Civilized Tribes on Marshals Museum board; Reeves revolver and badge donated

The U.S. Marshals Museum board of directors voted Tuesday (Sept. 14) to keep open a slot for a representative from the Five Civilized Tribes.

Also, Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge Jim Spears announced that the museum had received a donation of Bass Reeves’ revolver and badge from his great nephew Judge Paul Brady of Atlanta.  Dunn and Spears, also a museum board member, traveled to Atlanta in July to make the request.

“He generously and graciously agreed to do so. This is an extremely important acquisition,” Dunn said.

Edwin Marshall, chief of staff for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation was appointed by the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes to serve a two-year term on the Marshals Museum Board.

Jim Dunn, director of the Marshals Museum, said the move was a necessary and appropriate step in that it recognized the connection between the tribes and the U.S. Marshals Service and in that it will help expand the message of the museum.

“I think there is a lot that can be done in cooperation between the Marshals Museum and the five civilized tribes,” Dunn said.

In January 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the site for the national museum. The cost to build the 50,000-square-foot museum — including exhibit work — is estimated at around $50 million.

Marshall, 56, lives in Wetumka, Okla., and is married with one son, according to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation website.  As a child of a single parent family, he spent most of his time with his grandparents. As a result, the Mvskoke language is his first language.

He also learned to read and write the language by the age of four from his grandmother, Pollie (Larney) Beaver. His grandfather, the late Rev. Daniel “Chotkey” Beaver was a former ceremonial leader, medicine man and Tribal Town government official.  From him, he learned traditional teachings, legends, history and ways of the Muscogee (Creek).

Marshall is of the Bird Clan and Tukvpvtce Tribal Town. He is directly descended five generations from the legendary Creek leader “Opoethleyahola” (Great, great, great grandson), according to the website info.

Marshall also attended East Central University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in social work.

“The term ‘Five Civilized Tribes’ came into use during the mid-nineteenth century to refer to the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole nations,” notes the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. “Although these Indian tribes had various cultural, political, and economic connections before removal in the 1820s and 1830s, the phrase was most widely used in Indian Territory and Oklahoma.”

The letter from Muscogee Principal Chief A.D. Ellis nominating Marshall included a resolution from the Inter-Tribal Council noting that “many Lighthorsemen” of the Five Civilized Tribes served with the U.S. Marshals. The resolution also noted that “the Five Civilized Tribes and the U.S. Marshals Museum will play key roles in the development of cultural tourism in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and in the preservation of the cultural heritage of Native Americans.”