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mages and ncident
by JOHN L. DAVIS
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The
A Images and Incidents
By JOHN L. DAVIS
IT@i The University of Texas
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
at San Antonio
CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
I. Colonial Texas and the Republic 9
II. Early Statehood and the Mexican War 27
III. The Two Frontiers 35
IV. Civil War and Reconstruction 43
V. The Frontier Battalion and the Special Force 49
VI. Law Enforcement 59
VII. The Turn of a Century 75
VIII. The Rio Grande, Prohibition, and Politics 83
IX. Myth and Tall Tales 95
X. A Somewhat Different Image 101
Images 115
In Front of the Camera: Studio and Sky 116
Panhandle, Central, East Texas 120
The Trans-Pecos 124
The Valley 126
The Nueces Strip 128
Camps, Cold Camps, and Posts 130
Prohibition and Moonshine 134
Gambling 138
Gear, Tack, and Rigging 140
Readings 145
Photo Credits 153
Index 161
Everywhere in Texas ... Map 172
FOREWORD
H istory is a living discipline dealing with the present as well as
the past. There is no more lively story than that of the Texas Rang­ers,
and this new edition expands on that story. In his update
John L. Davis has augmented his reputation as a fine scholar and a
writer of wonderfully readable prose.
Every historian is a storyteller-but John Davis is peerless.
Read of Captain William Jesse McDonald and how he coined the
Ranger motto, "No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow
that's in the right and keeps on a-coming." In many ways, that
thought reflected Thomas Jefferson's belief in the triumph of truth
over error in a free country, only Captain McDonald's wisdom
comes with a Texas flair. What would one expect from a man who
"would charge hell with a bucket of water?"
Read how Governor "Ma" Ferguson discharged the whole
Ranger force and then appointed men of her own choosing, some
of whom were ex-convicts. And "Ma" had the Texas way of being
bigger than life down pat-the force she dismissed had 32 officers.
She eventually appointed the enormous total of 2,344 (including
the ex-cons) .
So this book is filled with stories about real people who led
lives that contributed to Texas's history as well as to its mythology
and lore. While the stories are not always pleasant, they are defi­nitely
interesting and often exciting. We are indebted to John
Davis for this wonderful addition to Texas history.
Rex H. Ball, Executive Director
The Institute of Texan Cultures
2000
ix
THE TEXAS RANGERS
Images and Incidents
INTRODUCTION
W en the first English-speaking colonists moved into Mexi­can
Texas, they brought their own ways of doing things. Their
customs, beliefs, laws, and institutions had developed both in
England and in two centuries of American pioneering from the
Atlantic coast to the Sabine River. Among the institutions was
the ranger.
Since the beginning of Anglo-American expansion westward
in North America, rangers had been employed: armed, mounted
men who "ranged" the frontier line of farms and homesteads pri­marily
to protect settlers from Indians or other enemies. They
were often civilian volunteers, mostly un-uniformed, sometimes
unpaid, and always enrolled for brief periods. In today's jargon
they were small, paramilitary units raised by colonial govern­ments
or even town councils. No one intended them as substitutes
for either the police or an army; they filled a different need.
Rangers could operate beyond settlement boundaries, move
with great speed through a wilderness, and settle trouble right
on the spot.
When Stephen F. Austin's Texas colony was threatened by In­dian
attacks in 1823, he called up a ranging company for its pro­tection.
Later governments did the same. During the next fifty
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San Antonio de Bexar, sketched by W Bissett, c. 1840
a reputation for quick striking power over a vast area, often with
few riders. To the Anglo-American settler and businessman, the
Ranger stood for courage, peacekeeping, and frontier resourceful­ness.
To his opponents, he represented the use of unhesitating
violence and unrelenting pursuit.
In time the Indians were killed or driven from their last foot­holds
in Texas, and the Rio Grande -with notable exceptions­stabilized
into a peaceful international border.
The next opponent was the outlaw, whatever his race or ac­tivity.
Rangers were given the role of peace officers, a state police
force, though never in name. They put down cattle rustling, fence
cutting, mob violence ... any breach of the law too violent or
widespread for local police officers. In later years the term "outlaw"
included rough characters in oil boom towns. Strike "enforcers"
and contemporary gangsters-anyone breaking the established
laws of the state - came under Ranger fi.re, often literally. At times
Rangers were praised for their immediate response to trouble and
3
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Capt. W.L. Barler of Texas Ranger Company E, an experienced border Ranger, alternatively served during Prohibition as a
Mounted Customs River Rider for the United States Customs Service. When this photograph was taken on May 3, 1918, some
eight miles from Del Rio, Capt. Barler was paid $125 a month in salary. Like all Rangers, he furnished horse, saddle, rif/e,
pistol, meals, and lodging. If a Ranger's horse died in action, the State did pay for a new one; if a Ranger was killed on the job,
no one received any special payment.
I. COLONIAL TEXAS AND THE REPUBLIC
The Texas rangers were created in 1823 by Stephen F. Austin
... and in 1832 by a General Convention of the Colonists ...
and in 1835 by a later revolutionary government ... and by fron­tier
needs in 1839 .... The Rangers were "nrst" created at each
of these times and in many following years, almost never with
the modern name of "Texas Rangers:'
The word "ranger" is a fairly old one in English, and its history
clearly indicates the concept. In the sense of a row or line of
nghters or hunters, "range" was used more than 700 years ago.
By 1470 it had the modern sense of a movement over a wide area
for a variety of purposes: chasing the French, hunting deer, or
pursuing women. By the year 1818 the English poet John Keats,
in his Endymion, could write "I've been a ranger in search of
pleasure throughout every clime:'
But it was as a title for a forest officer, specincally a keeper
of the royal parks, that the word "ranger" came into English almost
as it would later be used in Texas. In 1455 English parliamentary
records noted the office of "Raungers of oure said Forestes:' One
of the duties of the office was the policing of rural areas. The term
was used thereafter by English poets such as Dryden and novelists
such as Scott. Ranging, in the sense of scouting and protecting
9
Felipe de Austin. To deal with sporadic Indian raids, this assembly
suggested a separate IImilitiall from Austin's and DeWitt's colo­nies.
These men differed from Rangers only in name.
As trouble with the Mexican government developed, local
committees of safety and correspondence were formed. A "per­manent
councilll of representatives from municipalities met in
October 1835. Many settlers saw a revolution as inevitable, but
they had a number of troubles to consider. On October 17 Daniel
Parker offered a resolution creating a Corps of Rangers intended
to deal with Indians. One less problem would be welcome. IISU­perintendents"
were to lead three groups: Silas Parker with 25
Rangers between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, Garrison Green­wood
with ten Rangers on the east side of the Trinity, and D.E.
Fryar with 25 between the Brazos and the Colorado. The pay
was $1.25 a day. The Rangers elected their own officers, under
the superintendents, and their duty was "to range and guard the
frontier"-whenever the officers thought necessary.
Scene near Austin, c. 1840
By November 13, 1835, the ordinance "establishing a provi­sional
government" included as part of that government, in Ar­ticle
XXI, a IICOrpS of rangers under the command of a major, to
consist of one hundred and fifty men." This "battalion" was
placed under the regular military commander.
A separate ordinance, passed just 11 days later, slightly rede­fined
the group. The prerevolutionary General Council of Texas,
meeting at San Felipe de Austin, passed an ordinance on Novem­ber
24 which was, to that time, the most coherent and perma­nent-
sounding order establishing the Texas Rangers. In addition
to receiving capital letters, the new "Corps of Rangers" was kept
apart from the regular army under its own leader. To be sure, it
was ultimately under the commander-in-chief of the regular
army, but this was paper authority. A "majorll separately headed
the force, making the Rangers autonomous.
They were now as well defined as they would be for the next
40 years. In all significant respects, units of Rangers acted as
11
13
always ready for active service, a good
and suffzcient horse, properly
accoutred and equipped with saddle,
bridle and blanket, at their own
expense: and in default thereof the
captain or commanding offzcer of
the said company to which said
private belongs, shall cause a
horse to be purchased for said
private and charge him with the
same, in the settlement of his
quarterly accounts.
SEC 3. Be it further ordained
and decreed, Bt., that the offzcer
in the said Corps, in addition to the per
diem compensation of the privates in
the Corps of Rangers, shall receive the
same pay as the offzcers of the same
rank and grade in the Regiment
of Dragoons in the Anny of the
United States of America.
Passed at San Felipe de Austin,
Nov. 24, 1835.
(Signed) JAMES W ROBINSON,
Lieut. Gov. and ex-officio Pres't of G.c.
PB. DEXTER,
Sec'y of the Gen. Council.
Approved, Nov. 26, 1835
HENRY SMITH,
Governor
CHARLES B. STEWART,
Executive Secretary
Cylinder engraving prepared for the Colt Dragoon. The fanciful design (as far as uniforms and dress go) takes inspiration
from such victories as Jack Hays managed against Indians in Texas when he and his Rangers were armed with
the first repeating five-shooters. For the first time, traditional Indian weaponry was no match for guns.
Rangers had a short term of enlistment, three to six months
at fIrst and rarely longer than a year, but many individuals served
more than one term. The organization was simple. Natural leaders
emerged from the ranks and were accepted as officers. And the
officer literally led his men - he did not simply tell them what
to do. In any case, the Rangers were to defend their territory ac­cording
to their own rules, as long as they were within the broad
scope of frontier justice. If they wished, their territory could take
the horizon as a boundary. And, in such a place, frontier justice
did not require a courtroom trial.
Always numerically few, Rangers learned to strike hard and
fast, often adopting the fIghting tactics and ground of the enemy.
And, from their fIrst enemies, the Indians, they learned a lot.
When the ranging companies were fIrst organized, Captain
Thmlinsons company on the Colorado included Noah Smithwick,
who would write one of the most interesting of the histories of
Texas. He included a typical early-Ranger incident:
In January of 1836 Smithwick was near the future site of Aus­tin.
The town was not there, but the earliest Anglo-American
settlers were, and some sixty Rangers met to build a frontier post.
The 1836 revolution had effectively started the previous Decem­ber,
but frontier defense was no less important.
Near suppertime a young woman dragged herself into the
Ranger camp, exhausted. Her clothes were in shreds, torn in her
escape from Indians the day before. Mrs. Hibbons's story was
not uncommon. When attacked by Comanches, she was traveling
with her husband, brother, and two small children to the Guada­lupe
River, where they hoped to establish a home. The Indians­skilled
mounted warriors - still controlled much of the land. The
two men and her older child were all killed, and she and the baby
were captured.
15
My plan always was, when there
was a momentous job on hand, to
go right at it and get it over with.
- Noah Smithwick
For several years after 1836, the Centralists of Mexico had
too many troubles to put any further military force in Texas.
Alleged efforts to incite the Indians against Texas settlers and
conflicts between the Anglo-Americans on the expanding frontier
and the Indians themselves kept the Rangers busy.
On January 15, 1839, the government of the Republic of Texas
passed an act again renewing the ranging service and calling for
a company of 56 men. The duration was for three months at a
total cost of $5,000. Their duty was lito range on the frontier of
Gonzales County and protect the settlements:'
~
Battle of Plum Creek
Specific provisions like this were never enough. A few days
later a Corps of Rangers was created: two companies of 56 men
to protect San Patricio, Goliad, and Refugio counties for six
months. The total expense was to be $15,000. As usual, most
equipment, arms, and horses were furnished by the individual
Rangers. As usual, other groups were raised as needed, sometimes
without clear provision for pay. And, as usual, the Ranger service
was supported by a patchwork of government acts, but all for
the same reasons.
In the days of the republic, fights with Indians occurred over
much of Central Texas, often near rivers, large and small, which
gave their names to battles: the Sabine, Brazos, Colorado, San
Gabriel, Llano, Little River, and Walnut Creek. The bodies of
Indians and Rangers also fell among nameless ravines and hills
laced with prairie flowers.
Those who fought the native Indians in these years were not
only Rangers. Volunteer groups - as they were frequently called­were
often a mix of Texas militia, Rangers, Indian scouts and allies,
and actual volunteers -very temporary enlistees from the new
settlements threatened by Indian attack.
Colonel John H. Moore, leading a volunteer unit in October
of 1840, surprised a group of Comanches - some sixty families
and over a hundred warriors - camped in a bend of the upper
Colorado. As morning broke, the Rangers and others, who (like
the Indians) had spent the night in the grip of icy weather, shook
off the cold and dashed into the encampment. They fired in all
directions. Some Indians were driven into the cold water to
17
In November of 1835, when the
more formal Corps of Rangers was
established, Williamson was chosen
leader, the first major in the service.
Five months later he joined Smiths
Cavalry for the San jacinto battle,
dashing up at the last minute to
join the fight. He had been in the
field for weeks. His hair was long,
his beard matted and tangled. He
wore a suit of dirty buckskin,
stained and stiff from sweat and
cold spring rains. On his head was
a fur cap with nine coontails
dangling to his shoulders. Other
men with him that day said later that
some of the enemy who encountered
him simply died of fright.
Williamson later became a
district judge, member of the Texas
Supreme Court, and legislator.
® ® ®
In the summer of 1840, Comanche
Indians-and allies-raided down
the Guadalupe River valley in
retribution for the Council House
fight in San Antonio some five
months earlier. The Indians
considered the San Antonio fight a
treacherous breach of honor on the
part of the Republic of Texas and
took revenge by looting, killing,
and burning settlements on their
way southeast.
On their return they were met
by a volunteer army at Plum Creek
near present Lockhart. Included in
this force that defeated the Comanches
on August 11 were Rangers led by
Ben McCulloch.
John Coffee 'Jack" Hays. The name given to Hays by the Comanches-man-it-is-very-bad-luck-to-get-in-/ight-with-because-devils­help-
him - was one word in the Indian language. It was shortened by the Europeans who knew it to "Devil Jack ."
South of San Antonio stretched trade routes traveled by Anglo­American
and Mexican merchants across land claimed by both
Texas and Mexico: the brush country between the Nueces River
and the Rio Grande. Traders found the routes profitable whether
or not Mexico and Texas were officially at war, but bandits were
a real problem. When traders were attacked early in 1841 by Mex­ican
freebooters, Hays rode south from San Antonio with Captain
Antonio Perez. With the two captains were 25 rangers: 12 were
Anglo-American in heritage; 13 were Mexican. Not one was in
a mood to respect boundaries.
