The Texas Rangers And The Mexican Revolution

by Harris, Charles H., III

• ISBN13: 9780826334831
• ISBN10: 0826334830
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

The decade 1910?1920 was the bloodiest in the controversial history of one of the most famous law enforcement agencies in the world?the Texas Rangers. Much of the bloodshed was along the thousand-mile Texas/Mexico border because these were the years of the Mexican Revolution. Charles Harris III and Louis Sadler shed new light on this turbulent period by uncovering the clandestine role of Mexican President Venustiano Carranza in the border violence. They document two virtually unknown invasions of Texas by Mexican Army troops acting under Carranza's orders. Harris and Sadler suggest the notorious "Plan de San Diego," usually portrayed by historians as a plot hatched in South Texas, was actually spawned in Mexico by Carranza. This irredentist conspiracy, which called for the execution of all Anglo males sixteen and older and the establishment of a Hispanic republic, was designed to cause a race war between Hispanics and Anglos. One of Carranza?s goals was to end the support being given by border residents to his rival Pancho Villa. The "Plan de San Diego" caused the governor of Texas to order the Texas Rangers to wipe out the insurgency along the border. This resulted in an estimated 300 Hispanics being killed by the Rangers and others without benefit of judge and jury. The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution is the first Ranger history to utilize Mexican government archives and the voluminous declassified FBI records on the Mexican Revolution. "There is no other book that focuses on the Texas Rangers in the period 1910-1920. This will be the standard book on the Rangers for this period and probably the most thoroughly researched book on the Rangers in any period."--Alwyn Barr, Professor of History, Texas Tech University"Harris and Sadler provide the first definitive evaluation of the Texas Rangers and their activities during the first and most violent decade of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920. This is a really outstanding, important work"--William H. Beezley, Professor of Latin American History, University of Arizona

Author Biography

Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler are professors emeriti of history, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

Table of Contents

Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgments	xii
Introduction	1	(14)
Prelude
The Texas State Ranger Force	15	(14)
On the Defensive	29	(36)
Part One The Colquitt Years, 1911---1915
Revolution in Mexico	65	(21)
Enforcing Neutrality	86	(28)
The Revolution Intensifies	114	(48)
International Complications	162	(27)
Part Two The Ferguson Years, 1915---1917
Ferguson Rangers	189	(21)
The Plan de San Diego	210	(38)
The Bandit War (July--August)	248	(30)
The Bandit War (September--October)	278	(20)
The Plan de San Diego Resurfaces	298	(23)
Part Three The Hobby Years, 1917---1921
World War	321	(19)
Wartime Rangers	340	(21)
More Wartime Rangers	361	(22)
Hanson's Empire	383	(22)
Postwar Problems	405	(22)
The Investigation	427	(35)
Aftermath	462	(22)
Peace on the Border	484	(15)
Epilogue	499	(3)
Conclusion	502	(5)
Appendix: The Texas Rangers, 1910--1921	507	(69)
Abbreviations	576	(2)
Notes	578	(65)
Bibliography	643	(10)
Index	653	(19)
About the Authors	672