“Keeping History Alive… one story at a time.”
The exciting period of Western History, beginning with the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century has continued to hold the imagination of millions. That time period was filled with thousands of history making events and a equal number of common folk of all races who became bigger than life as their deeds were recorded on the pages of our history books.
Barkingwater Productions is an organization that is made up cowboy poets, storytellers, historians, living history interpreters and authors. We are dedicated to keeping many of the untold historical facts and stories alive.
We tell the stories of those Negro regiments that helped to settle the West. and were called Buffalo Soldiers. They were all Black Soldiers with White officers who managed to find themselves involved in most of the Indian Wars. Our home is the State of Oklahoma, once referred to as the Indian Territory. So many of the stories that we tell revolve around the present day Army base, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The four Negro Regiments were the 9th and 10th (Horse) Cavalry supported by the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments. Most of these men were former slaves who evolved into first-rate construction engineers as well as Indian fighters.
During the nineteenth century the Indian Territory was an extremely dangerous place to live. One-man lead the fight to see that the thousands of outlaws that roamed the territory were brought to justice. His name was Isaac Parker. He was a Federal Judge that was responsible for the entire territory called the Western District of Arkansas. To accomplish his mission he deployed 200 Deputy U.S. Marshals, whose sole mission was to return the lawbreakers to Fort Smith, Arkansas where they would be tried in Judge Parkers Court, and if found guilty, they would be hung.
We at Barkingwater Productions are proud to be able to tell some of the stories of Judge Parkers Black Deputy U.S. Marshals. Scattered across the territory were outlaws of all different colors. Parker simply believed that the lawmen should look like the outlaws.
Some of the most exciting stories of the old west that we attempt to share with the public are those untold stories of Black men who served as Scouts for the United States Army. We call this portion of our program Negro Scouts of the West. The men whose stories we tell should be as well known as Buffalo Bill and Kit Carson, but unfortunately are not. Men such as the Isaiah Doorman, the only black man to die with Custer at the Little Big Horn; the mixed blood scout Frank Guard and the famed Seminole Negro Indian Scouts. We tell their stories with pride, because we know in many cases these are stories that are not being told.
Another exciting portion of our business is to share with the public a few of the stories of the black cowboys who made history during the great cattle drive time period. Men such as Ante Love, Bill Pickett, and Bose Ikehard were bigger than life cowboys of that time period. These were cowboys who just happened to be black. We call this part of program Black Cowboys of the West.
Our mission is to provide you a program that can be tailored to your needs; a program that will educate in a historically correct manner and yet be entertaining. Our storytellers are dressed for the time period and for the subject on which they are speaking. It will be our pleasure to bring our stories to you at your request.