On May 12^th 1858, the Texas Rangers, lead by John S. “Old Rip” Ford attacked the village of the Comanche chief Iron Jacket, a well known medicine man, killing at least 75 and taking 8 prisoners.

This attack was firmly understood as continuous with the “Indian Wars” more broadly and the governor, Hardin Runnels, was calling for “a major punitive expedition into Comanches Territory” for the damages they had apparently inflicted on Texans.

Ford was encouraged to bring terror to the “hostile Indians,” namely Comanches, by fellow Texas Rangers and the governor alike. He recruited members of other Native groups in this pursuit.

The target of this particular raid was that near Antelope Hills, mostly outside of Texas, in Indian Territory where Ford had no jurisdiction. It is no surprise, then, that Ford placed the recruited Native soldiers in the line of fire, at the front of his pack.

According to the reports cited in Swanson’s book, the battle lasted approximately seven hours. Retrospective accounts in 1907 in the Dallas Morning News would call it “one of the greatest scenic and dramatic incidents… in the history of Indian warfare in Texas”.

According to Robert Utley, the horses present at the Comanche camp were not “stolen Texan horses,” so it is not clear whether this group had been responsible for any recent unrest involving Texans and the theft of Texan property, as presumed.

The celebration of this “battle”– or rather, ambush–  is a celebration of indiscriminate dispossession of Native people from their land, way of life, and safety.

Later that year, Ford was later asked to arrest an organized group of white Texan vigilantes who had murdered seven residents of the Brazos Reserve, where Ford had enlisted men to fight for him at Antelope Hill. He refused to hold these white “American Citizens” accountable.

Swanson, Cult of Glory, pg. 148-149

Ford made his way into the @txrangermuseum for his service to Texas as a Ranger and politician. He gained his nickname because he concluded his battle reports with “R.I.P” next to the counted dead. https://www.texasranger.org/texas-ranger-museum/hall-of-fame/john-salmon-rip-ford/

Ford would go onto fight with the Confederate army and serve the Texas legislature before writing a series of essays and articles on Texas history. He fashioned himself as a dedicated Texan, bolstering his reputation on these mass killings.

This thread is a part of the #OTD in Ranger history campaign that @Refusing2Forget is running this year. Follow this twitter handle or https://refusingtoforget.org/ranger-bicentennial-project/, and visit our website https://refusingtoforget.org to learn more.

Refusing to Forget members are @ccarmonawriter @carmona2208 @acerift @soniahistoria @BenjaminHJohns1  @LeahLochoa @MonicaMnzMtz and @Alacranita, another co-founder is @GonzalesT956

@emmpask @sdcroll @HistoryBrian @LorienTinuviel @hangryhistorian, @ddsanchez432, @elprofeml, and @littlejohnjeff are other scholars working on this project.