None But Texians: A History of Terry's Texas Rangers

by Jeffrey D. Murrah

None But presents the accomplishments and struggles of Terry's Texas Rangers as they fought through hundreds of engagements across seven states. This history covers the weapons the Rangers carried, flags they fought under, clothes they wore, songs they sang, and what became of many of them after the war.

228 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

About the author

Besides being an award winning author of Texana, Jeffrey Dixon Murrah is a counselor whose e-book on secrets of surviving affairs have a world-wide audience.

He is author of:
None But Texians: A History of Terry's Texas Rangers and Texans Always Move Them: A True History of Texas"

Reviews

[Nicholas Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like much amateur military history this is fixated on who, where, when, and follows the formation of the Rangers and their changing relation to the larger CSA military. It does provided useful factual information on the members and the battles in which the Rangers served as well as a brief examination of postwar commemorations. The book does not engage any real scholarship on war, the South, or the Civil War's military history; this is not surprising considering the author is not a professional historian, but at 142pgs of text there is plenty of room to put the experience of the Rangers in some historical context and it's a disappointment that Murrah's admiring profile of the unit does not do so..

This is quite brief and quick to read and anyone interested in the topic should take a look, however, it is written by an enthusiastic memeber of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, it frequently refers to slaves as "servants" or "nannies" and more than once refers to Lincoln as a tyrant. The opening discussion of why Texas seceded and why soldiers like Terry's Rangers fought is an artful example of denial about the role of slavery, and frankly this kind of Lost Cause nostalgia has been deservedly out of fashion for more than fifty years as both inaccurate and, frankly, racist.

I hate to one star any books, it feels petty and actually harmful to the author and publisher, and Eakin does aim for commercial success with popular titles about Texas heroes, but they also do publish some occasionally entertaining, informative, and worthwhile books. I am afraid this isn't one of them.

[Norman Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became interested in Terry's Texas Rangers after finding out an ancestor of mine fought with this Confederate cavalry regiment, whose formal designation was the 8th Texas. Murrah's book was a good source of information, but the writing was awkward at times. I can now trace the battles my ancestor was engaged in until his death in the Battle of Bentonville, N.C. in 1864. If you have a personal interest, this will serve you well.