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Documentary, TEXAS RANGERS (The Wild West)
The Texas Ranger Division, also known as the Texas Rangers and nicknamed the Diablos Tejanos (Spanish for 'Texan Devils'),[4] is an investigative law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in the U.S. state of Texas, based in the capital city Austin. The Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted in riot control and as detectives, protected the governor of Texas, tracked down fugitives, served as a security force at important state locations, including the Alamo, and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic (1836–1846) and the State of Texas. Today they also conduct cybercrime investigations, cold case reviews, public corruption probes, and provide tactical support in major emergencies
The Texas Ranger Division, also known as the Texas Rangers and nicknamed the Diablos Tejanos (Spanish for 'Texan Devils'),[4] is an investigative law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in the U.S. state of Texas, based in the capital city Austin. The Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted in riot control and as detectives, protected the governor of Texas, tracked down fugitives, served as a security force at important state locations, including the Alamo, and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic (1836–1846) and the State of Texas. Today they also conduct cybercrime investigations, cold case reviews, public corruption probes, and provide tactical support in major emergencies
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LearningTranscript
00:10And it passed.
00:15That is now lost forever.
00:18There was a time when the land was sacred.
00:20And the ancient ones, where is one with it?
00:24A tie was...
00:25When only the children of the Great Spirit were here.
00:28To light their fires in these places...
00:30With no boundaries.
00:33When the Force were...
00:35As thick as the fur would have been a bear.
00:38When a warrior...
00:40Could walk from horizon to horizon...
00:43On the backs of the buffalo.
00:45When the deserts were in bloom...
00:48And the streams...
00:49As pure as freshly fallen snow.
00:52In that time...
00:53When there were only simple ways...
00:54I saw with my heart...
00:57The conflicts to come.
00:59And whether it was...
00:59If it was to be for good or bad...
01:02What was certain was...
01:03That there would be...
01:04That there would be a change.
01:09That there would be a change.
01:10That there would be a change.
01:11That there would be a change.
01:12That there would be a change.
01:13That there would be a change.
01:14That there would be a change.
01:15That there would be a change.
01:16That there would be a change.
01:17That there would be a change.
01:18That there would be a change.
01:19That there would be a change.
01:20That there would be a change.
01:21That there would be a change.
01:22That there would be a change.
01:23That there would be a change.
01:24That there would be a change.
01:25That there would be a change.
01:26That there would be a change.
01:27That there would be a change.
01:28That there would be a change.
01:29That there would be a change.
03:49I've established a legend, law enforcement that
03:51everyone else has admired ever since.
03:52In many ways, the Texas Ranger.
03:57Was the proto-typical Hollywood cowboy.
04:02He was a man.
04:02A few words.
04:04He was a man of action.
04:07He represented.
04:07He represented a law in a lawless land.
04:11But unlike.
04:12The Hollywood cowboys who always.
04:17Express regret at the death of even the vilest villain.
04:22Texas Rangers regarded the deaths of their adversaries.
04:27Where they studied indifference.
04:30A ranger was absolutely fearless.
04:32You can describe in many ways.
04:35But that epitomizes a ranger of fearlessness.
04:37No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that's in the right.
04:42Bill McDonald, Ranger Captain.
04:47The story of the Texas Ranger.
04:52Texas Rangers in the 19th century is the ultimate western tall tale.
04:57Except for one.
04:57One key difference.
04:59It's true.
05:02Well, the ranging tradition is not particular just to Texas.
05:05I like to think that we Texans just improve.
05:07But it goes back to England, back to the 1400s.
05:12There were rangers there who protected the king's forests.
05:17And that tradition of sending a person out to take care of a fairly open spot.
05:22And settle trouble that might be found anywhere he found it.
05:26That was a tradition that.
05:27That was a tradition that ended up in the southern part of the United States.
05:32In the 1820s, southerners brought this tradition to Texas.
05:37Then a remote colony of Mexico.
05:40This new land was made for rangers.
05:42In Texas, you're always confronted.
05:47With distance.
05:49It's just a hell of a long way from point A to B.
05:52And at any point along that route, your life is in danger.
05:57The only way you could provide any sort of protection was to...
06:02The range of the frontier, which meant a patrol.
06:06You had to actually...
06:07You had to ride along there and look for signs of the Indians.
06:11The Indians that threatened...
06:12And the new Texas settlers the most were the Comanches.
06:16The Comanches...
06:17Were used to simply being able to come in and make lightning-quick raids.
06:22All across the Texas frontier in the Spanish and the Mexican periods.
06:26So the Comanches could move in...
