Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to “range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers.”
The Rangers were made up of civilians who furnished their own horses and weapons. Given the vast expanse of territory they patrolled and the difficulty of communicating with state leaders, the men of the Rangers were given considerable independence to act as they saw fit. Sometimes the Rangers served as a military force, taking on the role of fighting the Indians, which in the U.S. was largely the responsibility of the Army. The Rangers have been involved in some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West, such as those of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, bank robber Sam Bass and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde Darrow.
As of 2007, there are 134 commissioned members of the Ranger force. It has been called the oldest state-level law enforcement agency in the United States.
