The Dark History Of The Texas Rangers

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Fort Smith Texas, October 13th, 1837.

[00:00:04]In the crisp autumn air, the acrid aroma of burnt coffee beans hangs like a morning fog mixed with the pungent, ever-present smell of [music] livestock, manure, and campfire smoke.

[00:00:17]As the regulars of the fort begin their day's work of chores and guard duty, a group of a few dozen grizzled, buckskin-clad [music] men saddle their horses, check their single-shot rifles and pistols, >> [music] >> and make ready to venture outside the relative safety of the fort's walls.

[00:00:35]Leading this contingent of men is Lieutenant A.B. Van Benthuysen and Captain William Eastland.

[00:00:42]They confer briefly over the planned course of incursion into what, at this time, is likely the most dangerous territory on the whole of the North American continent. Both men are [music] relative newcomers to their positions in leadership and though both feel they have been sufficiently respected in their tenures with the Rangers thus far, their positions as commissioned officers grant them little to none of the deference and obedience that would be expected within the ranks of any conventional military.

[00:01:16]That is because this is very much not the conventional military.

[00:01:21]These are the Texas Rangers.

[00:01:25]The Rangers themselves are a newly founded hybrid force of military and law enforcement [music] that has been stood up by the burgeoning Republic of Texas after its secession from Mexico in 1836 following the Texas Revolution.

[00:01:40]The intention of their founding was [music] to recruit a sizable, well-armed, and loosely governed force of highly [music] skilled and requisitely aggressive horseback fighters who could pursue, capture, and kill the hostile tribes and bandits that had been wreaking havoc on Texas settlers.

[00:02:01]At this time in 1837, anyone [music] living in Texas is living on the bleeding edge of the frontier. The violence that has been wrought [music] here in the preceding years is unlike almost anything else that has been seen on the American frontier.

[00:02:16]In the years prior to this, [music] tribes like the Waco, the Karankawa, the Apache, and the Caddo had routinely raided homesteads up and down the river valleys and flatland [music] prairies of central and southern Texas.

[00:02:31]But, it is the Comanche who are the most feared.

[00:02:35]The Comanche were relatively recent arrivals to Texas themselves, having made their way down from the Rockies of Wyoming as part of a perpetually [music] impoverished Shoshone offshoot.

[00:02:47]However, with the advent of horses [music] from the Spanish making their way north on the plains, the trajectory of Comanche history would be forever altered.

[00:02:58]The Comanche were soon known as [music] the most innately gifted horsemen of any tribe on the plains.

[00:03:06]Their newly found elements of speed and mobility have made the Comanche not only a formidable force to anyone who draws their ire, but a veritable war machine.

[00:03:18]The raiding is so all-encompassing in its violence and ferocity [music] that it would effectively stall any sizeable settlement attempts west of Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio until well into the 19th century.

[00:03:33]It is, in fact, the reason that on this day the Rangers now make their way out of the gates of Fort Smith and head into the wilds of the Texas Hill Country.

[00:03:43]They are searching for a raiding party of Comanche who has stolen a large number of horses [music] from the settlements on the Colorado River.

[00:03:51]The Comanche have headed northwest towards the open prairies.

[00:03:55]And the Rangers hope to catch them >> [music] >> before they absconded into the vast empty expanses of the Great Plains.

[00:04:03]After leaving the fort over the succeeding weeks, the Ranger force makes their way up the Colorado [music] River trailing the Comanche party.

[00:04:11]On November 1st, the two officers, Van Benthuysen and Eastland, split their forces [music] in order to follow different trails.

[00:04:20]This reduces Van Benthuysen's force to 18 men.

[00:04:24]This force follows on north until reaching the Brazos River, where they incite a brief [music] skirmish with a party of Cherokee and Kichai, whom they mistake for Comanches. One Kichai is actually killed before the Cherokee are able to make discernible peace signs towards [music] the Texans.

[00:04:43]This causes no small amount of embarrassment >> [music] >> and conciliatory efforts on behalf of the Rangers.

[00:04:51]The Cherokee and Kichai are, in fact, also avowed enemies of the Comanche.

[00:04:57]Having lost far more of their wives, children, and warriors to Comanche raiding than even the most remote and harrowed frontier settlers in Texas.

[00:05:07]Once amends have been made, the Cherokee and Kichai are gracious [music] and pragmatic enough to point the Rangers in the direction of the fleeing Comanche party.

[00:05:18]Despite the loss of one of their own party, their hatred for the Comanche raiders outweighs their disdain [music] for Texan intruders on this particular occasion.

[00:05:29]The Rangers now take to the trail. But, it is another [music] full week of tracking until November 10th at a location Lieutenant Van [music] Benthuysen marks as latitude 33 and 1/2 degrees north on the Trinity River >> [music] >> that the Rangers finally make contact with their intended target. The two parties, Rangers and Comanche, spot each other almost simultaneously.

[00:05:53]The Comanche are unaccustomed to being followed so far into their own territory, [music] and they have stopped posting their normal sentries.

[00:06:02]They now immediately split their forces with some of the younger warriors driving the horse herd off northward, and the more experienced warriors heading back to attack Van Benthuysen's force of Rangers.

[00:06:15]Utilizing tactics [music] that would soon be considered dangerous and outdated with the advent of better weaponry [music] and more combat experience, the Rangers now dismount and prepare to receive the Comanche charge from behind a mound that rises up [music] from the surrounding prairies and woodlands. Lieutenant Van Benthuysen stands on top of the mound to survey the oncoming force and estimates there to be roughly 150 mounted Comanche warriors, perhaps the finest cavalry in the world, all of them capable of unleashing 10 or more arrows a minute, and all of them coming right at the Rangers at full speed.