About ten miles from Laredo, Captain Garcia of the Mexican
army and 35 troopers rode out to oppose them. Hays and Perez's
presence in the area was considered an invasion by the Mexicans,
simply a pursuit of bandits by Hays. Suspecting that the bandits
had taken refuge in Laredo, Hays and Perez charged the Mexican
troops and, in two engagements, routed them.
19
near the top. Here was a place of lucrative but lost mines, wan­dering
and treacherous wraiths, and outrageous forms of human
sacrifice. Most of the stories are invention. But, whatever the sto­ries,
the mountain provides beautiful views from its top -which
were probably what Jack Hays was seeking when, rising early,
he climbed the granite dome alone in a brilliant morning sunrise.
Hays, of course, had strapped on his heavy Colt revolvers,
saying, within Ben McCulloch's hearing, "I may not need you,
but if I do, I will need you mighty bad:' He did. Comanche war­riors
had been tracking the party and, on the morning of Hays's
walk, recognized him as he left camp. They decided to surround
their old enemy on the dome and butcher him. They attacked,
but Hays made it to the top, where weathered, broken rock gave
him good cover. Hays's repeating pistols took a fearful toll of In­dians
before his men, following the sounds of battle, arrived and
drove the attackers from the slopes.
On June 8, 1844, Hays and 14 other Rangers carried off a sim­ilar
victory by routing some eighty Comanches on the Pedernales
River north of San Antonio. The Rangers were armed with the
new five-shooters, while the Indians had expected the tactics of
Rangers armed with single-shot weapons.
Early battle tactics called for the Rangers to ride to an engage­ment
with rifle, shotgun, and pistol: all single-shot weapons and
none suitable from horseback. Shooting was done as alternately
as possible, some men reloading while others fired, all dismount­ed.
'~n Indian could discharge a dozen arrows while a man was
21
The Rangers were Indian
exterminators; the soldiers
were only guards.
- Walter Prescott Webb
William Alexander Wallace
23
When the sound of Comanche
hoofbeats had become silence,
Wallace rode on alone through the
clearing back to camp.
''Bigfoot,'' as he came to be
known, was a frontiersman, tale
teller, stage driver, and fighter-and
one source for the "larger-than-life"
Texan myth. Back in Virginia on
visits, he found that people
accepted great lies and great truth
on a fairly equal basis. He rarely
passed up an opportunity to tell a
story; the story was rarely less than
hair-raising.
In the Texas State Cemetery at
Austin, a small stone gives the
simple truth: "Here lies he who
spent his manhood defending the
homes of Texans."
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A CIIlCK-EN FIGHTE R .
25
Military Plaza in San Antonio­a
market day with chili stands
John McCullough
A "chicken fighter, " as presented in a
San Antonio newspaper in 1894
Engraving of a cockfight
II. EARLY STATEHOOD
AND THE MEXICAN WAR
n July of 1845 General Zachary Taylor, commanding United
States forces, arrived at the mouth of the Nueces River. Texas
was negotiating annexation with the United States, and the United
States was ready to go to war with Mexico to defend Texas' claim
to the Rio Grande as its southern boundary. If all of Texas was
not disputed land, certainly the land between the Nueces and
the Rio Grande was.
The tempo of the political dance quickened. The United
States, committed to the annexation of Texas, had military forces
in the disputed republic well before formal annexation on De­cember
29, 1845. Texas' last president, Anson Jones, continued
in office until February 19, 1846, when the Lone Star flag-as the
flag of a republic - was lowered and J. Pinckney Henderson was
inaugurated as :6.rst governor of the 28th U.S. state. General Taylor
had been told as early as October of 1845 by Secretary of War
W.L. Marcy that "Texas is now fully incorporated into our union:'
Marcy added, a bit early, that Taylor should "make a requisition
upon the executive of that State for such of its militia force as
may be needed to repel invasion .... " In fact, the U.S. was plan­ning
to do the invading, and the :6.rst Texas soldiers -who cared
little for exact dates or niceties of diplomatic language - were
Rangers under Captain Samuel Walker.
27
Walker Colt
adoes, were armed like a cliche to the teeth, and had no reser­vations
about killing.
And they were soon involved in the more interesting atrocities
of the conflict. One of the most flagrant was the "incident" at Haci­enda
San Francisco de los Patos in Coahuila. To some people, the
story is absolute truth; to others, it is fiction.
As the most exciting version goes, a unit of Rangers was acting
as escort for a group of United States supply wagons on the way
south. The road was long and not entirely exciting. One evening
the Rangers camped by a large hacienda. Nearby at least one of
the Rangers found a cantina. It is a familiar episode. After a heroic
number of late-afternoon drinks, and, since the locale offered few
diversions, the Ranger decided to desecrate the local church. He
ripped down the huge altar crucifix and dragged it behind his
horse as he departed the plaza. When an elderly priest gave chase
and attempted to grab the crucifix, the Ranger turned and rode
him down.
Local residents, however, were watching. Dragging a cross
in the dirt was one thing, but trampling a priest was another. They
'lIt~ ~'t.J!.;~::'"
Texas Rangers in federal service meet Mexican lancers during the
Mexican War, 1846.
29
Samuel H. Walker's name
became a widely used word
in Texas as the "Walker Colt"
became the revolutionary
handgun that altered the style
of frontier fighting.
Born in Maryland, Walker
came to Texas after establishing
a reputation for courage and
coolness during Indian battles
in the southeastern United
States. He was a member of
Jack Hays's Rangers but spent
much of his time in New York
dealing with Samuel Colt in
the purchase of arms for the
Republic of Texas. His
suggestions for changes in
the Colt guns resulted in the
popular Walker Colt models,
which became common
wherever there were Rangers,
cowboys, or frontiersmen.
In 1842 Walker joined the
Mier Expedition, was captured,
and ended up in a Mexican
prison. On his release he vowed
to return to Mexico - but not as
a prisoner. He did. As a member
of the United States Mounted
Rifles, he fought at Monterrey
and later on the road to Mexico
City. Walker was killed during
the last engagements of the war.
Sam Walker's charge at Huamantla, Mexico, October 9, 1847, during the Mexican War
The Rangers excelled, but, under siege conditions or between
battles, even on some scouts, they were trouble. General Taylor
could not manage them after the capture of Monterrey, and some
Rangers were discharged. He wrote that "the mounted men from
Texas have scarcely made one expedition without unwarrantably
killing a Mexican ... . There is scarcely a form of crime that has
not been reported to me as committed by them ... :' But the
regular army continued to use Rangers in practically every con­flict.
And the Rangers were most willing: during the war there
were some 1,300 enlistments.
To the south, on the road between Veracruz and Mexico City,
General Scott's communications line was thin. He was harassed
by a guerrilla operation on the part of the Mexicans even as their
regular army crumbled in front of him.
Jack Hays arrived in 1847 to help clear the road for Scott.
He brought 500 new Colt six-shooters for his men.
Gradually the Rangers' side of the war took on the characteris­tics
of guerrilla combat. The Rangers not only kept the roads open,
but also pursued the Mexicans into their mountain retreats. They
took few prisoners and their reputation grew.
Their appearance, certainly intentional, always caused com­ment.
At Puebla Albert Brackett of the Indiana Volunteers, a reg­ular
army man, noted that the Rangers were "an odd-looking set
of fellows, and it seems to be their aim to dress as outlandishly
as possible. Bob-tailed coats and "long-tailed blues:' low and high­crowned
hats, some slouched and others Panama, with a sprin-
31
"Texas has done more for me
& my armes then all the country
besides they have a better
knowledge of ther use & want
every texan ranger in Mexico to
be thus armed before they are
furnished any other troops."
- Samuel Colt to
Sam Houston, 1847
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TREASURY WARRANT.
Treasury warrant of the Republic of Texas issued to John C. Hays
Rangers had enlisted. Some Indians and a few bandits found the
times quite congeniaL
In June of 1846 Colonel William S. Harney asked for five com­panies
of mounted Rangers to enter the federal service but to
stay in Texas as frontier defense. They were called for a term of
six months under Captains John H. Conner at Castroville, John
}. Grumbles at San Antonio, S. P. Ross on Little River, T-J- Smith
on the Brazos near Waco, and Andrew Stapp on the west fork
of the Trinity.
A wrangle ensued about mustering them into federal service,
and, in the meantime, they were not paid. At first, only three com­panies
were raised. Frontier protection was thin in the early days
of Texas' statehood.
Governor }.P. Henderson returned from Mexico and took over
the frontier problem, among others, from Acting Governor Hor­ton_
He asked Hays to go to Washington to convince Congress
of the importance of frontier defense in Texas. Hays did, and more
frontier units were raised, yet most were sent to Mexico, leaving
only a few organized men in Texas. After the Mexican War the
need for Rangers to oppose either Indians or bandits was ques­tioned
- but only for a short while.
33
appointed a US marshal in 1853.
On the secession of Texas from the
Union, he led a band of volunteers
who forced the surrender of federal
troops in San Antonio, Then he
served as a brigadier general
commissioned to raise and
command the first Confederate
army in the 7rans-Mississippi West.
In 1862, under General Earl Van
Darn, he commanded the Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Texas forces in the
battle of Pea Ridge, where he was
killed-the day after writing
his will.
Like many a Ranger,
McCulloch refused to wear a
conventional uniform - even as
a Confederate, His favorite dress
was a plain, dark suit and a brown
sombrero, with a revolver as his
only weapon
III. THE TWO FRONTIERS
By the end of the Mexican War, Texas was beyond dispute a
state in the union of the United States. Mexico had been crushed,
and federal troops soon found themselves in charge of a new and
strange western frontier. In the Texas area the land was strange
only to the federal troops.
The frontier in 1848 was generally west of a line through mod­ern
Laredo, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, but the entire area be­tween
the Rio Grande and the Nueces River was dangerous for
trader and settler alike. And going west, in 1849 and thereafter
to the questionable California gold fields, were groups of pros­pectors,
Texas cattle drives, and a scattering of settlers. They
crossed a land largely controlled by the Comanches, Kiowas, and
Ap·aches. Protection was officially in the hands of United States
troops: cavalry and infantry. The first federal troops on the fron­tier,
however, were inadequate. These troops, mostly infantry and
artillery units, were too few, mostly on foot, and inexperienced.
They were not equipped to oppose, much less chase down, well­mounted
Indian groups. The day of the United States Cavalry as
an effective frontier force was almost thirty years in the future .
Citizens armed themselves to oppose Indian attacks in the
manner of ranging companies. Private companies of Rangers were
35
Although some companies of men were mustered into federal
service as Rangers in 1854, these years marked the acceptance
of Rangers as a special state force, not a type of federal cavalry.
In 1852 Governor Bell called on James S. Gillett to raise three
companies of Rangers in Brownsville to deal with troubles in the
Lower Rio Grande Valley area. No provision was made for their
support. Bell expected them to be taken into federal service; if
not, the legislature would provide. Gillett's captains - G.K. Lewis
at Brownsville, H. Clay Davis at Rio Grande City, and Owen Shaw
at Laredo -raised their companies. The United States secretary
of war then replied that Congress had made no provision for the
force and the border troubles were only rumors anyway. Some
Texans disagreed.
Governor Elisha M. Pease called out six companies of mount­ed
state troops, the first in 1855 under ].H. Callahan. For the most
part, these men were intended for border duty. It was a fairly
simple arrangement: they were to provide all of their own supplies
and await their pay. Such treatment did not seem to discourage
recruits, however.
This force on the Rio Grande set a pattern for later Ranger
tradition, not only in terms of enlistment, but also for a disregard
of the southern border. They soon crossed the Rio Grande into
Mexico on an Indian trail, an action the U.S. Cavalry would not
take. There they precipitated an international incident by demand­ing
that local authorities turn over renegade Indians to them. They
were soon in a fight with a superior force of Mexicans. The Texans
briefly captured Piedras Negras, burned many buildings in town,
then retreated across the river.
Nor was this the only invasion. Callahan next led a raid into
Mexico to recover slaves. The Rangers captured some but were
defeated by a Mexican unit, lost several men, and barely made
it back to Texas. Callahan was dismissed from the service - but
readiness to cross the border became a Ranger tradition.
In 1857 Governor Pease used the Rangers to deal with civil
disturbances. He authorized Captain G.H. Nelson to organize an
emergency company to prevent settlers in the Karnes County area
from attacking Mexican teamsters.
The Rangers were still most often pitted against raiding parties
of Indians. In certain cases, Rangers and Indians developed a
respect for each other. Blue Eagle, a Comanche operating near
the Mexican border, would often trail the Rangers for the sole
purpose of watching a good fight - between the Rangers and some­body
else.
The same Blue Eagle, long an enemy of Hays's Rangers in
earlier years, remarked, as translated by FIacco, that both Rangers
and Indians were very brave men, but that he had stopped fighting
and thereafter the Rangers would have to go to hell by themselves.
By 1858 Governor Hardin R. Runnels was in office, deter­mined
to increase frontier protection. Renegades by Anglo defini­tion,
Comanches and Apaches still had the run of much of West
Texas. Only a few Indians were on the short-lived "reserves" set up
in North-Central Texas. The mounted Indians of the plains were
still a formidable threat. Promising opposition, John S. "Rip" Ford
37
In late 1859 Lawrence Sullivan
Ross was appointed as a Ranger
captain to lead an expedition
against the Comanches. Ross was
a short, black-haired, 21-year-old
recent college graduate. He was
also an accomplished horseman,
the son of Shapley Prince Ross,
Us. Indian agent on the
Brazos Reserve.
SuI Ross proved equal to
the charge. He killed the noted
war chief Peta Nacona and
recaptured Cynthia Ann Parker
in an expedition that helped
break Comanche power in Texas.
Ross served as a Ranger until
1861, then entered Confederate
service, rising to brigadier general.
He was one of the most effective
cavalry officers in the
Southern cause.
He was a member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1875,
a state senator, then Texas governor
in 1887. He "retired" in 1891 to the
presidency of Texas A&M College
and guided that school as it became
a stable and growing institution.
Juan Nepomuceno Cortina
not possess our lands until they have fattened it with their own
gore:' Many Texans of Mexican ancestry rallied to his cause.
With continuing raids Cortina and his men dominated most
of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. A company of Rangers was sent
from San Antonio under Captain W.G. Tobin but was unable to
cope with Cortina. The Rangers were defeated; Cortina's fame
grew. He and his supporters had whipped the gringos.