06:27Within minutes, could affect their raid, grab their goods, and be gone.
06:32The Rangers were organized to meet this foe because some sort of...
06:37Permanent Frontier Defense had to be established.
06:41Stephen F. Austin...
06:42The most prominent colonist made the first official reference to Rangers in Texas.
06:47I will employ ten men to act as Rangers for...
06:52For the Coman Defense.
06:53The wages I will give the said ten men is $15.00.
06:57A month.
06:58Payable in property.
06:59Stephen F. Austin...
07:001823.
07:02That set up not only the ranging tradition, but...
07:07It also helped establish the independent mindset of the Texas...
07:12Mexican settler and his citizen-soldier response to threat.
07:17It's in intolerable situations.
07:19It's in intolerable situations.
07:20It's in intolerable situations.
07:22Living under Mexican dictator Santa Ana became an intolerable situation for the Texans by...
07:271835.
07:28Revolution was near and more Rangers were needed.
07:32A provisional government was beginning to organize and they realized the need for a...
07:37force that was not quite militia, not quite regular army and the Rangers were...
07:42They would pretty much be down the middle.
07:44Paid $1.25 a day, these Rangers were...
07:47organized as a volunteer force and would remain as such for most of the 19th century.
07:52They furnished their own horses, they furnished their own weapons, they found...
07:57their own food, they elected their own officers and they were the kind of men who served from...
08:02three to six months ordinarily and brought law and order to the state.
08:07Their leader was Robert McAlpin Williamson, the first of many distinctive, if unlikely...
08:12Ranger commanders.
08:13Better known in Texas, lower as three...
08:17One-legged Willie because he had polio as a boy and it bent his knee.
08:22Permanently and he had to wear a peg leg from the knee to the ground, an outlandish...
08:27his character.
08:28I understand that he still cut a lively jig and never let that get in the...
08:32way of his life as a Ranger.
08:34He stirred up the revolution as a writer.
08:36He stirred up the revolution as a writer.
08:37He was called the Patrick Henry of the Texas Revolution.
08:42Texas.
08:43Liberty or death should be our determination.
08:45And let us one and all...
08:47tonight to protect our country from all invasion.
08:50Robert M. Williamson, July...
08:5224, 1835.
08:53When the seats of the Alamo broke out...
08:54When the seats of the Alamo broke out...
08:57The Rangers were about the only institution in place to try to...
09:02respond to the immediate threat of Santa Ana's invasion and occupation...
09:07of San Antonio.
09:08After the fall of the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad...
09:12Every Texan, it seemed, was on the run from advancing Mexican forces.
09:16Every Texan that is...
09:17except...
09:18Rangers.
09:19The Rangers lagged behind...
09:21Uh...
09:22protecting the families...
09:24until they could pack their goods and...
09:26and move on.
09:27Texas.
09:28Though Texas won its independence at the Battle of San Jacinto...
09:32in 1936...
09:33the fledgling Republic would remain in battle.
09:36The...
09:37Mexicans...
09:38and the...
09:39Comanches...
09:40and the Rangers...
09:41realized...
09:42that they were fighting...
09:44for the existence of their cultures...
09:46and...
09:47in Texas.
09:48There could be...
09:49only...
09:50one winner.
09:51So...
09:52there were...
09:52only...
09:53two rules...
09:54one...
09:55winner take off...
09:57two...
09:58there were no rules...
09:59two...
10:00there were no rules...
10:01And though...
10:02those were the perfect conditions...
10:03for the Ranger legend to be born.
10:07in order for the new Republic to...
10:12prosper...
10:13Texas and its Rangers...
10:14had to establish dominance...
10:15over a foe...
10:16perhaps more...
10:17than the Mexican army...
10:18the Comanche Indians.
10:22the Lords of the...
10:24of the South Plains...
10:25they were called...
10:26and...
10:27that's a name...
10:28they richly deserve...
10:29the finest light cavalry...
10:30in the world.
10:31The Comanche...
10:32was very mobile...
10:33took great pride in his...
10:35horsemanship...
10:36and his...
10:37warlike...
10:38nature...
10:39and his...
10:40fighting abilities...
10:41you know...
10:42considerably...
10:42among their feats...
10:44one...
10:45astonished me...
10:46every young man...
10:47is able to drop...
10:48his body upon...
10:49the side of his horse...
10:50effectively...
10:51screened...
10:52from his enemy...
10:52he will hang...
10:53whilst his horse...
10:54is at full speed...
10:55carrying his bow...
10:56shield...
10:57and...
10:57Lance...
10:58George Catlin...
10:59artist...
