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 Te...