[00:06:56]This means that the Ranger force of 18 men [music] is outnumbered by roughly eight to one.

[00:07:04]These are obviously not favorable [music] odds, and Van Benthuysen and his men are all too aware of this fact.

[00:07:13]The Rangers now move back from the ridge, deciding to instead receive the Comanche charge from the cover of a small thicket of trees at the base of [music] the ridge. Almost immediately after making it to the timberline, the Comanche are upon them, raining arrows down upon the Ranger position, and >> [music] >> as Van Benthuysen describes, "uttering the most savage yells."

[00:07:38]The Rangers, armed with single-shot rifles and pistols, [music] cannot match the volume of fire nor the maneuverability that the Comanches are now so [music] deftly wielding against them.

[00:07:51]For over 2 hours, the fight rages on with the intermittent [music] attacks nearly overrunning the Texans several times.

[00:08:00]Though most of these men have not long been in Texas, >> [music] >> they all understand what being overrun by the Comanches would mean [music] for each and every one of them.

[00:08:11]The rules of plains warfare, especially in Texas, make no concession for prisoners [music] when it comes to military-aged males.

[00:08:21]Should the Rangers be overrun here, any who are not killed outright will likely be slowly, sadistically tortured [music] to death underneath the looming Texas sun.

[00:08:35]Even in these early iterations of Texas history, every hamlet, homestead, and burgeoning city had been inundated with tales of Comanche victims being burned, skinned, eviscerated, and emasculated, all while still alive.

[00:08:55]Every man amongst the Rangers has heard many such tales, [music] and now it takes all of their willpower not to ruminate on those terrible [music] stories and to concentrate on the Comanche warriors in front of them.

[00:09:10]To add to the already terrifying nature of the battle, most of the fighting takes place with the Comanche warriors and the Rangers >> [music] >> within 15 to 20 feet of each other.

[00:09:21]Throughout the afternoon, the Comanche unleash intermittent charges, attempting to overrun the Rangers' position. Every time they do so, the air is filled with the war cries of the warriors, [music] the yelling of the Ranger commander, the din of gunfire, and >> [music] >> increasingly the screams of the grievously wounded.

[00:09:44]Four Rangers and six horses >> [music] >> are killed in the initial fighting as the Comanche exact a heavy toll [music] on the small force.

[00:09:53]The Comanche, intent on carrying on with the battle, [music] are fighting under the leadership of an unidentified chief, and though the Rangers do not know his name, his bravery and his influence on his warriors is as sure and apparent [music] as any war chief they have ever seen.

[00:10:13]Into the late afternoon, [music] the Rangers do all they can to bring this man down, but to no avail.

[00:10:20]Finally, though, not long before the sun begins to set, a Texian bullet [music] manages to find its target, and the chief tumbles from his mount, dead.

[00:10:31]In Comanche warfare, this is not just a tactical loss, but a spiritual condemnation as [music] well.

[00:10:40]They believe the chief's medicine, or puha, has somehow been compromised, indicating that the metaphysical powers that they rely upon >> [music] >> are no longer working in their favor.

[00:10:53]The Comanche warriors now instantly [music] retreat over a ridge and out of sight, leaving the Rangers under the impression that the battle is finally over.

[00:11:03]But it is not.

[00:11:06]After about [music] 15 minutes, another Comanche charge barrels over the ridge at full speed.

[00:11:12]The Rangers, who have been tending to their wounded and making ready to retreat, again take up their defensive positions within [music] the cluster of trees. A new chief is now leading the Comanche, and this attack, as before, comes head-on at the Rangers as they hunker down and do their best to return fire. [music] Suddenly though, one of the Texans notices a thick layer of smoke rapidly enveloping their small force.

[00:11:42]After a brief frantic look around, >> [music] >> the source of the smoke is discovered.

[00:11:48]The Comanche have lit a giant ring of fire around the wooded area, intent on either smoking out the Rangers >> [music] >> or watching them burn alive.

[00:11:58]Left with these two options, [music] Van Benthuysen now orders his men into a headlong attack on the Comanche.

[00:12:06]They are on foot against a mounted enemy force, >> [music] >> and all of them know that their chances of survival are virtually [music] nonexistent.

[00:12:17]But, they also know they have no better option.

[00:12:22]And so, resolved to their fates, the Rangers charge out of the tree line, kneeling to fire and then reloading on the move as arrows fly all around them, and the fire rages larger and larger, looming ever closer.

[00:12:40]This short but incredibly violent charge lasts roughly 10 minutes and leaves six more Rangers dead.

[00:12:49]The tactic does, however, >> [music] >> drive the Comanches into another retreat. This leaves a brief but sufficient gap in time in which the Rangers manage to collect their wounded and make their escape on foot to the Sabine River.

[00:13:06]A full 58 days after they have ridden out of Fort Smith, Lieutenant Van Benthuysen's Ranger force, now just eight men strong, straggles their way back into Fort Smith.

[00:13:20]They have been lucky to survive, and they all know it.

[00:13:24]It will be several more years and many more lives lost before the Rangers will learn how to effectively fight mounted Comanche forces [music] in open territory.

[00:13:36]Until then, fights like this will happen [music] countless times, often with no Ranger survivors.

[00:13:45]But, the many tales of [music] the decades-long war between the Texas Rangers and the feared, mighty Comanche are for tonight other stories >> [music] >> for other times.

[00:14:02]Fort Colorado, [music] Texas, late March 1837.

[00:14:07]As a full moon illuminates the hill country and prairie lands around them, a small contingent of Texas Rangers while away the cool spring evening in Scots and conversation, card games, and the whine [music] of a fiddle played by Ranger Noah Smithwick.

