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America's Hidden History | Bass Reeves and Orion Howe

America's Hidden History

September 26, 2019

27:35

America's Hidden History

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America's Hidden History | Bass Reeves and Orion Howe

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- [Narrator] Modern historians have revised,
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rewritten, and even deleted entire chapters
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of American history.
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So what are we missing?
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What happened to the history that didn't make the books?
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Join historian David Barton, Tim Barton,
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and special guests as they uncover the facts
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some historians don't want you to know.
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This is "America's Hidden History".
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(intense music)
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(calm guitar music)
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- We're in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
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Actually in the oldest building in Fort Smith
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and this building used to be a military post,
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it used to be a federal courthouse,
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a federal prison, actually above us was where
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the judges chamber actually was.
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- Now, Bass Reeves is really kinda
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the hero we're gonna talk about,
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but to understand Bass Reeves
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you kinda have to understand Isaac Parker.
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Both were born in the year 1838
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and both had a huge impact on law and order
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in the old west, but they both took
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very, very different paths to get here
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to this building, to this story.
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One was a black guy named Bass Reeves
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and one was a white guy named Isaac Parker.
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He's born into a fairly wealthy white family,
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he goes onto be a member of Congress,
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and in Congress he sits on a committee called
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the committee on territories.
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And the head of that committee actually
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was James A. Garfield who became
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President of the United States,
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but on the committee of territories
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he gets kinda introduced to the Oklahoma Territory.
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Which is where the five civilized tribes
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of nations were.
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He's very concerned about that and then 1875
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President Ulysses S. Grant takes Parker
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and says, "You need to be a federal judge
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"and I want you in the western district of Arkansas."
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Which is where we are right now.
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Now, Arkansas at that point in time bordered
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the Oklahoma Territory and the Oklahoma Territory
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wasn't a state, but it was a really savage place.
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That's where murderers went to hide.
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The law enforcements just kinda unknown there.
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So, if you're a horse thief or a murderer
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or a bootlegger.
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Oklahoma's really filled with bad guys
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who just disappear out in the landscape
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and the hills of Oklahoma.
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That is 75.000 square miles
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to which he's trying to bring justice.
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Now here's where Bass Reeves comes in
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because Judge Parker's here.
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He can't administer justice by himself.
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He needs a lot of help.
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He needs some deputies.
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Starts out with 200 deputies, Bass Reeves
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is one of those original deputies.
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Now, the way Bass Reeves got here
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was he was born as a slave to that legislative family
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in Arkansas, but that family moved to Texas.
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He doesn't wanna be in slavey.
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He beats up his master and escapes to the North
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and he went into the Indian Territory, Oklahoma,
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because there's no law and order there
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and nobodies gonna chase him there.
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He learns to speak the Creek Indian language,
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Seminole, Cherokee, learns so many languages
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and he's all over the state.
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He said he knew the state of Oklahoma
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like a cook knew her kitchen.
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He knew the state really, really well
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and then 1865 rolls around
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and the 13th Amendment is passed that abolishes slavery.
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At that time he's free.
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So he moves back to Arkansas and because he knows
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the Oklahoma Territory the sheriffs here
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in Arkansas hire him as a guide to go in
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and find criminals and bring them out.
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Well that's about when Judge Parker gets here.
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And Judge Parker needs help to help bring law
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and order to the Oklahoma Territory
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and Bass Reeves is one of his deputies.
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Now Bass Reeves actually served 32 years
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as a Deputy Federal Marshal.
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Just an amazing period of time.
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There were thousands of Federal Marshals
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and Deputy Marshals who are associated
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with this court.
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He's the only one that went from the time
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that Judge Parker got here all the way until Oklahoma
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became a state and they no longer needed
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this court over Oklahoma.
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32 years he served as the Federal Marshal.
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He is one of the most important law enforcement officials
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you'll find in the Old West.
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- Yeah and the stories of what he did
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in the Oklahoma Territory really are quite remarkable
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on top of the fact that because he was born
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into slavery he didn't have an education growing up
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and so as an adult he actually was illiterate.
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So, not being able to read and write
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imagine being a deputy when you're given a warrant
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and said okay go find this person and you can't
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even read what's on the warrant.
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So what do you do?
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He would have people read the warrant to him
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and he would just memorize whatever they read
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from the warrant.
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Sometimes there'd be a picture so he might see
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the picture and go okay so that's kinda what
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the bad guy looks like, I get it.
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But then all the crimes and the description
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he had to memorize every single warrant.
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And yet his success rate, for not even being able
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to read the warrant, is quite astounding.
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- Those excursions to go find the bad guys
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are not like going to a house and arresting a bad guy.
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When he left here looking for bad guys
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his treks would often take him 800 miles.
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'Cause he would ride his circuit looking
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for a number of bad guys.
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They'd have a stack of warrants, he memorized them all.
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And as they would sit out, they would have a wagon
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with bars on it, kinda like a rolling jail,
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he would have a cook so that when he captured
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all these bad guys they'd be cooking for the bad guys
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and for him and he had one posseman
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who could go with him.