39
James Pike, a young man from
Ohio, wrote of the Rangers he
served with in 1859. He said if
one could imagine men dressed
"in every variety of costume, except
the ordinary uniform, armed with
double-barreled shot-guns, squirrel
rifles, with Spanish and Mexican
spurs: unshaven, unwashed,
undisciplined, but brave and
generous men, riding pel/-mel/
along roads, over prairies, and
through the woods, you will be
able to form a correct conception
of a squad of Texan Rangers
on the march."
IV. CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
By 1860 Sam Houston, as governor, had 517 active Rangers
on the frontier and a grand total of about 1,000, counting "Rip"
Ford's men to the south. This was one of the largest forces of
Rangers ever in the fIeld, on a frontier staffed by about 2,600 fed­eral
soldiers. The force was suspiciously large. Some irreverent
minds speculated that perhaps the governor contemplated a sec­ond
war-his own war-with Mexico. But once again a conflict
was brewing which would strip regular army and Rangers from
the state: the Civil War.
During the Civil War, as during the Mexican War, few Rangers
remained in Texas. And few army troops - the Confederacy had
other things to think about, and the burden of local protection
was left with the state. Various groups were raised for frontier
protection, only a few under the name "Rangers;' and most were
soon withdrawn to enter Confederate service.
The Frontier Regiment was created in 1861 specifIcally to pro­tect
against Indian attacks after the withdrawal of United States
troops. The act created a "Regiment of Rangers" and put, at the
largest estimate, 1,089 men and 1,347 horses in the fIeld. The force
was separate from the State 'froops, which was created some
months later.
43
"Terry's Texas Rangers;' was the reply.
"Mein Gott," the general said, "I had rather be a private in
that regiment than a brigadier general in the federal army:' The
general may not have been delivering an empty compliment.
Willich had lost battles to the "Rangers" twice before.
By 1864 most men were away at war; young boys and old
men guarded the frontier against Indians, outlaws, and deserters.
These rangers sometimes had to brave prejudice as well as out­laws.
It was occasionally said that a man might be in frontier
service because he was afraid to be in the regular army. Those
who were there at the time knew better.
Very temporary groups, merely called "companies;' were
raised for the frontier with the added duty of finding deserters
or those avoiding conscription. In 1864 "all persons" between 17
and 18 years of age were legally, not actually, enrolled in these
frontier companies. Frontier defense had become undependable;
at Texas' surrender, civil law was in chaos.
4S
Taylor Thompson and Macedonio
Delgado served as Rangers on the
frontier in the latter days of the
Civil War. Thompson had already
served with Confederate forces;
Delgado was an excellent tracker,
a man of 60 who had lived with
the Comanche Indians for 12 years
in his youth. These two spent most
of their time pursuing Indians west
of Uvalde. The frontier was pushed
back east many miles during the
Civil War in spite of efforts
like theirs.
RANGERS •
DO NOT WAIT TO BE DRAPTED.
The under:oligned having been authorized by his Ex­cellency,
the Governor, to raisc a company of Rangers,
under the provisio S of an act entitle.l "An net to pro­vide
for the protection of the frontier of Texas," and
ar.pr ved Dec.21, 1§61, has been granted the pri­vilege
to receive men from any portion of he State,
with a view to select the very best materia the country
affords, that efficit'nt service may be rendered.
'l'he act requires each man to furnishnis own horse,
arms and accoutrements, and I , need not say that I
wish th m to be of the best kind ohtainable··.double:'
barreled shot guns, light rifles and six-shooters, if pos­sible.
'
'rhe pay offered by the ~tate Government is very
liberal and equal to the most favored troops in the
service ... equal to the pay of any .troops of- the same
class in the Confederate Army . ..
All persons desirous of availing themselves of this
last opportunity of serving their State, nre invite(l to
rendezvous at Concrete, De it itt co., on the Guadalupe
r .vet:', on the lnst day of .. cbruary, 1862, for the pur­pose
of enrollment and organization the following day,
fro u which time they will be provided for by the Gov-ernment.
.JOHN .J. DIX.
!lcJlullen Co" Feb. 11, 1862.
47
their arrival here. The grass is
getting worse every day . ...
. . . it is not reasonable to be
expected that I can always
successfully operate in every
direction against half a thousand
well-armed savages with thirty­eight
privates . . . . Though we will
not count numbers if we fight, J
may lose too many men without
having the satisfaction to destroy
the enemy. If it were not for this
cursed international law, I know
very well what to do to clean out
these bloody savages on the other
side of the Rio Grande.
-Captain H.J. Richarz,
Company E,
in a report of 1870
V. THE FRONTIER BATTALION
AND THE SPECIAL FORCE
T he Texas government, under Governor Richard Coke, gave
protection to frontier areas with six Ranger companies of 75 men
each. These companies, created in 1874, are often called the "first
permanent Texas Rangers"; at the time, they were called the "Fron­tier
Battalion:' In the next two decades, the new companies - A,
B, C, D, E, and F - became typical Texas Ranger units. Later they
became legend.
The Ranger camps, sometimes alongside U.S. military posts,
marked the frontier, but the frontier was no longer simply a
contact line with Indians. The Indians were less of a problem;
there were, in reality, few to cope with. The federal Indian
Campaign of 1874-1875, carried out by the United States Cavalry
partially on Texas' high plains, brought to a close the last significant
Indian depredations.
The Frontier Battalion had helped, but other problems re­mained,
problems for Rangers rather than for army cavalry. A
class of lawbreakers, murderers, and bandits rose out of the body
of settlers, drifters, and speculators in Texas after Reconstruction.
Stage and train robbers, feudists, cattle thieves, and fence cutters
were on the loose throughout the state. From civil lawbreakers
49
Governor Richard Coke
a photographer. Engaging his subjects in conversations, he found
that everyone liked to talk about what he had done. And, in the
case of outlaws, Parrott took an extra photograph, which he kept,
with a name and information written carefully on the back.
After three months Parrott reported to headquarters, and 15
Rangers moved out, photographs in one hand, pistol in the other.
The sweep was remembered for many years as the "the red
tide." Some hundred outlaws were "removed from circulation"
on the basis of the photographic identification, which, with Par­rott's
notes, did not allow alibis. Most "trials" lasted no longer than
a comparison of the face and the image.
(¥) @ @
The man Governor Coke sent to oppose border troubles in
1874 was a slight man, curly-haired and soft-voiced, who had
been a sheepherder before the Civil War.
Leander H. McNelly became the most awesomely ferocious
fighter on Texas's southern border. He had served the Confed­eracy
as cavalryman and spy-once successfully disguised as a
woman. Although he had been a captain in the hated State Police
during Reconstruction, he was thoroughly respected in Texas.
51
outlaw cornering. In 1874 some 300
Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches
under Lone Wolf pinned down
Jones and a force of Rangers. On
this occasion Jones held out more
than a day until the arrival of us.
troops. Four years later Jones
personally took charge of the hunt
for Sam Bass and was himself on
the street in Round Rock when the
famous bandit faced Ranger guns.
Jones was appointed adjutant
general of Texas in 1879 and
continued in this post until his
death in 1881.
Brownsville ferry landing, 1865
McNelly and his men, raised as special state troops like some
earlier ranger groups, were Texas Rangers neither in name, nor
funding, nor chain of command. Nevertheless, McNelly himself
and various observers, reporters, friends, and foes called the
group rangers. The name stuck.
When McNelly reached Brownsville almost-open warfare ex­isted
along the southern Texas border between bands of cattle
thieves and local vigilantes. In addition, Cortina was still active
from the south side of the river, and citizens had organized armed
groups on the north side. Banditry, both American and Mexican,
was an everyday affair. It was a confusing time, but McNelly
made his presence known. After one of his first battles, near
Brownsville, McNelly stacked the bodies of the bandits in the
town plaza. He also disarmed and disbanded every vigilante
Texan posse he ran into. Occasionally he gave such a group only
one minute to put down their arms before he would "consider
them outlaws," a consideration few men cared to face.
In a short time McNelly was feared and respected by both
sides. His men killed many bandits in pitched battles and hanged
those they caught. McNelly had his own executioner, Jesus
Sandoval, who frankly took no prisoners. And it was McNelly
who, in the Las Cuevas "war," actually invaded Mexico. The at­tack,
in pursuit of cattle thieves and a herd of stolen cattle, was
initially a failure. The force attacked the wrong ranch, and the
assault on Las Cuevas was ineffective.
53
Leander H. McNelly
For several years after 1874, the Rangers were actually sepa­rated
into two groups. The Frontier Battalion, led by Major Jones,
was stationed primarily in the west. The Special Force under
Captain McNelly was at the Mexican border to deal with ban­ditry.
McNelly, however, had stopped by DeWitt County on his
way south to quell a civil disturbance brought on by a feud­another
developing problem.
When McNelly went to the border, Mexican bandits and
cattle thieves were the enemy. A few years later outlaws, often
very White and very Anglo, were on the scene boasting that the
Nueces River was the "dead line for sheriffs." Often, in such situ­ations,
Rangers aided local peace officers. The Special Force and
the Frontier Battalion now devoted more of their time to thieves
and murderers all over the state. The Rangers were becoming
peace officers who could trail an outlaw as far as necessary and
find him wherever he chose to hide. The Ranger became the
gun, a very fast gun, on the side of the law.
The Special Force was reorganized early in 1877 with Lee
Hall as first lieutenant and John B. Armstrong, second. Hall had
taken command when McNelly's health failed.
That the Rangers remained popular could not be doubted.
Special requests for Rangers at court sessions flooded in to the
adjutant general of Texas. When the Special Force was consid­ered
too expensive to maintain and its cancellation was sug­gested
as an economic move, the West Texas Stock Association
offered $7,000 to help keep it in the field.
Some of the most daring Texas Rangers of the late 19th cen­tury
enjoyed a camp life that included-besides the ever-present
duties of caring for horses and cleaning guns-croquet, visits by
local girls, and dramatic presentations. Dan W. Roberts wrote of
the leisure time for members of Company D when camped near
Menard in 1875.
"As time passed on, our neighbors began to think that the
Rangers were decent fellows. Some of the Rangers were gradu­ates
from the best schools in the country. But their Ranger educa­tion
was along different lines. They had learned to cope with the
'Wild Bills' and bad men from 'Bitter Creek'. The young ladies
and gentlemen began to visit us in camp, and the girls would eat
beans with us at the mess table. The Rangers viewed them as
beautiful messengers of peace. We could see that social condi­tions
were improving; in a short time you could see some of the
'boys' with standing collars on. Think of it, a Ranger with a stand­ing
collar on! They began to name each other 'Society Jake'; '400
Jim'; 'Ward McAllister'; 'Oscar Wilde'; and the like.
"The Rangers made up an amateur troupe and secured some
of DeWitt's light draft plays, which they could execute with credit
before any kind of audience.
"We had a very good string band. Such were the pleasure
hours of Ranger life. They nearly all became good cooks .... "
Whatever their dramatic and culinary abilities, Rangers usu­ally
brought some additional degree of law enforcement to
55
he stepped aboard to face the
outlaw and four of his friends.
Armstrong drew his long-barreled
Colt .45 Frontier Model, and
Hardin said only one thing as he
reached for his own gun: "Texas, by
God!" A bit later, one of Hardin's
companions was dead, Hardin had
been knocked unconscious by
Armstrong, who wanted him alive,
Hardin's three remaining friends
were under Armstrong's gun, and
Armstrong's hat carried a single
bullet hole.
Hardin resolutely claimed he
had only killed people who needed
killing, but he was soon in a
Texas jail.
John Wesley Hardin
Lamb Sieker, who also served as a Texas Ranger, in the uniform of a colonel
of the Texas State Militia, c. 1885
of Captain Roberts's company gave a minstrel performance at
Menard as a church benefit.
In these years Rangers were well into police work. Mrs.
Roberts remarked that Rangers "were continually making arrests,
and invariably they would be 'cussed out' by the wives:'
One early morning near Junction, Captain Roberts himself
entered a house "without ceremony:' A woman confronted him.
"Good morning, Madam;' said the captain.
"Good morning, the devil!" began the woman, only the prelude
to a thorough Ranger-cursing.
"It was not a pleasant business;' recalled the captain's wife.
57
L.P. Sieker came to Texas after
the Civil War and enlisted in the
Rangers under the administration
of Governor Davis. He later was
made a colonel in the service under
Governors Ross and Sayers.
When his brother, Thomas
Sieker, arrived in Austin to join
the Rangers, he was advised not to
venture farther west. "The population
out that way," he was told, "consists
of rough customers." Sieker went
on, however, and found a Ranger
camp on the San Saba River. The
group needed a man, so he was
enlisted but told to stay away from
Fort McKavett until he had learned
the ways of the frontier.
The tenderfoot Ranger soon
learned the ways of the West
and even recorded a point of
frontier etiquette:
"There were bad men in the
West in those days. Once I drifted
into an eating house at Scabb, a
village across the river from Fort
McKavett, and found myself in
front of eight outlaws seated at two
tables. Each one had a Winchester
across his legs and a six-shooter by
his plate. In such a chance meeting
a Ranger always bowed and said,
'Well, boys, too many for me,' and
in turn, the outlaws would bow and
smile pleasantly, and nothing more
would come of it."
VI. LAW ENFORCEMENT
In changing from a frontier service to a law enforcement role,
the Rangers found themselves facing disturbances never imagined
in earlier years. One such was the Mason County War, the Ger­man-
American War, of 1875.
Major John B. Jones received instructions by special courier
that help was needed in Mason County. He led the Rangers there
himself. On the Llano he was surprised to see 15 heavily armed
men rise from behind a stone wall. This was Sheriff Clark with
the German faction of a feud originating in cattle rustling that
had split the population along ethnic lines.
The Ranger leader found the settlements in a condition much
like the penultimate scenes of later Western movies. "I fmd the
houses closed, a deathlike stillness in the place . . .. Every man
is armed:' One settler was killed while riding down Masons main
street. The assassins then fIred into a hotel, narrowly missing
women and children, and escaped in the ensuing panic.
The feud had numerous origins, doubtlessly starting in Civil
War days when many of the German settlers were pro-Union and
many of their neighbors were not. Later grudge killings kept it
going until the situation was clearly beyond local control. The
sheriff and the justice of the peace were on opposing sides.
59
to think we have rendered valuable service to them, and there
is a degree of security felt in the frontier counties that has not
been experienced for years before. Many on the extreme border
are moving further out, while others from the interior are taking
their places, and many more coming with them. The citizens in
several unorganized counties think they will have population
sufficient for organization very soon .. . ;'
Later historians said it no better. At the time, the desperado
chose to have no historian, and the Indian had neither alphabet
nor ally.