[00:14:23]The more senior veterans of this ad-hoc frontier force regale their younger comrades with stories of [music] past fights with the fearsome, venerable Comanche.

[00:14:33]The Rangers' very existence and their presence at this fort located in what is now southeast Austin is the product of Texas' [music] ongoing fight against the ruling lords of the southern plains.

[00:14:47]The Comanche have spent [music] the previous century clearing nearly the whole of Texas of any peoples who sought to oppose their claims to these lands.

[00:14:57]It had first been the Apache, then the Spanish, then the Mexicans who had suffered the brunt of Comanche raiding and warfare.

[00:15:07]Innumerable times in just the preceding few years, entire families had been laid waste to, the men killed outright or subjected to vicious torture killings, and the women and children taken prisoner and oftentimes either killed themselves or [music] subjugated to a life of slavery.

[00:15:30]The Comanche, once a downtrodden people relegated to the hinterlands of the northern Rockies, >> [music] >> had risen to prominence with the acquisition of the horse in the 17th century.

[00:15:42]Though many tribes had been the beneficiaries of the diaspora [music] of horses onto the open plains following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, it was the Comanche in particular who had [music] taken to the animal with a seemingly intrinsic, inexplicable ease.

[00:15:58]Their penchant for horsemanship >> [music] >> and their capabilities as a mounting and raiding warfare machine had rapidly become the stuff [music] of gruesome folklore across all of Texas.

[00:16:10]And for generations now, >> [music] >> military forces, including the likes of the Spanish and the Mexican army, had tried and failed to stem the tide of Comanche violence.

[00:16:21]The Texas Rangers had officially been formed in 1823 by Stephen F. Austin, the eventual namesake of the now capital city.

[00:16:31]He hoped that the {quote} "ranging companies" could provide both [music] a territorial patrol and a sort of quick reaction force to respond to raiding in the area.

[00:16:42]In the ensuing 14 years, the Rangers [music] have met with varying degrees of success and faced numerous setbacks and challenges in regards to both manning and arming their forces.

[00:16:56]At this point in 1837, just [music] after the Texas Revolution, the entirety of the Texas frontier comprises the very bleeding edge of westward expansion.

[00:17:07]The pay for a prospective [music] Ranger is low and the likelihood of a grizzly demise at the hands of his enemy is comparatively high.

[00:17:17]They are armed with single-shot rifles and pistols, [music] facing an enemy that is capable of unleashing several arrows a minute from a rapidly oncoming cavalry charge.

[00:17:27][music] Still, though they have at times seen casualty rates as high as 50%, the Rangers have proven thus far to be the only consistently, even marginally, effective [music] force fighting the Comanche.

[00:17:43]For their parts, these men inside Fort Colorado largely count themselves fortunate [music] to have found such a vigorous, violent profession.

[00:17:53]However, on this night, most of them have resigned themselves to a restful, placid evening.

[00:17:59]But, just as some of the men are about to turn in for the night, [music] one of the Rangers on guard duty spots the flickering light of a campfire a few miles west of the Colorado River on a high knoll overlooking a popular crossing spot near today's Lamar Boulevard.

[00:18:16]This, to say the least, is an unusual sighting.

[00:18:21]In such hostile territory, travelers [music] of any kind, be they native, Texan, American, or Mexican, generally avoided illuminating their positions with campfires, as doing so oftentimes invited an ambush from the dreaded Comanche.

[00:18:39]However, as the Ranger studies the spectacle [music] longer, he begins to see shadowy figures dancing back and forth [music] in the flickering light.

[00:18:48]He reports his findings, and many among the men concur that [music] the only party of warriors who would be so bold as to strike a campfire in the middle of Comanche [music] territory would be the Comanche themselves.

[00:19:02]Even from afar, it is clear that this band of warriors is unconcerned with their own safety, believing themselves to be all but untouchable inside the confines of their rightful domain.

[00:19:15]Now, the conversation amongst the Rangers shifts to whether or not an immediate attack should be made.

[00:19:22]The officer [music] in charge, a veteran Ranger by the name of Captain Andrews, confers with some of the other veterans, [music] all of whom argue for advancing upon the Comanche immediately.

[00:19:34]Charged with the safety and well-being of his men, however, Captain Andrews is momentarily reluctant to [music] order his men outside of the walls of the fort considering the risk of a night movement and of a surprise attack on an enemy [music] force of unknown strength.

[00:19:51]His veteran Rangers, however, >> [music] >> offer a simple and straightforward solution to this quandary by insisting that Captain Andrews needs only to ask for volunteers.

[00:20:01]Seeing this as a suitable compromise, Captain Andrews asks for volunteers >> [music] >> and is roundly met with several Rangers ready to depart at once.

[00:20:12]These men [music] double-check their weapons, load themselves with as much lead shot and gunpowder as they can carry, [music] and mount their trusted war horses before riding out of the gates and into the dark of the hill country night.

[00:20:26]Leading the volunteers is [music] Second Lieutenant Wren, another veteran Ranger.

[00:20:31]In total, there are 15 Rangers now making their way through this precarious [music] country under the cover of night.

[00:20:39]Adding to the ominous air [music] of this occasion, storm clouds soon roll in, further darkening the night sky.

[00:20:47]As they near [music] the site of the Comanche camp, Lieutenant Wren, Joe Weeks, and Noah Smithwick >> [music] >> advance ahead of the rest of the Ranger contingent to reconnoiter the area ahead.

[00:21:00]This [music] task, simple enough on its face, becomes an hours-long endeavor that consumes the remainder of the night as the Rangers literally inch [music] forward on their bellies through the brush and tall grass towards the Comanche camp.

[00:21:15]Finally, as the sun begins to crest the eastern [music] horizon, the Rangers find themselves in plain view of the Comanche camp. However, their trajectory has placed them far closer to the Comanche's horse herd [music] than they had initially planned.