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And so, when they would sit out they would
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be on the road for months with these warrants
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and sometimes he'd come back with 15, 17, 18 guys
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on those warrants.
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And in 32 years of going after guys, spending months
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at a time out on the road, he arrested 3.000 bad guys.
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Never made even one wrong arrest in that period of time.
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- It's remarkable.
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In fact, the only accusations
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really that were against him in his life
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there were different newspaper accounts
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and they would say that, you know, people wanna
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accuse him of murder because he shot one of the bad guys
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he actually was looking for and then come to find out
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well he was just quicker to the draw than that guy was
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so it actually wasn't murder.
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- Yeah, it's not that he was looking to shoot the bad guys
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'cause he brought so many thousand in without shooting them.
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Now, over the course of time and defending himself
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he did shoot and kill 14 bad guys.
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On one of his trips he was looking for some guys
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and he had the warrants and as it turns out
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the people he hired to be his guides were actually
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horse thieves that he was looking for.
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And he wasn't aware of that but they knew exactly
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who he was and so as they were over the fire
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at lunch he just happened, out of the corner
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of eye, to see them draw their guns and he turned
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and got them before they got him 'cause they were
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trying to kill him.
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So, that's how he gets to the 14 people that he killed
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was he was actually defending himself, but to arrest
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3.000 people and by the way it was rough
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to do what he did.
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He relates that he was shot at so many times
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and it was so many close calls.
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One shot cut his belt in half
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but didn't hit him, one shot shot a button off,
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another one it shot a hole in his hat
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and another time he was holding his reins
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and shot at him and it hit the reins
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and cut the reins.
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I mean he has so many close calls he was never
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wounded in any kind of a battle,
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but man what a courageous guy he was.
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(upbeat music)
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(phone notification dings)
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(upbeat guitar music)
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- As we talk about Bass Reeves and Judge Parker
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this is actually the place where originally
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Judge Parker would help bring people to justice.
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- Over Judge Parker's 21 years there were about
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160 folks that were sentence to death
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of which about half were executed.
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In his first year as judge, there were 18
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who were brought in and tried for murder over that year.
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15 of them were convicted of murder,
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six of them were hung at one time in this particular spot
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so justice was followed.
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The Federal law stipulated what had to happen
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with certain crimes, what the punishment
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was for those crimes.
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That was not Judge Parker's call on that.
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But at the same time, even though he had this reputation
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of being a hanging judge and back East they would
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point to the six being hung at one time
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and say oh my gosh how barbaric is that,
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but when you're back East and don't have the type
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of crime you have out here.
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- It's a very different perspective than they
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had certainly in the East where there was much more
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law and order.
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- Yeah.
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- Coming to a place where there wasn't.
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But you're right, Judge Parker wasn't a guy,
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who in the East was portrayed to be a villainous
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kinda guy, he really was a very good man
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in the context of history.
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- Not only did he do a lot of charitable work,
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give contributions, he was part of the school board
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he was big into education.
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He had a lot of compassion for the victims
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and their families.
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Not near as much compassion for the murderer,
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but he was very compassionate.
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But even at that in the court records when you look
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at the federal records of the trials,
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and that's part of the process
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that you go through is you can see the records,
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you'll find that in court on occasion
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when someone is sentenced to death
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it's not like it is today.
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Sentenced to death back then you might have a few weeks,
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today, it might be 10 to 15 years, it was a speedy
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process then.
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In the courtroom on occasion, you'll find
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that Judge Parker would say, "Okay, defendant you've
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"been sentenced to death found guilty by a jury.
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"You are soon to die, which means you're soon
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"to enter into eternity and as a murderer
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"you're not prepared to enter into eternity
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"and you really need to make peace with your maker."
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He would literally give them a spiritual call
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to get reconciled.
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So not only was he compassionate to the victims
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and their families but even towards the spiritual
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condition of those that he had to deal
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with in the court room.
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So that's part of the law and order that Deputy Sheriffs
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like Bass Reeves and judges like Isaac Parker
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brought to the Old West.
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(upbeat guitar music)
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- There were some tough moments for him too.
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Where he acknowledged that there
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were a few arrests that he wasn't excited about making.
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One of them actually involved his son who was married
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and he had 10 kids?
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- Had 10 kids.
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- Bass Reeves had 10 kids and so his son,
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one of his sons, was very jealous of the wife
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and thought the wife was probably cheating on him
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so he actually took a gun and killed the wife
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and then he actually tried to kill himself.
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He did not succeed at that attempt and so a warrant
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was issued for the arrest.
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And so when Bass Reeves gets back, he sees this warrant
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and another deputy said "hey, you know, Bass
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"you don't need to go.
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"We'll take care of this, you don't need to do this
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"to your son."
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and he said, "No if my son's done
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"the wrong thing then I will serve justice."
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So he went and arrested his son which it really says
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a lot to his character and to his nature
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that law and justice was more important
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than maybe emotional familial connection
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that he said no the right thing is more important.
