Texas Almanac, 1954-1955 Page: 64
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64 TEXAS ALMANAC-1954-1955
Stephen F. ,:Austin -employed "a small
body 'of Rangers as early as 1823 to pro,
teet the frontier colonies against blood-
thirsty Karankawas and other tribes. On
Oct. 17, 1835, on the eve of the Texas
War of Independence, the council of the
revolutionists formally authorized the
employment of a corps of Rangers to
guard the frontiers. The-Rangers pro-
tected the settlements against the incur-
sions of Indians while Sam Houston and
his ragged army defeated the troops of
Santa Anna.
In the period of the Republic, the Ran-
ger organization was enlarged and was
used to patrol the frontier and punish
Indian raiders. Depredations by free-
booters on the Rio Grande and threats of
invasion by Mexican troops also kept
them busy on the border.
When exas was annexed by the United
States the Federal Government assumed
responsibility for protecting the frontier
and the Ranger organization virtually
was dropped. However, the federal
troops, largely infantry, were so unaccus-
tomed to the border and Indian warfare
that the Rangers were reorganized. In
the Mexican War, which followed soon
after annexation, Texas Rangers served
as: scouts for the invading American
armies and took important parts in the
fighting., They "were not only the eyes
and, ear; of General Taylor's army but
its-rgrlit and left arms as well." In Mex-
ico ,City; they were called Los Diables
Tejanos--the, Texas Devils.
,-Taeperiod between the Mexican War
and,:thy.-War Between the States was
markediby a number of bloody conflicts
with.Indiais- which ended with the re-
moval: of' most of the red men to federal
reservations outside Texas. Rangers were
requiredalseo- to end the depredations of
fattle:thieves.and other outlaws along the
Rio Grande.
- The= most formidable band of raiders
was thatled by Juan N. Cortinas. Many
South Texas ranchers suffered from the
depredations of Cortinas and his men in
the early part of 1860. In 1859, he and
100 of his men had tdken possession, of
Brownsville for a short time, terrorizing
the .Citizens andkilling three Americans.
Texas Rangers invaded Mexican soil and
put the Cortinas army to flight.
During the War Between the States,
the Ranger organization was neglected.
Many members and former members of
this frontier fighting outfit enlisted in
Terry's Texas Rangers, which made an
admirable record in the Confederate
Army. In the Reconstruction period, the
Rangers were reorganized as the State
Police during the administration of Gov.
E. J. Davis, and were used to enforce
carpetbagger laws, many of which were
unpopular with Texas citizens. The State
Police was abandoned with the overthrow
of the Reconstruction government.
In 1874, the State Police body was suc-
ceeded by two organizations of Rangers.
One, known as the Special Force of Ran-
gers, put down banditry on the Rio
Grande. A larger body, officially called
for some time the Frontier. Battalion
was made up of mobile companies usedwherever needed. Indian raiders in
Northwest Texas, cattle thieves on the
Rio Grande and train robbers kept these
Rangers especially busy during the re-
mainder of the decade.
In 1877, the Rangers restored order in
the westernmost part of Texas after the
Salt War-resulting from a dispute over
the removal of salt from salt lakes near
the Guadalupe Mountains-had led to the
killing 'of a number of citizens. One of
the most celebrated exploits of the Ran-
gers came in the following year, with the
killing of Sam Bass and several members
of his robber band at Round Rock.
After Passing of Frontier.
In the following decade, the Rangers
continued to catch cattle thieves and also
operated against fence-cutters.
By this time the frontier had almost
disappeared, and the activities of the
Rangers were directed not so much
against Indians and Mexicans as against
outlaws of their own race and nationality.
This gradual change made the service dis-
tasteful to many who had fought coura-
geously on the frontier. It also tended
to lessen the popularity of the Rangers,
especially since more and more of the
counties, were organized and many sher-
iffs resented the invasion of their terri-
tory by outside-and sometimes uninvited
forces. Following World War I, use of
the Rangers to enforce liquor prohibition
also made the organization less popular
in some quarters.
Following World War I, the Ranger
force was allowed to dwindle and often
was tampered with by politics. In 1935,
however, the Rangers were reorganized
and, with the State Highway Patrol, were
placed under a new Department of Public
Safety. Provision was made for the
adoption of modern methods of detecting
crime.
The Texas Rangers today comprise one
division of the State Department of Pub-
lic Safety. The Texas Rangers are
charged with the enforcement of laws
governing major crimes, riots and insur-
rections, 'while the Highway Patrol, an-
other division of the department, has as
its primary function the enforcement of
traffic and safety laws.
Peace at Last-Economic Growth.
The end of Reconstruction and the res-
toration of the state to the guidance of
those who had been responsible for its
development,+rought to Texas for the
first time in its history a prospect with-
out a dark cloud. Up to this time the
history of Texas had been one of constant
uncertainty and turmoil. This had been
so from the beginning of Spanish explora-
tion and on through the Spanish-French
conflict, the freebooter and filibuster ex-
peditions during the decline of Spanish
influence, the uncertainties under the
Mexican flag with a 'swift succession of
revolutions inm Mexico, 'the period of the
Republic with its financial difficulties and
the menace of Mexican and Indian ag-
gression, the threat of war over the slave
issue after annexation, the bloody war
itself and the following period of Carpet-
bag rule. Texas had been a land without
peace or prospect of peace.
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Texas Almanac, 1954-1955, book, 1953; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117168/m1/66/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.