[00:21:32]For a few tense moments, the Rangers hold their collective [music] breath as it seems all but certain that the Bermuda of Comanche horses and mules will be [music] spooked by their presence, inevitably alerting their owners.

[00:21:46]But, [music] miraculously, the animals continue grazing, seemingly unfazed by the Rangers' presence.

[00:21:54]Scanning the campsite, the Rangers are astonished to see sleeping Comanche strewn all about the ground, seemingly sleeping off a long night of revelry.

[00:22:04]Now, having remained undetected and [music] having avoided potential calamity with the horse herd, Wren, Weeks, and Smithwick [music] make a much more hastened crawl backwards, rejoining their comrades and reporting their [music] findings.

[00:22:21]Here, they hurriedly lay out their plan for attack.

[00:22:24]The Rangers will divide their [music] forces and sweep down upon the Comanche camp from two directions.

[00:22:31]Second Lieutenant Wren will lead the smaller contingent to the right of the cluster of cedar trees which holds the Comanche camp, while Noah Smithwick [music] will lead the second, but larger contingent, which will attack the Comanche camp head-on. [music] With the morning sun now rapidly on the rise, the Rangers hastened forth [music] to make their attack.

[00:22:52]As the surrounding birds begin to chirp, Smithwick moves his men into position and then notices that [music] in the dimly lit morning hue, Wren has taken his party past the intended target having mistaken [music] which cluster of cedar trees he is to attack.

[00:23:10]With no means to communicate with his commanding officer, >> [music] >> Smithwick knows that the only course of action now is to carry forward with the assault.

[00:23:19]Moments after Smithwick realizes Wren's mistake, the first of the Comanche warriors begins [music] to stir awake only yards away from Smithwick and his men.

[00:23:30]Still in a haze, the warrior sleepily pulls himself [music] into a sitting position and then begins to sing his personal song, a long-standing Comanche tradition as a greeting to the morning sun.

[00:23:43]However, the man's singing has alerted Wren to his mistake, realizing that he is attacking the wrong cluster of cedar trees, and he now leads his contingent hurriedly towards the sound [music] of the singing Comanche.

[00:23:56]The Comanche warrior, now alerted by the sounds of Wren and his Rangers running towards him through the brush, jumps to his feet >> [music] >> and attempts to run back to his cohorts in the camp.

[00:24:08]He sprints forward, crying out to his comrades that an attack is underway.

[00:24:12]However, he has scarcely gone but a few yards when a ball from Ranger Joe Weeks' rifle tears [music] into his back, sending him tumbling to the ground, dead.

[00:24:23]Now, the Comanche are fully alerted and the camp springs [music] to life with warriors attempting to arm themselves while making a retreat to a nearby ravine.

[00:24:33]Wren and Smithwick's forces now make a charge on the Comanche camp from their planned sides, unleashing a volley into the scrambling warriors, hoping to kill any [music] and all that they can.

[00:24:45]Most of the Comanche, however, are able to make their way to the nearby ravine.

[00:24:50]From here, they begin to mount a counterattack of their own, pouring in arrows and bullets amongst the Rangers.

[00:24:58]A vicious battle ensues [music] with the Rangers taking cover and making repeated charges upon the Comanche in the ravine.

[00:25:05]>> [music] >> On one of these charges, a Comanche bullet strikes the young private Philip Martin in the head, killing him [music] instantly.

[00:25:14]The Rangers, incensed at having incurred the loss of [music] a much-liked young man, redouble their efforts to finish off the Comanche in the ravine.

[00:25:22]The fight continues on, but soon the Comanche are able to slip away from the ravine and disappear into the cedar brakes.

[00:25:30]They have left their horse herd >> [music] >> and most of their belongings, most of which are plundered and claimed by the Rangers as spoils of their efforts.

[00:25:40]A thorough post-action [music] examination of the battlefield is also made in an effort to discern the damage inflicted upon the Comanche.

[00:25:48]As far as either Wren or Smithwick can tell, the first Comanche warrior to awaken and be fired upon had surely died where he had fallen.

[00:25:58]In his recollection, >> [music] >> Smithwick recalls specifically that in his charge toward the camp, he had stepped over the body of the fallen warrior lying lifeless on the ground.

[00:26:10]But, after the battle, the warrior's body is nowhere to be found.

[00:26:16]The body of Philip Martin is lashed to his horse, and the party solemnly make their way eastward [music] back down the Colorado River and into the confines of Fort Colorado.

[00:26:28]Here, Philip Martin is laid to rest with honors [music] alongside the body of a private who had been killed months earlier by an [music] accidental rifle discharge.

[00:26:38]The Rangers will go on to refine their techniques and tactics in combating the Comanche.

[00:26:44]And the Comanche, for decades [music] to come, will assert their dominance over the whole of central and northern Texas via vicious warfare and raiding.

[00:26:54]In the annals of the history of the conflict between the Rangers and the Comanche, this conflict, [music] however minor, is indicative of the all-too-common succession of events that would occur countless times across the Texas frontier.

[00:27:09]For their parts, many of the men serving at Fort Colorado will go on to fulfill and even extend their enlistments [music] with the Rangers, continuing on to legendary careers on the violent expanses of the Texas frontier, as well as in the brutal fighting of the Mexican-American War.

[00:27:27]Noah Smithwick would go [music] on to pen an autobiography that is regarded as one of the most comprehensive accounts of early Ranger life left by one of their own.

[00:27:38]It is replete with tales of conflict, camaraderie, violence, and vengeance, and is an invaluable resource for [music] anyone interested in further reading on this fascinating, often overlooked era in history.

