Winchester Warriors: Texas Rangers of Company D, 1874-1901

Bob Alexander

Jan 2009 · Frances B. Vick Series Book 6 · University of North Texas Press

About this ebook

The Texas Rangers were institutionally birthed in 1874 with the formation of the Frontier Battalion. They were tasked with interdicting Indian incursions into the frontier settlements and dealing with the lawlessness running rampant throughout Texas. In an effort to put a human face on the rangers, Bob Alexander tells the story of one of the six companies of the Frontier Battalion, Company D.

Readers follow the rangers of Company D as--over time--it transforms from a unit of adventurous boys into a reasonably well-oiled law enforcement machine staffed by career-oriented lawmen. Beginning with their start as Indian fighters against the Comanches and Kiowas, Alexander explores the history of Company D as they rounded up numerous Texas outlaws and cattle thieves, engaged in border skirmishes along the Rio Grande, and participated in notable episodes such as the fence cutter wars.
Winchester Warriors is an evenhanded and impartial assessment of Company D and its colorful cadre of Texas Rangers. Their laudable deeds are explored in detail, but by the same token their shameful misadventures are not whitewashed. These Texas Rangers were simply people, good and bad--and sometimes indifferent. This new study, extensively researched in both primary and secondary sources, will appeal to scholars and aficionados of the Texas Rangers and western history.

About the author

BOB ALEXANDER, a native Texan and veteran lawman, began a policing career in 1965 and retired as a special agent with the U.S. Treasury Department. He is the author of numerous books, among them Fearless Dave Allison, Border Lawman; Desert Desperadoes: The Banditti of Southwestern New Mexico; and Lawmen, Outlaws, and SOBs, all winners of the Best Book Award from the Western Outlaw/Lawman History Association. He lives near Dallas, Texas.