Popular Services Become a Ranger. Public Information. More about Rangers. Tactical Operations and Crisis Negotiations. Specialized Units. Crime Scene Investigations. More about Field Operations. SOG consists of. Border Security Operations Center — Austin. Basic Mission Interagency Investigative Assistance : Render assistance to local law enforcement officials as requested or assigned. Ranger Reconnaissance Team. Special Response Team. The little body of men, unencumbered by baggage wagons or pack trains, moved as lightly over the prairie as the Indians.
On December 29, , Texas became part of the United States. The boundaries established led directly to a war with Mexico. Many current and former Rangers joined the fight. Using the skills they had honed battling American Indians in Texas, the Rangers quickly made a name for themselves as bold fighters during the U. Their scouting and tracking skills also helped locate Mexican camps and guerilla fighters both during and after the war. After the Battle of Monterrey, one group of Rangers burned homes and killed as many as civilians.
Others stole whiskey and livestock from Mexican peasants. With the U. While the U. In Texas, the Rangers filled in the gaps. As in the past, they patrolled the frontier, tracking down cattle thieves and pursuing American Indians who raided settlements. However, the Rangers also became more aggressive. The Rangers were joined by an equal number of Tonkawas, who were traditionally enemies of Comanches.
Working together, the Rangers and Tonkawas tracked Comanches with orders to punish them for the devastating raids they had conducted in Texas. Ford and his men pursued Comanche raiders to Indian Territory, crossed the border without permission, and then followed them to their permanent camp on Little Robe Creek. There the fighters from Texas attacked Comanches. They killed 80 Comanches and lost only one of their own in the fight. For many, the victory confirmed that Texas needed to rely on its Ranger force, and not the U.
Army, for protection. It only ceased when the U. The Texas Legislature approved the first permanent Ranger force in The Rangers and the U. Army drove the last Comanche and Kiowa out of the state soon after. In response, increasing numbers of settlers headed to the Texas frontier and created a new set of conflicts for the Rangers to police.
As more and more settlers poured into the frontier, conflicts inevitably arose. When tensions flared over the control of salt lakes near San Elizario in , the Rangers were ordered to keep the peace. They did the same during the Fence Cutting Wars in the s. In that conflict between ranchers who wanted to keep the range open and those who wanted to fence in their land and livestock, the Rangers tracked down and arrested accused fence cutters.
The Rangers also assisted local law enforcement when the Sabine County Sheriff asked for help bringing in the Conner Gang, which was terrorizing the entire county. As frontier towns grew in size they often created their own law enforcement agencies, eventually making the Rangers less necessary. In the late s, the role of Rangers in Texas was once again called into question as violence and scandal breached public trust and challenged their role as frontier heroes.
In , tensions between Anglos and ethnic Mexicans along the Texas-Mexico border exploded into violence between the two groups. To quell the violence, the Rangers implemented their own brand of lynch law against Mexicans and Tejanos.
The Governor warned the Rangers to stop executing Mexicans, but the violence continued for several more years. The joint committee found that the Rangers broke the law repeatedly and engaged in unwarranted violence.
The appointments of almost all the Special Rangers were cancelled, several companies of regular Rangers disbanded, and both new and existing members were subjected to more stringent qualifications.
Under the new leadership of Captains William L. Wright, Thomas R. Hickman, and Frank Hamer, the Rangers reformed and performed as a more professional force in the s. During this time they returned to their law enforcement duties, patrolling for smugglers and cattle rustlers on the border. In , just as their star was on the rise again, the Rangers made a major political miscalculation that had devastating consequences.
When Ferguson was elected, she fired every Ranger on the force for supporting her opponent. The Rangers had to rebuild their ranks from scratch. Nevertheless, the Rangers continued to professionalize their ranks. In , the Rangers moved under the Texas Department of Public Safety, making them just one part of a larger law enforcement agency. They became the detective arm of the Department of Public Safety, and uniformed law enforcement duties were assigned to Highway Patrol officers.
At the same time the Rangers were moving away from their past as frontier lawmen, Hollywood elevated the frontier Ranger persona to new heights with The Lone Ranger television show in The series, followed by several films, created a new popular image of the Rangers as noble lawmen assisting those in need and meting out justice. This romanticized version of the Rangers came to define the Rangers and overshadow their previous misdeeds. Over nearly years, the Rangers have transformed from a small militia protecting Stephen F.
The Mexican territory of Tejas was opened to settlers on the conditions that they become Mexican citizens, learn Spanish and adopt the Catholic faith. Moses Austin, a founder of America's lead industry, obtained government permission to bring colonists to the territory. He died before the "Texas Venture" began and his son, Stephen, led families on the journey to establish new colonies along the Brazos, Colorado and San Bernard Rivers.
The Mexican government advised Stephen F. Austin that it would not provide resources to administer or defend the fledgling Tejas colonies. Austin hired ten men to "act as rangers for the common defense" against Indian raids. With that, the legend of the Texas Rangers began.
The provisional Texas government passed a resolution officially creating a corps of over 50 rangers. These Rangers engaged in many skirmishes with American Indians and often joined with the Texian Army in fighting against Mexican troops in what became the opening battles of the Texas Revolution.
Travis' impassioned letter asking for reinforcements to defend the Alamo.
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