11:00the Comanches...
11:01would meet...
11:02their match...
11:03in a new Ranger leader...
11:04John Coffey Hayes...
11:05also known...
11:06as Captain...
11:07Jack...
11:08Captain...
11:09Jack Hayes...
11:10was probably...
11:11the Texas Ranger...
11:12who...
11:12began...
11:13the Ranger legend...
11:14in Texas...
11:15and across the...
11:16United States...
11:17like three-legged...
11:19Willie before him...
11:20Hayes was not an...
11:21obvious choice...
11:22to lead the...
11:22Rangers...
11:23John Coffey Hayes...
11:24if you ever...
11:25met him on the street...
11:26you would pass him by...
11:27small man...
11:28very ill-framed man...
11:30who had killer eyes...
11:32and it's the eyes...
11:33that everybody says...
11:34they noticed...
11:36Hayes had long...
11:37large and brilliant...
11:38hazel eyes...
11:39which are restless...
11:40in conversation...
11:41and speak a language...
11:42of their own...
11:43not to be mistaken...
11:44Samuel C. Reed...
11:45Texas Ranger...
11:47cav왕 he was...
11:48a small man...
11:49uh...
11:50but he made up for it...
11:51in a...
11:52endowment...
11:52spirit and a sense of toughness that the Indians greatly respect.
11:57As did the Rangers, Hayes gained their respect by teaching them how to fight on the ground.
12:02One Ranger talked about how he took him out and made him shoot.
12:07Learned at boards, brought up the pistols and fire at the board, learned how to duck down behind them.
12:12He took a horse and literally did one of the first Ranger training sessions.
12:17Probably ever on record.
12:20Hayes muster rolls revealed the kind
12:22of men who became Rangers in the 19th century, though they came from various walks of life.
12:27And different ethnic backgrounds, Rangers shared an essential core.
12:32The qualities necessary in a genuine Ranger were a fleet horse.
12:37An eye that could detect the trail, a power of endurance that defied fatigue...
12:42...and the faculty of looking through the double sights of his rifle with a steady arm.
12:47Jason Lee, Texas Ranger.
12:50Captain Jack's Rangers would take on the...
12:52...manchees at a time when Texan-Indian relations were at their worst.
12:57The pivotal moment in Texas, Comanche relations came in 1840.
13:02There was a new president of the Texan Republic, Mirabu Bonaparte Lamar, whose Indian policy...
13:07...was very aggressive in the negative sense.
13:12Lamar, desirous to expand Texas' settlement, boldly moved the Republic's capital from...
13:17...Houston to Austin.
13:19That encroached very heavily on Comancheria.
13:22Which the Comanches certainly did not appreciate.
13:27After a series of Indian raids, a council attended by several Rangers erupted in violence...
13:32...over stories regarding the mistreatment of white captives.
13:35And what became known as the Council...
13:37...of the House fight, all the Comanches present were killed.
13:40The Texans sent a command...
13:42...of the Frenchy Woman North with the word that unless the captives were brought in...
13:46...that this would be the...
13:47...the fate of all Comanches.
13:48Well, the Comanches came in all right, but they didn't bring the captives.
13:52Hundreds of them descended upon Central Texas, marched through the settlements...
13:57...burning, killing as they went.
13:59But it was near Plum Creek that the Com...
14:02...the Comanches returning home with their stolen booty...
14:04...were ambushed by Texan forces, including Captain...
14:07...Jack and the Rangers.
14:08And there, a great battle ensued.
14:11And there, a great battle ensued.
14:12One of the Comanche leaders was dressed in a top hat and carried an umbrella.
14:16Other Comanches...
14:17...or dresses that they had stolen from the white settlements.
14:20And while this is humorous...
14:22...the fight turned out to be no laughing matter for the Comanches.
14:25They suffered many casualties, far more than they could.
14:27...afford.
14:28And the battle at Plum Creek ended Comanche raids deep into the heart of the...
14:32...Texas settlement.
14:33But it was only the beginning of a long series of wars.
14:37Those wars taught Captain Jack that in order to defeat the Comanches decisively...
14:40...the Rangers would have to...
14:42...to fight like them.
14:43In fact it is, they really taught the Texas Rangers.
14:47In a way, the Rangers had to adapt and get good at horseback warfare too.
14:51The...
14:52...vaunted Kentucky long rifle, although amazingly accurate.
14:57...was almost impossibly cumbersome for a man a horse.
15:02In the heat of battle, most Rangers would have to dismount to perform the life-threatening...
15:07...tasks of firing and reloading their long rifles.
15:11What made the...
