Organizing a company of Texas Rangers for frontier duty - 1844
    
     By Murray Montgomery
   
  As I have said time and time again, there is no substitute for newspapers when it comes to researching history.

This month, I am going to prove that point once again with the following article that appeared in the Weekly Telegraph and Texas Register – a newspaper located in Houston, Texas, in 1844. This piece is a public notice from the Republic of Texas. You will note that this was written before Texas became a state and the country was using a law-enforcement agency that is still proudly serving the people of Texas – the Texas Rangers.

According to The Handbook of Texas Online, the Texas Rangers were officially known by that name as early as November 1835. And Captain John Coffee Hays, mentioned in the article below, had already served with the rangers fighting against the Mexican army in 1842. Hays initiated ranger traditions and esprit de corps by recruiting and training a tough contingent of men skilled in frontier warfare.

I am printing this notice exactly the way it appeared in the aged newspaper - the punctuation and spelling may not coincide with today’s standards; get ready for a history lesson straight from the source.

Telegraph & Texas Register, April 17, 1844 – [An Act] Authorizing John C. Hays to raise a Company of Mounted Gunman to act as Rangers on the Western and South-Western Frontier.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas in Congress assembled, That John C. Hays is hereby authorized to raise one company of mounted gunmen, which company shall consist of one Captain, one Lieutenant, and forty privates, and that the said John C. Hays shall command the same, and the said Lieutenant, shall be elected by the members composing said company; the said company shall be organized by the first day of February, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-four [1844], or as soon as organized and reported, shall be received by the President, for the services herein expressed.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That each man admitted into the service of said company, shall be well mounted and well armed, at their own expense.

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That the said company shall range on the Western and South-Western frontier, from the county of Bexar to the county of Refugio, and westward, as the public interest may require.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That the Captain of said company shall receive the sum of seventy-five dollars per month; the Lieutenant the sum of fifty dollars per month; and each private the sum of thirty dollars per month, while in actual service; and that each member of said company shall receive pay for his services, at the expiration of every two months; and the Captain of said company is, hereby, made the disbursing officer, on his giving bond of five thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of his duty.

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War and Marine be, and he is hereby, authorized to draw on the Secretary of the Treasury every two months, in advance, in favor of the disbursing officer of said company, for each sum, as will meet the expenses, as estimated for rations and forage, and that the sum of seven thousand one hundred and forty-one dollars and sixteen cents be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to carry into effect the provisions of this act.

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That the said company, shall be enrolled for the term of four months from the time of organization, and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to retain the services of said company for a longer term, should he in his judgment or opinion, believe the public interest or safety requires it, and in such event, a sum sufficient is, hereby, appropriated to carry the same into effect, according to the estimate, terms, and provisions, of the foregoing recited act.

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.
Approved, Jan. 23rd, 1844.