Winchester Warriors: Texas Rangers of Company D, 1874-1901

Chapter 7: “Buckskin officials in full blast”

110 Chapter 7 “Buckskin officials in full blast” While it is abundantly clear Lieutenant Ira Long’s platoon of Texas Rangers continued to garner the good will of many Mason County folks, it does not signify the boys of Company D were relegated to the ash heap of Hill Country doings.1 To the contrary—and commendably —from the Menardville base camp they were industriously scouting for fresh sign of Indian incursions and, too, warily feeling their way onto another front: transitioning into one of the state’s long-reaching law enforcing tentacles. During the first month of 1876, not two full years into existence, the Company D rangers had made nine felony arrests. Legal infractions ran the gamut: Willfully Allowing A Prisoner to Escape Custody, Swindling, Handling Stolen Cattle, Theft of Cattle, Bond Forfeiture, and Murder.2 Sometimes a local gendarme was downright overwhelmed. Menard County’s sheriff , J. M. Blakey, wrote to Lieutenant Roberts asking for help: “the parties in charge of the herd are well armed & refuse to give up the cattle and it being almost impossible for me to make the Seizure by myself, would most respectfully request of you to furnish me with ten men to assist me in furthering the ends of Justice.”3 The overwrought sheriff received the manpower boost from the Texas Rangers , and the “alleged” thieves were arrested.4 The ends of Justice had been served. Not only were the Company D boys now being called to hurriedly saddle up and chase after rustlers and robbers, frequently their services were rendered to local authorities when extra manpower was necessary for guarding and/or transporting prisoners.5 Though some of Company D’s green rangers may have had personal reservations about their lately defined role as peace officers, there is but little doubt most did not shrink from their newfound duty. Trailing Indians could sometimes prove tiring and trying. Tracking paleface desperadoes could be taxing psychologically and occasionally even perilous. There was that other swarm of adversaries, too! Dealing with Texas’ cost-conscious political bureaucrats was always irksome. “Buckskin officials in full blast” 111 The boys of Company D were paid with promise—scrip not specie . Oftentimes the pay vouchers had to be disposed of at discount: I send my pay account to you and would be much obliged to you if you will dispose of it for me—sell at any reasonable figure—and bring me the proceeds if it will not be too much trouble—or send it by mail if you are not coming up soon.6 In this instance many of the broke Company D rangers were reasonably lucky; their pay vouchers sold for 97¢ on the $1.00.7 The state’s self-imposed and niggling tribulations associated with low pay, late pay, and no pay, coupled with the hardships of continuous camp life, and the troublesome stipulation that enlisted personnel remain unmarried—an imposition of quasi celibacy—were not conducive incentives for longevity, not for the Texas Rangers. Sandwiched between tightfisted legislators’ penny-pinching and the less than romantic realities of actually sleeping beneath the moon and stars—night after night—the Frontier Battalion’s attrition rate was atrocious. Institutionally the toddling Texas Rangers had yet William T. Meade. Tiring of being a Texas Ranger, he “went over the hill.” Courtesy Chuck Parsons Collection. 112  Chapter 7 to gain the stature that would later propel them into the rousing annals of factuality and folklore—and that oftentimes blurred gap in between. The 1876 Texas Rangers, as a policing unit, had not any tradition to uphold or any legacy to impart. If they had it would be hard to imagine involuntarily discharged Texas Rangers being placed back on the companies’ Muster & Payroll, or that a few of those separating from service because they could not or would not faithfully discharge their duties the first time around were rehired and marked on the company’s roster, but such was the truth.8 Working manpower was in short supply—sometimes. Despite conventional myth, not everyone was clamoring to become a Texas Ranger.9 For varied and sundry reasons rangers in good standing quit the service “at their own request,” such as privates J. W. Bell and Nicholas “Nick” Donally.10 Company D leaders—as with the other companies’ captains—were, also, from time to time forced by intransigent-minded rangers who flatly “refused to do duty,” to...