The History of the Texas Rangers

Hi, I'm Margaret Daley. I have written four books in the Men of the Texas Rangers Series for Abingdon. The last one, Severed Trust, will be out in October of this year. I also have written one book for Love Inspired Suspense about the Texas Rangers. What a group!

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the baseball team in Dallas called the Texas Rangers. I’m talking about the oldest state organization of law enforcement officers. Sam Austin formed the first version of the Texas Rangers in 1823. The word “rangers” was coined because these men ranged over the land they protected and guarded.

Through the early years the Texas Rangers, one of the main duties of the group was to protect the people against Indians. Then after the Civil War in 1874 the organization was divided into six companies with 75 men and usually a captain. Their duties were partly a soldier and partly a police officer. By the 1900s the organization totally focused on enforcing the law. A Texas Ranger was called in when the case was too risky for the local agency.

Today there are 150 Texas Rangers who served the state in many investigative capacities. They are part of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Rangers’ headquarters is in Austin. There are six companies: Company “A” headquartered in Houston, Company “B” in Garland, Company “C” in Lubbock, Company “D” in McAllen, Company “E” in El Paso, and Company “F” in San Antonio. The companies were adjusted recently.

The Texas Rangers handle the usual kind of cases like murder, assault, robbery and kidnapping, but they are also tasked with investigating threats against the governor and other state and federal officials. I used some of these crimes for the stories in my series: The Men of the Texas Rangers (Saving Hope, Shattered Silence and Scorned Justice).

My newest release in her Men of Texas Rangers series is Scorned Justice, #3. It is available at bookstores or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Christian Book Distributors and wherever fine books are sold.