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DEFINING THE TEXAS RANGERS

There have been ranging companies in the region now known as Texas almost as long as
non-Indians have called Texas home. The modern Texas Rangers date their origins from ranging companies organized by Stephen F. Austin and Moses Morrison in 1823. These paramilitary volunteers were called by many names in the 19th century -- rangers and ranging companies, minute men, mounted volunteers, mounted gunmen, mounted riflemen, spies, frontier men, Texas State Troops, Frontier Regiment, Frontier Organization, Frontier Forces, Special State Troops, Special Force, Frontier Battalion, State Rangers and Texas Rangers. Their duties were essentially the same - protect the frontier from depredations by hostile forces - regardless of origin. By 1900, the ranging companies had been organized into a crime fighting, crime prevention and crime investigation organization, and their name had been standardized as.....

" Texas Rangers."

The Frontier Battalion

By the second half of the decade, the biggest threat to Texas was lawless Texans. In 1874, the Legislature created two Ranger forces to cope with the situation--the Frontier Battalion, led by Major John B. Jones and an organization called the Special Force under Captain Leander McNelly. In five years time, the Rangers were involved in some of the most celebrated cases in the history of the Old West. Much of the fact that would later be mixed with Ranger legend occurred during the turbulent period. Texas’ deadliest outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, a preacher’s son reputed to have killed 31 men, was captured in Florida by Ranger John B. Armstrong. After Armstrong, his long-barreled Colt . 45 in hand, boarded the train Hardin and four companions were on, the outlaw shouted: “Texas,
by God!” and drew his own pistol. When it was over, one of Hardin’s friends was dead. Hardin had been knocked out cold, and his three surviving friends were staring at Armstrong’s pistol. A neat round hole pierced Armstrong’s hat, but he was uninjured. Hardin served a lengthy prison sentence, only to die in a shoot-out in El Paso in 1896 shortly after his release.

The Texas Rangers Frontier Battalion, U.K.

How it all began
The members of the frontier battalion UK were all western re-enactors before the group was
formed in 1995,and had been active in other groups or clubs. In 1995 at the Shire horse center
in Yealmpton, near Plymouth, in the south west of England, the Frontier Battalion was formed.
Every year in July there is a rendezvous of western clubs at Yealmpton, when clubs from all over
England congregate there and put on re-enactment shows and parades for the public.
There are westerners of all persuasions there, be they Indian, Cowboy, Civil War Military, or
Mountain man. Some of us found we had a similar interest in the law enforcement of Texas, and
in particular the Texas Rangers. As a result of this a small group of us decided to form our own
battalion of Texas Rangers, and once we had formed the group we set about finding others with a
similar interest who were interested in joining our group. We duplicated Ranger papers that we
had seen in a book, and commissioned badges to be made that would resemble the first badges,
worn by Rangers in the 1870`s .We still take part in re-enactments, and parades, but we also
study Ranger history (in particular the period of the Frontier Battalion [1874-1901]) and we try to
keep our dress and weaponry true to the period. Our club has an extensive library of Ranger
books, 25 different autobiographies, and Ranger historical documents, that enable us to relate
Ranger history to those interested in the subject. Many of our members have contact with
overseas clubs, and some have travelled to Texas to expand on their knowledge of Texas and the
Texas Rangers.

We have a special interest in the Texas Rangers, and wear the badge to signify this. We endeavor
to learn the history of the Texas Rangers that we depict, and pass out knowledge onto younger
westerners, and thereby contribute to the future generation, that will continue our interest.
We form a network across the south of England that can inform one another of events in our own
areas, that might be of interest to other Rangers. Some of us even have contacts that reach further a field-even into Europe, and America This enables us to widen our circle of friends, and benefit from our hobby. That is why this particular group of Rangers was formed!

Captain: Mike Whittington Texas Rangers Frontier Battalion Uk.

Important addresses for research

The Texas Rangers

past and present.

There may be some readers of this site that had relations of theirs in the Ranger Force during the Frontier Battalion era, and wish to find out about their part in Ranger History.

Here are some important addresses that may help them in their research:-

Texas State Library, Texas Department of Public Safety

Archives Division, 5805. N Lamar Blvd

Box 12927, Box 4087

Capitol Station Austin

Austin Texas. 78773 +

Texas, 78711. *

Barker Texas History Center The Librarian

The University of Texas at Austin Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and

Museum

Austin P.O. Box 2570

Texas 78712 * Waco,

Texas. 76702-2570 * +

* For Historical Information

+ For Present Ranger Information Only.

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Latest update 13th October 2004

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