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I received the following email raising the question of whether the Texas Rangers were created "for the sole purpose" of annihilating the Comanche Indians.

Bubba (sir_onion<at>yahoo.com)
Thursday, December 28, 2006, 09:46 PM
A review on Amazon quoted below...

"Quanah Parker was the last and probably the finest example of a Commanche (sic) warrior. Although they never numbered more than 3,000 to 5,000 warriors, the Commanche (sic) stood astride the southern gateway to the west and single handedly stopped the southwestern expansion of America for 100 years. The reason Lewis and Clark were sent north to find a route to the west coast around them. So hated by the Texans that the Texas Rangers were created with the sole purpose of annihilating them."

"You really think the Texas Rangers were created because of them? That's a stretch isn't it?"

Yes, Sir Onion, I think it very much stretching the truth to say the Texas Rangers were created with the sole purpose of annihilating the Comanche. See page 20 of "The Texas Rangers: A Century Of Frontier Defense" by Walter Prescott Webb. According to Webb who references "The Life of Stephen F. Austin" by Eugene C. Barker, Austin employed ten men to serve as Rangers in 1823. During this time and in 1824, the Tonkawas, Karankawas, Wacos and Tawakonis were causing Austin and his colonists the most trouble. Webb and the Handbook of Texas (see the Texas Rangers article by Ben H. Procter in the Handbook) both say that Austin had little trouble with the Comanche during this time. Austin himself and two companions had been captured by a band of Comanche near the Nueces River in 1821 only to be treated well and released along with most of their property. Texas lawmakers did not make use of the term Texas Rangers until 1835 when they created a force of men who served in the Texas Revolution. This group of Texas Rangers did not participate in much fighting and served more as escorts to settlers fleeing the Mexican army. It was not until the Council House Fight in March 1840 at San Antonio that any that any significant fighting between the Texas Rangers and the Comanche took place. This was the beginning of the real bloodshed between the Texas Rangers and the Comanche that lasted until the end of the Red River War when Chief Quanah Parker surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Gj




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