The Indian Policemen
The young men chosen were the most physically fit that could be found. They were exceptional horsemen and could shoot the whiskers off a gnat. These young men were taken for a tour of duty of up to four years and was considered the equivalent of military duty. It was a great honor for a young man to be chosen as a light horseman. Often they wore the uniform of the U. S. Military. Although the light horsemen were never know to commit an atrocity of any kind, they were feared by Indian and white alike for their ferocity and tenacity in pursuit of their duty.
The custom of the day was for the U.S. Deputy Marshals to take the crimes committed by whites, blacks, Mexicans or Chinese. The Indian police took custody of the Indian criminals where the Indian courts tried the cases and passed sentence on these offenders. The duties of the Indian Police or light horsemen was much broader than those of today's policemen. They were not just sheriffs and cops on the beat. They were also tax collectors, immigration officers, revenue agents and Indian fighters.
One of the more unusual jobs they had was to enforce the speed limit on the cattle trails that ran through the Nations. Trails like the Chisholm, Western and Texas Trails would carry as many as two million cattle in a season. The cattle ate their way through the Nations destroying the range as they went. The trail boss was required to stay on a line no wider than ten miles of the center of the trial. The cattle were not allowed to stop and graze on Indian land for any length of time. A cattle heard had to make six to ten miles a day or they were fined. If high water was encountered at a river crossing a few extra days were allowed. The normal fee for crossing the Chickasaw Nation was 10 cents per head. If the cattlemen infringed on these rules, they were fined $1 per head. The average cattle herd in those days was 2,500 to 3,000 each. So, a fine of $3,000 would make a substantial loss for the rancher. If the fines exceeded the value of the herd, the herd was impounded.
As odd as it sounds, the Chickasaw Light Horsemen were famous as protectors of the western frontier in the Nation. They had to fight the wild Indians of western Oklahoma then known as the Leased Lands. This was the area around Ft. Sill where the wild Comanche and Kiowa were put on the reservation. They didn't stay put too well. These tribes routinely raided into the land of the Chickasaw and other Nations. They would steal the cattle, horses and mules of the local farmers and ranchers. Often they would ransom these horses and cattle back to the owners. Many times the Indian farmers and ranchers and their families would be killed in the raids by these wild tribes even though they were Indian themselves. There is even one account of a raid in the late 1860's on Ft. Arbuckle where the Comanche stole most of the horses belonging to the fort. In later years the old chiefs told they did this just to show the Cavalry they could and they weren't afraid of them.
The white settlers or any non-Indian, such as a farmer, was required to pay a $5 annual fee for living in the Nations. A businessman or rancher was required to pay a higher fee since he used the land to make more money. The ranchers were required to pay a fee of $50 and 25 cents per head to the tribal government annually. It was the responsibility of the Indian police to collect the fee.
If a white man married a Chickasaw woman, he became a citizen by marriage and was not required to pay an annual fee to farm or ranch. Many of the whites abused this loophole in Chickasaw law. So, Governor Byrd raised the marriage license fee from $50 to $1050. This act substantially stopped the abuse. Remembering the value of $1050 in the 1880's, a man had to really want to marry a girl to pay that kind of money for the license.
The Indian police also served as immigration officers. If a non-Indian settler could not pay the $5 annual fee for the privilege of living in the Nations, the light horsemen would load the family into their wagon with all their belongings and escort them to the Red River and back into Texas. Often the settlers were back to their farms by sunrise the next day.
In the Chickasaw Nation it was illegal to fence any more than one square mile for the use of crop farming and a milk cow. It was not permitted to fence the open range. One story says that there was a big rancher named Washington who lived south of Sulphur who had forty miles of fence across the prairie. One night the light horsemen cut all the fences except for the one square mile which he was allowed. Washington found out it was the Chickasaw Lighthorsemen who cut the fences. He tracked them down that next night to their camp. He shot 28 of their horses in the campfire light. When he realized how much trouble he was in, he rode two horses to death getting to Tishomingo to confess his crime to the Governor before the light horsemen could get him. He paid a hefty fine for his transgression.
The Indian police also spent much of their time trying to stop the illegal import of whiskey into the Territory which was a serious offense. The light horsemen killed the infamous black outlaw Dick Glass on the Red River in 1885 while trying to bring several wagon loads of whiskey into the Territory.
There were four counties in the Chickasaw Nation. They were Panola, Tishomingo, Pontotoc and Pickens. Each county had a sheriff. One of the duties of the sheriff was to lash the prisoners who were sentenced to a public whipping. These were crimes such as theft, horse and cattle stealing among others. On the appointed day, the prisoner was taken to the front of the court house or the Capitol building in Tishomingo to the whipping tree. There, he was tied and the Sheriff whipped his bare back with hickory canes. The sheriff would cut about ten hickory cane switches and whip the prisoner until the canes splintered. Then he would choose a new one and go at it again.
There was a story of a Chickasaw man who stole a horse at Ft. Arbuckle. He had a trial and was found guilty at the Chickasaw Court in Tishomingo. He was sentenced to 50 lashes. Sometime later he stole another horse and was caught. He was tried and found guilty on the second charge. This time he got 100 lashes. The next offense would be punishable by death. He never stole again.
Those Indians who received the death penalty were given up to a year to get their affairs in order and put in another crop for their family. On the day appointed for their execution they came back to the place and time set for the event. The sheriff of the county would take the condemned and often stand him in his coffin, leaned against the wall. Sometimes the condemned would have his mother and father hold his right and left hand and when the shot came, the parents would lay him back in the coffin. Often the condemned would have one of his best friends shoot him. Must have seemed a little gentler and more comforting that way I guess?
Col. John Q. Tufts, U.S. Indian Agent at Muskogee, organized the first unit of Indian police in February of 1880. They became known as the United States Indian Police. It was not until 1886 that it became against federal law to kill or injure a Federal U.S. Marshal, Deputy Marshal or Indian Policeman.
There is a story told to me by an old Chickasaw man that goes this way. Back in the old days, there was a light horseman who patrolled the Arbuckles south of Sulphur. He often stayed on the ranch that later became the Goddard Ranch. When he stayed the night at the ranch, he would tell the rancher that when he died, he wanted to be buried on the hill above the ranch house since he thought that was the prettiest place on earth. He was soon killed in the line of duty, and he was buried, with his horse, on that hill south of Sulphur.
Dennis Muncrief, September 2001
Other links of interest on Indian police: