Texas Ranger John B. Jones and the Frontier Battalion, 1874-1881

Preface

v Texas in the early 1870s was raw and violent. Communities in the eastern part of the state were taking shape, and local governments had come to provide some semblance of competency in the shadow of Reconstruction. However, in the unsettled northern and western areas, in what would be termed the “frontier” portion of Texas, Indian raiding parties posed a serious threat, the red men coming either south from federal protection in the Indian Nation (now Oklahoma), or across the Rio Grande from clandestine sites in Mexico. Settlers in these uncivilized areas risked, at best, loss of livestock, or worse, their lives. It was a take-no-prisoner atmosphere , and the short-term militias or “ranging” squads, created to combat specific Indian threats, fought aggressively to protect their families and their property from harm. At the same time, the post-Civil War period spawned lawlessness at a level not seen before in the state. Blood feuds broke out, and gunfighters such as John Wesley Hardin and Bill Longley roamed far and wide, leaving the corpses of their victims in their wake. Confederate soldiers returned to Texas to find widespread cattle and horse theft by both Indians and white outlaws. The Reconstruction government of Governor Edmund J. Davis engineered the creation of a state police force, but in spite of some success in restoring law and order, the force’s reputation suffered from the excesses of a few villains within its ranks. Worse, from the perspective of a dominant white population smarting from defeat in the war and subsequent military occupation, the practice of enlisting newlyfreed ex-slaves into the ranks as peace officers was totally unacceptable. Local law enforcement after the war was often inadequate, largely because many town marshals and sheriffs were incompetents placed into office by political or military appointment. In addition, regardless of competency, these local lawmen lacked the resources to cope effectively with burgeoning lawlessness. Pre fac e vi TEXAS RANGER JOHN B. JONES AND THE FRONTIER BATTALION, 1874–1881 When Richard Coke replaced Davis as governor of Texas in 1874, his priority was to deal with the violence on the western frontier of the state and to protect the settlers. Although statehood was restored, there was still an insufficient response by the United States Army to provide effective protection, even though Coke made repeated pleas for help. Until sufficient troops could man posts along the frontier and act as an effective deterrent to the raiding Indians, the state was forced to look to its own resources to cope with the repeated violence. In the spring of 1874, the Texas legislature enacted a militia bill for protection at the local level, providing for the raising and arming of local companies of men as needed. Buried in that bill was a provision for a “battalion” of state troops, permanently enlisted, and organized in military fashion. This force was initially intended to confront and fend off marauding Indians, and secondarily to deal with Mexican bandits crossing the Rio Grande. Going after other lawless men was an afterthought. Under the supervision of the state’s adjutant general, a slight, frail man wasappointedbyCokeascommandingofficerofthe“FrontierBattalion”: John B. Jones of Navarro County. As a fellow veteran of the Confederate Army, Coke was familiar with Jones’ wartime exploits and administrative ability, and he saw in Jones the sort of man he wanted to oversee this new enterprise. Although Jones had no experience as an Indian fighter, he did have the ability to organize and control a military operation, which was the intent of the legislation creating the Battalion. And that is what Jones did, in the process creating and consolidating the entity that we now term the Texas Rangers. Jones established a high standard for the Battalion. In terms of the selection of personnel and rules for their conduct, he was a humorless , although not stuffy, man who did not brook any nonsense from his subordinate officers or privates. The Ranger who chose to go on a spree, embarrassing the “service,” very seldom got to keep his job and often was “dishonorably discharged.” Jones required written documentation of each company’s activities, including a record of scouts, arrests, condition of horses and mules, availability of forage and supplies, and a number of other statistics. The historian of today can thank him for Preface vii being scrupulous about establishing an archive of Ranger documents, given that the ready availability of such information...