 24, 1886, in Muskogee, Indian Territory.

Sources

• Wikipedia
• Burton, Art, Black, Red and Deadly: Black and Indian Gunfighters of the Indian Territory, 1870-1907. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1991.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143734611/samuel-sixkiller

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sixkiller-50
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Sam Sixkiller, (Redbird3, /Sixkiller/2 , /Oo-ka-wor-dar/1) b. 25 Nov 1842 in Goingsnake District, I. T., d. 24 Dec 1886 in Muskogee, I.T., military in Union Army, Captain. Samuel was High Sheriff of the Cherokee Nation, 1875-79. The High Sheriff's office was in Tahlequah.

He was unarmed on Christmas Eve, 1886, when a man (Dick Vann) who held a grudge for having been arrested in the past, came up to Sam and shot him on the streets of Muskogee.

Captain Sixkiller was in the Patterson Store buying Christmas presents for his children when someone came in and told him that he was wanted outside. As he stepped outside onto the porch a man on horseback opened fired and shot him. This supposedly occurred because Sixkiller had killed an outlaw named Dick Glass in Choctaw Country. Mr. Glass had committed several crimes and when Captain Sixkiller spotted him hauling two barrels of whiskey he blocked the road by chopping down a tree, and then shot him. (Curator note: as with all hero’s of the Wild West, stories of their death abound, we’ll never know!)

Newspaper clipping from the January 1, 1887 "Our Brother In Red" @ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143734611/samuel-sixkiller/photo

The April 11, 1877 edition of the Cherokee Advocate reported, "Sixkiller. . . is having a wall put around the National Prison - solid boards, ten feet high, which encloses two acres of ground, and adds to the looks and safety of that institution muchly."

Well-built gallows in the enclosure were described several years later as "not the worse for wear, as the authorities inclined to be very merciful."

"The High Sheriff" in order to beautify and improve the appearance of the Capitol Square, has grubbed out all of the stumps and overgrowth which covered, to the disgust of the citizens, the entire square, and has placed in their stead, some beautiful shade trees, which is very suggestive to our enterprising citizens that they should do likewise, which would not only add to the appearance of the town, but would enhance the value of their property wonderfully."

He married Frances Flora 'Fannie' Foreman, b. 25 Nov 1846, d. 27 May 1889.

Children:

• i. Rachel5 Sixkiller.
• ii. Eliza Sixkiller, b. 5 May 1870, d. 7 May 1895 in Tahlequah, I.T.
• iii. Emma 'Tookah' Sixkiller, b. 16 Jun 1873 in Tahlequah, I. T. She married __________ Garrett.
• 84. iv. Cora Sixkiller b. 4 Sep 1874.
• v. Samuel Rasmus Sixkiller, b. 13 Feb 1877 in Cherokee Nation. He married 26 Jun 1911, Martha 'Mattie' Bell Sixkiller, b. 14 Dec 1874 in Delaware District, I.T., (daughter of Lucas ' Luke' Sixkiller and Emma Blythe).
• vi. Lucas Sixkiller, b. 1879.
• 85. vii. Fannie E. Sixkiller b. 16 Jan 1879.

Source: Scraper, J. (2009). The Scraper - Sixkiller Book: Genealogy and History of the Scraper and Sixkiller Families of the Cherokee People. Aardvark Global Publishing. Extract from Our Scraper Family Compiled by Joe Scraper Jr. @ https://scraperfamily.angelfire.com/texts/Scraper.htm
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Member of the Cherokee Nation; son of Redbird Sixkiller

Captain of the Indian Police Force for the U.S. Indian Agency and Deputy U.S. Marshall for Judge Isaac Parker

December 29, 1886—Indian Journal

Thursday’s and Friday’s races here brought a miscellaneous crowd to our town and the numerous Christmas bottles rapidly filled a good number of the crowd full to overflowing. So much drinking was going on that many would not go out to the grounds and everyone was confident that at least one tragedy would be enacted here during the holidays, but no one imagined that Muskogee was to loose a good citizen and the Territory one of the bravest of officers.

