The
Texas Rangers
There are books
written by, and about Rangers that tell of the escapades they had, and the gunfights
they took part in, but very little is written about the everyday life in a
Ranger camp.
This was usually a
mundane experience, and Rangers that were not on patrol would be guarding the
horses, searching for firewood, fishing for fresh food, or riding to the
nearest town to get clothes mended and laundered. Their camps were mainly
outside of a town, and they would either live in tents or dugouts. This was not
normally a problem when the camp was in a southern area of the State, but in
the panhandle it meant enduring strong winds from the north, and often long
periods of no rain. Often there would be sick men in camp, either from badly
cooked food or from continually sleeping in damp tents, (there may not have
been a lot of rain, but the difference in temperature between day and night
often brought about heavy dews). A lot of the Rangers would try and strike up a
friendship with someone in the town in order to get an invitation to a decent
meal. Others would hire a cook to make sure they had good food in camp.
Many of them would
leave the service after only a short while to take up a more lucrative job, or
maybe get married and settle down in the nearest town as Sheriff. The life of a
Ranger was no picnic, being constantly on the move, and having to keep an eye
out for felons wherever they went. They also had to be ready to defend
themselves against the men and women they were searching for, for not every
outlaw gave up quietly. Some Rangers made their job a lives work, others only
stayed in the service long enough to get offered a Sheriff's or Marshall's job
in a place where they had served as a Ranger.
If you study the
enlistments and discharges of the Rangers, you will notice that most
enlistments were in the spring and most of the discharges were in the fall.
This was because the weather played a big part in the activities of the
outlaws. Winter periods were fairly inactive for the outlaw, as the ground was
usually wet, (or covered with snow if further north), and their tracks were
easy to follow, whereas, in the summer periods movements were harder to follow,
and criminal activity rose.
A criminal lawyer
brought about the end of the Frontier Battalion, when he pointed out in court,
that the original wording of the 1874 Bill forming the Battalion stated that;
".....each OFFICER of the Battalion shall have the power of a police
officer.....". This meant that, if taken literally, only the Captains and
Lieutenants of each Company were legally entitled to arrest anyone. As a result
of this the Battalion was disbanded, and the Rangers were reduced to four
Company's of 6 men each, three officers and three men. All arrests had to be
made by an officer, although they could call on one of the men for assistance.
This small force operated from June 1900 until July 1901, when a law creating a
new Rangers force came into effect.
I hope this small
insight into the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers has helped you
understand their workings, and way of life. There are a lot of books available
to anyone who wishes to know more, and they can be found in Libraries, old book
stores, or even in Internet shops.
This is the
history we are portraying to the public in our living history demonstrations,
and our re-enactments. It is our aim to bring the history of the past to life
for those who want to know more about the history of the American West.
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