In the Spring of 1848, William “Big Foot” Wallace led 30 Texas Rangers on a raid on an unsuspecting Lipan Apache camp in the Medina River Valley. There was documentation of other bands of Lipan Apache and Comanche attacking Anglo surveyors in the area, who were entering Native land to illegally partition it for sale. […]
#OTD in 1970, the Texas Civil Rights Advisory Committee called for the abolition of the Texas Rangers. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/10/archives/civil-rights-unit-would-disband-texas-rangers-advisory-group-says.html The Committee was an advisory arm of the United States Civil Rights Commission, which was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 as an independent, bipartisan federal agency whose mission is “to inform the development of
#OTD in 1925 the Texas legislature passed SB 174, making illegal search and seizure by police a crime. Rep JT Canales had asked for more robust protections during the Canales Investigation. This is considered one of the Canales Reforms, even though he was not in office. Senate Bill No. 174 had the lengthy title “An
In March 1847, in South Texas, a group of Texas Rangers under the direction of Marby “Mustang” Gray murdered the entire adult male population of a village. Supposedly, this was retaliation against “Mexicans” broadly for an attack on a US supply train by the Mexican army. There were no guns or weapons found with the
#OTD on March 17, 1919 the Texas Legislature significantly restructured the Texas Rangers by passing House Bill No. 5, originally authored by Rep. J. T. Canales. This was one of the most important outcomes of Canales’ activism. Canales originally wrote HB 5 in Jan 1919, before the Canales Investigation. Titled “An Act reorganizing the State
#OTD on March 19, 1840, Texas Rangers and militiamen killed thirty-five and imprisoned thirty Penateka Comanche people during a Council House meeting in San Antonio, TX while negotiating captives with commissioners of the Texas government. The Comanche people were not a unified nation but consisted of affiliaetd bands. Penatekas were the southernmost, occupying land from
#OTD in 1923 Gov Pat Neff signed Senate Bill No. 8 prohibiting law enforcement from torturing suspects to secure a confession for a crime. This was another measure reforming police procedure, inspired by Rep. JT Canales and regarded as one of the Canales Reforms. The Constitution and law banned such torture, yet police still engaged
On or shortly after March 28, 1839, Texas Rangers, captured, interrogated, and executed two unnamed men who had escaped slavery, leaving their bodies in what may be a mass grave of ranger victims under what is now @SeguinCityHall Chamber of Commerce parking lot. The Rangers and militiamen were under the command of legendary Texas Republic
#OTD in 1875 the Nuecestown Raid occurred. In the 1870s and 1880s across the Southwest, a number of raids by Mexican outlaws into the US, as well as Anglo raids into Mexico, took place. The raid on Nuecestown provoked lynching and large-scale massacres of Mexican people. The raid began when approx. 15-30 outlaws swept Nueces
On March 29, 2019 the film The Highwaymen premiered on Netflix. The film dramatizes Texas Rangers Frank Hamer and Maney Gault’s hunt for Bonnie and Clyde. The film celebrates the Ranger’s seemingly unique ability to “take down” dangerous criminals. Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, and their gang robbed banks and stores and killed at least nine
