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D uring the latter part of 1874 McNelly and his command had been stationed in strife-ridden DeWitt County, where his orders were to quell the fighting between two groups, the followers of William E. Sutton and the extensive Taylor family. Only one Sutton was directly involved, but he had many friends and followers who were enemies of the Taylor clan, a large family whose menfolk were accused of horse and cattle stealing and other acts of desperadoism. One of their deadliest members was John Wesley Hardin, a first cousin of the Clements brothers, who were nearly as notorious as he was. McNelly kept squads of Rangers scouting throughout the country, dropping in unexpectedly at the “grog shops” to prevent serious plots to murder and waylay members of the other faction . McNelly’s orders were to try and make the two groups become friendly, which proved to be an impossible task. His men were engaged in only one exchange of gunfire with members of the Sutton force. Had he stayed longer in that county perhaps he would have had to deal with more violent acts, but an event closer to the Rio Grande called for his special kind of leadership. The records are conflicting as to when Armstrong actually was mustered into McNelly’s militia. The July 31, 1875, muster and payroll prepared at Santa Maria in southwestern Cameron County records him as a private, mustered in on May 20, 1875. Another muster and payroll, dated August 31, 1875, and prepared at the “Magotee” (El Mogote) de Don Juan, shows Armstrong had been a private for three months and then was promoted to the rank of fifth sergeant C H A P T E R T W O Blood on the Palo Alto Prairie Boys, I may lead you into hell; . . . I’ll never send you into a battle, I’ll lead you. All I ask any man to do is follow me. —CAPT. L. H. MCNELLY on May 20, 1875. Likewise, the earliest service record available shows he “was mustered into the State Service” on May 20 with the rank of sergeant, although another document—dated May 9, 1875—records the value of the company’s horses; Armstrong was riding a $130 horse. This document records the names of the men in the company, thirty-nine in number, at the Santa Gertrudis Ranch of Richard King. The men who determined the monetary value were King, Reuben Holbein, and William C. Chamberlain. The document was dated at Corpus Christi, Nueces County, and then recorded by the District Court clerk, Joseph FitzSimmons.1 Whichever date is accurate—May 9 or May 20—Armstrong was now a McNelly Ranger. For lieutenants McNelly selected T. C. “Pidge” Robinson, a fellow Virginian who not only handled the company’s paperwork but also contributed lengthy and fascinating letters to the Austin State Gazette which kept Central Texas informed of what was happening on the border. James W. Guynn was second lieutenant. McNelly had need of five sergeants: George A. Hall; Roe P. Orrell; brothers Lawrence Baker and Linton Lafayette Wright, third and fourth sergeants, respectively; and Armstrong, now fifth sergeant. The earliest “reorganization ” muster roll—dated August 31, 1875—shows McNelly had J. Brown as acting corporal and fifty-five privates making up his command. Listed also on the document are the names of fourteen men who were discharged, of whom five received a dishonorable discharge. McNelly, already suffering from advanced tuberculosis, the disease which would shorten the time he could lead his men in the field as well as shorten his life, may not have been physically strong but his orders had to be obeyed or else the Ranger was dismissed. Two men had also deserted by then. One can only speculate about how long it would have taken McNelly to extinguish the fires of the Sutton-Taylor feud in DeWitt County had he been allowed to remain. However, a significant event happened down on the coast on Good Friday, March 26, 1875, which resulted in Governor Coke’s sending McNelly and his troop there: the Nuecestown raid. Raiding and murder was common on both sides of the Rio Grande in the early 1870s, but reached a crisis point when a band of thirty or more raiders from Mexico ventured into Nueces County, intending to sack the city of Corpus Christi. The raiding party met resistance at Thomas Noakes’s combination store and post office in Nuecestown, thirteen miles northwest...

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