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Post by TRK on Aug 28, 2008 17:33:28 GMT -5
The title says it all: yet another book on the rangers is coming out soon: Texas Devils: Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande, 1846-1861, by Michael L. Collins: www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=978-0-8061-3939-5The publisher's blurb assures that Collins "demonstrates that, rather than bringing peace to the region, the Texas Rangers contributed to the violence and were often brutal in their injustices against Spanish-speaking inhabitants, who dubbed them los diablos Tejanos—the Texas devils. Collins goes beyond other, more laudatory Ranger histories to focus on the origins of the legend, casting Ranger immortals such as John Coffee 'Jack' Hays, Ben McCulloch, and John S. 'Rip' Ford in a new and not always flattering light." I don't know how much "new" light it will shed, since I suspect most of the sources have been raked over pretty heavily. But I know a couple of stories about Ben McCulloch that would cause blushes.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Aug 28, 2008 20:19:21 GMT -5
I don't know anything about this new book. I'm also surprised that I'm only just learning of its existence here. Thanks for the notification Tom. I get the feeling from the blurb that the writer or maybe just the publisher is judging the early Texas rangers from a 21st Century perspective, instead of the brutal time in which they lived. The early Texas rangers didn't wear crisp white stetson hats, silver badges or have a lawful code of honor. They weren't sent to the border to keep the peace during this period, but to wage war and stop banditry. Many of these men were reborn in the massacres of the TX Revolution, Mier Expedition and so on. They learned the Mexican Code Duguello the hard way and turned it on their enemy, who expected no less. As most Texas historians know, the rangers started out as a tough para- military force and evolved into peace officers or the so-called "good guys with white hats."
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Post by mustanggray on Aug 29, 2008 8:45:37 GMT -5
Interesting... maybe this guy has some more detailed info on Mustang Gray?! Now there's a Texas Devil for you!!!
I despise revisionist/PC history! You're right RR, you can't judge 19th century people by 21st century standards and they(the mid 19th c. rangers) weren't supposed to be some kind of "peace keeping" force, least not in my estimation!
SMc
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Post by sloanrodgers on Aug 29, 2008 15:33:10 GMT -5
I didn't mean to pass judgement on this tome before I've read it, but the publisher note does seem to have a revisionist slant that makes me suspicious of its content. Of course Mustang and Ol' Bigfoot have to be within the book's pages or it would be much diminished in a true rangerophile's estimation.
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Post by Don Allen on Oct 8, 2008 0:16:55 GMT -5
I don't know anything about this new book. I'm also surprised that I'm only just learning of its existence here. Thanks for the notification Tom. I get the feeling from the blurb that the writer or maybe just the publisher is judging the early Texas rangers from a 21st Century perspective, instead of the brutal time in which they lived. The early Texas rangers didn't wear crisp white stetson hats, silver badges or have a lawful code of honor. They weren't sent to the border to keep the peace during this period, but to wage war and stop banditry. Many of these men were reborn in the massacres of the TX Revolution, Mier Expedition and so on. They learned the Mexican Code Duguello the hard way and turned it on their enemy, who expected no less. As most Texas historians know, the rangers started out as a tough para- military force and evolved into peace officers or the so-called "good guys with white hats." Don't think I could've said it better. My great-grandfather would be entirely out of place in the world of today, as would his son (also in law enforcement), who I knew personally. These people were much more familiar with death and hardship than we are today. My grandfather once told me of being with his dad in the frontier town of Mercedes, TX when they encountered a trouble-maker who had been intimidating the locals. My great-grandfather, who was at least 6'5" (an oddity for the time) beat the man with the butt-stock of his rifle, and had a man drive him to the city limits. The guy was told that he would be shot if he returned. I heard multiple stories just like this one. When viewed through the prism of time, stories like this seem barbaric, but, at the time, I'm sure it was just business as usual, and you can be sure that the locals appreciated it.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Oct 8, 2008 19:03:10 GMT -5
Don't think I could've said it better. My great-grandfather would be entirely out of place in the world of today, as would his son (also in law enforcement), who I knew personally. These people were much more familiar with death and hardship than we are today. My grandfather once told me of being with his dad in the frontier town of Mercedes, TX when they encountered a trouble-maker who had been intimidating the locals. My great-grandfather, who was at least 6'5" (an oddity for the time) beat the man with the butt-stock of his rifle, and had a man drive him to the city limits. The guy was told that he would be shot if he returned. I heard multiple stories just like this one. When viewed through the prism of time, stories like this seem barbaric, but, at the time, I'm sure it was just business as usual, and you can be sure that the locals appreciated it. Thanks Don. On an individual level many early U.S. citizens just didn't have the social mores or legal system to restrain their violent natures. I have an ancestor, who was a son of a respected Virginia legislator, but he hated Indians with a passion. He slayed them at every opportunity because there was little to hold him back. He would always tell people; "I'd rather kill Indians, than eat." Being part Indian, I have little affection for this particular relative, but I try to understand his attitude toward Native Americans. He saw horrible things on the frontiers of Virginia and Kentucky, which formed his racist opinions. He was no Davy Crockett, but he was also no Andy Jackson as he killed Indians on a very small scale. I think he was trying to survive the only way he knew how.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Jan 12, 2009 21:01:55 GMT -5
