Texas Rangers - Making Order Out of Chaos

TEXAS LEGENDS

The Texas Rangers - Order Out of Chaos

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When at the age of sixteen, I joined a jolly band.

We marched from San Antonio down to the Rio Grande.

Our captain he informed us, perhaps he thought it right,

"Before we reach the station, we''ll surely have to fight."

Texas Rangers.

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The second oldest state level law enforcement agency in the United States, the Texas Rangers got their start in 1823 only two years after white settlement in Texas formally began. Following the Mexican War of Independence some 600 to 700 families moved to Texas; however it had no regular army to protect its new citizens. New Empresario Stephen F. Austin soon began to organize experienced frontiersmen as "rangers” in informal groups to protect the settlers against Indian attacks and other criminal elements.

It was not until October 17, 1835 that Texas formally constituted the force that has since been known as the Texas Rangers, and on November 24, 1835, Robert McAlpin Williamson was chosen to be the first Ranger Major.

Beginning with a complement of fifty-six men in three companies, the Rangers grew quickly as their numbers increased to more than 300 by 1837. Though officially sanctioned and their numbers increased, the Rangers served sparingly in their first few years.

During Texas' fight for independence from Mexico, the Rangers sometimes served as scouts and couriers. Other menial tasks were also assigned to them such as retrieving cattle, escorting refugees, and destroying supplies and equipment left behind by the Mexicans.

Once independence was gained and the land became the Republic of Texas, the lawmen continued to see very little duty under President Sam Houston. However, when Mirabeau B. Lamar became President in 1838, he rejected Houston's frontier policies of friendship with the Indians and engaged the Rangers in war against the tribes. Congress allowed him to recruit eight companies of mounted volunteers and maintain a company of fifty-six Rangers. A month later, he then provided for five similar companies in Central and South Texas. Over the next three years the Rangers waged all-out war against the Indians, successfully participating in a number of battles including the Council House Fight in San Antonio, the raid on Linnvile, and the Battle of Plum Creek. By the time that Lamar's administration was over, the end of the Lamar administration, Texans had severely damaged the strength of the most powerful tribes.

When Sam Houston was reelected to the presidency in December, 1841 he saw the effectiveness of the Rangers and on January 29, 1842 approved a law that officially provided for a company of mounted men to "act as Rangers." As a result, 150 Rangers under Captain John Coffee "Jack" Hays, were assigned to protect the southern and western portions of the Texas frontier. Houston's foresight in this decision proved successful in helping to repel the Mexican invasions of 1842, as well as shielding the white settlers against Indian attacks over the next three years.

Hays was also responsible for improving the quality of recruitments and initiating tough training programs for the new Rangers, as well as initiating an "esprit de corps" within his command. From this group came a number of celebrated ranger captains including W. A. A. "Big Foot" Wallace, Ben and Henry McCulloch, Samuel H. Walker, and Robert Addison "Ad" Gillespie.

Texas officially became part of the United States in 1846, which also started the Mexican War when the U.S. attempting to establish the boundary at the Rio Grande River. During the two year affair, the Texas Rangers were called on to assist the American Army and soon achieved worldwide fame as a fighting force. Superbly mounted with a large assortment of weapons the Rangers were found to be so successful against Mexican guerillas, that they soon earned the name "los diablos Tejanos" or the " Texas Devils."

When the Mexican War ended on February 2, 1848, the United States assumed responsibility for protecting the Texas frontier. Having no official function, the Rangers soon lost a number of its famous captains and frontier defenders. A decade later in the Spring of 1858, they briefly saw combat again when they were sent north to the Red River to settle a band of Comanche Indians.

After Texas seceded from the United States during the Civil War in 1861, an organization was orgainzed in Houston, called Terry's Texas Rangers. Under the leadership of Colonel Benjamin Franklin Terry, many of the former Rangers enlisted under his command.

During the reconstruction period of 1865-1873, the Rangers were designated as state police. A dark period in their history, they were charged with enforcing unpopular new laws that came with rejoining the United States. Among the war weary Texans, the Rangers fell into disrepute. During this period, the Rangers acted as a military type police unit when enforce the new laws or fighting Indians or Mexicans. However, when hunting down outlaws, they functioned more as lawmen and posses.

Painting of a Texas Ranger

Painting of a Texas Ranger by Hermon Adams

Their role changed once again in May, 1874, when the state Democrats returned to power and Governor Richard Coke, along with the Legislature, appropriated $75,000 to organize six companies of 75 Rangers each. By this time, Texas was overrun with outlaws, Indians ravaging the western frontier, and Mexican bandits pillaging and murdering along the Rio Grande River. The new troops were stationed at strategic points over the state and were known as the Frontier Battalion. During this era, the Ranger Service held a place somewhere between that of an army and a police force.

In 1877, the Texas Rangers found themselves on the outlaw trail, pursuing John Wesley Hardin. Hardin, who had killed Charles Webb, a deputy sheriff in Brown County in 1874, left the state when he began to be relentlessly pursued. However, one Texas Ranger by the named John Barclay Armstrong, better known as "McNelly’s Bulldog,” received permission to pursue Hardin across state lines. Finally catching up with the notorious outlaw on a train in Pensacola, Florida, the inevitable shoot out occurred. When the smoke cleared, Hardin had been knocked unconscious, one of his gang members killed and the rest were arrested on July 23, 1877.

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