AIRret
12-06-2013, 03:41 PM
We are traveling in a fifth wheel (which is why I haven't been on the forum as much lately) and have been enjoying your State and your amazing history.
I've always respected you folks but your history has added to it!!
Here are a couple of posts from my trip journal (I'm saving it for my old age,
I figure if I keep writing in it I'm not old yet);
11/23/13 Today we visited the "Texas Civil War Museum" located on the outskirts of Fort Worth. The Museum was well organized and staffed with friendly knowledgeable people. It's also the largest Civil War Museum west of the Mississippi.
I've read at least 9 books about the civil war and watched everything I could on PBS and the history channel, and yet I was unaware of Texas's significant role in the war. I thought that they contributed some troops and that was about it. Slavery wasn't a big issue for Texas but "States" rights were huge! They didn't want the Federal Government telling them
what to do. When this country was formed the individual States were to be powerful and the Federal government was to be a loose organization for the common good, well we all know that didn't last! Because of this mindset, Texas joined the Confederacy. The vote to secede from the United States was over welming, and yet the governor of TX disagreed, which then lead to his resignation from office (first name ? last name Houston).
Texans' fought in all the major battles out East (often under Gen. John Bell Hood) but they also fought off several invasions of their State. The Battles at Galveston were the most successful for the North and even there the North only held the city a few months.
The North also tried to invade by sea several times but were always fought off. One Southern commander even attached very large bales of cotton all over his ship to blunt the cannon fire from the Yankees, and it worked!
The Museum had many artifacts from the war and continually compared the equipment each side had. When it came to manufacturing and raw materials the South was sorely lacking which contributed greatly to their defeat. It was not uncommon for the North to have 4 times the number of rifles, canons, or even war ships. The North also had more men of fighting age available, which was true even before the North started using all Black regiments.
The Texans are fiercely proud of their Southern Military traditions. It was almost a little uncomfortable talking to an older Texan historian about the war…..I was very conscious of my Northern roots. He was kind but also wanted us to know that the South had nothing to apologize for and he believed that Texans could beat anybody in a fair fight and most people in an unfair fight…. It's interesting that recently I've read that there is a disproportionately large number of Texans in the US military's Special Forces.
After the war Texas was broke like the rest of the South, but their cities, farms, and ranches were not destroyed the way the South East was, so they had an advantage over the East. Soon, Confederates from the East began to flock to Texas for the land and a chance to work in the cattle industry. This was so common that people would often leave notes and signs saying; "Gone to Texas" or simply "GTT".
11/29/13 Today we went to the Texas Ranger Museum in downtown Waco. We really enjoyed it, but it would have helped if the entire museum was organized chronologically.
Instead, they had six separated galleries that were sponsored ( $ ) by different individuals and groups. Some of the items were from private collections or from the TX government.
Each gallery was chronological, but that happened 6 times, i.e.. you started over when you walked to the next gallery. Anyway, that made it a little confusing, but we still enjoyed it.
Heck, we got there at 10:30am skipped lunch and didn't leave until 3:30pm.
Besides the galleries, they had a film about the TX Rangers which was very interesting. Originally the Rangers were intended to protect the settlers from Indian raids (the Camanchies
seemed to cause the most trouble, but hey wouldn't you cause trouble if someone was taking your land), and eventually from cattle rustlers. Early on they really were at a disadvantage when fighting the Indians. The rangers had to provide their own horses, weapons, and ammunition and the early firearms only shot one round before they needed reloading. So the Indians would draw the Rangers fire and then attack them while they were reloading. The Indians could shoot 10 arrows to the Rangers one round…….! It's a wonder the Ranger lasted long enough to even the odds. In response, the Rangers modified their fighting techniques, first one group would fire while another reloaded and so on, then they began fighting more like Indians, they would essentially use guerrilla warfare techniques. Soon repeating revolvers became available, and really changed the balance of power.
