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Book Review:
The Men Who Wear the Star:
The Story of the Texas Rangers
by Chuck Parsons
Random House, New York.
352 pages. 31 illustrations. 4 maps. Acknowledgments, introduction,
notes, bibliography, index.
ISBN 0-679-45649-X hardcover. $29.95.
This is the first comprehensive
single-volume work on the history of the Texas Rangers since Walter
Prescott Webb's The Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense,
first published in 1935. Although both histories of the Ranger organization
— now entering its third century — discuss the major incidents of Ranger
history, The Men Who Wear the Star is not a mirror image of Webb’s
work.
Robinson begins his study
with a discussion of the concept of the Ranger, an idea that originated
with the British colonists in the eastern United States when a battalion
served under Major Robert Rogers during the French and Indian War. This
tradition of "ranging" was continued when English-speaking people settled
in Texas in the 1820s. Although there are various claims regarding exactly
how the Texas Rangers originated, Robinson supports the theory that
backs Moses Morrisson, a leader who commanded a handful of volunteers.
This modest beginning of a small number of settlers ready to fight Indians
and thieves and any other marauders became the organization of the Texas
Rangers.
Robinson discusses in subsequent
chapters how Jack Hays and the new revolving weapon altered warfare
and how the Rangers contributed during the Mexican War and the American
Civil War. A significant portion of the book deals with McNelly’s Washington
County Volunteer Militia Company and the Frontier Battalion under Major
John B. Jones. Jones influenced the Ranger force until the end of the
frontier and the rise of the "modern" Ranger.
In treating the twentieth
century Rangers, Robinson focuses on the tarnishing of the star, recounting
such incidents as the massacre at Porvenir in January 1918. He concludes
by touching on the "Bonnie and Clyde affair" and discussing the myth
making of the Texas Ranger. Included is the most famous myth of all,
the fictional "Lone Ranger," and other Rangers who have appeared in
motion pictures and television programs such as "Walker, Texas Ranger."
Certainly the Texas Ranger
force deserved an updating of the 1935 classic by Webb. Robinson provides
such an update with The Men Who Wear the Star. If there is a
significant weakness, it is that Robinson ends his history virtually
where Webb ended his. Certainly the Rangers have accomplished much in
the last fifty years or so that is worthy of discussion, but none of
it is presented. A few chapters covering the Rangers’ contribution during
the World Wars and also the social changes that forced the alteration
of the face of the traditional white male Ranger would have added greatly
to this work. In spite of this omission, the book deserves to be in
the library of every person who appreciates Texas history.
Other books by Charles Robinson
:
The Frontier World of
Fort Griffin: The Life and Death of a Western Town (Spokane: The
Arthur H. Clark Co., 1992).
Bad Hand: A Biography
of General Ranald S. Mackenzie (Austin: State House Press, 1993).
The Buffalo Hunters
(Austin: State House Press, 1995).
A Good Year to Die: The
Story of the Great Sioux War (New York: Random House, 1995).
The Indian Trial: The
Complete Story of the Warren Wagon Train Massacre (Spokane: The
Arthur H. Clark Co., 1997).
Satanta: The Life and
Death of a War Chief (Austin: State House Press, 1997).
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