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Well that was one of the two things he said
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was very difficult.
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The second one's a pretty funny story.
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- The second one relates to his Christian faith
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because he was a Christian.
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As a matter of fact, the descendants of Bass Reeves
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say that part of what got Judge Parker and Bass Reeves
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together was their Christian faith.
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Even though they're from such different backgrounds
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they both loved the Lord, they both loved God's word,
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and they both wanted to see law and order.
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And so Bass, as the newspaper said, is a member
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in good standing with the Baptist church
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and so he loved the church,
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he was zellish for the name of the lord,
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and he wanted the reputation of church to be upheld.
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And then he finds out his pastor is selling whiskey,
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that's illegal.
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- Yeah, it's a federal crime at the time.
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- It's a federal crime!
00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:22.090
- You're not allowed to do that.
00:11:22.090 --> 00:11:23.160
- And so now he's got to go arrest his pastor.
00:11:23.160 --> 00:11:27.000
The one who baptized him.
00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:28.060
Pastor kept saying, "I'm doing it to pay off
00:11:28.060 --> 00:11:29.210
"the debt of the church. It's for a good reason."
00:11:29.210 --> 00:11:31.100
No, you broke the law.
00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:34.010
I'm not gonna let you bring a bad name
00:11:34.010 --> 00:11:36.110
on the church by doing that and so that was
00:11:36.110 --> 00:11:38.010
the other hard arrest, was having to arrest
00:11:38.010 --> 00:11:40.000
the guy who baptized him.
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.160
But his integrity level was absolutely so high.
00:11:41.160 --> 00:11:44.280
Literally Bass brought thousands of people,
00:11:44.280 --> 00:11:47.210
individually himself, to the courts.
00:11:47.210 --> 00:11:49.120
So you look at what they did to bring law and order
00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:52.080
to that part of the Old West, Bass Reeves is one
00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:55.090
of the great heroes of American history.
00:11:55.090 --> 00:11:57.070
He's one of America's hidden heroes.
00:11:57.070 --> 00:11:59.150
(upbeat jazz music)
00:11:59.150 --> 00:12:02.160
- So Bass Reeves, we're down here
00:12:06.250 --> 00:12:08.090
in the WallBuilder's collection again
00:12:08.090 --> 00:12:10.070
and we're trying to figure out and piece together his story.
00:12:10.070 --> 00:12:12.280
Now how do we know his story?
00:12:12.280 --> 00:12:14.130
We know it because in the newspapers of the period
00:12:14.130 --> 00:12:16.280
they reported on what he was doing.
00:12:16.280 --> 00:12:19.080
They kept up to date, he was kinda a celebrity
00:12:19.080 --> 00:12:21.140
in the region,
00:12:21.140 --> 00:12:22.260
so we have access to obviously hundreds upon hundreds
00:12:22.260 --> 00:12:25.010
of original newspapers, but the ones that we
00:12:25.010 --> 00:12:27.050
don't physically have we have access to archives.
00:12:27.050 --> 00:12:29.220
So we've got thousands in microprint that go up
00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:33.090
to kinda around the mid 1800s
00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:35.160
But for people like Bass Reeves who come after that
00:12:35.160 --> 00:12:37.210
I like to jump on my computer and go to the archives
00:12:37.210 --> 00:12:40.050
that we have access to online.
00:12:40.050 --> 00:12:42.070
And I've actually got a paper pulled up from 1903
00:12:42.070 --> 00:12:44.280
from the city of Ardmore, Oklahoma.
00:12:44.280 --> 00:12:47.080
And it's a story, there's a criminal on the run.
00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:49.200
Bass Reeves is signed to track him down
00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:52.030
and we pick up with the story it says, "The criminal
00:12:52.030 --> 00:12:54.280
"dreamed last night that Deputy Marshal Reeves
00:12:54.280 --> 00:12:57.080
"came upon him in the brush and when he jumped
00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:00.040
"up to run, the deputy shot and killed him.
00:13:00.040 --> 00:13:02.230
"When he woke and realized that it was only a dream
00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:05.120
"he decided to come to town and give up immediately."
00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.070
Bass Reeve's so feared that people
00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:09.280
were having dreams about him.
00:13:09.280 --> 00:13:11.150
It's an incredible story of an incredible man.
00:13:11.150 --> 00:13:14.030
(dramatic music)
00:13:14.030 --> 00:13:16.250
(energetic music)
00:13:24.110 --> 00:13:27.060
- We're in Mississippi, actually in Vicksburg
00:13:30.250 --> 00:13:32.280
which is a pretty significant historical
00:13:32.280 --> 00:13:34.260
battle field and actually here to talk
00:13:34.260 --> 00:13:37.040
about a guy named Orion Howe.
00:13:37.040 --> 00:13:38.180
Now he was one of the youngest Medal of Honor recipients,
00:13:38.180 --> 00:13:41.020
getting it at 14 years old, but this location
00:13:41.020 --> 00:13:43.150
was really significant in the history of our nation.
