Deputy U.S. Marshal James Nakedhead

The posse left Checotah before daylight on February 27, 1895, hunting Ben Hughes and Jeff Southerd, wanted for a train robbery at Gordon, Texas. Their quarry was holed up in a double log house near Deep Fork Creek, and two shepherd dogs raised the alarm as the posse closed in. One man broke for a cotton field. As Nakedhead turned his fire on him, Hughes shot from behind a big log and hit Nakedhead in the head. A deputy's bullet in the shoulder made Hughes surrender. Nakedhead's body was shipped to Muskogee.

What the plaque says

Deputy U.S. Marshal James Nakedhead Cherokee Indian policeman First town marshal Tahlequah, Indian Territory, 1890. Jail guard Muskogee, Indian Territory, 1893, Killed at Brush Hill Feb. 27 1895 when he charged the hideout of Texas outlaws "A brave and fearless officer who gave up his life" in the line of duty---Muskogee Phoenix March 2, 1895. Oklahoma Historical Society 228-1997

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Honey Springs Battlefield — 11 mi
  The July 17, 1863 battlefield on the Texas Road, the largest fight in Indian Territory, where Cherokee and Muscogee regiments fought on both sides and the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry held.
• Muscogee (Creek) Nation Council House — 24 mi
  The Muscogee (Creek) Nation's 1878 stone capitol on the Okmulgee square, where the House of Kings and House of Warriors met, lost at statehood and bought back by the Nation in 2010.

More markers nearby

• Paul Henry Carr — 6.3 mi
• Green Corn Dance — 9.7 mi
• Samuel Checote — 24 mi
• State's Earliest Oil Refinery — 25 mi