History of the U.S. Marshals

                    & the U.S. Marshals Posse

our appreciation to member Mike Chesworth of CHESWORTHfilms for producing this video

 U.S. Marshals Posse Founders

In February 1988, Dr. Richard Collins, a Scottsdale orthopedic surgeon, organized a group of local horsemen and women to promote the USMS and help celebrate the Bicentennial 200th anniversary of the 1789 establishment of the U.S. Marshals. The group selected eye-catching uniforms with matching tack and on April 19, 1988 they became the second organized U.S. Marshals Posse in the United States. 
 

The  founding members include Dr. Richard Collins, Dr. J. Michael Foley, Dr. Gary Gradke, Dr. G Glen Hait, Marston Holben, Forrest Holden, Kenny Mott, Wendell Petefish, Dr. Scott Petersen, Elizabeth Petersen, Stephen Schumak, Malcom Strohson, and Dr. Merlin Webb. 

 U.S. Marshals History - established 1789

• The JUDICIARY ACT OF 1789 creating a United States Marshal for each federal judicial district was approved in the first session of the 1st United States Congress and signed into law by President George Washington on September 24, 1789
• President George Washington appointed the first 13 U.S. Marshals, one for each federal judicial district 
  
   
• The first U.S. Marshal of the Territory of Arizona District was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln on March 10, 1863 (after the Territory of Arizona was created on February 24, 1863)
• The District of Arizona was created on June 20, 1910 effective upon admission of Arizona as a State on February 14, 1912

Honoring our fallen U.S. Marshals of Arizona

Territory of Arizona

John Adams, Deputy U.S. Marshal                 1878
Cornelius Finley, Deputy U.S. Marshal           1878
Charlie Escalante, Deputy U.S. Marshal        1909

District of Arizona

Thomas Wootan, Posse                                  1918
Charles Day, Deputy U.S. Marshal                 1918
Colby Farrar, Deputy U.S. Marshal                 1939
Edmund Schweppe, Deputy U.S. Marshal    1942
Chase White, Deputy U.S. Marshal                2018

 

Visit District of Arizona - U.S. Marshals Service page

Page updated 5/7/2025