How Bass Reeves became the West’s relentless manhunter

How Bass Reeves became the West’s relentless manhunter

How a man born in bondage mastered the frontier, outshot outlaws, and reshaped the legend of Western justice. Bass Reeves’s story began in bondage, far removed from the mythic Western landscapes that would one day define his name. Born in July 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas, he entered life as the property of William Steele Reeves, a state legislator who later relocated his enslaved household to Texas. Bass grew up under the control of Willia…