Far to the west, the El Paso Salt War was in the making. This
conflict was to be a complicated political situation and civil dis­turbance
that assumed the colors of a race war. It was also an
occasion when Rangers both surrendered and lost.
El Paso in 1877 was an isolated settlement, thirty days away
from the state capital. Of some 12,000 inhabitants of the area,
probably eighty were Anglo-American. Local Mexican Texans had
for years freighted salt from the desert east of EI Paso. Yet the
concept "for years" was in dispute. Many claimed the use of the
salt was relatively recent. In any case, the salt was a trade item,
shipped into Mexico, and an important money source for a large
portion of the population. The salt was free for the taking.
Into this arrangement came Anglos who claimed the land and
set up a monopoly on the salt, requiring payment for its use. They
also fought among themselves for public and private use of the
salt. The outraged former salt gatherers organized both as a polit­ical
group and an armed force. Soon the arguments grew political,
racial- and serious. Charles H. Howard, a Democrat who had
control of the salt flats, opposed not only local Republicans, but
also the Mexican faction represented by Don Louis Cardis. Howard
killed Cardis after a complicated series of incidents created a situ­ation
in which Mexican was pitted against Anglo.
Major John B. Jones went to El Paso. He approached the situa­tion
typically, saying that he had come to keep the peace, not to
settle the salt question. He reminded everyone concerned that
he was a peace officer, not a court. After mustering a small group
of men as Texas Rangers under John Tays, he quieted the people
and returned to Austin.
The Rangers who remained-they were called "state troops"
in subsequent reports-started out by supporting Howard in an
effort to stop salt wagons. Yet, by the 17th of December 1877,
they found themselves surrounded in San Elizario by an armed
Mexican force demanding Howard himself. Under siege, with
men in his protection, Tays capitulated. Three men, including
Howard, were executed by a fixing squad. Howard's body was
mutilated in front of the assembled crowd while local businesses
were plundered. The survivors were released the next day. United
States troops arrived shortly from Fort Davis and New Mexico,
but the area remained in chaos for some time.
The remainder of Tays's group, led by "the sheriff;' in the words
of Major Jones, soon were accused of brutal reprisals. Just before
Christmas they killed two prisoners who had been in the San
61
Don Louis Cardis
It is easy to see a graveyard in the
muzzle of a Ranger's gun.
- Unnamed outlaw to
Ranger WM. Green (1874)
General Steele noted that the "batt r h b
from Frio (from where it sent scouts :s 7; aas een spread along
frontier settlements to Red R' " h s Laredo), along the
count ,Iver, WIt a detachment in EI Paso
y, seven hundred miles from San Antonio" Th d" t b
referred to t f . e 1S ance e
:vas ~o ,0 ~ourse, as the crow flies. "Tbe wbole of
the vast terntory, the adjutant general continued, "is . .. settled
in small communities, mostly by stock raisers (cattle and sheep).
All of these settlements are subject to raids from the Indian
reservations ... as well as from Mexico and from bands of out­laws
who make their living driving stolen stock and taking by
force of arms anything that they wish and have the power to take.
Stages and small bodies of travelers are robbed by them, as well
as by Indians:'
Renegades from New Mexico were reported moving into and
out of Texas. General Steele had even intercepted letters - some
of them love letters - from "desperados:' One was a curious mix
of invitation to a young lady in Texas and a rather abrupt record Judge T.M. Paschal
of local killings. ----- ------ - --
"I will write to you again. I am now about five hundred miles
from where I written you last. This is headquarters for my gang.
I have got ten men with me -the best armed and best mounted
outnt you every saw .... We just got in off a raid, and made it
pay us big. Darling, I am making money fast. ... If I had you
here I would be the happiest man on earth. This is the best
country I ever saw, and the healthiest country on earth. We are
one hundred miles from the nearest post office. Darling, on the
twentieth day of August, Gross and McGuire got into a fight, and
McGuire shot him just below the heart, and I shot and killed
McGuire. I shot him through the heart. He never spoke after I
shot him. We buried him as nice as we could .... Darling, I want
you to write to me when you get this ... let me know all the
news and how you are getting along, and let me know whether
you will come or not. ... Darling, I have got a Navaho blanket
for you that is worth $75; the prettiest thing you ever saw. Baby,
take care of yourself, and be sure to write:'
The swain may well have been chased out of the state by
Rangers, but General Steele does not reveal whether the lady ac­cepted
the blanket.
Other letters, from county judges and local sheriffs, attested
to the need for state forces in their areas.
Judge A. Blacker in EI Paso hurriedly noted that four prisoners
in the county jail "could not be held six hours without the rangers:'
Thomas M. Paschal, district judge at Castroville, wrote that
"numerous bands of bold and desperate men, banded together
for the purpose of theft, have been ... broken up and driven off
by the state forces in this district. .. :' The result, he noted, was
a "tier of counties now well settled by a large, good class of citizens
where four years ago [1874] the war-whoop of the savage almost
alone broke the stillness of the prairies ... :' Judge Paschal heard
that the "men who so recently made New Mexico and Arizona
a pandemonium were ... made up of refugees from Texas, driven
there by the untiring activity and vigilance of the state forces:'
63
~
!.,.~ ..~
r" " '.I} ' .. ' ..~ ~ :'.-' .. ~~
. ::~; ':t~. :
0 ., • • . .. ,, ·~t · · '" 'I ! . ... " ..... .,
~ .
\r. -.'. . ~-'.- ' ...... ' . . .. !. i .. • · ' f: ~. l' f'. • ; .'
.'1 • . . " ,~ . .. .. ,.;;.,.,. ft •. ,« ... ...... (. '. "',...,":":r..:,,', ' ....... • .. , ~ ,. ..:. ' •• .1. ... . ~ .
A. McAlvaine, sheriff of Tom Green County, entered upon
an analysis of why local lawmen and settlers had a hard time
against renegades. "To raise a posse and make an arrest is nearly
impossible, owing to the sparse settlements and the reluctance
which settlers feel towards doing anything to bring upon them­selves
the enmity of this class of people. Sometimes long distances
have to be travelled and the trail followed for days, and . . .
citizens dislike the work, and the sheriff who starts on a trip with
a posse of citizens is likely to find himself alone at the end of
the first day's ride ... :'
Concerning the last of the Indian threats, the sheriff main­tained
that the "only possible way to prevent them is to have men
who can ride just as far and just as long and a little faster than the
raiders. , , , The rangers are the only troops that can do this; and,
whenever they start on a fresh trail, they do not stop for a picnic
at the first shade:' Sheriff McAlvaine considered the Rangers the
only defense against widespread outlawry and Indians. He did
admit the Rangers could be done away with "if a Chinese wall I
could be built on the one hundredth meridian, and another on
the Rio Grande, to keep thieves and desperadoes out:' The State I
chose the Rangers rather than a second Great Wall. A Ranger
company could cover some 12,000 miles of regular patrol in a year.
Farther west, the story was even more concrete, if less flam­boyant
in ixnatie l-Y. T,A. Wil.~Qn, the sheriff 01 Presidio County,
claimed that regulQ.r trGGP~ were inefucient. Writing from Fort
Davis, he said "to the credit of the United States troops:' Indians
and "marauders from Mexicd' had been followed, "but not a single
party of them have been overtaken and chastised :'
65
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band of Indians who had attacked a stage and killed a driver and
an itinerant gambler. Some of the Indians-the group itself consist­ing
of twelve men, four women, and four children - had appar­ently
attacked other travelers and herdsmen. Indian attacks were
by then so rare that Baylor left on the scout at first simply to
determine whether the raids were by Indians or disguised Anglos.
In January 1881 the West Texas ground was frozen so hard
that little trail was visible. But closely spaced camps and carcasses
of game led into the Sierra Diablo and marked the raiders as
Indians. The Rangers were on their last Indian trail on Texas soil.
On the morning of January 29, before sunrise, they came upon
the Indian camp. The Rangers and the Indian scouts with them,
reverting to a style of attack common years before, dismounted
and flanked the camp. As the sun rose they opened fire. All the
Indians were killed except one woman and a young girl. Baylor
explained that on the bitterly cold morning all the Indians wore
blankets, and it was impossible to tell women from men. "In fact;'
he added, "the law under which the Frontier Battalion was orga­nized
don't require it:'
Firepower and the license to kill were the chief reputation
builders of the Rangers against Indians, bandits, and outlaws;
other things are more rarely mentioned. The Rangers themselves
had been living on the cold trail, very much like Indians, for
days - an outing few local sheriffs would undertake.
As the sun rose higher that January morning, the Rangers
burned the camp. They were not after the American and Mexican
saddles, the calico, or blankets. There were two pools of near­frozen
water nearby. The smaller barely gave them coffee water.
The larger had filled with blood.
George Baylor later remembered his thoughts on looking out
over their small campfire: "We took breakfast on the ground
occupied by the Indians, which all enjoyed, as we had eaten noth­ing
since the day before. Some of the men found horse meat pretty
good, whilst others found venison and roast mescal good enough.
We had almost a boundless view from our breakfast table. The
beauty of the scenery was only marred by man's inhumanity to
man, the ghostly forms of the Indians lying around:'
C.L. Nevill at Fort Davis and G.W. Arrington in the Panhandle
turned to chasing outlaws, even though Nevill continued Indian
scouts long after the Indians were gone. Nevill did have the almost
unique distinction among Rangers of attacking Indians by boat.
Accompanying a surveying party on the Rio Grande, his Rangers
took by surprise several groups of Indians, who hardly expected
a threat by river. Nevill found boating more dangerous than riding
the plains, however; while on the outing, he was almost drowned.
Arrington of the Panhandle had his first military experience
in the Civil War. Later he served as a mercenary with Maximilian
in Mexico and in Central America. Enlisting as a Ranger, he quick­ly
rose to the rank of captain and was known as one of the strictest
disciplinarians among Ranger leaders.
His company found themselves protecting courts and escort­ing
prisoners, patrolling in the middle of feuds, and making minor
67
George W. Baylor
Bring boys and saddles, hot work.
-Telegram to Rangers, 1890
Sam Bass attempts an escape at Round Rock in July of 1878.
cifically to deal with Bass. Peak had served as Dallas city marshal
during the years of Bass' activity and was ready to ride trail.
Rumors were that Bass led a gang of 60 men capable of unified
attack and supported by countless spies. As it turned out, Bass
could not even organize a successful train robbery, rode with
fewer than six companions, including one informer to the Rangers,
and was attempting to get to Mexico.
Bass did consider a small bank robbery necessary for traveling
expenses and selected Round Rock. On Friday, July 19, 1878, Bass
and two companions - a day before they planned to approach the
bank - were accosted by a deputy sheriff for wearing guns in the
city of Round Rock. Perhaps checking out the streets, the bandits
had run afoul of a local ordinance.
Bass, Seaborn Barnes, and Frank Jackson started shooting.
Henry Grimes, the deputy, became the fi..rst and last person killed
by a Bass-organized gang.
Round Rock was, after four on a Friday afternoon, unusually
full of lawmen. They had been tipped off to expect the robbery
the next day, Saturday. At the sound of gunfire, everyone armed
hit the street, Rangers from everywhere as well as Williamson
and Travis county lawmen. One Ranger exited the barber shop
fully lathered for a shave.
Bass and Frank Jackson made it to their horses and out of
town through the web of gunfire, but Bass was fatally wounded.
69
~,.. ... S' .. " .... ~
G9
spelling, in reports to Austin, changed from "dinamite" to "dyna­mite,"
showing that he had at least read the box. Although there
is no record of a dynamite bomb being used in Texas, the threat
seems to have solved the problem.
Aten's letters contain more than new ideas. They show a
Ranger trying to come to grips with an unpleasant job in changing
times. He was no longer in a position to shoot first and ask ques­tions
later: "I want to take the villains without killing them, but
.. . I will stand trial for murder before I will stand up and be
shot down like a foo1:' Aten thought little of his assignment: "I
will ask it as a special favor of the adjutant general's office never
to ask me to work after fence cutters again under any and all
circumstances, for it is the most disagreeable work in the world:'
Yet he was ready to stand by this duty. "You may hear of a killing
if everything works right. ... Nothing will do any good here but
a first class killing, and I am the little boy that will give it to them
if they don't let the fences alone:'
In the course of spying, Jim King and Ira Aten baled cotton,
picked 35 acres, and built a rock furnace around a cotton gin
boiler, work which Aten grumbled about doing on a Ranger's pay.
Aten had to lie his way into men's confidence, a practice he
heartily disliked. When this failed, the dynamite bomb idea was
formed. "Should the Governor or the General disapprove of this,
all they have got to do is to notify me to that effect etc. They sent
me here to stop fence-cutting any way I could and to use my own
Capt. J.B. Gillett on Dusty in 1879
71
abounded. In the springtime one
could travel for hundreds of miles
on a bed of flowers. Oh, how I
wish I had the power to describe
the wonderful country as I saw it
then! How happy I am now in my
old age that I am a native Texan
and saw the grand frontier before it
was marred by the hand of man.
- J. B. Gillett
Rangers of Company D of the Frontier Battalion and a U.S. marshal in San Antonio, 1894: from left, standing­Deputy
Marshal FM. McMahon, William Schmidt, James w. Latham, Joe Sitter, Ed Palmer, and T.T. Cook;
sitting - a man now only identified as a "Mexican prisoner, " George Tucker, J. W. Saunders, Sgt. Carl Kirchner,
and Capt. John R. Hughes.
Rangers from four battalions, headed by Adjutant General W.N. Mabry, assemble to prevent the Fitzsimmons-Maher prizefight
from taking place near Langtry in 1896: from left, front row-w.N. Mabry, Capt. John R. Hughes, Capt. J.A. Brooks,
WI McDonald, Capt. J.H. Rogers; second row-George Horton , J.H. Dvetts, Sgt. Throckmorton , Bob Chew, John Hess,
Creed Taylor; third row-Billy McCauley, Lee Treen (?), Jim "Wooly" Bell, Ed Flint , James Fulgam (face partially obscured),
Ed Donley, Sgt. SIL. Sullivan, Jack Harwell, Bob McClure, Ed Conley; back row- George Tucker, Dr. Lozier,
Ed Bryant, Edgar Neal, Doc Neal, CL. "Kid" Rogers (on lower step, with cigar), Thalis T. Cook, CF Heirs,
John Moore, W.M. Burwell. and Andy Ferguson.