[00:27:52]But the many tales of Noah Smithwick, >> [music] >> as well as his fellow Rangers, and the mighty fearsome Comanche warriors with whom they fought, are, for tonight, other stories >> [music] >> for other times.

[00:28:07]Central Texas, 1838.

[00:28:10]As a local farmer known simply as Mr. Neil busies himself with his morning chores, he wearily wipes the sweat from his brow and decides that he must soon take a break from the oncoming heat of the day. But, of course, he reasons to himself, the seemingly endless list of chores to be done around the farm must be done, and they will not complete themselves.

[00:28:33]This internal debate, though, is soon brought to a screeching halt as Neil suddenly detects the faint, but certain rumblings of the most dreaded sound on the Texas frontier, the hoofbeats and war cries of an approaching Comanche raiding party.

[00:28:50]In an instant, Mr. Neal begins to run, fleeing for the relative safety of his cabin a few hundred yards away.

[00:28:58]But, it is already too late. In what seems like mere seconds, the Comanche party, painted black and wielding 14-ft lances, are swarming all around him, jeering and mocking the elderly man's final efforts to run to his home.

[00:29:15]After thoroughly degrading and terrifying Mr. Neal, he is finally cut down. Though his death is neither swift nor painless.

[00:29:25]Meanwhile, unaware of these tragic events back home, Neal's son, Clayborn Neal, a young man in his early 20s, accompanies a small group of Texas Rangers on a mission to resupply a nearby fort which has run out of ammunition, food, and potable water.

[00:29:44]The young man and another local volunteer named John Hughes drive a two-horse wagon while the three Rangers, Jesse Bailey, David Farmer, and Aaron Cullens ride alongside them, scanning the countryside for signs of danger.

[00:30:00]To the young volunteers in Neal and Hughes, this is an opportunity to be relished. Even in these early iterations of Texas history, the Texas Rangers are held in awe by young men throughout the frontier settlements.

[00:30:14]To many a young farm boy, they are heroic figures, the sole military force capable of pushing back against the torrent of violent raiding the Comanches have wrought upon the surrounding areas for months now.

[00:30:28]Of course, the truth of the matter is, though the Rangers are indeed brave, capable men, they are also composed of men who are not the genteel, gallant figures portrayed in local folklore, but mean-eyed, cold-blooded killers.

[00:30:45]While many Rangers will rightfully be remembered as gentlemen amongst their contemporary company in the confines of larger cities, on the Texas frontier, there is little room for either fear or empathy.

[00:30:58]Their nature of warfare was increasingly less and less informed by Western concepts of traditional warfare and influenced more by the most successful military force in Texas, the Comanche.

[00:31:12]Winning in combat on the Texas frontier requires a willingness to not only outmaneuver and outshoot an enemy force, but to outbrutalize them.

[00:31:22]This means tracking the Comanche deep into their territories in the hill country and onto the wide-open plains and often killing and capturing combatants and non-combatants alike, including men, women, and children.

[00:31:38]Those without the willingness and ability to engage in this kind of combat either soon retire or are soon dead.

[00:31:46]Still, the life of adventure and daring that the Rangers seem to promise is all too alluring to the young farm boys. And now, as they rattle along in the wagon, leaving shallow, parallel tracks in the grass, they consider themselves to be uncommonly lucky.

[00:32:04]However, that illusion is soon shattered. As they approach a section of post oak trees, the countryside around them seems to suddenly explode in a cyclone of violence. Arrows seem to fill the air from all angles and the din of the deafening Comanche war cry seems to drown out any other sound.

[00:32:25]Quickly, the Rangers shoulder their weapons and fire, emptying their single-shot rifles into the Comanche forces barely visible amidst the trees.

[00:32:35]Though he does not know it, Clayborn Neal is now caught in a life and death fight against the same men who have brutally killed his father only hours earlier.

[00:32:46]Tragically, the young man will soon join his father in death, cut down in the very same manner.

[00:32:53]The exact details of the brutal fight that unfolds next are lost to history.

[00:32:59]But every man amongst the Texans party is killed within the next few minutes.

[00:33:04]It is believed that Neal and Hughes, the volunteers driving the wagon, are amongst the first killed in order to bring the wagon to a stop.

[00:33:14]As the attack unfolds, the three Rangers, Jesse Bailey, David Farmer, and Aaron Collins, see no hope of mounting a defense from the open area around the wagon, and thus all three make a dash for the cross timber, attempting to take cover and fortify any kind of defensive position.

[00:33:33]All three Rangers, though every one of them experienced as frontier fighters, fall to the projectiles of the Comanche.

[00:33:41]Their single-shot rifles and pistols being no match for the sheer volume of enemy fire they are met with.

[00:33:48]Within minutes of when it began, the ambush is over. And every one of the five Texans now lies still in death.

[00:33:57]Their supplies, ammunition, weapons, and animals are all taken by the Comanche, who now take their newly gotten bounty and abscond to the northwest, in the direction of the open plains.

[00:34:09]As they had trained to do since they were children, the warriors ride hard for hours, taking no breaks for food or water, intending to put as much distance as possible between themselves and any pursuing party of Texans who will inevitably happen upon the scene of the ambush and attempt to track them down.

[00:34:28]Rigor mortis By the time Rigor mortis has fully set in on the bodies of Neil, Hughes, and the fallen rangers. The Comanche are many miles away, carefree and clear of retribution, and rejoicing in their success.

[00:34:42]Meanwhile, back at Fort Smith, Captain Daniel Monroe waits pensively for the return of the Texans whom he is relying upon to supply his men and himself out here on the edge of the Texas frontier.

[00:34:56]The party is by now long overdue. And while this can be attributed to all manner of understandable delays, from a broken wagon wheel to a flooded stream, by the next day, Monroe suspects that the reason is likely far more ominous.

