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The Lone Ranger might be Inspired by a Black U.S. Marshall
When I was growing up, I was always more impressed by fictional stories of people with extraordinary supernatural powers, or strange, fantastical situations. But once upon a time, the United States was obsessed with stories of heroes in the largely fictionalized Wild West. This article is a little bit of an argument. I’ll be making a case for a real-life inspiration behind the legendary Lone Ranger.
So cast your memory back to 1838, almost 100 years before anybody had ever heard of the lone Lone Ranger. There’s a guy named Bass Reeves. And he is born in Arkansas in Crawford County. He is born into slavery in the household of a politician named William S. Reeves. I believe he’s a state congressman and legislator. Reeves worked first as a waterboy and later as a field hand. When William. S. Reeves passed away, his son, George Reeves made Bass his personal companion. Bass followed him around, fixing things for him, and doing chores.
During the Civil War, George Reeves and Bass both went into battle. They fought for the Confederacy. As you can imagine, this was not an ideal situation because Bass Reeves was essentially being forced to fight for the pro-slavery side of the Civil War.
