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Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers
"A splendid, indeed brilliant new work by an outstanding historian of the American West." — Howard Lamar , author of The New Encyclopedia of the American West , Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University
"A thorough job...a fine book." — Larry McMurtry
"A thorough job...a fine book." — Larry McMurtry
416 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2002
30 people are currently reading
317 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Utley
92 books73 followersA specialist in Native American history and the history of the American West, Robert Marshall Utley was a former chief historian of the National Park Service. He earned a Bachelor of Science in history from Purdue University in 1951, and an Master of Arts in history from Indiana University in 1952. Utley served as Regional Historian of the Southwest Region of the NPS in Santa Fe from 1957 to 1964, and as Chief Historian in Washington, D.C. from 1964 until his retirement in 1980.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 13, 2019
Utley analyizes the history of the Texas Rangers from the days of Mexican colonial Texas through the beginning of the 20th century. He traces the metamorphis from local Indian fighters to a stae wide law enforcement agency. Both good and bad are presented, although he protrays the Democratic party as heroic saints. Thie work is not a rah-rah fluff piece.
October 15, 2011
Started reading last week. Initially, it was difficult to put down! Excellent. Informative. Helps to quench the thirst for Ranger history.
Finally finished this book! It was a slow slog.
Finally finished this book! It was a slow slog.
February 23, 2018
In Lone Star Justice, Utley discusses the first century of the iconic Texas lawmen, the Texas Rangers. Tracing their history as a civilian force drawn together to protect settlers against Indian and Mexican raids, Utley takes the reader through legislation and historical documents as he examines the myth, legend, and fact surrounding the Rangers founding and their growth into the law enforcement agency known today. The history of the Rangers is interwoven with the unique history of Texas itself and makes for some great reading. The one thing Utley doesn't shy away from it the fact that not all the Ranger were exemplary men. Some were brutes and bullies driven be a deep-seated cultural prejudice against Mexicans and Native American, but the ones that stand out were also courageous, natural born leaders. If you want to learn about the Rangers, this is a great place to start.
July 4, 2018
What I liked about the book is that Utley tells it like it was. I grew up idolizing the Rangers because in the movies they were always the good guys. Utley tells their early story warts and all.
I learned much about the Rangers. For example; they started more or less as a citizen militia to fight Comanches and then the Mexicans during the Texas War for Independence. They stayed that way gradually becoming more concerned with the Comanche and Kiowa than with the Mexicans after the war with the US in 1848.
By 1875 the Comanche and Kiowas had been defeated and the Rangers became the law enforcement agency we know today. In that role they earned the fame they deserve.
I started to read Utley many years ago and found this volume at a used book store.
I learned much about the Rangers. For example; they started more or less as a citizen militia to fight Comanches and then the Mexicans during the Texas War for Independence. They stayed that way gradually becoming more concerned with the Comanche and Kiowa than with the Mexicans after the war with the US in 1848.
By 1875 the Comanche and Kiowas had been defeated and the Rangers became the law enforcement agency we know today. In that role they earned the fame they deserve.
I started to read Utley many years ago and found this volume at a used book store.
April 22, 2021
Fabulously written. Compelling, exciting, and heartbreaking.
October 30, 2021
It was very good, but only for affionados of the genre.
March 30, 2023
Exciting, eventful times turned into a very boring account of places and names. I slogged through only due to my interest in the topic, but this is not an author I would read again.
February 13, 2025
This was very well researched but kinda dry. It was a lot of descriptions of battles with Indians and Mexicans. I just wish there had been a bit more cultural history included for context.
January 27, 2011
Library books to head of the line!
I grew up on westerns and the Texas Rangers were a standard (there was even a TV series from 1955 to 1959, though it was a sort of non-typical format). This book while not the best out there isn't bad.
We start with the Texas revolution and the Texas Ranging Company(s) conceived by Stephen Austin and follow the history of the Rangers through the years. The character of the Rangers changed over the years. From citizen soldiers often in temporary service on to the establishment of the formal Rangers the book gives at least a sketch of the way things happened with the names and thumbnail stories of the people involved.
We go all the way back and a working knowledge of Texas history from other sources will come in handy. The Mexican government revolting against Spain. The New Mexican Government was unsuccessful in coaxing it's citizens to colonize north of the Rio Grande (river). Failing this they worked out a deal with Stephen Austin who moved in 300 settlers. The hope was that the Anglo settlers would form a sort of buffer between the Mexican ranchers and the northern Indian (Native American) tribes (notably the Comanche) this didn't work out. Originally formed because the Republic of Texas couldn't afford an actual army the Rangers stood as a combination army and police force for many years. The Mexican war was far from a cut and dried event and at least 3 later "invasions" from Mexico took place after the Republic was formed. Once a force of 1600 Mexican Lancers were "scouted" by a force of around sixty Rangers....the Rangers lost that encounter.