I read Texas Devils by Michael Collins a couple weeks before X-mas and said I would give my opinions of this book. I found it well researched in some areas, but not in others. While it involves the history of the Texas Rangers and regulars from 1846 to 1861, the author is extremely biased against the rangers of the period. He repeatedly refers to them in odd alliterative words like rogues, ruffians, rebels, etc. throughout the red covered book. The author obviously holds the rangers to a higher standard than the regulars and their Mexican counterparts. He also seems to admire bandit king Juan Cortina and justifies all of his crimes in one way or another. Famed ranger Jack Hays is repeatedly derided by the author and supposedly by the Mexicans as Devil Jack. However, I believe this fearsome name was originally given to Capt. Hays by Lipan Apaches as a mark of respect for his fighting prowess. I do not remember a contemporary story where the name crossed over the border before the Mexican War. There is a good deal of history within the book, but nothing I would consider a revelation to the die hard rangerophile.
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Post by mustanggray on Jan 13, 2009 9:54:43 GMT -5
RR,
Thanks for the review. I too believe you are correct regarding the nickname of "Devil Jack" though the Mexicans did call the ranger los diablos tejanos... the Devil Texans. While I'm not aware of any major atrocities committed by regulars there were volunteers(rangers included) as well as Mexican guerillas who did some pretty nasty stuff. I always figured if I came across a good friend of mine stripped naked, drug through the catcus and muskeet lying dead with his testicles stuffed in his mouth I'd be ready for some revenge too!
So when are you going to write us a book on rangers???
SMc
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Post by TRK on Jan 13, 2009 16:17:26 GMT -5
" So when are you going to write us a book on rangers???"
Yeah: inquiring minds...
I've been working on the unpublished Mexican War correspondence of a certain Texas Mounted Volunteers officer for too many years, with the aim of publishing them if I can quit procrastinating. This guy's letters are full of good material on the war-within-a-war that the Texans waged against the Comanches in the area around Parras and Saltillo and points south in 1847 and 1848. This region was in the traditional raiding territory of a branch of the tribe, and the Comanches didn't rearrange their itineraries just because the Americans and Mexicans were at war. The Texans got into some pitched battles with the Comanches down there--real no-quarter stuff. These mounted volunteers were with Mike Chevallie's Battalion (later taken over by Walter P. Lane).
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Post by mustanggray on Jan 13, 2009 17:40:02 GMT -5
Where do I sign up for that one? I'm there man!
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Post by TRK on Jan 13, 2009 17:45:25 GMT -5
Hopefully before I enter my dotage, Scott.
After fourteen or fifteen years at it, I'm about 90 percent there; I just need somebody to light a bonfire under me. (The last year I did anything with the manuscript was this time last winter.)
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Post by mustanggray on Jan 14, 2009 11:29:23 GMT -5
tik-tik, tik-tik... ...the sound of flint against steel as is heard in the lighting of a fire!
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Post by sloanrodgers on Jan 15, 2009 22:19:19 GMT -5
Clearly the Texas Rangers were more brutal in their tactics than the regulars, but then their organization, mission and temperment was diffirent from the regulars. It seems strange that Collins lumps them together under the title of Texas Devils, then seperates them like opposite Eng and Chang ( or Yin and Yang ) Siameese Twins within the text to the confusion of his readers. Without US military restrictions on their behavior I think regulars would have adopted similar tactics in the same situations just to survive. Sadly dirty no holds barred combat sometimes wins the field as a last resort. This often gives friendlier observing soldiers time to complain about the victors tactics, when they havn't seen the war elephant themselves. Sometimes the criticism against the ranger is justified, but sometimes it is not. I have no plans to write a rangers book at the moment. Recently I wrote a lengthy and very informative obituary for a relative and couldn't even get my family to publish it in their local paper. Maybe I ought to just stick to researching and laying low.
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Post by TRK on Jan 21, 2009 13:27:37 GMT -5
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Post by Herb on Jan 21, 2009 18:01:50 GMT -5
You also might want to check out Comanche Empire by Pekka Hamalainen. Besides talking about the raids during the war, he argues that much of the US success was due to the constant raids into Mexico before the war; that they had reduced Mexican military abilities and reduced civilian loyality to the Central Govt in Mexico City.
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