VII. THE TURN OF A CENTURY
At the turn of the century, the charge was raised that under
existing legislation only the officers of the Ranger service had the
authority to make arrests. It was a serious charge, although only
the legal authority was in question, not the facts. The year before,
Rangers had made 579 arrests.
Although perhaps based on a technicality, Attorney General
T. S. Smith upheld the objection. Overnight, the Frontier Battalion
almost ceased to be. Only 24 men served for about a year.
In July of 1901, however, the service was returned to about
a fifth of its former strength. The reason was the same: the
Rangers were apparently needed. The new law authorized the
governor to organize a "Ranger force for the purpose of protecting
the frontier against marauding or thieving parties, and for the
suppression of lawlessness and crime throughout the state:'
Four companies of up to twenty men were authorized. Com­pany
A at Alice was under Captain lA. Brooks; W. l McDonald
started as captain at Amarillo with Company B; Company C was
headquartered at Fort Hancock under Captain lH. Rogers; and
Company D was at El Paso with Captain John R. Hughes.
The Ranger captains chose their own men (when not appoint­ed
or suggested by the governor), who wore no standard uniform
75
Rangers in Alpine, c. 1906: from left , back row- Frank Hamer, Monroe Upton, Marvin E. Bailey, R.M. "Duke" Hudson'
front row - Gro f White, w. N. Howell, Capt. J.H. Rogers, and John L. Dibbrell. '
"No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that's
in the right and keeps on a-coming:' This saying of Captain
William Jesse McDonald became what many people have called
the Rangers' motto. McDonald lived up to it, bringing to an end
enough mob violence and individual troublemakers to create a
personal myth and greatly add to the store of Ranger tales.
McDonald was named a captain in the 1901 reorganization.
He had already served as a Ranger captain in 1891, as well as
a deputy sheriff and u.s. marshal. In 1905 he received publicity
acting as bodyguard to visiting President Theodore Roosevelt. A
year later he twice walked past military sentries at Fort Brown
to personally investigate United States Army troopers after the
Brownsville "riot" of 1906. The feat caused Major Penrose to de­clare
that "Bill McDonald would charge hell with a bucket of
water;' after seeing the two routs of his sentries by McDonald's
cool words, "Put up them guns:' Major Penrose may not have
meant his remark as an unqualified compliment, but it greatly
added to the Ranger's reputation.
McDonald survived mobs and more than one ambush, always
in the lead of his men. When one Ranger said, "Cap, you're going
to get all of us killed, the way you cuss out strikers and mobs;'
the captain replied, "Don't worry-just remember my motto:'
77
Capt. Bill McDonald
',<.1M
" .:..,.jI!
'" An unidentified Ranger, c, 1915
would be called to an area as a nonpartisan peacekeeping force.
But, in the minds of some of the public, the new duties were seen
as strikebreaking and enforcement of political boss rule,
Rangers occasionally regarded some assignments not to their
liking, yet a group sent to Denison in 1922 to police a strike found
very different conditions than they had expected. One man re­marked,
"After months of our own camp cooking, we thoroughly
enjoyed the good old-fashioned boardinghouse meals we had dur­ing
our stay in Denison. We also welcomed the chance to sleep
in a bed for a change and dress up in a 'boiled' shirt and neck-tie
once more. However, when the strike was over, we were glad
to get back to camp again, where we packed our mules, saddled
our horses, and headed out across country on a scout:'
By the 1920's Ranger scouts in the old sense were rare. The
last "chuck wagons" were carried in the back end of a Model T
truck, even though the door opened out flat just like the horse­drawn
wagon variety. The staples were about the same: flour,
beans, coffee, sugar, pepper, salt pork, dried fruit, potatoes, and
molasses. But, for the first time, the Rangers also had canned
goods, including milk.
The day of the pack mule was not quite over, at least when
the roughness of the back country required such transportation.
And the only new weapon packed by the Ranger, occasionally,
was a Thompson submachine gun.
80
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VIII. THE RIO GRANDE,
PROHIBITION, AND POLITICS
Kill the gringos!" "Kill the greasers!" ... familiar words on the
South Texas border in the 1910-1920 decade.
Antagonism - and hate - between Anglo-American Texans and
Mexicans burgeoned after the turn of the century. Revolutions
in Mexico, a world war, then the enforcement of Prohibition and,
later, increased settlement in the Lower Rio Grande Valley com­bined
to make the times bloody. The ill-will of past border inci­dents
was only a starting place.
In 1910 Francisco Madero began a rebellion, largely planned
in San Antonio, Texas, against Mexican president POrTIrio Diaz.
Madero, formerly jailed by Diaz, was suddenly in control of some
northern Mexican states, and the Rio Grande border became
chaotic. The distinction between revolutionaries and bandits was
hard for most Anglo eyes to see. And many Mexican citizens fled
north, across a border a few of them did not acknowledge, to
escape warfare in Mexico.
By 1913, along with the state militia, an enlarged Ranger force
was assigned border duty to guard the long river. Many of the
tensions there could be directly traced to the actual Anglo takeover
only some seventy years earlier. Some Mexicans on the border
made it no secret they considered Anglo ownership of Texas, cer-
83
own reign of terror, with notable Ranger help, is also a fact. The
Texas Rangers were involved early and were repeatedly called
"the hired guns of the Anglos:' among other phrases more direct
and obscene. Many Rangers maintained, using their most polite
vocabulary, that there was no better friend than the "old-time
ranch Mexican" and no worse enemy than the experienced Mexi­can
bandit and smuggler.
Even such polite phrasing did not inspire racial understand­ing.
Yet many Rangers on border duty, as in the 1870's, were Mexi­can
Texans with outstanding records of service. The rolls are laced
with their names: Martin Trejo, Juan Gonzalez, Dionicio Acosta,
Daniel Hinojosa, Jesus Perez. It made no difference.
Elizabeth Street in Brownsville, 1914. The view looks southeast (rom 11th St reet.
The Ranger force grew, and, apparently because of political
involvement, some recruits were less than estimable. At least since
1911 some Ranger commissions had been offered to payoff polit­ical
debts. The governor himself had the direct power to hire or
fire a Ranger as long as the total number stayed within legislative
limits. However, under the pressure of border troubles, the limits
rose. Subsequently, "Special Ranger" appointments could be
made-400 in 1917 during the war years. These were nonpaid
"deputies:' who were either delighted to help or who held the
appointment simply as a social honor, given as a favor. The cat­egory
eventually diluted Ranger quality and reputation. It was
a period in which certain Rangers did not distinguish themselves.
85
I have seen the time when the
people of Brownsville were afraid to
walk on the streets because of the
Rangers, and I have seen the time
when the people welcomed them to
protect their homes.
- Jesse Dennett
escaping a revolutionary sentence of execution. The times were
indeed most confusing.
As the United States entered World War I, conditions on Texas'
southern border did not ease. It was a time of marked anti­German,
in fact, anti-foreign, feeling - certainly at the border,
where spies and revolutionary agents were especially feared .
Mexican Texans always were suspected of being in league with
either Mexican national revolutionary leaders or the Germans.
They were not the only ones suspect. Everyone with a German
name - or any strange accent - could expect to be questioned by
Rangers or federal agents. It could be a rough experience.
The international bridge at Brownsville, looking toward Mexico, c. 1920
Ranger troubles came to a head during a legislative investi­gation
in Austin in 1919 which preceded the passing of a new
law establishing Ranger strength, duties, and pay. Individual
Rangers were charged with murder, torture of prisoners, assault,
drunkenness, and being in the pay of German spies. Although
the border provided most of the examples, Rangers in Austin were
called the "poker-playing club" on the floor of the Texas House
of Representatives. It was suggested that the only qualincations
Rangers had to have were reputations for killing and insolvency.
A legislator did point out that "they usually had both:'
State Representative J.T. Canales of Brownsville opened the
formal investigation into Ranger activity. The testimony included
evidence of many illegal and brutal actions on the part of indi­vidual
Rangers, while it indicated, clearly in the consensus of
the legislature, the need for such a service.
87
the southern border were hardly mentioned. These were consid­ered
to be a minority of cases, and, where there were reported
Ranger "excesses;' civil suits were already under way.
But, whatever the criticisms, in the West the Texas Rangers
were models for other state or territorial peace officers. Arizona,
Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and California tried cen­tral
police or ranger organizations. Three Texans, at least, served
with the New Mexico Mounted Police: George Elkins, Charles
R. Huber, and Rafael Gomez. In later years a few Texas Rangers
drifted west into the service of the Arizona rangers.
And in Texas the service was seriously questioned, criticized,
and condemned. Yet the need for Rangers always drifted to the
top of the arguments-and stayed there. The legislature, at least,
had answers. Did the Rangers perform a needed service? Yes. Was
Texas ready to do without them? No.
A staged photograph of a Texas Ranger removing whiskey from
Mexican bootleggers at Brownsville, c. 1920
National prohibition of alcoholic beverages lasted from Janu­ary
17, 1920 (and in Texas from May of 1919), to one minute after
midnight, September 15, 1933. Along the Texas border liquor
smuggling became rampant, and Rangers were assigned the addi­tional
duty of helping federal border officers in such matters.
Within the state Rangers were given the task of fmding and de­stroying
illegal stills and the resulting bootleg whiskey. A few
Rangers quit the service.
The southern border of Texas, 1,248 miles of river, afforded
many places of opportunity for smugglers. Rangers were ideal
officers for patrolling the less-populated stretches. They went on
scouts as long as sixty days, camping all the way.
89
No body of men has been more
acclaimed for valor and efficiency
than the famous Texas Rangers.
- Maude T. Gilliland
The Texas Ranger service, from the turn of the century until
1935, often was linked directly to political interests -very ques­tionable
political interests. Years before, a critic had remarked
that Texas would go to hell under Ranger rule. Major Jones re­sponded
that, if Texas did, it would go according to law. In the
1930's even that assurance seemed weak.
Any governor could name the state's adjutant general, head
of the Rangers, and could also appoint, or influence the appoint­ment
of, any Ranger. James E. Ferguson, William P. Hobby, and
Miriam Ferguson were among those fondest of appointing "their
own" men to Ranger service. One of the most spectacular changes
of command came after the election of Mrs. Ferguson to her
second term in 1933. Adjutant General Sterling quit his office­and
forty Rangers left with him.
Ranger identifzcation of Manuel T Gonzaullas
Governor "Ma" Ferguson, along with the legislature, cut
Ranger salaries and the service itself to 32 people. Transportation
money was so reduced that Rangers often had the choice of paying
their own way or remaining at headquarters. Then Ferguson sim­ply
discharged the force and recreated it with her own appoint­ments.
As it turned out, many of these men were later accused
of various crimes including extortion, gambling, bootlegging, and
theft. Her appointments of Special Rangers reached the ridicu­lous
total of 2,344 (including some ex-convicts). Many were sim­ply
honorary; some brought shame to the service. A popular com­ment
was that a Special Ranger commission could be had with
more ease, and with less good reason, than a Kentucky colonelcy.
Ranger commissions became a farce.
By 1934 Rangers from South Texas had allegedly confiscated
gambling equipment and opened their own establishment in an­other
town. One Ranger captain was charged with owning several
gambling houses and saloons, raiding rival enterprises for the
needed equipment.
91
of both Mexico and China and
serving as a Ireasury Department
spy. One of his several Ranger
enlistments was in Jerry Gray's
Company at El Paso in 1920.
During Prohibition Gonzaullas
served as a federal agent, then
reentered Ranger service as a
sergeant in 1932. In that year a
"wealthy oil man" bought a car for
him which was to become famous:
an armor-plated Chrysler fitted not
only with a "Texas Rangers" sign
below the license plate, but
also bullet-proof glass and a
submachine-gun mount.
No less famous a man was
Frank A. Hamer, who is well
known for participating in the
ambush of Bonnie Parker and
Clyde Barrow. Hamer was not in
Ranger service at the time but had
a long record of duty as a Ranger,
marshal, and private detective.
He amassed formidable statistics.
He participated in at least 49
gunfights, including several in
which he was left for dead, killing
some 52 men in his lifetime-and
one woman, Bonnie Parker. At his
peaceful death in 1955, Hamer was
said to carry some 23 gunshot
wounds and about 16 bullets and
lead fragments in his body.
IX. MYTH AND TALL TALES
S hiPS, baseball teams, automobiles, books, airplanes, condoms,
newspapers, dramatic presentations, motion pictures, musicals,
and a hundred other things, some best forgotten, have used the
name "Texas Ranger:'
The Ranger himself has given rise to some of the most out­landish
flction ever written and some of the wildest brags to come
out of Texas. The Rangers have been called the most celebrated
Texans in America, mentioned in poetry from Walt Whitman to
the present day, glorifled and damned in some of the most un­believable
anecdotes of the West, and put on the cliched stage
and screen as heroes or devils, with but one common element­the
superlative.
From the early 1930/s the cry of "Hi-Yo, Silver, Away!" has
been well known - in fact, known to a listening, viewing, and
reading audience estimated at 90/000/000 a week in 1955. Radio,
television, books, newspapers, and comic books brought the Lone
Ranger into most homes, when people weren't at the movies, to
become one of the most popular flctional heroes of all times­ranked
with Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Zorro. And about 55
percent of the audience was adult.
95
Much of the wind of time blows between the ranger of 1823
Texas and the fictional Lone Ranger. Price Daniel, a senator in
1955, speaking from the Congressional Record, claimed the Lone
Ranger "program has served as a vital factor in keeping alive in
the minds of people, both in the United States and abroad, the
traditions and ideals of the Texas Ranger organization and its work
in maintaining law and order;' It had already worked the other
way around. 1Wenty-three years earlier, the reputation of the
Texas Rangers helped create the masked man. And certain stories
are still told.
The Texas Ranger arrived by train in the oil boom town, called
for when mob violence passed beyond the control of a local sher­iff.
The sheriff, meeting the train himself, shook the Ranger's hand,
then looked around with a worried expression.
"Where are the other Rangers?"
The Ranger took only a moment to reply, looking past the
worried sheriff with a glint of steel in his eyes and letting his hand
fall gently on his pistol.
"You've only got one mob, haven't you?"
This particular Ranger has been riding by horse or railroad
into an oil town, range war, or feud in practically every story
written about the Rangers. He is always alone. He always has
piercing eyes. He always talks the same.
The incident probably never happened exactly like that. It
cannot be traced, except to a similar story told about Captain Bill
McDonald, but his is only one among many stories of a Ranger
quelling an entire mob, outdrawing a gunman, turning the tables
on a particularly troublesome group of lawbreakers, or simply
walking up and disarming a man who had barricaded himself
and held off other officers for hours-perhaps days. The only truth
to these stories is that they have happened. Not often, but fre­quently
enough to become retold stories and Ranger tradition.