From dealing with invaders from the south and Native American confrontations from all three other directions to policing actual bandits, rustlers etc. the Rangers were always undermanned, underfunded, and over worked. They took part in the war with Mexico where most of the generals who would later take part in the Civil War (on both sides) got their original experience and tried (until disbanded) to defend the frontiers right up through the Civil war.
The Rangers ceased to exist during the War between the States and were not reestablished until after the folding of the Republican post war government and it's some notorious state police ceased to exist.
Here the writer tries to deal with the sensitive subject of were the state police all bad...was the next administration (Democrat) raciest and/or pro-Confederacy. I'd suggest here that you do your own research and not settle on a single source. (Just me). Almost everyone has an ax to grind.
We then follow the Rangers through their history. The leaders, the personalities the well know outlaws (John Wesley Hardin and Sam Bass for example).
This is a fairly interesting book. I've read those I liked more and those that were more interesting or better written, but I've read worse to. Not a bad book...even pretty good. 3 Stars.
I grew up on westerns and the Texas Rangers were a standard (there was even a TV series from 1955 to 1959, though it was a sort of non-typical format). This book while not the best out there isn't bad.
We start with the Texas revolution and the Texas Ranging Company(s) conceived by Stephen Austin and follow the history of the Rangers through the years. The character of the Rangers changed over the years. From citizen soldiers often in temporary service on to the establishment of the formal Rangers the book gives at least a sketch of the way things happened with the names and thumbnail stories of the people involved.
We go all the way back and a working knowledge of Texas history from other sources will come in handy. The Mexican government revolting against Spain. The New Mexican Government was unsuccessful in coaxing it's citizens to colonize north of the Rio Grande (river). Failing this they worked out a deal with Stephen Austin who moved in 300 settlers. The hope was that the Anglo settlers would form a sort of buffer between the Mexican ranchers and the northern Indian (Native American) tribes (notably the Comanche) this didn't work out. Originally formed because the Republic of Texas couldn't afford an actual army the Rangers stood as a combination army and police force for many years. The Mexican war was far from a cut and dried event and at least 3 later "invasions" from Mexico took place after the Republic was formed. Once a force of 1600 Mexican Lancers were "scouted" by a force of around sixty Rangers....the Rangers lost that encounter.
From dealing with invaders from the south and Native American confrontations from all three other directions to policing actual bandits, rustlers etc. the Rangers were always undermanned, underfunded, and over worked. They took part in the war with Mexico where most of the generals who would later take part in the Civil War (on both sides) got their original experience and tried (until disbanded) to defend the frontiers right up through the Civil war.
The Rangers ceased to exist during the War between the States and were not reestablished until after the folding of the Republican post war government and it's some notorious state police ceased to exist.
Here the writer tries to deal with the sensitive subject of were the state police all bad...was the next administration (Democrat) raciest and/or pro-Confederacy. I'd suggest here that you do your own research and not settle on a single source. (Just me). Almost everyone has an ax to grind.
We then follow the Rangers through their history. The leaders, the personalities the well know outlaws (John Wesley Hardin and Sam Bass for example).
This is a fairly interesting book. I've read those I liked more and those that were more interesting or better written, but I've read worse to. Not a bad book...even pretty good. 3 Stars.
August 22, 2016
Like all frontiers, Texas, from its earliest days, attracted its share of "adventurers, speculators, scoundrels, thieves, and refugees from debt, the sheriff, or a shrewish wife." But what made it unique among American frontiers was the raiding horse-Indian tribes who swept down out of the Panhandle and New Mexico (and, even after Annexation, seemed unable to understand that "Texans" and "Americans" were one and the same) and the Mexican raiders--some with official sanction, others merely civilian opportunists--who repeatedly made incursions across the Rio Grande. To meet these, as early as 1823, one Lt. Moses Morrison (who conferred his rank isn't explained) "mustered a force of 10 men," described as "paid volunteers to serve as militia till harvest called them to their fields." By 1826 Austin's colony alone consisted of six militia districts, though Utley admits there's no evidence that his written plans for "ranging units" ever came to fruition. But with the introduction of the Paterson Colt five-shooter, and its proof in battle at Walker Creek in 1844, the Texas Rangers came into their own as defenders of the settlers against enemies red and brown.
In an adaptation of the Carlylean "great men" theory of history, Utley tells the story of the corps primarily by way of its captains, many great, some not so very. He shows how the Rangers proved themselves against the Indians and (in Republican days) the Mexicans, came to national prominence through their service in the Mexican War, supplemented the inadequate and often ineffectual efforts of the US Army to protect the people of the Lone Star State, took over frontier defense altogether in the chaotic years of the Civil War, and then, after 1874, became an official arm of law enforcement--in effect the very first example of what we know today as "state police"--and in that capacity dealt with feudists, fence-cutters, outlaws, renegade Indians out of the Nations, and still Mexicans. The one great omission in his story (and he admits his notes contained many stories that never made it to the final draft) lies in the fact that, as above mentioned, early Texas was a sanctuary for lawless Anglos as well as a target for non-white troubles--possibly more of one than any other similar region, being for over two decades either a Mexican possession or an independent republic, where US law's writ didn't run and American officers couldn't function; I don't doubt that many of these (in effect) early outlaws made their share of mischief in antebellum Texas, yet the book includes nothing about Ranger efforts (if any) to deal with them, which is why I give it only four stars. (It's possible there are other volumes around that remedy this discrepancy, but I haven't read them yet; if and when I do, I may have something to say about them.) Still, I found it a valuable and informative book, and one that anyone interested in the history of early Texas should read.