00:13:43.150 --> 00:13:46.220
Especially the Civil War.
00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:48.070
- Yeah, Vicksburg was one of the most strategic places
00:13:48.070 --> 00:13:50.150
in the Civil War.
00:13:50.150 --> 00:13:51.280
Abraham Lincoln said that Vicksburg is the key
00:13:51.280 --> 00:13:54.040
and that they're not gonna win the Civil War
00:13:54.040 --> 00:13:56.120
if he doesn't have that key in his pocket,
00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:57.200
they gotta take Vicksburg.
00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:59.020
And on the other side, Jefferson Davis
00:13:59.020 --> 00:14:00.280
President Confederacy said that Vicksburg is the nail
00:14:00.280 --> 00:14:03.230
that holds the two halves of the Confederacy together
00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:06.200
because Vicksburg sits on a bluff overlooking
00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:09.080
the Mississippi River and if the Union gets control
00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:12.040
of the Mississippi River now you've cut off
00:14:12.040 --> 00:14:14.020
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas from the rest
00:14:14.020 --> 00:14:16.170
of the Confederate states.
00:14:16.170 --> 00:14:17.290
You've broken that Confederate Nation in two.
00:14:17.290 --> 00:14:19.260
They'd had a number of battles around Vicksburg
00:14:19.260 --> 00:14:21.290
and they needed to take Vicksburg itself
00:14:21.290 --> 00:14:24.170
and it's really more than just land battles
00:14:24.170 --> 00:14:26.210
there's also naval battles.
00:14:26.210 --> 00:14:27.290
They've got ships on the Mississippi River trying
00:14:27.290 --> 00:14:29.230
to get Vicksburg and when they couldn't win the battles
00:14:29.230 --> 00:14:31.170
they said okay let's just do a siege.
00:14:31.170 --> 00:14:33.230
So they started just pounding the town of Vicksburg.
00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:36.030
There are actually really interesting pictures
00:14:36.030 --> 00:14:38.090
where when you look down the main street
00:14:38.090 --> 00:14:39.220
of Vicksburg there's just cannon balls laying
00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:41.220
all over the place.
00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.130
It's just like raining hail balls instead
00:14:43.130 --> 00:14:45.040
of hail and ice it's steel.
00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:46.220
And so the people to get some relief,
00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:48.080
went and started digging caves in the sides of the hill.
00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.060
They dug more than 500 caves so they could have something
00:14:51.060 --> 00:14:54.110
overhead to protect them and they called
00:14:54.110 --> 00:14:55.290
it prairie dog town 'cause they were scurrying
00:14:55.290 --> 00:14:57.170
into holes with all this cannonballs raining down
00:14:57.170 --> 00:15:00.170
on them, but none the less Vicksburg was one
00:15:00.170 --> 00:15:02.200
of the most significant battles in the Civil War.
00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:05.030
It's studied as one of the most strategic battles
00:15:05.030 --> 00:15:07.080
in American History and it was a turning point
00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:09.080
for the Union in the Civil War.
00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.020
There are 77.000 Union troops here,
00:15:11.020 --> 00:15:13.050
there's 33.000 Confederate troops here,
00:15:13.050 --> 00:15:16.030
Confederates outnumber two to one.
00:15:16.030 --> 00:15:17.260
- The ground is so uneven, the terrain is so rough,
00:15:17.260 --> 00:15:19.270
it really was very, very difficult which is why
00:15:19.270 --> 00:15:22.190
they decided you know, let's just wait
00:15:22.190 --> 00:15:24.090
them out a little bit.
00:15:24.090 --> 00:15:25.160
Let's make this a siege, let's wear them down,
00:15:25.160 --> 00:15:27.070
and so Orion Howe becomes significant in this story.
00:15:27.070 --> 00:15:29.130
He was part of the 55th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
00:15:29.130 --> 00:15:33.070
He was born in Ohio, 1848.
00:15:33.070 --> 00:15:34.240
But, the family gets to Illinois and when he's 12
00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:38.250
his younger brother they join and they're going
00:15:38.250 --> 00:15:40.170
to be musicians actually.
00:15:40.170 --> 00:15:41.270
Their father was essentially the bandleader.
00:15:41.270 --> 00:15:43.290
He was the chief musician so they apparently
00:15:43.290 --> 00:15:46.160
are getting to go with dad and be apart of this.
00:15:46.160 --> 00:15:48.120
As it's going on, well as the 55th comes
00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:50.250
and they finally get to Vicksburg.
00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:52.160
When they get to Vicksburg they are maybe a little
00:15:52.160 --> 00:15:55.270
over ambitious because they charge very strong
00:15:55.270 --> 00:15:58.270
against this fortified barricade.
00:15:58.270 --> 00:16:01.120
And as they get there they realize that they've
00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.170
gotten a little too close and so they get pinned down.
00:16:03.170 --> 00:16:06.060
They have to hide behind bluffs
00:16:06.060 --> 00:16:07.260
to more or less stay alive.