So, the story of the Ranger who alone deals with a mob, or
a single gunman, is enduring myth - and occasional truth.
Desdemona, Texas, an oil boom town known as "Hogtown," c. 1920
97
"From what I've been hearin' jest
one of these here Ranger fellows
can take on a whole Comanche
tribe, if they're a-mind to, or a
whole endurin' rustler outfit of them
sidewinders that hole up in this
Llano country, and clean 'em plumb
out without even half tryin'. II
"Mebbe. I'm sho a-hopin' so.
This here country needs a good
cleanin' and if ever they was a job
for the Rangers it's this here we're
a-Iookin' at right now . .. . "
- J.E. Grinstead,
Texas Ranger justice
X. A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT IMAGE
O ver the past few decades, the Texas Rangers-the service
and the individuals themselves-have changed. Rangers still
have those traditions of personal bravery and sense of duty. They
still are defenders of the law, through and through. But they no
longer distribute frontier justice as fast as a revolver can be fired;
few Rangers ever did. They no longer seem independent of
higher authority; earlier Rangers often did. The Texas Ranger
service is assuming a somewhat different image.
Some say the Rangers are an outdated service, made weak by
politically correct but inappropriate hiring and hampered by an
overly bureaucratic justice system that gives a suspect too many
rights. In this view, Texas Rangers face their sunset. Others see
the Rangers making a necessary and successful transition into a
modern world where the concept of justice has a new meaning.
Certainly, for better or worse, they are no longer the "gun­smoke
and saddle leather" bunch of a century ago.
Rangers no longer come directly from sheriff or police depart­ments
across the state, although they may have had such employ­ment.
Changes in requirements now demand eight years of com­missioned
law enforcement including four years with the Depart­ment
of Public Safety. By choosing from the ranks, some qualified
persons may be missed, but the service knows the individuals it
inducts-knows them very well indeed. And Ranger applicants
101
Range rs "somewhere in South Texas," 1933
not, Rangers were accused of acting too violently, obstructing le­gitimate
protest, and being unnecessary to keep the peace.
Likewise, Rangers were said to be simple strikebreakers in
1966 and 1967 in Starr County. New union members did not ap­preciate
having their lines crossed or their right to assemble
threatened-whether in the name of the law or not.
Headed by Dr. George T. Sanchez, a Mexican-American Joint
Conference was held in Laredo during May of 1967. This citizens'
I
',- -"\ ~
Ranger George Burnup and Lester Robertson of the Texas Department
of Public Safety on an armored personnel carrier, September 19, 1955
103
cade, the times were not the 1930' s. Her stand was considered by
some to be the most unpopular suggestion of her unsuccessful
campaign.
In many an earlier year, Rangers were accused of personal
brutality, taking the law and subsequent justice into their own
hands, acting as strikebreakers, using illegal arrest procedures,
and committing a host of other evils. Many of these charges were
the conclusions of those who saw Ranger action in terms of ma­jority
interests being defended at the expense of minority inter­ests.
Yet the Rangers endured; compliments outnumbered criti­cisms.
Far from becoming superfluous highway patrolmen, they
are a significant part of the Texas Department of Public Safety,
lawmen who can, on request, help anywhere in the state in cases
of major felony crime. Rangers are trained by the DPS, and on
occasion by the FBI and other agencies, in modern investigative
skills. And each receives significant training every year.
They no longer must own a horse or even know how to ride
one. One captain is quick to point out that Rangers in the south­ern
and western parts of Texas do occasionally need a horse.
Cases of cattle theft and fugitive search in lonely areas are still
problems. But some Rangers now borrow a horse when it be­comes
necessary.
105
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Rangers are, of course, involved in things other than crime,
tradition, and controversy. They take part in civic activities and
lead fairly usual private lives; they have a wide variety of inter­ests,
and most do not "retire" -they move on to other occupations.
Texas Ranger Ron Stewart (right) works with local officers to recover stolen
dinosaur tracks. This case involved the theft of dinosaur tracks, millions of
years old, preserved in Texas limestone. In the modern world, as in the old,
crime takes many forms.
Rangers have acted as advisors for movies and dramatic pro­ductions.
More than one has been involved with show business in
some form. Ranger Joaquin Jackson arranged for the young
Johnny Rodriguez-after Rodriguez had been arrested for steal­ing,
killing, and barbecuing a registered Angora goat-to audi­tion
as a musician. After his brush with the law, Rodriguez be­came
one of the first Texans of Mexican descent to become a
country-western singer. Jackson also became, after giving advice
to moviemakers, "Hollywood" Jackson-to a few friends within
the service, that is.
Extreme Prejudice was a typical Ranger movie featuring a
main character dealing with crime almost as powerfully bizarre
as that which opposes James Bond, British agent 007. The movie
needs no careful review but, as stereotype, is notable. The
Ranger-moving coolly through hails of bullets, street show­downs,
complicated passions, a turgid plot, and the heat of the
Texas border-wins. And the fictional Ranger wins, in part, by
taking the law into his own hands.
107
Gas mask drill for Texas Rangers at Fort Sam Houston, Company D, 1971
The reputation of the Ranger service has always been that
"they get whom they are after." Rangers have created the tradi­tion
that they can also get the facts.
Investigation of voter fraud is an activity increasingly involv­ing
Rangers. Several individuals in the service have gained the
reputation of knowing more about determining fraud in voting
procedure "than 99 percent of the lawyers in the state."
Cynics have suggested that Texas is a prime place for chasing
government corruption because there's so much of it. Such state­ments
smell of opinion, but Rangers do have a record of uncover­ing
evidence often leading to convictions.
Not every time. Rangers have come under criticism in a num­ber
of cases, lost because in a modern courtroom the evidence
looked very badly handled.
In 1985 the Ranger service was immersed in controversy dur­ing
the investigation of Henry Lee Lucas, an individual who con­fessed
to several hundred murders nationwide. Some law officers
working the case, Rangers among them, were quickly accused of
having prompted Lucas with details of killings-some he appar­ently
could not have done. Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox
released a report thereafter claiming that investigating teams
had uncritically accepted the confessions, a way of saying the job
had been bungled, badly. Headlines persisted for months.
And the good stories, the successes, even undoubted hero­ism-
although much more frequent than the failures-are not
considered news for long. When a Ranger was shot to death in
1987 while apprehending a fugitive suspected of murder and
kidnapping, the comments were in praise of the service; but the
109
called the "czar of narcotics." The target was in the tiny town of
Santa Elena, just south of the river. After an hour's gunfight the
body of Pablo Acosta was flown away.
Perhaps significantly, Rangers were not in the fight, and they
advertise the ones they are in very little. In fact, they have been
in the background of many recent encounters rather than obvi­ously
in the thick of things. Times change.
But some investigations have high profiles. In 1993 David
Koresh and some 80 followers died in a fire following an FBI siege
at the Branch Davidian compound at Mt. Carmel near Waco.
The situations leading to the disaster were complicated enough
to be confusing. Charges of possession of illegal weapons, child
Today's Texas Rangers use helicopters more often than horses.
abuse, and disregard for civil authority were raised. After the ca­tastrophe
the Texas Rangers were asked by the United States
Attorney's Office to conduct the forensic investigation of the
scene. The job lasted weeks and amassed thousands of pieces of
evidence.
In later years Rangers added to their reputation by conduct­ing
successful negotiations with hostage holders and arresting
suspects in nationwide searches.
The makeup of the modern Ranger service is, in terms of eth­nic
groups, still predominantly Anglo. In recent years individuals
of Hispanic heritage have numbered about 13 percent of those
employed. In September of 1988 Lee Roy Young Jr. became the
first Black appointed to the regular, modern service. Young was a
111
')
'"
Antonio, E in Midland, and F in Waco. A field office in Austin at
DPS headquarters reports to Waco.
The service is under the command of a Senior Ranger Cap­tain
who is under the supervision of the Chief of Criminal Law
Enforcement and the Director of the Texas Department of Public
Safety.
These are not the only "rangers" around, but they are the
only official ones. The Texas and South Western Cattle Raisers
Association, as well as some former railroads operating in the
state, employed private officers with special ranger commissions
as investigators of cattle theft. These were peace officers commis- I
sioned, but not paid for, by the state-and not connected to the
Texas Rangers. Many organizations, such as "neighborhood rang­ers,"
use the name in a generic sense. And a Department of Pub­lic
Safety employee with more than 20 years of service can apply
for a special ranger commission. Such peace officer retirees may
still carry their guns and work privately but are not counted as
part of the Ranger service.
Although the transition into a contemporary world of sus­pects'
rights, time cards, legislative accountability, and equal op­portunity
demands has not been easy-the Rangers have en­dured.
Over the years the criticism has been enough to change
the service, several times. But Ranger support, in fact, has always
been stronger than Ranger criticism.
A retired captain, a veteran of many disputes, once said: "For
everyone who don't like me, I got a lot more who do."
The laconic words are still true.
113
• •
117
Photography came to Texas, here and
there, between the early 1840's and as
late as the next century, depending on
where one was standing. Rangers were
everywhere, and, like most citizens,
were often delighted to pose for the
rather interesting, if not downright
mysterious, invention.
Itinerant photographers and studio
photographers alike had props-some
studios were well equipped. Men, in
particular, could lead their horses in
front of painted backdrops, such as an
English cut-stone terrace railing or an
Appalachian sunset, then borrow coats,
guns, hats, knives - even the horse - to
make themselves look a bit more
accomplished and prosperous. For this
reason, many of these photographs look
rather strange today. The gun is often
too old for the photograph-the hat
doesn't go with the suspenders-one
suspects that the coat wasn't much in
use outside of Paris. And some early
photographic processes produced a
mirror image. Men's shirts became
buttoned on the wrong side, and the
gunslingers had their weaponry close to
the hand they used only for cigars.
Clockwise from top right:
Ranger W. W. Collier at age 17 in 1880,
"when there were only two kinds of
Rangers.. the quick and the dead"
Charles August Johnson,
Company E, Frontier Battalion, 1892
Ranger Capt. John J. Sanders
Possibly AI Sowell
119
Clockwise from top right:
Ranger posing with Bowie knife and
Colt single-action revolver, from a
tintype, c. 1878
Company D at Realitos, 1887:
from left, back row-jim King, "Bass
Outlaw," Riley Barton, Charles
Fusselman, Mr. Durbin, Ernest Rogers,
Charles Barton, Walter jones;
seated-Bob Bell, Capt. Frank jones,
Cal Aten, Walter Durbin, jim
Robinson, and Frank Schmid.
Rangers George Black and? Britton,
Company B, Frontier Battalion
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121
Clockwise from top right:
Texas Rangers at Ranger, Texas
Rangers with Texas National Guard
general (center, front), c. 1925
Rangers at Denison, 1922
Plainview, 1890
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Clockwise from top right:
Ranger Headquarters Company,
September 1919: from left, standing­Pvt.
Frank Matthews, Jim Martin,
Harrison Hamer, Tom Hickman;
kneeling - Capt. Joe Brooks,
Sgt. Charlie Blackwell, Pvt. Joe Powell,
and Pvt. S. O. Durst.
Rangers at Thurber, c. 1890, including
S.M. Graves, Sullivan, Tom Platt,
"Ned" Murphy, Lon Lewis, Thomas,
Malcolm, "Little Mack," S.M. Platt,
and "Red Tom" (Tom O'Hare)
Rangers from Company D
at Amarillo, 1891
Company D, Frontier Battalion, at
Fort McKavett camp, May 15, 1880
Ranger at Mexia, 1922
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125
TIe Trans-Pecos of present Texas was
never in Spanish Texas, nor was it
much of a concern to earlier Anglo
settlers. It was another world. As part
of the immense area east of the Rio
Grande claimed by the Republic of
Texas, it became a place to settle and
use in ways quite different from the
motives of either the native Americans
or the Spanish.
So far away from the state capital-a
journey of weeks over the first Anglo routes
into a land of few local lawmen - the
area became a region of Ranger
activity. Today it is half of the large
concern of Company E.
Much of the land is desert, mountain
and basin, playa and plain, with abrupt
contrasts of plants, animals, and human
settlements. The land contains melon
fields and silver mines, old volcanoes
and dry ocean reefs, lush grasslands
and swaths of cactus. The people range
from resident Pueblo Indians to northern
snowbirds in caravans.
In earlier days the Rangers found the
land a beautiful challenge. Here one
had to ride trail as efficiently as the
Indian. Here reinforcements were too
far away to be of consequence. Here
many Rangers left their hearts.
Clockwise from top right:
Sgt. Sie Bell and two other Rangers
at Langtry, 1918
At Old Deemer's Store on the Rio
Grande near Boquillas, 1929:
from left - Ranger Pete Crawford,
Justice of the Peace Ray Miller,
Rangers Bob Pool and Arch Miller,
and Constable Steve Bennet.
Capt. CL. Nevill 's camp at Musquiz
Creek, Fort Davis, near Alpine,
c. 1880 ?
From left - Ranger Brown's son,
Rangers Brown and Wright,
Border Patrol Fletcher Rawls, and
Rangers HN. Hall and Buchanan
San Vicente crossing in the
Big Bend region
.,"
127
TIe Valley of Texas-sometimes called
the Lower Valley, the Lower Rio Grande
Valley, South Texas, or tropical Texas­is
a multicultural river plain stretching
up the Rio Grande from the Gulf of
Mexico some 150 miles, but certainly
south and east of Laredo.
A place called home by more than a
dozen native groups, an area of Spanish
settlement partly called Nuevo Santander,
the Valley culturally encompasses the
settlements on both sides of the river,
more or less made isolate by strips of
brush with infrequent streams to the
north and south.
The river was more a crossing and
settlement area to the powers of Spain
and Mexico, and not a border of Texas,
until the Republic of Texas and the
United States laid claim to the
Nueces Strip.
As a part of Texas, the Valley became
a settlement area for Anglos. Here land
title was often simply taken as a reward
of military conquest, even though both
the Republic and State of Texas made
provision for the recognition of Spanish
land grants. "Native rights" were not
even dreamed of
And a border needed patrolling. State
and federal of{zcers did most of the work,
but Rangers proved effective as mounted
riders to oppose rustlers, smugglers, and
thieves (from either side} who would use
the border as cover. Rangers seemed less
reluctant than some lawmen, certainly
more eager than federal troops, to cross
an international boundary in hot pursuit.