In an adaptation of the Carlylean "great men" theory of history, Utley tells the story of the corps primarily by way of its captains, many great, some not so very. He shows how the Rangers proved themselves against the Indians and (in Republican days) the Mexicans, came to national prominence through their service in the Mexican War, supplemented the inadequate and often ineffectual efforts of the US Army to protect the people of the Lone Star State, took over frontier defense altogether in the chaotic years of the Civil War, and then, after 1874, became an official arm of law enforcement--in effect the very first example of what we know today as "state police"--and in that capacity dealt with feudists, fence-cutters, outlaws, renegade Indians out of the Nations, and still Mexicans. The one great omission in his story (and he admits his notes contained many stories that never made it to the final draft) lies in the fact that, as above mentioned, early Texas was a sanctuary for lawless Anglos as well as a target for non-white troubles--possibly more of one than any other similar region, being for over two decades either a Mexican possession or an independent republic, where US law's writ didn't run and American officers couldn't function; I don't doubt that many of these (in effect) early outlaws made their share of mischief in antebellum Texas, yet the book includes nothing about Ranger efforts (if any) to deal with them, which is why I give it only four stars. (It's possible there are other volumes around that remedy this discrepancy, but I haven't read them yet; if and when I do, I may have something to say about them.) Still, I found it a valuable and informative book, and one that anyone interested in the history of early Texas should read.
May 25, 2016
Books about the history of the American West, in the opinion of book buyers, do not rank with books about the history of the American Revolution, the American Civil War, or World War II. But there is no lack of adventure, excitement, or colorful characters in the history of the American West, and there is no better chronicler of that history than Robert M. Utley.
In "Lone Star Justice," Utley captured all the passion and drama that was the early years of the Texas Rangers. Beginning as a rag-tag group of volunteer militiamen, always brave and usually undisciplined, Utley traces their history until they became the heroic icons of legend.
As a son of Texas, more familiar with the Alamo and San Jacinto, Utley enriched my historical knowledge of the vital role the Texas Rangers played in shaping, protecting, and mythologizing the great state of Texas. And for that, I'm grateful.
In "Lone Star Justice," Utley captured all the passion and drama that was the early years of the Texas Rangers. Beginning as a rag-tag group of volunteer militiamen, always brave and usually undisciplined, Utley traces their history until they became the heroic icons of legend.
As a son of Texas, more familiar with the Alamo and San Jacinto, Utley enriched my historical knowledge of the vital role the Texas Rangers played in shaping, protecting, and mythologizing the great state of Texas. And for that, I'm grateful.
October 18, 2010
This is an excellent history of the Texas Rangers and how they evolved into the responsibilities of protecting citizens of Texas first as a Republic and then as a state. What provided the Rangers their success when others had failed was the adoption of the Colt six shooter as their gun of choice. Mexicans, indians, and the malcontents they faced had nothing in their arsenal to match this weapon.
The story is not all favorable. Racism was rampant as well as their being used to fight the formation of unions. They were often too quick to dispense "justice" by the gun rather than taking the time and effort to see a situation for what it really was.
Great history and excellent writing.
The story is not all favorable. Racism was rampant as well as their being used to fight the formation of unions. They were often too quick to dispense "justice" by the gun rather than taking the time and effort to see a situation for what it really was.
Great history and excellent writing.
July 26, 2016
A history of the Texas Rangers tracing how they evolved from a militia fighting border wars with the Indians and Mexicans, to becoming a law enforcing unit which they are better known for. An honest account which shows up the best in the Ranger tradition, but does not shy away from their worst defeats and rogues who shamed the Ranger name. The second half of the book tracing the Ranger exploits as they tracked outlaws and engaged in shootouts was a particularly exciting read. Recommended if you like Westerns.
October 1, 2009
Very fun and easy read of Texas Rangers. One thing to remember when they talk about Mexican bandits, most of the time it is Mexican ranchers getting back "Nana's cattle". But it shows the formation of a squad of justice that eventually formed the calvary used by guys like JEB Stewart.
August 13, 2015
Great history of the Rangers in the old west. I thought the book well written and flowed well with a good selection of photographs. I've been reading a decent amount of Texas Ranger history this summer and except for The biography One Ranger, this has been my favorite so far.
December 4, 2014
What's the difference between legendary Texas Rangers and reality? This book is setting the story straight. I won't be looking at the "Lone Ranger" the same way anymore :-)
February 8, 2013
prejudice abounds.
June 19, 2013
Good historical perspective
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews