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Fighting Fire with Fire: Texas Rangers, Tactical Innovation, and Counterinsurgency Operations in the Mexico City Campaign, 1847-1848


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Not sure where this would go, so I guess Daily Texan.  A good/interesting article on the Texas Rangers participation in the U.S./Mexico war in the mid-1800's

By the fall of 1847 Scott’s occupation challenges had dramatically increased with his inexorable march west and stunning capture of Mexico City. The strained American army of approximately 24,000 men now relied upon an embattled chain of fortified outposts to govern conquered territory, stretching 260 miles from capital to coast. As negotiations failed, Mexican aristocrats along the line of invasion enthusiastically embraced the call for “War without Pity” as the guerrilla resistance transitioned to a wide-spread insurgency. To remedy this untenable scenario, Scott called for the deployment of a specialized counterguerrilla force to compliment his pacification strategy. The general needed cavalry unlike any other, a cadre of irregulars forged in the crucible of frontier combat. For the hard task at hand, he needed Texas Rangers.

This essay explores how federalized Texas Rangers, officially designated the First Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers, supported the U.S. Army in Mexico in 1847 and 1848 by providing critically needed counter-guerilla capacity. It investigates the Texans’ contributions to the American governance program, enabled by their singular mastery of repeating firearms and horsemanship, by pursuing two lines of inquiry: How did they achieve consistent tactical superiority over Mexican mounted forces, and how did their kinetic activities both support and undermine American pacification plans? The answers to these questions will reveal the Texan regiment as a controversial, yet overall beneficial, component of American victory in the decisive campaign of the Mexican-American War.

https://smallwarsjournal.com/2025/05/30/fighting-fire-with-fire-texas-rangers-tactical-innovation-and-counterinsurgency-operations-in-the-mexico-city-campaign-1847-1848/

 

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Quote

By late October, Hays and the entire regiment had arrived at Veracruz. After the advance companies cleared the area, the regiment received an unprecedented upgrade in weaponry from the U.S. Army Ordinance Department. The Texans drew 280 innovative Walker Colt revolvers in two consignments to augment the Paterson models that many of the men already exclusively possessed. The arrival of these larger, durable, and more efficient .44 caliber guns, which had been jointly designed by former Texas Ranger Samuel Walker and manufacturer Samuel Colt after the Monterrey Campaign, reflected one of the first instances of the rapid fielding of new American technology to an active front.

"Los Diablos Tejanos" - The Texas Devils.  Empire of the Summer Moon goes deep into the orchestration, implementation, and efficacy of the Rangers against the Comanches and Apaches that had fought conventional army units to a standstill.  

The above-mentioned Paterson and later Walker pistols, were originally scoffed at by the Army.  The Rangers realized they needed the same capabilities to fight Indians from horseback and be able to travel for extraordinary lengths of distance.  Revolvers gave them this capability and it changed the face of warfare forever.  Comanches were so adept at using their mounted archers they could fire from under the neck of the horse at a full gallop and put dozens of arrows on target to a single musket ball in return, who also had to dismount to fire and reload.  The new Walker pistols also had a faster reload, larger powder capacity, and much longer range.  Combined with Comanche and Apache tactics, it was game over compared to a rider with just a bow and a lance or Mexican soldiers with cap & ball rifles.  The first true "special forces", akin to what the SAS did in N.Africa.  

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Posted
3 hours ago, Parliament said:

Don't mess with Texas.

Aren’t you not even from here? Fuck the Texas Rangers. The US army was handily winning that war with or without that lynching squad. 

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Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Helobious said:

Aren’t you not even from here? Fuck the Texas Rangers. The US army was handily winning that war with or without that lynching squad. 

Agree, fuck them, not the baseball team though

Edited by Zepol87
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I mean… the Rangers have a checkered background and were brave/courageous in fights. No need to hold on to the myths. 

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Posted
16 hours ago, YChang said:

I mean… the Rangers have a checkered background and were brave/courageous in fights. No need to hold on to the myths. 

This.  Both things are true.  And I have family connections/history on both sides (the result of my family being in and around the Texas borderlands for 250+ years).

The Rangers did some heroic shit, and were hellacious fighters.  They could also be racist as shit and do horrible things to mexicans.  One of the many reasons I continue to have great respect for former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is that he was a leading voice in memorializing the Porvenir Massacre, a shameful moment in Texas history.  https://bigbendsentinel.com/2021/08/11/amateur-historian-continues-to-raise-awareness-of-porvenir-massacre/

History is complicated.  Telling the truth pisses people off, because how dare we realize that our "heroes" usually have some serious warts and flaws.  Even evil flaws.

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