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Ezekiel Proctor

Born: July 4, 1831

Death: February 28, 1907

Ezekiel “Zeke” Proctor arrived in Goingsnake territory, now known as Tahlequah, Oklahoma, at the young age of seven. He traveled there with his family over the Trail of Tears. During the infamous American Indian Removal Act that was signed into law by then-President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.

“Chap. CXLVIII. - An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories and for their removal west of the river Mississippi." Statute I

Zeke stood tall with long black hair draped loosely about his shoulders. He was quiet and reserved, but brave if not rebellious.

He served in the Civil War on the Union side, which created conflict with the already strained relations between the Proctor's and the Beck family, who served on the Confederate side.

Goingsnake Massacre

Eleven people were killed during a shootout at the trial of Ezekiel Proctor for the murder of Polly Beck, a Cherokee woman, and wounding her husband Jim Kesterton, who was white.

The Cherokee and the United States had a jurisdictional dispute over prosecution of the shooting of Kesterton, because he was white. However, the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas had limited jurisdiction in Indian Territory. Because Kesterson was white, the US District Court believed it should have jurisdiction to prosecute Proctor for the attack on the non-Native, although the incident occurred with the Cherokee Nation. It had jurisdiction over non-Native federal crimes in Indian Territory.

Two Deputy US Marshals assigned to attend the trial led an eight-man federal posse. Five Beck clan members accompanied them. Their instructions were to immediately arrest Proctor on federal charges in the attack on Kesterton and bring him back to Fort Smith to stand trial if he was acquitted by the Cherokee court.

Shooting broke out in the crowded courtroom during the proceedings, which turned into a massacre of major proportions. Zeke survived the ambush, but his brother, Johnson Proctor was killed.

I can tell this story because Zeke Proctor was my Great Uncle through marriage.My grandfather lived with him from the age of ten until Zeke’s death in 1907, which put my grandfather at seventeen years old.