Today the Valley is a stable society but is
still an area where labor disputes, border
crossings, and crime can take on the
feelings of racial and cultural conflict.
Clockwise from top right:
Capt. J.A. Brooks 's Company at the Rio
Grande, c. 1891, during the Catarina
Garza war
Postcard print of a cockfight by the
railway, San Benito, c. 1910's
Capt. J.A. Brooks's Company at
Falfurrias, c. 1885
Vege table harvest in the Valley
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Capt. Jerry Gray's Company B, Big Bend District near Marfa, 1918: from left-Arthur Miles, Capt. Gray, Charles H. Hagle1;
Bug Barnett, Jack Murdock, Sam Neil, AG. Beard, Marcus Langford, Frank Hillbolt, G. W Cox, Harold King,
NM. Fulle1; Frank Cnttington, Sgt. AH. Woelber, and S.F "Buffalo Bill" Sherman.
This company was formed to replace Capt. Fox's Company, which was disbanded after some of the Rangers entered Mexico with
members of the u.s. 8th Cavalry in December 1917 to avenge a border raid. Some of these Rangers had served with Fox.
Nettie Hunter, daughter of J. Marvin
Hunter, putting up an advertisement in
Bandera for the Texas Rangers' reunion
in Menard, 1925
Rangers Buck Weaver, Roy Hardesty,
Sgt. Martin N. Koonsman,
Warren Belcher, and Tip Eades
in East Texas, 1923
Adler, Larry. The Texas Rangers. New York: McKay, 1979.
Arrington, A[lfred].W. The Rangers and Regulators of the Tanaha;
or, Life among the Lawless. A Tale of the Republic of Texas. New
York: R.M. DeWitt, 1856; New York: Carleton, 1874.
Aten, Ira. Six and One-Half Years in the Ranger Service. Bandera,
'IX.: Frontier Times, 1945.
Barry, Buck. Texas Ranger and Frontiersman. Ed. James K. Greer.
Dallas: Southwest Press, 1932; Lincoln: University of Nebras­ka
Press, 1984.
Barton, Henry W. "The United States Cavalry and the Texas
Rangers;' Southwestern Historical Quarterly 73, no. 4 (April
1960): 495-510.
Castleman, Harvey N. [Vance Randolph.] The Texas Rangers.
Girard, Kans.: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1944.
Conger, Roger, et al. Rangers of Texas. Waco: Texian Press, 1969.
Cox, Mike. Silver Stars and Sixguns: The Texas Rangers. Austin: Texas
Department of Public Safety, 1987.
Curry, Jerome P. "Weapons trail leads from Texas to Mexico;' San
Antonio Express-News, April 24, 1988, p. 15-A.
Day, James M. Captain Clint Peoples, Texas Ranger: Fifty Years a
Lawman. Waco: Texian Press, 1980.
Dobie, James Frank. A Vaquero of the Brush Country. Dallas:
Southwest Press, 1929 [and many later editions].
Douglas, Claude Leroy. The Gentlemen in the White Hats: Dramatic
Episodes in the History of the Texas Rangers. Dallas: Southwest
Press, 1934.
Durham, George. On the Trail of 5100 Outlaws. n.p., 1934.
___ , Taming the Nueces Strip. Austin: University of Texas Press,
1962.
Duval, John C[rittendenJ. The Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, the
Texas Ranger and Hunter. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen &
Hapfelfmger, 1871; facsimile, Austin: Steck Co., 1947.
---' Early Times in Texas. Austin: H.P.N. Gammel & Co., 1892.
Eckhardt, c.P. "Ballad tells story of trainrobber Bass;' Seguin
Gazette-Enterprise, Wednesday, March 20, 1991, p. 3. [The &rst
in a weekly series of a syndicated column; March 20 and 27,
April 3 and 10 deal with the story of Sam Bass.]
Emrich, Duncan. "Cowboy Songs, Ballads, and Cattle Calls from
Texas:' Sound recording. Washington, D.C.: Library of
Congress, Division of Music, 1952.
Ford, John Salmon. Rip Ford's Texas. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1963.
Frost, H. Gordon, and John H. Jenkins. "I'm Frank Hamer':' The
Life of a Texas Peace Of{zcer. Austin: Pemberton Press, 1968.
148
Capt. Bill McMurray
Company D at Alice, December 1943:
standing, from left -Alfred Allee,
Zeno Smith, Leon Vivian, Joe Bridge,
Robert Rohatsch; seated­Capt.
Gully Cowert, Frank Mills,
and John Hensley.
Mason-Manheim, Madeline. Riding for Texas: The Irue Adventures
of Captain Bill McDonald of the Texas Rangers. New York:
Reynal & Hitchcock, 1936.
Mayo, Earl. The Texas Rangers: The Most Effzcient Police Force in
the World. New York: F. Leslie Publishing House, 1901. [From
Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, October 1901.]
Oates, Stephen B. Visions of Glory, Texans on the Southwestern
Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, [1970].
Ogden, George Washington. The Watch on the Rio Grande. New
York, 1911. [From Everybody's Magazine, September 1911.]
Paine, Albert Bigelow. Captain Bill McDonald, Texas Ranger. New
York: J.J. Little & Ives, 1909; Austin: State House Press, 1985.
Paredes, Americo. "With His Pistol in His Hand." Austin: University
of Texas Press, 1958.
Pike, James. Scout and Ranger. 1865; Cincinnati: Hawley, 1965;
New York: Da Capo Press, 1972.
Preece, Harold. Lone Star Man: Ira Aten, Last of the Old Texas
Rangers. New York: Hastings House, 1960.
Proctor, Ben H. liThe Modern Texas Rangers: A Law-Enforcement
Dilemma in the Rio Grande Valley:' In The Mexican Ameri­cans:
An Awakening Minority. Ed. Manuel P. Servin. Beverly
Hills: Glencoe Press, 1970.
Raymond, Dora Neill. Captain Lee Hall of Texas. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1940.
Reid, Samuel Chester. The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas
Rangers. Philadelphia, 1847, 1859; Austin: Steck Co., 1935.
Rigler, Lewis C., and Judyth Wagner Rigler. In the Line of Duty:
Reflections of a Texas Ranger Private. Houston: Larksdale Press,
1984.
Roberts, Dan W. , and Lou Conway [Mrs. D.W] Roberts. Rangers
and Sovereignty by Dan W Roberts. A Woman's Reminiscences
of Six Years in Camp with the Texas Rangers by Mrs. D.W Roberts.
Intro. Robert Wooster. Austin: State House Press, 1987.
[Facsimile ed. of the originals, combined in one volume. First
work originally published San Antonio: Wood Printing &
Engraving Co., 1914; second work originally published Austin:
Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., (19287).]
Samora, Julian; Joe Bernal, and Albert Pena. Gunpowder justice:
A Reassessment of the Texas Rangers. Notre Dame: University
of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
Servin, Manuel P. , ed. The Mexican-Americans: An Awakening
Minority. Beverly Hills: Glencoe Press, 1970. [See, among
others, the article by B.H. Proctor noted above.]
Sinise, Jerry. George Washington Arrington: Civil War Spy, Texas
Ranger; Sherif{, and Rancher; a Biography. Burnet, Tx.: Eakin
Press, 1979.
150
Ranger William G. King with
unidentified woman and dog
Rangers at Brownsville, c. 1910, as
identified by R. C. Schmelling: standing,
from left - detective from Indiana,
James B. Wells, detective, unknown
Range r, Henry Lawrence, Frank Baker;
seated - Capt. Fox, Henry Agar,
and Capt. Wright (?}.
Austin; Arnulfo 1. Oliveira Memorial Library, Texas Southmost College,
Brownsville -
line 3: All four from Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas
State Library, Austin-line
4: Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Nor­man;
next three from Texas Department of Public Safety Collection,
Texas State Library, Austin.
6 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
7 Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at
Austin.
8 Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
11 Francis P. Moore Jr., Map and Description of Texas: Containing Sketches
of Its History, Geology, Geography and Statistics (Philadelphia: H. Tanner
Junr.; New York: Tanner & Disturnell, 1840).
12 Zintgraff Collection, ITC; Noah Smithwick, The Evolution of a State
(Austin: H.P.N. Gammel, 1900).
13 Jose Cisneros, El Paso.
14 ITC.
15 R.Q. Sutherland, The Book of Colt Firearms (Kansas City, Mo.: n.d.).
16 Texas State Capitol, Austin.
17 Jw. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas (Austin: Hutchings Printing
House, 1889) .
18 Frontier Times Museum, Bandera.
19 Library of Congress, Washington.
20 Ellen Schulz Quillin Collection, ITC - (inset) Texian Press, Waco­Henry
Barnard, Armsmear: the Home, the Arm and the Armory of Samuel
Colt (New York, 1866).
23 Gonzales Memorial Museum, Gonzales.
24 Amanda Ochse, San Antonio.
25 Library of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas at the Alamo - ITC;
San Antonio Daily Express, May 26, 1894-Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Newspaper (New York, 1859).
26 Bruce Marshall, Austin.
28 Terrell Maverick Webb, San Antonio; Bruce Marshall, Austin.
29 ITC (replica loaned by IMAX Theater) - Bruce Marshall, Austin.
30 Texian Press, Waco.
31 Texian Press, Waco.
32 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman; ITC.
33 Catherine McDowell, San Antonio.
34 Charles T. Haven and Frank A. Belden, A History of the Colt Revolver
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1940).
36 LJ Wortham, A History of Texas (Fort Worth: Wortham-Molyneaux Co.,
1924).
37 Texas State Capitol, Austin.
38 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
39 Arnulfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library, Texas Southmost College,
Brownsville.
40 William H. Emory, Report on the U.s. & Mexican Boundary Survey . ..
Secretary of the Interior (Washington, D.C. , 1857) .
41 Bruce Marshall, Austin.
42 Roger Conger, Waco.
44 Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin.
47 Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
48 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
50 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman; Texas
Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library, Austin.
51 Lewis E. Daniell, Personnel of the Texas State Government (San Antonio:
Maverick Printing Company, 1892).
52 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
53 Arnulfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library, Texas Southmost College,
156
~'"
H/Jl!fY~ UTi TRIMGLE •...
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Rangers Honeycutt and Trimble, 1923
A Ranger exchanges a message with a
helicopter pilot during training and
exercises at Camp Hood, October 18,
1949. The maneuver may have been
carried out only in practice.
102 Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
103 Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman­Texas
Department of Public Safety Collection,Texas State Library,
Austin.
104 Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
106
107
108
109
110
111
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
158
Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin .
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin .
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman­next
two from Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
William D. Wittliff, Austin-Western History Collections, Univer­sity
of Oklahoma at Norman.
Both from Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State
Library, Austin.
lTC-Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State
Library, Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin.
Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman­next
three from Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas
State Library, Austin.
lTC-Heritage Museum, Falfurrias.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin-next two from W.D. Smithers Collection, Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Harlingen Public Library, Harlingen.
Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas State Library,
Austin-Estate of Ford Green, San Antonio-Western History Col­lections,
University of Oklahoma at Norman.
First two from Fort Sam Houston Military Museum, San Antonio;
Jos, T. Canales, Juan N. Cortina: Bandit or Patriot? (San Antonio:
Artes Graficas, 1851)-next two from Fort Sam Houston Military
Museum, San Antonio; Arnulfo 1. Oliveira Memorial Library, Texas
Southmost College, Brownsville.
Harlingen Public Library, Harlingen.
Both from Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at
Norman.
All three from Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma
at Norman.
Top three from Western History Collections, University of Okla­homa
at Norman-Hugh C. Cole Jr., Donna, Texas; San Antonio
Express-News.
All three from Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas
State Library, Austin.
Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma at Norman­next
two from Texas Department of Public Safety Collection, Texas
State Library, Austin.
•
. ,
Henry M. Smith, San Antonio marshal and former Texas Ranger, with his wife, Frances Short,
c. 1868. The woman in the center is unidentified.
INDEX
Italic page numbers indicate photographs.
Acosta, Dionicio 85
Acosta, Pablo 111
Agar, Henry 156
Aldrich, J.w. 137
Allee, Alfred Y. 58, 102-103, 140, 150
Allred, James V. 92, 92
Amphibious operations 16, 67
Andrews, ? 18
Antagonism to Texas Rangers 4,24,31, 32, 46, 53, 57, 60-61, 72, 85, 87, 88,
90-91 , 101,102-105,109
Armstrong, John B. 50, 54-55, 54
Arrington, G.w. 66, 67-68
Ashburn, Henry 52
Aten, Cal 119
Aten, Ira 70-72, 70, 78
Austin, Stephen F. 1-2, 9, 10
Aycock, John 110
Bailey, Marvin E. 77
Baker, Frank 156
Barker, Dudley S. 66, 132
Barter, W.L. 7
Barnes, Seaborn 69
163
The Jersey Lilly Saloon in Langtry, with
Judge Roy Bean holding court, trying
a horse thief, c. 1890
....