The chain of circumstance leading to the killing of Captain Sixkiller is as follows:

About 4 o’clock Friday afternoon Alf Cunningham, while drunk, “threw down” on Tom Kennard, a Creek Lighthorseman, in the door of the Commercial Hotel, but did not shoot, though a minute afterwards he would have done so had not Mrs. Renfro, who standing beside him, succeeded in getting his pistol. As he came down the steps of the hotel Kennard met him and dealt him a blow over the head with his six-shooter. This enraged Alf and he was determined on revenge. About 4:30 he found Dick Vann, his brother in-law, who was ready to help him in any emergency. Both were unarmed and went to Turner & Byrne’s store purchase a pistol, but looking for trouble, C. W. Turner refused to sell him one. On failing there both went to the Mitchell House and finding the city marshal Shelly Keys there, before he suspected their intentions they had him down and disarmed and it is thought would have killed him there had it not been for the crowd, as he is under their displeasure. Finding Al Farmer’s shotgun they took possession of it notwithstanding Farmer’s remonstrance, and they were then armed and prepared for any deed.

Up to this time it is presumed they had not thought of Sixkiller, but as they came up the street half crazed with liquor they were ready for the first person against whom they had a grudge and Tom Kennard in particular. At the steps leading down from Turner & Byrne’s porch they met Capt. Sixkiller, who was entirely unarmed. To make sure of their man in the darkness one called “Sam!” and on hearing his name the Captain stepped towards them and about four feet from the corner of the porch. Dick was heard to say in the half crying voice he uses when mad “You’ll never do that to me again,” or words to that effect, when the shotgun in the hands of Alf was leveled at the Captain, who must have knocked it aside as the charge of fine shot it contained partly passed through his clothing and lodged in the gate of the lumber yard. At the same instant Dick, who was positively identified by an eyewitness, fired in rapid succession four shots into Sixkiller, who staggered and fell on his hands and knees on the steps, when to make sure of his work Vann fired another shot into the body. A few heavy groans and all was over, the deed was done. The two men then ran half leisurely down Main street, turned the corner and passed the billiard hall and on out of town. Saturday night it was reported they attempted to lodge with John Lowrey, who objected, and in flourishing a pistol Dick’s weapon was discharged, the ball going across the base of his thumb.

Saturday morning writs, were sworn out before Commissioner Tufts and placed in the hands of Deputy U. S. Marshals Dalton, Tyson, Campbell and Hayes, and although they made a vigorous search until Sunday morning, and at one time were within a half-mile of Dick and his companion, they did not succeed in finding them. Martin and Luke Sixkiller, brothers of Sam, Policemen Fields Laftore and Maj. Hodges were also here Saturday, but in the absence of orders did not join in the pursuit. On Monday evening Agent Owen returned from the Cherokee Nation, and at present writing is making preparations for an active hunt for them. Parties reported them in the thick bottoms of Gooseneck Bend, about ten miles east of town, the locality in which Vann did the scouting a couple of years ago when wanted for assault on Captain Hammer.

The funeral of Captain Sixkiller took place Sunday morning at 11 o’clock from the M. E. church and was conducted by Cherokee lodge A. F. and A. M., of Tahlequah. The church could not contain the friends who gathered from nearly every part of the eastern portion of the Territory to attend the last rites.

Among those present from Tahlequah were Wm. Ballarn, Waite Foreman, J. L. Adair Sr., J. L. Adair, Jr., T. R. Sixkiller, J. L. Stapler, H. C. Barnes, D. W. Wilson and others, from Choteau were G. H. Lewis and Butler Bros.; from Eufaula, Chief Perryman and wife, Dr. Leo Bennett and wife, Sam Grayson, Charles Gibson, and Roley McIntosh; from Savanna, Dr. E. Poe Harris; from Ft. Gibson, F. H. Nash, Colonel Rogers, Tom French, Mr. Doty, Wm. P. Ross, George Saunders, Wm. Scot and Mr. Pick.

The procession, which followed the remains to the grave was one of the largest ever gathered together in this section of the country.

Captain Sixkiller was born in Going-Snake District, Cherokee Nation, in the year 1842, making him forty-four years of age at the time of this death. He was raised in the Cherokee Nation, educated at the old Baptist Mission, Mr. Evan Jones being his teacher. At the breaking out of the war his father joined the Northern army leaving Sam to take care of the property. A number of his neighbors proceeding to join the Southern army took him with them, and he enlisted with them under General Waite, serving one year. At the end of that time he went to Fort Gibson and joined a Federal artillery company, of which her father Redbird Sixkiller, was first lieutenant. He was married at Gibson December 23, 1865, to Miss Fannie Foreman, and moved to Tahlequah, where he lived on a farm until he was appointed High Sheriff. After serving in that capacity for three years, while he and his deputies were attempting to arrest Jeter Thompson the latter was killed. For this he was tried and exonerated. In 1879 he moved to this place on being made Captain of the U. S. Indian Police of the five tribes. About three yeas ago while trying to arrest a whiskey peddler near Eufaula the man resisted and was killed by the Captain and his brother Henry in self-defense; and also about a year and half ago he killed Dick Glass while attempting his capture. At the time of his murder he was U. S. Deputy Marshal, and was a valued member of the secret service of the Missouri Pacific. The Captain has done probably more than any one person to free the railroad towns of this Territory of their dangerous and reckless elements, and to him the country owes in a great degree the comparative security to life and property that it now enjoys.