15:12...Comanches particularly fearsome adversaries was their ability to get off about 12 of these arrows.
15:17During the period of time it would take a Ranger to fire one shot.
15:21What hazed...
15:22...needed was a new weapon with which to fight the Comanches, and he found it.
15:26The Colt Patterson...
15:27...involved.
15:28This is the Colt Patterson five shot, 36 caliber.
15:32...of a revolver.
15:33The first really effective repeating weapon.
15:36It was...
15:37acquired by Captain Jack Hayes to arm his Texas Rangers.
15:42And it changed the complexion of frontier warfare entirely.
15:47With this...
15:47a five-shot revolver, the Ranger could stay mounted.
15:52And keep up with the Comanche.
15:54Take the fight to the Comanche.
15:57Hayes' first recorded use of Colt revolvers against the Comanches took place...
16:02while he was surveying at Enchanted Rock in 1841.
16:07He didn't know it at the time, but that was the worst possible place.
16:12He could have gone because this mountain was sacred to the Comanches.
16:16That really annoyed me.
16:17That he was atop their sacred mountain.
16:20This surveyor, this...
16:22Ranger, this hated white devil.
16:25There may have been as many as...
16:27a hundred Indians at Enchanted Rock all after Jack Hayes.
16:32As the Indians advanced, Hayes discharged his...
16:37his rifle.
16:38And then, seizing his five-shooter, he felled them on all sides.
16:41Thus, keeping them...
16:42off till he could reload.
16:43In this manner, he defended himself for three long hours.
16:47until his men arrived just in time to save him.
16:50Samuel C. Reed.
16:52Whether it happened or it happened is dramatic...
16:57as politically as it's been depicted.
16:58Ken Sabe, who knows?
17:00But it certainly is...
17:02is a moment that's forever etched in the lore of the Republic
17:05and the Cole Patterson.
17:07and the Texas Rangers.
17:10The legend of the Rangers and their colts grew...
17:12after an encounter with the Comanches at Bandera Pass in 1844.
17:16The Com...
17:17the Comanches charged at the Rangers, expecting the Rangers to dismount,
17:21to reload to fire.
17:22again.
17:23Except the Rangers didn't dismount.
17:25They pulled out the Patterson...
17:27revolvers...
17:28Hazel charged...
17:29and into the middle of them they went.
17:32The Comanches were more than amazed.
17:34They were shocked.
17:35One of the Indians said...
17:37I will not fight Jack Hayes no more...
17:38for he has a shot for every finger on his hands.
17:41The Comanches...
17:42they called him in one of their wonderfully long names.
17:45A man who it is very bad luck...
17:47to get in a fight with...
17:48because devils side with him.
17:52The rise of Devil Jack and the Texas Rangers...
17:55meant the inevitable decline of the Comanche nation.
17:57But not before the Rangers adopted more Comanche tactics.
18:02They adopted their...
18:03their stealth tactics.
18:05They adopted their...
18:07their techniques of writing.
18:09And they...
18:10they borrowed something else.
18:11They bought...
18:12their terror.
18:13The Rangers would make terror...
18:16their most effective...
18:17their weapon...
18:18when they fought in the Mexican War.
18:22The annexation of Texas to the United States in 1845...
18:25sparked the Mexican War...
18:27up until then...
18:29the Rangers had earned...
18:30a hard-won reputation within Texas...
18:32as fearless fighters...
18:33against Indian and Mexican raiders.
18:35But it was during the Mexican War...
18:36that the...
18:37the Rangers legend...
18:38would spread far beyond...
18:39the state's borders.
18:40Fighting alongside...
18:41their new countrymen...
18:42against an old enemy...
18:43the Rangers' controversial actions...
18:45would brand them...
18:46Los Diablos...
18:47Tehanos...
18:48the Devil Texans.
18:53The Rio Grande.
18:55That's Mexico on the left...
18:56and Texas...
18:57was on the right.
18:58There was a time...
18:59when these simple facts...
19:00were fighting words.
19:02during the Republic years of Texas...
19:05the border was not...
19:07adequately defined...
19:08between Texas...
19:09and...
19:10and old Mexico.
19:11Mexico recognized...
19:12and...
19:13Nuesos River...
19:14Texas recognized...
19:15Rio Grande...
19:16as a southern border.
19:17And in a sense, the area in between then became known as an oasis strip.
19:22Which meant it belonged to Texas, and it also belonged to Mexico, and it belonged to nobody.
19:27And it became a source of contention.
19:30And in fact, this dispute was one of the prime causes.
19:32Leading to the outbreak of war between the United States and Mexico, once the U.S. annexed Texas.
