Photo courtesy Texas Ranger Hall of FaBetween "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Lonesome Dove," the Texas Rangers have inspired their fair share of tales, but the truth about the storied law enforcement outfit is far more dramatic than anything that could fit on a screen—silver or otherwise.
The agency began in 1823 as a group of 10 men who collected land rights from the Mexican government in exchange for patrolling the Texas range and warding off Comanche raids.
"We had a lot of Native American allies because we were fighting against their main enemy," said Amanda Crowley, research librarian at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco. "Everyone was against the Comanche. They were like the New York Yankees. They were tough and good at what they did, but nobody liked them."
The Rangers were still a relatively new outfit when a prisoner exchange gone wrong led to one of the bloodiest conflicts in the organization's history: the Battle of Plum Creek on Aug. 12, 1840, near present-day Lockhart. The Comanche and Rangers exchanged gunfire on horseback, but the Native Americans were so heavily laden with plunder—cattle, horses, dry goods and whatever else they could carry—that the Rangers were easily able to defeat the retreating fighters.