00:16:07.260 --> 00:16:09.190
They are trying to protect themselves.
00:16:09.190 --> 00:16:11.140
Well as they get more or less pinned down,
00:16:11.140 --> 00:16:13.280
they have cover, so they're able to stay there.
00:16:13.280 --> 00:16:16.180
The problem is they're separated from the rest
00:16:16.180 --> 00:16:19.130
of the army and when they're in this more or less
00:16:19.130 --> 00:16:22.200
low down cover position they actually start running
00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.100
out of ammunition and so as they're running low
00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:26.250
on ammunition there's different people scrambling
00:16:26.250 --> 00:16:29.000
trying to maybe checking the dead bodies
00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:30.220
and finding ammunition pouches on the ground,
00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:32.220
trying to find more ammunition, but they realize
00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:34.240
we're running really low.
00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.060
So the Colonel calls some volunteers over
00:16:36.060 --> 00:16:39.030
says, "We need somebody to go back and let the rest
00:16:39.030 --> 00:16:40.260
"of the army know that we need ammunition."
00:16:40.260 --> 00:16:42.250
And so when they called volunteers Orion Howe,
00:16:42.250 --> 00:16:45.250
who at this time was 14 years old, was one of the volunteers
00:16:45.250 --> 00:16:48.200
and at this time he hasn't been apart of the fighting
00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:51.130
so to speak, he's been a drummer.
00:16:51.130 --> 00:16:53.040
Now he's in the face of death, he is actually
00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:56.030
gonna have to go up over a hill where he's wide open
00:16:56.030 --> 00:16:59.290
and exposed to all of the enemy fire.
00:16:59.290 --> 00:17:02.100
And so when the volunteers, they all determine
00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:04.180
okay we're gonna go, they go together and actually
00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:06.280
all of them are killed except Orion.
00:17:06.280 --> 00:17:09.260
(intense music)
00:17:09.260 --> 00:17:12.140
As you can see at this hill it's something
00:17:14.170 --> 00:17:16.150
that not only are you exposed
00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:18.170
you have to go up a very steep hill.
00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:19.250
So this is something that probably you're not
00:17:19.250 --> 00:17:21.150
doing as quickly, obviously, as if it was flat terrain.
00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:24.160
And so this hill is not just a normal hill
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:27.140
in the sense of what you might imagine
00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:29.140
with just a little bump in the surface
00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:31.170
and that's why as he's going up it there's an account
00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:33.270
where he falls and he slips and they're not even sure
00:17:33.270 --> 00:17:37.020
if maybe he's been shot and he died, but no he gets up.
00:17:37.020 --> 00:17:40.000
He's able to make it up over this hill.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.100
(soldiers yelling)
00:17:42.100 --> 00:17:44.180
(cannon fires)
00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.060
And when he goes over the hill the soldiers don't know
00:17:52.270 --> 00:17:55.120
for sure what's gonna happen.
00:17:55.120 --> 00:17:57.110
They're hoping he's gonna go
00:17:57.110 --> 00:17:58.250
and he's gonna get ammunition for them,
00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:00.210
but really they don't see him again.
00:18:00.210 --> 00:18:03.000
Now when he was going up the hill he actually
00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:07.250
was shot in the leg and it was a very severe injury.
00:18:07.250 --> 00:18:10.010
He was bleeding a lot, but he did make it back to camp.
00:18:10.010 --> 00:18:12.180
When he got to camp he ran up to the General.
00:18:12.180 --> 00:18:14.210
It was General William Tehcumseh Sherman
00:18:14.210 --> 00:18:16.280
and he told him, "We need ammunition,
00:18:16.280 --> 00:18:18.280
"our unit they're running low!"
00:18:18.280 --> 00:18:20.190
And General looks at him and sees that his leg
00:18:20.190 --> 00:18:25.040
is bloody and sees he's been shot
00:18:25.040 --> 00:18:27.020
and says, "Okay what's going on?
00:18:27.020 --> 00:18:28.100
And Orion Howe's trying to dismiss it.
00:18:28.100 --> 00:18:30.110
Says, "No you just gotta get more ammunition to the men."
00:18:30.110 --> 00:18:33.030
And he says, "Okay, I'll take care of the ammunition.
00:18:33.030 --> 00:18:35.270
"Why don't you go ahead on over to the medical tent.
00:18:35.270 --> 00:18:38.020
"Let them take care of you and we'll get the ammunition."
00:18:38.020 --> 00:18:41.010
And actually General Sherman says as he was watching
00:18:41.010 --> 00:18:44.080
this young man, Orion Howe, limp off
00:18:44.080 --> 00:18:46.060
right before he was out of distance he turned around
00:18:46.060 --> 00:18:48.250
and yelled, "It's 54 caliber!"
00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:51.250
Which is an important thing to remember
00:18:51.250 --> 00:18:53.140
because if you're gonna help guys get more ammunition
00:18:53.140 --> 00:18:55.240
they need to have the right size caliber
00:18:55.240 --> 00:18:57.230
for what they're shooting, but General Sherman
00:18:57.230 --> 00:18:59.220
what was so significant is that someone who was shot
00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:02.260
and actually he, even the letter talked about it
00:19:02.260 --> 00:19:05.090
being a fatal location, that he still had the courage
00:19:05.090 --> 00:19:08.200
to come find somebody, to not just lay down
00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:11.130
and feel sorry for himself, to find somebody
00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:13.170
and then he said the fact that he remembered
00:19:13.170 --> 00:19:16.100
the caliber it stood out to him.
00:19:16.100 --> 00:19:18.020
Well General Sherman wrote a letter
00:19:18.020 --> 00:19:19.200
to the Secretary of War and said we need to remember
00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:23.090
this kid in fact I think he should be
00:19:23.090 --> 00:19:25.030
a midshipmen, go to the Naval Academy,
00:19:25.030 --> 00:19:27.050
which later Abraham Lincoln did sign paperwork
00:19:27.050 --> 00:19:29.200
for him to go to the Naval Academy, and as he's at home
00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:31.290
for two months recovering he then decides he wants
00:19:31.290 --> 00:19:34.280
to come back and he volunteers again.
00:19:34.280 --> 00:19:36.240
So he comes back, he signs up, he actually serves
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.010
until 1864 when he's discharged as a Corporal
00:19:39.010 --> 00:19:42.070
and this is one of the things that people
00:19:42.070 --> 00:19:44.270
recognized, even then with General Sherman's write up
00:19:44.270 --> 00:19:47.220
about him saying this is special, they knew that
00:19:47.220 --> 00:19:50.020
what he did was special but it actually took more
00:19:50.020 --> 00:19:53.010
than 30 years before he ever got recognition for it.
00:19:53.010 --> 00:19:56.030
The War Department there was some kind of snafu,
00:19:56.030 --> 00:19:58.090
there was a mix up, they lost paperwork,
00:19:58.090 --> 00:20:00.040
and more than 30 years later somebody was going
00:20:00.040 --> 00:20:03.070
through paperwork and realized we never got this guy
00:20:03.070 --> 00:20:05.210
any kind of commendation, any kind of award,
00:20:05.210 --> 00:20:08.030
we need to do something.
00:20:08.030 --> 00:20:09.220
So more than 30 years later, it was 1896,
00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:12.080
he actually got a Congressional Medal of Honor
00:20:12.080 --> 00:20:15.030
and he was not the only guy from Vicksburg
00:20:15.030 --> 00:20:17.010
to get a Congressional Medal of Honor.
00:20:17.010 --> 00:20:18.070
- No he wasn't.
00:20:18.070 --> 00:20:19.230
And you look at the Medal of Honor, over the course
00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:21.050
of the U.S. Military on average one out of every 16.000
00:20:21.050 --> 00:20:26.000
soldiers gets a Medal of Honor.
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.280
That's a really, really, really elite group
00:20:27.280 --> 00:20:30.290
that gets a Medal of Honor.
00:20:30.290 --> 00:20:32.140
Here at Vicksburg it was one out of every 600 soldiers
00:20:32.140 --> 00:20:34.260
that got the Medal of Honor.
00:20:34.260 --> 00:20:36.090
There were about 120 Medals of Honor given here
00:20:36.090 --> 00:20:38.090
and where we're standing right now
00:20:38.090 --> 00:20:39.170
there were 78 Medals of Honor just right here
00:20:39.170 --> 00:20:42.230
for guys charging trying to take here
00:20:42.230 --> 00:20:44.260
and Orion Howe course was on that other hill,
00:20:44.260 --> 00:20:47.130
but all right here.
00:20:47.130 --> 00:20:48.280
- And recognizing how many guys got the Medal of Honor
00:20:48.280 --> 00:20:50.250
here, the Medal of Honor for them during the Civil War
00:20:50.250 --> 00:20:54.190
actually was given for a little different standards
00:20:54.190 --> 00:20:56.130
than what the Medal of Honor would be today.
00:20:56.130 --> 00:20:59.070
If you were courageous in battle, if you did something
00:20:59.070 --> 00:21:01.240
that they thought was significant, today that might
00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:04.150
be a Bronze Star might be a Silver Star
00:21:04.150 --> 00:21:06.040
it might not be the same level for them,
00:21:06.040 --> 00:21:08.160
but it doesn't take away from the fact
00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:09.240
that they were doing significant things
00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:11.220
and certainly the courage of Orion Howe
00:21:11.220 --> 00:21:14.000
that actually Genera Sherman says this kid was kinda
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.070
impressive, we should remember his name.
00:21:16.070 --> 00:21:18.160
It does seem like that is still something that
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:21.130
would be worthy of note maybe, again, maybe today
00:21:21.130 --> 00:21:23.280
it would be a Bronze Star or a Silver Star
00:21:23.280 --> 00:21:25.210
it might be different.
00:21:25.210 --> 00:21:26.280
But you know, Orion Howe was only 14
00:21:26.280 --> 00:21:29.230
and today we look at that and go man this was one
00:21:29.230 --> 00:21:31.190
of the youngest kids to receive it,
00:21:31.190 --> 00:21:33.070
but there were actually several stories of young kids
00:21:33.070 --> 00:21:36.170
who served during the Civil War and then really
00:21:36.170 --> 00:21:39.160
throughout American history but even there's other
00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:41.200
Medal of Honor winners who were young teenagers
00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.280
like Orion Howe was, but he's just one really good
00:21:43.280 --> 00:21:46.280
example of maybe some of America's hidden history
00:21:46.280 --> 00:21:49.230
of young people that we just don't know much about anymore.
00:21:49.230 --> 00:21:52.130
And Orion Howe is a great example.
00:21:52.130 --> 00:21:54.100
(upbeat jazz music)
00:21:54.100 --> 00:21:57.100
(drum bangs)
00:22:02.030 --> 00:22:04.000
- This right here is a drum from the Civil War.
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.130
You can see the American eagle on it.
00:22:06.130 --> 00:22:08.070
We've got another one right here.
00:22:08.070 --> 00:22:09.210
These both have to do with our hero today.
00:22:09.210 --> 00:22:13.010
The story of Orion Howe.
00:22:13.010 --> 00:22:14.190
This one I'll start with.
00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:15.260
This is a parade drum so it would've been used
00:22:15.260 --> 00:22:18.070
while the Army or different groups
00:22:18.070 --> 00:22:20.070
are marching through town.
00:22:20.070 --> 00:22:21.180
It's got a painting on it.
00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:22.240
A number of other instances of this type
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:24.250
of drum would've had mottos of different political leaders
00:22:24.250 --> 00:22:27.170
like Daniel Webster or Abraham Lincoln.
00:22:27.170 --> 00:22:29.190
This one over here is much more like what Orion Howe
00:22:29.190 --> 00:22:32.200
would've used in the battle.
00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:34.210
You can see the snares on the bottom of it
00:22:34.210 --> 00:22:36.210
and something that we don't think about
00:22:36.210 --> 00:22:38.120
when we, you know, learn about the musicians
00:22:38.120 --> 00:22:40.190
during the Civil War it wasn't there just for entertainment.
00:22:40.190 --> 00:22:43.120
In fact, they played a very vital and important role
00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:46.040
in the military.
00:22:46.040 --> 00:22:47.190
Because this was before radios so how do you communicate
00:22:47.190 --> 00:22:50.110
over the battlefield?
00:22:50.110 --> 00:22:51.250
You have, you know, cannons going off, men yelling,
00:22:51.250 --> 00:22:54.080
guns firing, how do you communicate?
00:22:54.080 --> 00:22:56.280
Well you communicate through music.
00:22:56.280 --> 00:22:59.130
So they would beat different beats on their drums
00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:01.230
to send different orders to indicate, you know,
00:23:01.230 --> 00:23:04.030
hey we're going this way, now we're attacking now,
00:23:04.030 --> 00:23:06.200
we're retreating now, so the musicians played
00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:08.230
a very vital role on the battlefield
00:23:08.230 --> 00:23:10.240
and Orion Howe more than most.
00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:13.120
(calm guitar music)
00:23:13.120 --> 00:23:16.140
(chickens clucking)
00:23:24.180 --> 00:23:27.140
- One of the things I like about Bass Reeves
00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:29.030
and Orion Howe is growing up is as we would watch
00:23:29.030 --> 00:23:31.180
so many of the old action and western movies
00:23:31.180 --> 00:23:33.220
whether it be a John Wayne or a Roy Rogers
00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:35.210
or Errol Flynn.
00:23:35.210 --> 00:23:36.280
It's so fun to be able to tell the stories
00:23:36.280 --> 00:23:38.190
and I felt like as we're telling the stories
00:23:38.190 --> 00:23:40.140
of Reeves and Orion Howe these are stories
00:23:40.140 --> 00:23:43.210
of movies I watched growing up!
00:23:43.210 --> 00:23:45.170
It's those kinds of heroes, those stories we watched,
00:23:45.170 --> 00:23:48.010
so fun to be able to tell their stories.
00:23:48.010 --> 00:23:49.190
- Yeah, that was a spirit of those stories
00:23:49.190 --> 00:23:51.040
but I would say growing up, we had a real shortage
00:23:51.040 --> 00:23:52.280
of movies about 14 year olds who got the Medal of Honor.
00:23:52.280 --> 00:23:55.240
- True.
00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:57.060
- You know, I mean Disney, old Disney movies,
00:23:57.060 --> 00:23:58.160
they had some.
00:23:58.160 --> 00:23:59.220
They had Johnny Shiloh and Johnny Tremain
00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:01.040
so you can say young people were heroes,
00:24:01.040 --> 00:24:03.090
but maybe there's a movie waiting to happen
00:24:03.090 --> 00:24:06.060
on Orion Howe.
