Opposition: the Texas Rangers

To most people today, the name Texas Rangers conjures up images of law enforcement and indeed today's Texas Ranger Division is made up of sworn peace officers who do exactly that.  However, they began life in Texas as a paramilitary unit and their first enemies were Natives, principally the Cheyenne.  This post covers the early period of the Rangers.  It would be impossible to do their entire history justice here.

Rangers and ranging are as old as the frontier in America.  Some of the first ranger-type companies were gathered in Plymouth and other Massachusetts towns in response to the unrest along the frontier in the east.  Beginning in 1823, Stephen F. Austin appointed ten men to protect the settlers who arrived in Texas following Mexico's independence from Spain.  The Rangers were formally constituted in 1835 and comprised over 300 men.  After Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836, Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second President of the Republic of Texas raised a force of 56 Rangers to fight against the Comanche and Cherokee.  Because of their experience in dealing with Natives, Rangers were known as experts in guerrilla and counter-guerrilla operations.  The Rangers were temporarily disbanded prior to the Civil War, but reconstituted soon after the War ended.  They would continue to supplement the Army's response to Native raids throughout the 1860's and 1870's, including warfare against the Comanche and Apache.  As the Native population in Texas was systematically removed to Oklahoma, the Rangers duties turned to border security and law enforcement, where they remain today.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did It Happen: Custer's Cheyenne Family

Image
Despite popular legends to the contrary, when Col. George Armstrong Custer's body was found after the Battle of the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass in June 1876, he wasn't scalped or mutilated.  However, the corpses of many of the men nearby, including George's brother Thomas, were mutilated.  Although some White commentators at the time believed the lack of mutilation might have been the Natives way of showing respect to a brave enemy anyone who had rode and fought with Custer knew this idea held no water whatsoever.  No Native respected George Custer.  He had the blood of the Washita Massacre of 1868 on his hands.  There would have been plenty of Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors on the battlefield who would have taken the chance to show their disdain for him.  Other specular insists that it was because Custer wasn't in military dress, or that he'd cut his famous long, curly yellow hair prior to battle.  Still, someone could've recognized him and pointed him out. Co
Read more

Trapper and Guide: Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866

Image
The only son of Sacajawea of the Shoshone and Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trapper who may have been mixed-race himself, became a man of many talents.  Throughout his life, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866 was a trapper, trader, scout, guide and interpreter as well as a mayor, prospector and hotel operator.  He was also educated, well-traveled in Europe and America, and spoke English, French, Spanish, German and several Native languages including his mother's Shoshone. The life of this remarkable man began in 1805 at Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota.  Toussaint Charbonneau had signed on with the Lewis and Clark expedition as a hunter, interpreter and guide, but the real draw was his pregnant teenaged wife, Sacajawea, a Shoshone by birth.  Lewis and Clark knew they would need to trade horses from the Shoshone to make it over the Rocky Mountains and they would need an in with the tribe when the time came.  Sacajawea went into labor and had a
Read more

Cameahwait and Sacajawea

Image
The story of Sacajawea's reunion with her family and tribe during the Lewis and Clark Expedition is a familiar one, told from her vantage point.  However, her brother, Cameahwait, by this time chief of the Salmon Eater band of the Lemhi Shoshone would have also had feelings in the matter. Little is known of Cameahwait's life or how he rose to a position of authority among his people.  Apparently, he was several years older than Sacajawea.  In their society, siblings and cousins are often considered the same relationship and spoken of in the same words.  Some sources suggest that they may have been cousins, or even half-siblings.  No matter what the exact familial rank, their actions when they met up again suggested a close family bond.  When Sacajawea was 12 and her brother much older and already an established warrior, the Hidatsa raided their hunting camp.  Four men, four boys and some elderly and children were killed.  Sacajawea and some other girls her own age were take p
Read more