The Jersey Lilly Saloon abandoned,
c. 1910's
Barnett, Bug 146
Barnett, L.B. 93
Barrow, Clyde 91
Barry, Buck 151
Barton, Charles 119
Barton, Riley 119
Bass, Sam 68-70, 68, 69
Bates, Sam 74
Baylor, George W 66-67, 67
Beard, A.G. 146
Belcher, Warren 148
Bell, Bob 76, 119
Bell, Gene 76
Bell, Jim "Wooly" 73
Bell, Josiah H. 10
Bell, Peter Hansborough 36, 36, 37
Bell, Sie 125
Bennet, Steve 125
Bernal, Joe 104
Bingham, George 52
Bird, John 18
Bishop, WF. 137
Black, George 118
Blacker, A. 63, 66
Blackwell, C.L. "Blackie" x
Blackwell, Charlie 123
Blue Eagle 37
Border hostilities 55, 83-94, 102-104, 110-11
Branch Davidians 111
Bridge, Joe 150
Britton, ? 118
Britton, Guede 159
Brooke, G.M. 36
Brooks, Jame Abijah 73, 75, 76, 76, 79, 127
Brooks, Joe 123
Brookshire, Nathan 18
Brown, ? 124
Brown, Nick 52
Brownsville riot 77
Bryant, Ed 73
Bryce, J.W 137
Buchanan, ? 124
Buns, Mat A. "Darling" 159
Burleson, Rufus Columbus 42
Burnup, George 103
Burton, Isaac W. 16
Burwell, WM. 73
Callahan, J.H. 37
Campbell, B. 64
Camps, Ranger 56, 125, 130-33
Canales, J.T. 87
Cardis, Louis 61, 61
Carmichael, Frank 76
Carson, Tom 52
Carta , C.A. 93
Cates, Wesley W 159
Chew, Bob 73
Civil War 43-45
Clemens, Billy 52
Clothing of Texas Rangers 16, 17,22, 31-32, 33, 39, 79, 106
Coalson, Doug 52
Coke, Jack 42
164
Coke, Richard 49,50,51,51,68
Coleman's Fort 12, 12
Collier, W. W. 117
Colt revolver 15, 20,29 , 29, 31,32,34, 41,55
Company A x, 49, 75, 76, 113, 132
Company B 49, 54, 66, 75, 113, 118, 132, 146
Company C 49, 58, 75, 76, 113
Company D 49, 52, 55, 64, 70, 75, 78 , 113, 119, 123, 132, 150, 168
Company E 7, 49, 104, 113,117,143,159
Company F 46, 49, 50, 76, 76, 113
Company G 18
Comstock, ].H. 64
Conley, Ed 73
Conner, John H. 33
Cook, Lewis 52
Cook, Maurice 112
Cook, Thalis T. 73
Cortina, Juan Nepomuceno 38-40, 39, 53, 128
Cotulla, John 157
Cowert, Gully 150
Cox, 7 88
Cox, G.w. 146
Crawford, A.G. 84
Crawford, Pete 125
Crittington, Frank 146
Crowder, Bob 76
Crystal City, Texas 102-103
Cummings, A.B. 137
Davis, E.]. 10, 46
Davis, H. Clay 37
Delgado, Macedonio 45
de Montel, Charles 18, 18
Dennett, Jesse 85
DeVilbiss, John Wesley 24
Dibbrell, John 1. 77
Donley, Ed 73
Durbin, 7 119
Durbin, Walter 119
Durst, S.O. 123
Dvetts [7], J.H. 73
Eades, Tip 148
Eastland, William 18
8th Texas Cavalry C.S.A. 44-45, 44
El Paso Salt War 61-62
Elkins, George 89
Elkins, S.P. 45
Enchanted Rock 20-21, 20
Equipment and supplies of Texas Rangers 10, 12-13, 14,14,17,36,37,43,
44, 60, 76, 80, 90, 92, 103, 106, 111, 140-44, 157, 158, 168, 171
Ethnic origin of Texas Rangers 4-6, 19,40,54, 85,90, 98, 112
Eubank, H.T. 64
Falc6n, 746
Farenthold, Frances 105
Ferguson, Andy 73
Ferguson, Miriam 91
Fiction, Texas Rangers in, see Legends of Texas Rangers
FIacco 20, 37
Flint, Ed 73
Food 14, 40, 60, 67, 80
Ford, John Salmon "Rip" 28, 28, 36, 37-40, 43
46th Texas Cavalry Regiment 44
Fox, 7 156
Fredericksburg, Texas 20-21
165
Tom Hickman, July 1942
Rangers at Glenn Spring, 1919
Lt. Jim Gillespie, Company E
Rangers L.H. Purvis and Clint Peoples
checking cattle at Kerrville,
June 24, 1949
Frontier Regiment 43-44
Frontier, Texas Rangers on the western 1-2, 10, 32-33, 35-40, 46, 49-57, 60-63
Fryar, D.B. 11
Fulgam, James 73
Fuller, N.M. 146
Fusselman, Charles 119
Garcia, ? 46
Garcia, Gov. Luciano 10
Garrison, Homer, Jr. 112
Gates, Samuel 10
Gillespie, Addison 20
Gillespie, Jim 166
Gillett, J.B. 70-71, 71
Gillett, James S. 37
Gilliland, Maude T. 89
Goat War 86
Gomez, Rafael 89
Gonzalez, Juan 85
Gonzaullas, M.T. 90-91, 91, 100
Gourley, Doc 52
Graves, S.M. 123
Gray, Jerry 91, 146
Greenwood, Garrison 11
Grey, Zane 96
Grimes, Henry 69
Grinstead, J.E. 97
Grumbles, John J. 33
Guffey, Stan 110
Hacienda San Francisco de los Patos incident 29-30
Hagler, Charles H. 146
Hall, H.N. 124
Hall, Lee 54, 55
Hamer, Frank A. 6, 77, 91
Hamer, Harrison 123
Hardesty, Roy 148
Hardin, John Wesley 54-55, 55
Harney, William S. 33
Harris, Buck 58
Harris, Thpper 76
Harry, Jim 76
Hart, John 58
Harwell, Jack 73
Hays, John C. 10,15, 18, 19-22,19,28,29,30,31,32,33,33,37
Heirs, C.P. 73
Henderson, J. Pinckney 27, 28, 33
Henderson, Tom 137
Henry, Sam 52
Hensley, John 150
Hess, John 73
Hickman, Tom 123, 165
Hill, Paul B. 168
HillboIt, Frank 146
Hinojosa, Daniel 85
Honeycutt, ? 158
Horton, George 73
Houston, Sam 12, 36, 43
Howard, Charles H. 61-62
Howell, W.N. 77
Huber, Charles R. 89
Hudson, R.M. "Duke" 6, 77
Hughes, George 52
Hughes, John Reynolds 73, 75, 77, 78, 79, 96, 96, 142
Hunnicutt, J.R. viii
166
Hunter, ]. Marvin 148
Hunter, Nettie 148
Indian scouts 'th 'T'
. WI lexas Rangers 37 39 60
IndIans, Texas Rangers fightin 1-2' ,
43,46,50-51,66_67 g, 3,10,15-16,17-18,20-23,35_36,37_39
Ireland, John 70 '
Iron Jacket (Po-bish-e-quash_oj 38
Jackson, Frank 69
Jackson, Joaquin 107
Johnson, Charles August 117
Johnson, Frank 149
Johnson, Tom 66, 132
jones, Anson 21
/(jMS, Prank 7B, 79, 119
Jones, Gus T. "Buster" 149
Jones, John B. 46, 50-51, 50, 55, 56, 59-62, 68, 91
Jones, Nat B. "Kiowa" 170
Jones, Walter 119
Jurisdiction of Texas Rangers 4, 10, 11,28,33,37, 43,92,108
Karnes, Henry W 18
Kelso, ? 46
Kimbell, R.G. 52
King, Harold 146
King, Jim 70-71, 119
King, Thomas B. 88
King, William G. 156
Kinney, ? 22
Kirchner, Carl 73
Kleid, ? 46
Koonsman, Martin N. 148
Koresh, David 111
Kuykendall, Robert 10
Langford, Marcus 146
Las Cuevas "war" 53-54
Latham, James W. 73
Law enforcement by Texas Rangers 3-4,59-74,75-80,83-92, 101-102,102,
103-105,107, 108-111,134-39, see also Outlaws, Texas Rangers fighting
Lawrence, Henry 156
Lee, Robert E. 40
Legends of Texas Rangers 4,49,95-97, 107-108
Lewis, G.K. 37
Lewis, Lon 123
"Little Mack" ? 123
Lone Ranger, The 95-97
Lone Wolf 51
Lopez, Benjamin 86
Los Diablos Tejanos 28
Lozier, ? 73
Lucas, Henry Lee 109
Mabry, WN. 73
McAlvaine, A. 65
McCauley, Billy 73
McCawley, Bill 149
McClure, Bob 73
McConnell, WP. 137
McCoy, Archie 64
McCoy, J.F. 137
McCroskey, John 10
McCulloch, Ben 18, 21, 28,28, 30, 32-33, 32
McCulloch, Henry 36
McCullough, John 24, 25
167
Horner White, age 23-Ranger in
Capt. Johnson'S Company, 1908
Rangers of Company D in a
gas mask drill, Fort Sam Houston,
March 31, 1971
Dr. Paul B. Hill, Chaplin of
the Texas Rangers, San Antonio,
October 18, 1938
McDonald, William Jesse "Bill" 50, 73, 75, 77, 77, 79, 97
McGown, lB. 36
McMahon, F.M. 73
McMurray, Bill 150
McMurry, Sam 169
McNelly, Leander H. 46, 51 -54, 53, 55, 56
Macpherson, Capt. ? 10
Maddox, Allen 66, 66, 132
Malcolm, ? 123
Mankins, Jeff 159
Maps, Texas 8, 128-29, 172
Marcy, W.L. 27
Marlin, William 38
Marsden, Crosley 149
Martin, Jim 123
Mason County War 59
Matthews, Frank 123
Mattox, Jim 109
Mexican War 2 , 22,26-33,26,28,29,30,31,32,36, 128-29, see also
Revolutionaries, Mexican
Mexicans, Texas Rangers fighting 2, 18-19, 22, 37, 39-40, 53-56, see also
Mexican War; Border hostilities; Texas Revolution
Mexico City, Mexico 30, 32
Mier Expedition 22, 29
Miles, Arthur 146
Miller, ? 58
Miller, Arch 125
Miller, L.C. 52
Miller, Ray 125
Mills, Frank 150
Monterrey, Mexico 30-31
Moore, Jim 52
Moore, John 73
Moore, John H. 17-18
Morrisson, Moses 10
Murdock, Jack 146
Murphy, "Ned" 123
Name "Texas Rangers" 1-2, 9, 10, 11, 28, 36, 46, 49, 95
Neal, Doc 73
Neal, E.T. 132
Neal, Edgar 66, 73
I Neil, Sam 146
Nelson, G.H. 37
Nevill, C.L. 66, 67, 125
Numerical strength of Texas Rangers 4, 15, 36, 43, 46, 49, 62, 75, 91, 92,
112-13
Occupational background of Texas Rangers 4-6, 18, 28, 86
O'Hare, "Red Tom" 123
Olson, ? 141
Organizational structure of Texas Rangers 11, 12, IS, 17, 18, 36, 43, 44, 49,
75,92,112-13
Outlaws, Texas Rangers fighting 3, 19, 36, 49-57, see also Law enforcement
Palmer, Ed 73
Parker, Bonnie 91
Parker, Cynthia Ann 37
Parker, Daniel 11
Parker, Silas 11
. Parrott,? 50-51
i Paschal, Thomas M. 63
Pay of Texas Rangers 10,11,13,14,17,36,37,46,90
Peak, Junius 68-69
Pease, Elisha M. 37
168
Pease, Rob 159
Penrose, ? 77
Peoples, Clint 166
Perez, Antonio 19-20
Perez, Jesus 85, 86
Pike, James 39
Plan of San Diego, The 84
Platt, S.M. 123
Platt, Tom 123
Plum Creek, battle of 17, 17
Pool, Bob 125
Pound, E.J. 52
Powell, Joe 123
Prohibition 83, 86, 89-90, 134-37
Purcell, Charles 137
Purvis, H.B. 137
Purvis, L.H. 166
Rawls, Fletcher 124
Reconstruction 46
Reeves, ? 137
Renick, Jim 52
Republic of Texas 2, 10, 16, 17, 20, 27, 33
Revolutionaries, Mexican 84, 128
Richards, Gov. Ann 112
Richarz, H.J. 46-47
Riggs, Ab 140
Roberts, Bob 52
Roberts, Dan W 50, 52, 55-57, 130-31
Roberts, Luvenia (Mrs. Dan W) 56-57, 130-31
Robertson, Lester 103
Robinson, Jim 119
Rodriguez, Johnny 107
Rogers, C.L. "Kid" 73, 76
Rogers, Charlie 76
Rogers, Ernest 119
Rogers, J.H. 73, 75, 76, 76, 77, 79
Rogers, J.L. 52
Rohatsch, Robert 150
Roma, Texas 40, 40
Ross, Lawrence Sullivan 37, 37
Ross, Peter F. 38
Ross, S.P. 33
Roundtree, Oscar 149
Rudd, ? 54
Runnels, Hardin R. 37
Russell, Dick 52
St. Leon, Ernest 79
San Antonio, Texas 3, 18, 19, 20 , 22, 24,24, 28, 33
Sanchez, George T. 104
Sanders, John J. 117
Sandoval, Jesus 53
Santa Anna 2, 32
Saunders, J.W. 73
Schmid, Frank 119
Schmidt, William 73
Scott, Winfield 30, 31, 32
Shafter mines 79
Shaw, Owen 37
Sheffield, Billy 52
Sherman, S.F. "Buffalo Bill" 146
Short, Frances 162
Sieker, Ed 52
~~
Capt. Sam McMurry, c. 1889
169
Nat B. "Kiowa" Jones, Menard, 1927
,
_\~'...:~.
:....-x:t.:t.>-:"y ~
_-\,. r -lIC'
"':-
~
Rangers at a wedding {?},
Glenn Spring, 1919
Sieker, Lamb P. 50, 52, 57, 57, 131
Sieker, Thomas 57
Sitter, Joe 73
Smith, ? 134
Smith, Erastus "Deaf" 18
Smith, Henry 13
Smith, Henry M. 162
Smith, T.J. 33
Smith, T.S. 75
Smith, Zeno 150
Smithwick, Noah 15, 16,21-22,24
Snyder, Johnnie 159
Social life of Texas Rangers 55-57
Songs about Texas Rangers 98
Sowell, A.J. 38, 38, 116
Sparks, Tom 52
Special Force 55
Special Rangers 6,85,88,91,92,113
Stapp, Andrew 33
Steele, William 62-63, 68
Sterling, William Warren 86, 86, 91, 134
Stewart, Ron 107, 110
Stoddard, Israel 66
Stone, Truman 141
Strike-breakers, Texas Rangers as 79-80
Sullivan, ? 123
Sullivan, John L. 159
Sullivan S.J.L. 73
Sullivan W. John L. 62, 66, 66, 132
Sutton, R.E. 36
Taylor, Creed 73
Taylor, Dub 141, 157
Taylor, Zachary 27, 28, 30, 31, 36
Tays, John 61, 66
Telles, Jesus 62
Terry's Texas Rangers, see 8th Texas Cavalry C.S.A.
Texas Department of Public Safety 4,92, 101 , 105, 106, 108, 112-13
Texas Mounted Volunteers 28
Texas Rangers, general photographs of 2,5,26,28,29,30,31,32,41,42,
44, 48, 54, 56, 58, 60, 64, 66, 72, 73, 76, 77, 80, 82, 92, 93, 96, 98, 102,
103,104,107, 109, 110, 111, 113, 116-31, 134-43, 146, 148-51, 154, 156-59,
162,165-71
Texas Revolution 2, 12, 15
Texas State Police 46
Thomas, ? 123
Thomas, Henry 5