Goingsnake Massacre - Aftermath

Aftermath

Proctor was acquitted the next day in a Cherokee court. The Cherokee ruling on Proctor was accepted by American courts, since Cherokee courts had jurisdiction at the time, and due to federal laws against double jeopardy. Marshal James Huckleberry immediately dispatched twenty one Deputy Marshals under the command of Charles Robinson. They took with them two doctors, who helped tend to wounded Cherokee civilians.

The second posse arrested several men believed to have been involved in the killing of the Marshals, including jury foreman Arch Scaper. There was no resistance made against the second posse. Zeke Proctor had fled by the time this posse arrived. The suspects were taken to Fort Smith, Arkansas for trial, but all were eventually released due to lack of evidence or witnesses willing to testify.

A federal grand jury in Fort Smith indicted twenty Cherokees present at the trial as well all the tribal court officers. Cherokee Nation issued warrants for several Cherokee citizens, as well. The federal government later dismissed all indictments.

Zeke Proctor continued living in the area. By the 1880s he owned a small ranch. He was elected as a Cherokee Senator in 1877, and in 1894 was elected sheriff of the Flint District of the Cherokee Nation. Ironically, he served as a United States Deputy Marshal from 1891 to 1894, under "Hanging Judge" Parker. Proctor died on February 23, 1907 at age 76. His interment was in West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma's Johnson Cemetery.