TEXAS RANGERS

a loosely organized military force that policed Texas from the time of their initial organization in the 1830s to their merger with the state highway patrol in 1935. The first Texas Rangers were minutemen hired by American settlers as protection against Indian attacks. During the Texas war for independence and its years as an independent republic, the Rangers, headquartered in Austin, also served as a border patrol. The Rangers, who provided their own horses and arms, refused to wear standard uniforms or to salute their officers, but they were noted as much for their highly disciplined esprit de corps as for their deadly marksmanship. They made the six-shooter (the Colt revolver) the weapon of the West, and at their peak in the 1870s they effectively brought law and order to hundreds of miles of Texas frontier. Although their importance declined in the 20th century, the Rangers have assumed a prominent position in Texas legend and American lore.