[00:35:13]He now decides to send out a scouting party in search of his missing men. The small group soon rides out of the confines of the fort and into the wilderness. They are gone but a scant few hours before they are spotted by the fort's sentries riding hurriedly back towards Fort Smith.

[00:35:31]Once back within the confines and relative safety of the fort, the men report to Captain Monroe that they have indeed located the missing party and that every man among them is dead.

[00:35:42]Horrified, but not surprised, Monroe listens as his men describe the macabre scene they have stumbled upon only a few miles from the fort.

[00:35:52]They report that two of the men were found in the wagon, while the remaining three were found scattered about the area between the wagon and the nearby timberline.

[00:36:02]Judging from the number of wounds incurred by each man, it is surmised that the fight was a bloody, hard-fought affair in which each man had sold his life as dearly as possible.

[00:36:14]Though it is not specified in the official account, it is relatively safe to assume that the dead were scalped and mutilated, as this was de rigueur in Comanche warfare and raiding.

[00:36:25]Taking stock of his present situation with his supplies still dwindling, no resupply on the way, and hostile raiding parties in the area, he decides that he must now abandon Fort Smith and move the soldiers, volunteers, and their families to the nearby Fort Fisher.

[00:36:45]Arriving at the gates of Fort Fisher, the dejected Monroe meets with Major William Smith, the commander of the fort.

[00:36:52]He reports the dire nature of his situation and is welcome. Though his frustration with his plight is palpable to all within the walls of Fort Fisher.

[00:37:02]In the weeks prior to the resupply party being cut down, he has been incessantly tormented with Comanche horse raiding.

[00:37:10]With his horse herd now grievously depleted and with the loss of five reliable men, he is notably deflated in his reports to his superiors which detail the events of the prior few days.

[00:37:22]In his report to one Senator Sterling Robinson, he writes, quote, "All the news I have for you is of the worst sort. I was ordered to this place and was two days coming and have seen no sign going up the country sufficient for the numbers of Indians that was down.

[00:37:38]Without more assistance, we are nothing but a drug to the government and no assistance to the people. It is useless to write anymore for you know our situations.

[00:37:48]End quote.

[00:37:49]Even as Monroe pens these words on May 15th, other Comanche attacks are now wreaking havoc all through the state.

[00:37:57]In another letter addressed to Robinson from one James Dunn, also written on May 15th, Dunn describes the attacks that have continued since the elderly Neil has been found near his farm on May 5th.

[00:38:10]On the 9th, a Mr. Webb had been attacked while working in his fields, narrowly escaping with his life.

[00:38:17]Dunn goes on to write that, quote, "The residents of this area are waiting hourly for an attack. End quote.

[00:38:24]He then goes on to implore the senator that government must not hesitate to assist us in our distress. But, much to the frustration of men like Don and Colonel Moore, the beleaguered, thinly stretched, and cash-strapped government of Texas will be unable to effectuate any meaningful resistance to Comanche raiding for years yet to come. This problem though, however dangerous, will not deter the countless European and American settlers who flooded to Central Texas in the years to come.

[00:38:56]Many have little to no chance of securing land for themselves in their respective homelands, and thus see the open expanses of Texas as an opportunity for land, riches, and autonomy that would be unattainable anywhere else.

[00:39:12]While many of these neophytes to life in Texas are well aware that the land does in fact belong to the Comanche, many are either unaware or dismissive of the Comanche's resolve to retain their lands and to drive out any and all intruders.

[00:39:28]Many times throughout the history of Texas, this dangerous mix of ambition, ignorance, and sheer hubris on the parts of new settlers would result in their own demise.

[00:39:40]For decades to come, well into the 1870s, Texas newspapers will be replete with reports of local raids and killings. Their writers seemingly as exasperated as any local military officer with the confounding and terrifying problem of stopping Comanche raiding.

[00:39:59]For the Comanche's part, the coming decades will bring on their own eventual fall from their position as rulers of the Southern Plains, and see them relegated to the reservation system in Oklahoma.

[00:40:11]Already, in these latter years of the 1830s, the Comanche have seen their small tribe decimated under plagues of cholera and smallpox.

[00:40:22]Even with their vaunted status during this time as the most feared martial entity in the whole of Texas, their reign as the apex power in this region is peaking or, according to some experts, already beginning to wane.

[00:40:38]However, in the scope of old Texas history, the battle between the irascible Texas Rangers and the mighty Comanche nation has only just begun.

[00:40:49]But, the countless tales of bloodshed, bravery, and brutality from that decades-long conflict are, for tonight, other stories for other times.

[00:41:05]Austin, Texas, [music] January 1836.

[00:41:09]Roughly 10 mi east of the burgeoning city, near a stretch of cedar and open prairie on the Colorado River known as Hornsby's Bend, a group of Texas Rangers pull their horses to a stop as the sun begins to set.

[00:41:24]They are hungry, cold, and tired after a long day of patrolling the surrounding areas for the dreaded Comanche raiding parties that hold virtually all of Central Texas in terror.

[00:41:36]The days prior have been stormy, rainy, and frigid. All among them are looking for a good meal and a good night's rest.

[00:41:45]But, just as the men are settling into their camp, they hear a faint cry in the distance. Every man among them strains their eyes to the east, searching for any sign of movement in the fading twilight.

[00:41:59]Then, suddenly, a young woman, her tattered clothes barely hanging on to her bruised and battered body and weeping in distress, crawls over the banks of the river only yards away from the camp. She is so distraught, stricken with equal parts grief, terror, and relief that she cannot speak. She merely crawls towards the rangers as the rangers rush out to meet her and carry her back to camp.