A Note about the Old Cemetery

The original M.E. church no longer exists at the SE corner of Cherokee St. and Okmulgee Ave. The structure was torn down and a new church built at a different location. Most of the old tombstones and markers at the old cemetery have now crumbled away or are now unreadable.

REF: page 120, Sam Sixkiller, Cherokee Frontier Lawman, by Howard Kazanjian and Chris Enss, an “Outstanding Book for Oklahoma History” for 2012. The authors obtained the burial information in a telephone interview with one of Capt. Sixkiller’s great-great-grandsons July 2010.

Source: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143734611/samuel-sixkiller: accessed 17 March 2023), memorial page for Capt Samuel Sixkiller (25 Nov 1842–24 Dec 1886), Find a Grave Memorial ID 143734611, citing Old Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery, Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, USA; Maintained by Choctaw Journeys (contributor 47251652).
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Samuel "Sam" Sixkiller - Deputy U.S. Marshal Service

U.S. Marshal Service / U.S. Indian Police

In 1880, Sam Sixkiller became the first appointed Captain of the United States Indian Police of the Five Civilized Tribes commanding forty officers in Muskogee.

In 1886, Sam Sixkiller became involved in a gunfight with Jess Nicholson in which Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller wounded Nicholson. Jess Nicholson eventually died from his wounds. Jess Nicholson was a friend of hot-tempered Dick Vann and once had been arrested for harboring Vann from the deputy marshals. Dick Vann was also arrested once by Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller during which Sixkiller allegedly kicked him. Dick Vann threatened to kill Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller for that kick.

On Christmas Eve, 1886, Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller, forty-four, was off duty and unarmed. Feeling a little under the weather, he made a trip to downtown Muskogee to pick up some medicine before taking his family to church. Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller was met by two dastardly malcontents bent on mayhem: Dick Vann and Alf Cunningham. Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller was stepping up on to the platform on the north side of the Patterson Mercantile Store. Dick Vann and Alf Cunningham, with a shotgun and pistol, without notice fired on Sam Sixkiller hitting him three times, once in the head. Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller fell to the ground mortally wounded, and Dick Vann and Alf Cunningham made good their escape on fast ponies into the Cherokee Nation. The Creek Nation filed charges against the two men, but Dick Vann was killed in a gunfight in Fort Gibson before he could be extradited. Alf Cunningham also escaped extradition and disappeared.

After the death of Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller, the United States legislature passed a bill, signed by the president, which made assault on an Indian federal policeman a federal crime.

Samuel Sixkiller was survived by his wife Francis and is buried in an unmarked grave in the Old Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery, Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma.

In December 2010 Deputy U.S. Marshal / U.S. Indian Police Captain Samuel Sixkiller was inducted into the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame.

Source: Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial. Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association. (2019, October 30). Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://www.oklahomasheriffs.org/user-references/olem/
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Further Reading
1. Wozniak, E. (2020, July 14). SAM SIXKILLER: NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER [web log]. Retrieved March 17, 2023, from https://glitternight.com/2016/08/29/sam-sixkiller-neglected-gunslin....
2. Bennett, C. (2011, October 28). Legendary Lawman Sam Sixkiller [web log]. Retrieved March 17, 2023, from https://www.officer.com/on-the-street/apparel/article/10443332/lege....
3. Wikipedia contributors. "Sam Sixkiller." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 Dec. 2022. Web. 17 Mar. 2023.
4. Enss, C. (2018, July 31). Sam Sixkiller Cherokee Frontier Lawman [web log]. Retrieved March 17, 2023, from https://chrisenss.com/sam-sixkiller/. “No one imagined that Muskogee was to lose a good citizen and the Territory one of the bravest of officers.”
The Indian Journal – December 29, 1886