Born a slave in 1838, Crawford County, Arkansas, Brass Rivers is given the surname of Jim Rivers, a slave owner, farmer and politician.
Upon moving to Paris, Texas, Brass parts company from his master, joining the Union Army as the Civil War begins. And from 1861 to 1865 as the war split America in two, Brass plays his part in the gruesome conflict against the Confederacy; witnessing and inflicting wanton death and deconstruction.
Returning home at the end of the war, unable to settle with being free and a quiet home-life, Brass flees into the Indian Territories where he lives among Seminole and Creek Indians. While he lives with the Native Indians lawlessness is rampant across the Mid-West and Judge Parker appoints James F. Fagan as U.S. Marshal, instructing him to hire U.S. Marshals to assist in bringing justice to Arkansas. Somehow Fagan hears about Brass and his abilities to speak several Indian languages as well as his knowledge of the Indian Territory and recruits him as a Deputy U.S. Marshal.
The significance of this appointment is not lost on Judge Parker since who'd ever heard of one of the best Marshals around being a Black Man to boot....
The Brass Rivers' Adventures start here...