Texas Devils Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande 18461861 (Audible Audio Edition) Dale M Wilcox Michael L Collins University Press Audiobooks Books
Download As PDF : Texas Devils Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande 18461861 (Audible Audio Edition) Dale M Wilcox Michael L Collins University Press Audiobooks Books
Reconsidering the myth of good guys in white hats.
The Texas Rangers have been the source of tall tales and the stuff of legend as well as a growing darker reputation. But the story of the Rangers along the Mexican border between Texas statehood and the onset of the Civil War has been largely overlooked - until now.
This engaging history pulls listeners back to a chaotic time along the lower Rio Grande in the mid-19th century. Texas Devils challenges the time-honored image of "good guys in white hats" to reveal the more complicated and sobering reality behind the Ranger Myth.
Michael L. Collins demonstrates that, rather than bringing peace to the region, the Texas Rangers contributed to the violence and were often brutal in their injustices against Spanish-speaking inhabitants, who dubbed them los diablos Tejanos - the Texas devils. Collins goes beyond other, more laudatory Ranger histories to focus on the origins of the legend, casting Ranger immortals such as John Coffee "Jack" Hays, Ben McCulloch, and John S. "Rip" Ford in a new and not always flattering light.
In revealing a barbaric code of conduct on the Rio Grande frontier, Collins shows that much of the Ranger Myth doesn't hold up to close historical scrutiny. Texas Devils offers exciting true stories of the Rangers for anyone captivated by their legend, even as it provides a corrective to that legend.
The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press.
Texas Devils Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande 18461861 (Audible Audio Edition) Dale M Wilcox Michael L Collins University Press Audiobooks Books
Soldiers, even the best led and disciplined, sometimes commit atrocities. It should not be surprising that "volunteers" motivated primarily by greed and vengeance fall far short of the standard of conduct demanded of a professional army. The Texas rangers operated largely in the cauldron of terror that was the borderlands of Texas and Mexico during the time explored by Mr. Collins. Racism, hatred leftover from the Mexican War and greed meant that conflicts between Anglo-Americans, Mexicans and Indians were never ending. The Texas rangers were an active part of the terror. However, the most important players were not rangers, but state and federal officials. State officials encouraged the fantasy of conquering Mexico, while refusing to pay and discipline rangers. Parsimonious officials in Washington were unwilling to provide sufficient federal forces to tame the border. The author gives full credit to all of the architects of this grim history.Product details
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Texas Devils Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande 18461861 (Audible Audio Edition) Dale M Wilcox Michael L Collins University Press Audiobooks Books Reviews
Texas Devils is aptly titled. As to the book's subtitle, not so much. Dr. Collins, Regents Professor of History at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, has written a far wider-ranging examination of the violence whipped up and perpetrated by Anglo Texans against Tejanos and Mexican nationals in what U.S.-Mexico borderlands scholar Dr. Manuel Callahan calls a "social war." Although the book's description, found on the jacket and in the Introduction, point to Ranger activities and atrocities along the lower Rio Grande, Texas Devils provides a much broader context. Collins' text sweeps the reader along on a mad-dash ride from deep inside Mexico during the Mexican-American War, north to the Nueces Strip of south Texas ("a harsh and desolate country" located, Collins writes, somewhere "between heaven and hell"), surprisingly far south to William Walker's short-lived kingdom in Nicaragua, to the sites of various Indian battlefields, and back, always back, to the lands lying on either side of the Rio Bravo.
Collins gives the Texas Rangers their heroic due, but his focus is on their "darker reputation," particularly as practiced by a hodge-podge of irregulars, county militia units, vigilante posses, and other assorted ranger wannabe's. Texas-sized characters such as captains John Coffee Hays, Ben McCulloch, and, most notably, John S. "Rip" Ford are here. A host of forgotten military incompetents also drive the story of ethnic disdain, hatred, and violence. To be fair, Collins gives examples of brutal violence administered by Tejanos and Mexicans, including the will-o-the-wisp Juan Cortina, against those they considered oppressors.
As noted above, Collins strays frequently from his subtitle, from the river valley, and from the sad and often bloody Anglo-Mexican relations. The adventure of Texas filibusterers in Nicaragua has little to do with the Rio Grande but does illustrate the 19th century rangering spirit and brings into play the urgings of some influential Anglo Texans to spread slavery to the south, with no thought to the Mexican population's desires and rights to the contrary. This comes into sharper focus with the efforts by Sam Houston and others to position the United States to carve out of Mexico a buffer Republic of Sierra Madre that would conveniently serve as home for Texan-owned slaves. And who best to lead that assault? Volunteer Texas Rangers, mounted on the best horses and armed with their fast-firing revolvers, among other assorted weapons. The Anglo Texans' addiction to notions of manifest destiny repeatedly brought the young State into conflict with national policies. For that reason, professional soldiers, good and bad, from David Twiggs to Robert E. Lee, also play a part in Texas Devils.
Collins accomplishes his meandering journey in an economical 258-page narrative, quite a feat in view of his consistently vivid landscapes, portraits, and action scenes. The spirit of adventure, conquest and revenge animating the early Texas Rangers is brought to life both through Collins's own highly descriptive writing and his generous selection of first-hand accounts. Readers may not agree with the author's thesis, but it is impossible to ignore his array of facts.
The Arthur does not write about how brutal the Spanish were to the Mexicans, Battle of Medina was a Hollocost. near San Antonio, texas.
i totally enjoyed this book.it was both informative and a cool cowboy book. Great stories and history as it really happened.
This is as interesting a book as I have read in a long, long time. It is the story of the Nueces Strip, an amazingly lawless area during 1848 - 1861 that stretched from the Nueces River to the Rio Grande all along Texas' southern border.
Absorbed by the United States after the Mexican War, the preponderance of the Strip's residents were Mexican. When the border jumped from the Nueces to the Rio Grande many of these people faced an uncertain future. Anglos sought to move in, property claims and counter claims smacked of fraud and the criminal element on both sides committed atrocities and revenge driven depredations while utilizing the border, the Rio Grande River, as safe harbor. Seeking to restore order the United States sent the Army, ineffective at best, the State of Texas sent their Rangers, Mexican revolutionaries and Texas freebooters sent themselves while the Mexican Army was able to prove it was every bit as useless as the American one.
Covered also are the Cortina Wars where Juan Cortina led a paramilitary force against the US Army, the Texas Rangers and the local militia of Brownsville, Texas. Cortina was ultimately defeated but the guerilla raiding and counter raiding this war touched off on both sides of the border was again horrific, resulting in yet another seemingly unending series of atrocities committed by both sides.
There were no heroes in these 20+ years of continued insurgency so don't expect any. But do expect a diligently well-written book whose research appears impeccable.
Soldiers, even the best led and disciplined, sometimes commit atrocities. It should not be surprising that "volunteers" motivated primarily by greed and vengeance fall far short of the standard of conduct demanded of a professional army. The Texas rangers operated largely in the cauldron of terror that was the borderlands of Texas and Mexico during the time explored by Mr. Collins. Racism, hatred leftover from the Mexican War and greed meant that conflicts between Anglo-Americans, Mexicans and Indians were never ending. The Texas rangers were an active part of the terror. However, the most important players were not rangers, but state and federal officials. State officials encouraged the fantasy of conquering Mexico, while refusing to pay and discipline rangers. Parsimonious officials in Washington were unwilling to provide sufficient federal forces to tame the border. The author gives full credit to all of the architects of this grim history.
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