19:37In 1845, when war was finally declared between the United States and Mexico in May of 1845,
19:42the call immediately went out for volunteer forces to be organized and supported.
19:47The standing, regular United States Army.
19:51General Zachary Taylor is...
19:52Especially needed men who knew the enemy.
19:55Enter the Texas Rangers.
19:57Haze's Rangers have come, their appearance never to be forgotten.
20:02Not any sort of uniforms, but well-mounted and doubly well-armed.
20:07Each man...
20:07Each man has one or two Colt revolvers besides ordinary pistols, a sword and a rifle.
20:12The Mexicans are terribly afraid of them.
20:15General Leith and Alan Hitchcock.
20:17Ranging companies participated in the war, much as a regular militia.
20:22And they became legendary in the occupying army under Zachary Taylor.
20:27Most prominent in the Ranger legend is Samuel Hamilton Walker.
20:32Walker organizes the only company of volunteers to...
20:37participate in the first two battles of the Mexican War.
20:42Walker's service is enough to impress Taylor and get Walker a commission in the...
20:47United States military.
20:48Probably one of the only Rangers actually to be offered a commission in the United States.
20:52regular forces.
20:53I think of Sam Walker as the thing...
20:57I think he'd man's Texas Ranger.
20:59He was rough and rowdy, sure, but he was...
21:02There's more than that.
21:03Walker was also the co-designer of a world famous...
21:07Firearm.
21:08This is the famous Colt Walker .44 caliber.
21:12Six-shot revolver.
21:13It was designed by Sam Walker.
21:17And Sam Colt.
21:18The improvement of the Walker over the Patterson...
21:22Firearm.
21:23Fairly obvious.
21:24Much more powerful.
21:25Much more dependable.
21:27There was a mechanism.
21:28And it was much more accurate.
21:30Walter died with his name...
21:32Sam Walker dies in the last...
21:37Major battle of the Mexican War.
21:39He dies weeks before the ship...
21:42deployment of Colt Walker pistols arrives...
21:45for his regiment.
21:47And dies before the Walker...
21:48And dies before the Walker...
21:52or the Colt pistol becomes...
21:54an established part of the United States military arsenal.
21:57And dies before the Walker...
21:58The
22:02Throughout the Mexican War, the Ranger legend grew, the Texans dazzling both friend and
22:07foe with their battlefield exploits.
22:11Those fearless...
22:12Force men vied with each other in approaching the very edge of danger.
22:16Their proximity of...
22:17...occasionally provoked the enemy's fire, but the Mexicans might as well have attempted to bring down...
22:22...swallows as those racing daredevils. Luther Giddings, First Ohio Volunteer.
22:27Embodying the Ranger spirit was William Bigfoot Wallace.
22:32His personal exploits were so...
22:37...outlandish that he became the archetypal Ranger.
22:42At one battle, the mule he was riding bolted and...
22:47...charged right into Mexican lines. The Mexicans, of course, thought that this...
22:52...man was utterly fearless to have ridden in alone. He eventually cut his way out.
22:57But that's the sort of scrape that he commonly got into.
23:02And out of.
23:04Like Bigfoot, other Rangers weren't afraid to go anywhere.
23:07Their bravery and familiarity with the enemy helped distinguish them as scouts and spies.
23:12At these roles, none was better than Ben McCullough.
23:17Ben McCullough's greatest accomplishment during the war was his.
23:22...remarkable scout prior to the Battle of Buena Vista.
23:26He rode...
23:27...thirty miles south of Taylor's position to...
23:32...to...
23:32...identify the specific location of Santana's Mexican army.
23:36He was actually...
23:37...credited with going...
23:39...far further than anybody thought a man could, even in terms of...
23:42...to speed for a day, much less in terms of where he might be observed by an opposing army.
23:47To avoid being observed while crossing enemy lines, McCullough disguised himself...
23:52...as a Mexican.
23:53He always...
23:54...speculated.
23:55He always...
23:56...speculated.
23:57He believed that because Texans were generally dressed in the wide brim...
24:02...and hats and serapes that the Mexican sentries probably must...
24:07...he took them for common vaqueros.
24:09...
24:12The Battle of Buena Vista climaxed General Taylor's northern campaign.
24:17Although the victory was Taylor's, the information that made that victory possible...
24:22...was produced by Ben McCullough and his Rangers.
24:27But in spite of the heroics of McCullough, Wallace and Walker...
24:30...the Rangers were proving to be...
24:32...a little too rough and ready for General Rough and Ready Taylor himself.
24:35There was...
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