Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers, special law enforcement corps in the state of Texas, first organized in 1835, and since 1935 a division of the state's Department of Public Safety. The Rangers serve with the state highway patrol essentially as an emergency force for situations beyond the control of local police or a sheriff. Although today they are organized into companies of up to 30 people, they have no formal drills or uniforms and are authorized to travel throughout the state in pursuing their duties. The state provides vehicles and weapons, but horses used by Rangers are their own. Their headquarters is in Austin, the state capital.

The Texas Rangers were first organized, on the eve of the Texas Revolution, by the American pioneer and colonizer Stephen F. Austin to protect Americans from attacks by Comanche and Apache peoples. Austin's first mounted force in 1823 comprised ten Rangers. By 1835, when they were officially organized, the Rangers had three self-equipped companies with 100 men. Their standard weapon was the six-shooter; they also used rifles, lariats, and bowie knives and learned Native American skills in tracking and fighting. They were reputed to “ride like Mexicans, shoot like Tennesseeans, and fight like the very devil.”

After the American Civil War the number of Rangers grew, and they played an important role in the 1870s as frontier fighters, combating lawlessness among raiding Native Americans and Mexicans, feuding cattlemen, and desperadoes. In 1874 the Texas Rangers were reorganized into six companies of 75 men each, and they did much to bring peace to Texas. In the late 19th century they were engaged chiefly in tracking down horse thieves and cattle rustlers.