FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — The Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma will contribute to the U.S. Marshals Museum in Arkansas a statue of a native lighthorseman who worked with federal marshals to keep order in the Indian Territory.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the museum board voted Tuesday to accept the recommendation from the tribes’ Intertribal Council for the statue by Dan HorseChief, a Cherokee-Pawnee artist.
The statue design shows a life-size lighthorseman sitting on a rearing horse. The tribes referred to their mounted police as lighthorsemen. The law enforcement entities currently remain on duty under the title of marshals.
Cherokee Nation representative Catherine Gray says the statute will sit at the center of a museum plaza she expects to include spaces for each tribe to tell their stories.