00:24:06.060 --> 00:24:07.140
So it's great seeing that kind of courage
00:24:07.140 --> 00:24:09.120
and we love those acton movies
00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:10.260
and then when I look at Bass Reeves and Isaac Parker.
00:24:10.260 --> 00:24:13.170
I am so struck by how well they got along
00:24:13.170 --> 00:24:17.060
being from such dissimilar backgrounds.
00:24:17.060 --> 00:24:19.130
I mean, you have Judge Parker who's a Congressman,
00:24:19.130 --> 00:24:22.140
highly educated, he's an attorney, he's a judge,
00:24:22.140 --> 00:24:25.100
and you have Bass Reeves who was in slavery,
00:24:25.100 --> 00:24:28.090
escaped from slavery, hid out for awhile so not
00:24:28.090 --> 00:24:31.020
to be taken back into slavery, and then becomes
00:24:31.020 --> 00:24:33.180
one of the greatest law enforcement officials
00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:35.250
in the history of the United States.
00:24:35.250 --> 00:24:38.080
And here's two guys very different backgrounds.
00:24:38.080 --> 00:24:41.070
One black, one white.
00:24:41.070 --> 00:24:42.280
And yet what they did together, I mean what a team
00:24:42.280 --> 00:24:46.050
they made working for justice in that area.
00:24:46.050 --> 00:24:48.130
- Well and especially in a culture where there's
00:24:48.130 --> 00:24:49.290
so much division, there's so much separation,
00:24:49.290 --> 00:24:52.210
there's so much frustration between people.
00:24:52.210 --> 00:24:54.150
It's great to see examples where if you find common ground
00:24:54.150 --> 00:24:59.000
and common goals where incredibly dissimilar people
00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:02.130
can come together and they can unite for a common
00:25:02.130 --> 00:25:04.140
purpose and really do something significant
00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:06.210
and that is one of the fun things about the Bass Reeves
00:25:06.210 --> 00:25:08.260
story is he was someone who cared about justice,
00:25:08.260 --> 00:25:11.200
who cared about right, who wasn't afraid even
00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:13.260
for his family, even for his minister,
00:25:13.260 --> 00:25:15.160
to uphold the standard.
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.020
- Well see that's the other thing that gets me with him
00:25:17.020 --> 00:25:18.020
is the word duty stands out more.
00:25:18.020 --> 00:25:20.000
Because how many today would be willing to arrest
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:22.100
their own son or to arrest the, and for him
00:25:22.100 --> 00:25:24.180
it's no this is my duty.
00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:27.060
I'm going to do what I'm suppose to do.
00:25:27.060 --> 00:25:29.070
And the fact that he did his duty at such a,
00:25:29.070 --> 00:25:32.220
if you will, a high maybe dislike 'cause I can't imagine
00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:37.080
he enjoyed arresting his son or minister,
00:25:37.080 --> 00:25:39.000
but he did it and how many times he had guys
00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:42.030
shooting at him, but that was his duty.
00:25:42.030 --> 00:25:44.120
He had to go get them.
00:25:44.120 --> 00:25:45.240
But the word duty is something that really stands
00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:47.170
out to me with Bass Reeves and really that's
00:25:47.170 --> 00:25:49.270
a character trait we need more of today.
00:25:49.270 --> 00:25:51.280
- It is, and I think even with Orion Howe
00:25:51.280 --> 00:25:53.200
that duty might be an appropriate word because the reason
00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.220
he got the Medal of Honor wasn't because he was excited
00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:58.190
about running up a hill through gunfire
00:25:58.190 --> 00:26:00.210
it was no I have to do this.
00:26:00.210 --> 00:26:03.190
Maybe self sacrifice would be another good word,
00:26:03.190 --> 00:26:06.150
but I have to do what's right which is the idea of duty.
00:26:06.150 --> 00:26:09.090
But self sacrifice I don't mind what it costs me,
00:26:09.090 --> 00:26:12.130
I have to help my brethren out in this regard.
00:26:12.130 --> 00:26:16.080
And so I think for both of them there's no doubt
00:26:16.080 --> 00:26:18.120
duty was involved maybe even self sacrifice,
00:26:18.120 --> 00:26:21.060
but both of those are character traits we could
00:26:21.060 --> 00:26:22.190
use more of today.
00:26:22.190 --> 00:26:24.030
(energetic music)
00:26:24.030 --> 00:26:26.280
- [Narrator] We hope you're enjoying TBN's
00:26:30.130 --> 00:26:32.080
exclusive series "America's Hidden History".
00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:34.250
Thrilling stories of ordinary and unsung Americans
00:26:34.250 --> 00:26:37.260
whom God used in extraordinary ways to shape our nation.
00:26:37.260 --> 00:26:41.090
Right now, we want to send you the entire first season
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America's Hidden History | Bass Reeves and Orion Howe

America's Hidden History | Bass Reeves and Orion Howe

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America's Hidden History | Bass Reeves and Orion Howe

America's Hidden History | Bass Reeves and Orion Howe

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