Next, during the Mexican war (I think that was 1846 or 1848) the Rangers became scouts and trackers for the regular army and during these fights they gained a fierce reputation as fighters, so much so that the Mexicans had a term for them that when translated was "devil soldiers or devil fighters".
Over time the Rangers role slowly evolved into more law enforcement. They are very respected and extremely good at getting the job done. But there were times when their numbers grew too fast and some questionable characters became Rangers, which lead to all kinds of trouble (criminal behavior). Around the turn of the century they decided to clean up their act, which meant shirts and ties (instead of looking like mountain men), clean shaven and formal training. This didn't eliminate all the bumps in the road but it was an improvement. Most of those bumps could be described as use of inappropriate force……they got the job done at all cost!
Because of their skills they have been called in on all kinds of famous/difficult cases. For instance they were directly instrumental it the capture and death of Bonnie and Clyde Barrow.
I hadn't realized that the Bonnie and Clyde's gang were responsible for 9 police men and 2 civilian deaths. Not too many things anger a lawman more than a cop killer. Several of the Texas Rangers actually came out of retirement to work the case.
Another significant part of the museum was the firearms, which of corse we enjoyed immensely. Some of the early revolvers weighed 5 lbs, these actually were in holsters attached to the horses saddle. I guess the main thing that surprised us about the firearms were how ornate many of them were. The engraving was over the top, many of the grips were made out of ivory and had things (small badges, precious stones, initials …) inlaid into them. Other grips were made out of stag horns, or sterling silver. I guess other than the old west I always though of cop guns as being high quality and functional, not ornate and pretty. Even the holsters were something to behold. Most of the handguns were revolvers or 1911's.
When examining the 1911's we were surprised at how thick the grips were. The stock grips on a 1911 (even the originals) were only half as thick as these ornate grips were. Today
most shooters like something thinner, unless they have HUGE hands.
The Texas Rangers have a mystique about them….they are respected, have a high code of ethics (for many years now), and they get the job done. Therefore, we were impressed that the museum presented their entire history, not just the positive parts.
Please feel free to correct anything that I have wrong or mixed up. I hate history if it's wrong.
Thanks,
And God Bless Texas
I've always respected you folks but your history has added to it!!
Here are a couple of posts from my trip journal (I'm saving it for my old age,
I figure if I keep writing in it I'm not old yet);
11/23/13 Today we visited the "Texas Civil War Museum" located on the outskirts of Fort Worth. The Museum was well organized and staffed with friendly knowledgeable people. It's also the largest Civil War Museum west of the Mississippi.
I've read at least 9 books about the civil war and watched everything I could on PBS and the history channel, and yet I was unaware of Texas's significant role in the war. I thought that they contributed some troops and that was about it. Slavery wasn't a big issue for Texas but "States" rights were huge! They didn't want the Federal Government telling them
what to do. When this country was formed the individual States were to be powerful and the Federal government was to be a loose organization for the common good, well we all know that didn't last! Because of this mindset, Texas joined the Confederacy. The vote to secede from the United States was over welming, and yet the governor of TX disagreed, which then lead to his resignation from office (first name ? last name Houston).
Texans' fought in all the major battles out East (often under Gen. John Bell Hood) but they also fought off several invasions of their State. The Battles at Galveston were the most successful for the North and even there the North only held the city a few months.
The North also tried to invade by sea several times but were always fought off. One Southern commander even attached very large bales of cotton all over his ship to blunt the cannon fire from the Yankees, and it worked!
The Museum had many artifacts from the war and continually compared the equipment each side had. When it came to manufacturing and raw materials the South was sorely lacking which contributed greatly to their defeat. It was not uncommon for the North to have 4 times the number of rifles, canons, or even war ships. The North also had more men of fighting age available, which was true even before the North started using all Black regiments.
The Texans are fiercely proud of their Southern Military traditions. It was almost a little uncomfortable talking to an older Texan historian about the war…..I was very conscious of my Northern roots. He was kind but also wanted us to know that the South had nothing to apologize for and he believed that Texans could beat anybody in a fair fight and most people in an unfair fight…. It's interesting that recently I've read that there is a disproportionately large number of Texans in the US military's Special Forces.