[00:42:27]For several minutes, the young woman sobs uncontrollably, unable to give the rangers even her name.

[00:42:34]Finally, after several long minutes, she manages, in between long, panicked breaths, to tell the rangers who she is and how she came to be here.

[00:42:46]Her name is Mrs. Hibbons. A few days prior, she had been traveling with her husband, her brother, and her two small children up the Guadalupe River, some 40 miles away, to their homestead near Gonzales.

[00:43:00]They had been not far from their destination when they were attacked by a roving band of Comanche warriors.

[00:43:07]Her husband and brother had been killed, and herself and her two young children had been taken captive.

[00:43:14]This was the norm for Comanche raiding, as any fighting age male would either be killed outright or tortured to death as punishment for their incursion on Comanche lands.

[00:43:26]The women and children would often be taken prisoner.

[00:43:30]The Comanche, a relatively small tribe in numbers, were particularly receptive to the adoption of new members into their tribe, be they from other tribes or of Texan or Mexican origin.

[00:43:43]This, however, did not mean that captives were treated kindly or even humanely. Assaults of all kinds were regular and expected amongst female captives. Adult women were often forced into servitude, acting as equal parts laborer and concubine to their captor and his family. They could eventually be adopted into the tribe and even marry and raise families of their own.

[00:44:10]Though their initiations into tribal society often came at the end of lengthy periods of subjugation and abuse.

[00:44:19]Children, in large part, would be adopted into Comanche families, often seen as recompense or replacement for sons and daughters lost to warfare and disease.

[00:44:30]After the initial torturous ordeal of their capture and subsequent days of hard riding, where they would be subject to severe thirst, hunger, and sunburn, the child would eventually be accepted as a full-fledged member of the tribe, eligible for the highest status as a warrior or a wife.

[00:44:50]Mrs. Hibbins was undoubtedly aware of these practices, as tales of Comanche captives had flooded the area in recent months, alongside the dispatches reporting on the movements and engagements of Santa Anna's army. She had been unable to quiet her youngest, only an infant, and after several hours of travel, an annoyed Comanche warrior had simply snatched the child from her arms and summarily executed him right in front of her.

[00:45:20]Seeing no other means of saving her other child, she had left him in camp as she slipped away into the night and attempted to make her way to Austin in search of help.

[00:45:31]She had scrambled through the prairies under the cover of night until she had reached the Colorado River, then made her way west towards Austin, knowing all the while that should she be recaptured, she would surely be killed.

[00:45:46]Now, despite her overwhelming grief, the young mother conveys her sole concern, the safety and recovery of her only remaining child.

[00:45:57]She describes in granular detail her child's physical appearance, the mule that he is riding, and the last known location of the Comanche camp in a cedar break not far from Austin.

[00:46:11]While a few of the younger Rangers remain in camp in order to care for the emotionally and physically drained Mrs. Hibbins, the remainder now hurriedly resaddle their horses and take to the trail in search of the Comanche camp.

[00:46:26]After traveling along the Colorado River to find a suitable crossing spot, the Rangers wait until first light and then hastily make their way across the river and into the cedar-strewn hills outside of Austin.

[00:46:40]Among this pursuing party of Rangers is a young Texan named Noah Smithwick.

[00:46:46]Though still in his early 20s, he has garnered considerable respect and esteem already for his deeds in battle against the Comanche.

[00:46:56]Even his early time with the Rangers has provided him with a thorough, invaluable understanding of Comanche tactics and strategies, and he believes that the Comanche will likely still be in the area and that a rescue of Mrs. Hibbins' young son may indeed be possible.

[00:47:13]The following is an excerpt from his personal account of the events that occur next as the Rangers make their pursuit of the raiding party.

[00:47:22]Quote, "As soon as it was light enough, our scouts were out and soon found the trail, fresh and well defined as if the marauders were exercising neither haste nor caution in their retreat, having no doubt spent a good portion of the previous day in a fruitless search for their escaped prisoner.

[00:47:41]They did not seem to be at all alarmed as to the consequences of her escape, and it was about 10:00 in the morning when we came upon them just as they were preparing to break camp.

[00:47:52]Taken completely by surprise, they broke for the shelter of a cedar break, leaving everything except the weapons that they hastily snatched as they started. I was riding a fleet horse, which, becoming excited, carried me right in among the fleeing savages, one of whom jumped behind a tree and fired on me with a musket, fortunately missing his aim.

[00:48:13]Unable to control my horse, I jumped off him and gave chase to my assailant on foot, knowing his gun was empty.

[00:48:21]I fired on him and had the satisfaction of seeing him fall.

[00:48:26]My blood was up, and leaving him for dead, I ran on, loading my rifle as I ran, hoping to bring down another.

[00:48:34]As Smithwick charges forward, his hat is knocked off of his head by a low-hanging branch.

[00:48:41]With the fight now raging in the confines of the cedar break, a fellow Ranger mistakes Smithwick, with his dark hair and bare head, for a Comanche warrior.

[00:48:52]Within milliseconds, the Ranger has Smithwick's form fully within the iron sights of his rifle.

[00:48:58]A disastrous friendly fire incident is only avoided at the last moment when another Ranger recognizes Smithwick and physically pushes the barrel of the Ranger who is about to unwittingly shoot him into the dirt.

[00:49:13]Meanwhile, the warrior whom Smithwick has shot and presumed dead is, in fact, very much still alive and very much still dangerous.

[00:49:25]As Ranger Captain John Tomlin fires on the scattering Comanche force from atop his horse, the wounded Comanche warrior manages to load a final shot into his rifle and fire upon him.

[00:49:38]The shot narrowly misses Tomlin, instead striking and killing his horse.