After the war Texas was broke like the rest of the South, but their cities, farms, and ranches were not destroyed the way the South East was, so they had an advantage over the East. Soon, Confederates from the East began to flock to Texas for the land and a chance to work in the cattle industry. This was so common that people would often leave notes and signs saying; "Gone to Texas" or simply "GTT".
11/29/13 Today we went to the Texas Ranger Museum in downtown Waco. We really enjoyed it, but it would have helped if the entire museum was organized chronologically.
Instead, they had six separated galleries that were sponsored ( $ ) by different individuals and groups. Some of the items were from private collections or from the TX government.
Each gallery was chronological, but that happened 6 times, i.e.. you started over when you walked to the next gallery. Anyway, that made it a little confusing, but we still enjoyed it.
Heck, we got there at 10:30am skipped lunch and didn't leave until 3:30pm.
Besides the galleries, they had a film about the TX Rangers which was very interesting. Originally the Rangers were intended to protect the settlers from Indian raids (the Camanchies
seemed to cause the most trouble, but hey wouldn't you cause trouble if someone was taking your land), and eventually from cattle rustlers. Early on they really were at a disadvantage when fighting the Indians. The rangers had to provide their own horses, weapons, and ammunition and the early firearms only shot one round before they needed reloading. So the Indians would draw the Rangers fire and then attack them while they were reloading. The Indians could shoot 10 arrows to the Rangers one round…….! It's a wonder the Ranger lasted long enough to even the odds. In response, the Rangers modified their fighting techniques, first one group would fire while another reloaded and so on, then they began fighting more like Indians, they would essentially use guerrilla warfare techniques. Soon repeating revolvers became available, and really changed the balance of power.
Next, during the Mexican war (I think that was 1846 or 1848) the Rangers became scouts and trackers for the regular army and during these fights they gained a fierce reputation as fighters, so much so that the Mexicans had a term for them that when translated was "devil soldiers or devil fighters".
Over time the Rangers role slowly evolved into more law enforcement. They are very respected and extremely good at getting the job done. But there were times when their numbers grew too fast and some questionable characters became Rangers, which lead to all kinds of trouble (criminal behavior). Around the turn of the century they decided to clean up their act, which meant shirts and ties (instead of looking like mountain men), clean shaven and formal training. This didn't eliminate all the bumps in the road but it was an improvement. Most of those bumps could be described as use of inappropriate force……they got the job done at all cost!
Because of their skills they have been called in on all kinds of famous/difficult cases. For instance they were directly instrumental it the capture and death of Bonnie and Clyde Barrow.
I hadn't realized that the Bonnie and Clyde's gang were responsible for 9 police men and 2 civilian deaths. Not too many things anger a lawman more than a cop killer. Several of the Texas Rangers actually came out of retirement to work the case.
Another significant part of the museum was the firearms, which of corse we enjoyed immensely. Some of the early revolvers weighed 5 lbs, these actually were in holsters attached to the horses saddle. I guess the main thing that surprised us about the firearms were how ornate many of them were. The engraving was over the top, many of the grips were made out of ivory and had things (small badges, precious stones, initials …) inlaid into them. Other grips were made out of stag horns, or sterling silver. I guess other than the old west I always though of cop guns as being high quality and functional, not ornate and pretty. Even the holsters were something to behold. Most of the handguns were revolvers or 1911's.
When examining the 1911's we were surprised at how thick the grips were. The stock grips on a 1911 (even the originals) were only half as thick as these ornate grips were. Today
most shooters like something thinner, unless they have HUGE hands.
The Texas Rangers have a mystique about them….they are respected, have a high code of ethics (for many years now), and they get the job done. Therefore, we were impressed that the museum presented their entire history, not just the positive parts.
Please feel free to correct anything that I have wrong or mixed up. I hate history if it's wrong.
Thanks,
And God Bless Texas