[00:49:44]As the Ranger Captain struggles to free himself from underneath the body of his freshly killed mount, another Ranger named Conrad Rohrer manages to wrench the weapon from the warrior's hands and kill the wounded man with several vicious blows to the head.

[00:50:00]At the same time, across the campsite, the Comanche have managed to hurriedly wrap the Hibbens boy in a large buffalo robe and set him atop a different mule from the one he had been riding.

[00:50:12]Now, as the din and chaos of the battle reigns all around, the mule with the captive boy on its back makes a mad dash to follow along with the remainder of the fleeing Comanche.

[00:50:25]Conrad Rohrer and another ranger, their blood hot from the fight, now break off in pursuit of the retreating party.

[00:50:33]At the rear of this party rides the young, terrified Hibbens.

[00:50:39]In a sickening few moments, the rangers, guns drawn, ride up behind Hibbens, whom they presume to be a fleeing Comanche.

[00:50:49]Eager to dispatch any Comanche that they can, Rohrer aims squarely at the back of the Hibbens boy and pulls the trigger.

[00:50:58]The gun misfires.

[00:51:00]With their mounts still galloping their way through the thick cedar and maneuvering across the rocky ground, Rohrer attempts to clear the jam in his weapon and then again aims squarely at the buffalo-robed draped youngster and again pulls the trigger.

[00:51:18]Again, the weapon misfires.

[00:51:21]For a second time, Rohrer attempts to fix his malfunctioning weapon from the saddle before taking aim again.

[00:51:29]But, just before he is able to fire, his comrade notices that the rider of the mule is, in fact, the Hibbens boy.

[00:51:38]Seeing this, he pulls Rohrer's arm just as the man is squeezing the trigger on his third shot.

[00:51:45]This time, the weapon does not misfire as a resounding crack deafens the Rangers and gun smoke fills the air.

[00:51:54]However, the shot misses as the bullet sails over the head of the Hibbens boy.

[00:52:00]In Smithwick's own words, {quote} Providence seemed to have interposed to save him.

[00:52:07]The Rangers pull the mule to a halt and despite having skirted disaster, their mission is complete.

[00:52:16]The remaining Comanche are left to recede into the west of the hill country as the Rangers convene to take stock of the damage done and concur on their next course of action.

[00:52:28]It is quickly decided that they will make the 10-mile trek to Austin in order to return the likely traumatized child to his much aggrieved mother.

[00:52:38]But first, there is the grizzly business of harvesting what the Rangers hold as their rightful war trophies.

[00:52:47]In the expanses of the Texas frontier, even in these early iterations of their existence, the Rangers have learned quickly to adapt and adopt many of the same tactics, strategies, and customs of their avowed enemies.

[00:53:04]In the Comanche culture, it is held that a warrior is rightly entitled to the scalp of any foe that he has slain.

[00:53:12]In a culture dependent on hunting, raiding, and warfare, these trophies were not merely symbols of spite or superiority, but social currency.

[00:53:23]A testament to a warrior's deeds in a land where martial prowess was largely the only thing that mattered.

[00:53:31]In a twist of irony that is all too common in the history of warfare, the culture of the Rangers, molded by the same environment, as well as their own experiences and personal animus was shaped much by the very same sentiments.

[00:53:47]Thus, by 1836, the taking of scalps has become commonplace amongst their ranks.

[00:53:54]Noah Smithwick, having shot and killed one of the warriors himself, is pressed upon by the others to take his rightful trophy.

[00:54:03]His account of the interaction follows, "Quote, the boys held an inquest upon the dead Comanche and deciding that the gunshot would have proven fatal, awarded me the scalp. I modestly waived my claim in favor of Conrad Rohrer, but he, generous soul, declared that according to all rules of the chase, the man who brought down the game was entitled to the pelt and himself scalped the warrior, tying the loathsome trophy to my saddle where I permitted it to remain.

[00:54:36]Thinking it might afford the poor woman whose family its owner had helped to murder some satisfaction to see the gory evidence that one of the wretches had paid the penalty for his crime.

[00:54:49]Now, with the Hibbens youngster safely in their custody and their bloodied, fleshy trophies swinging from their saddles, the Rangers make their way south from Walnut Creek to the city of Austin.

[00:55:02]Smithwick gives his account of the touching scene that follows as the Rangers ride back into the city and return the lost child to his mother.

[00:55:12]Quote, "Late in the afternoon we rode into the station in triumph. There was a suspicious moisture in many an eye, long since a stranger to tears, when the overjoyed mother clasped her only remaining treasure to her heart.

[00:55:26]And I could not help but steal a glance at Rohrer and try to imagine what his feeling would have been had not his guns refused to obey his murderous behests.

[00:55:37]At first, the child is too overwhelmed with grief and exhaustion to even recognize his own mother.

[00:55:44]But soon, the child is calmed and realizes his new-found safety.

[00:55:50]This pair, now having lost everyone in their family but each other, console one another with their mere presence as words seem incapable of expressing the simultaneous gravity, sorrow, and gratitude of the moment.

[00:56:06]However horrific, this scene is not at all rare on the Texas frontier.

[00:56:12]Even in this year of 1836, in the midst of the Texas Revolution and only months before the events of the Battle of the Alamo, the greatest threat to most settlers in Texas is not General Santa Anna and the Mexican Army, but the mighty, often seemingly unconquerable Comanche.

[00:56:31]Though the Rangers have succeeded in retrieving the young hostage and in rescuing his mother, instances of such victories have proven exceedingly rare in previous years.

[00:56:43]As a perpetually undermanned and underfunded fighting force armed with single-shot rifles and pistols and relegated largely to learning frontier fighting tactics on the fly, the Rangers have paid and will continue to pay a heavy price in lives and casualties.

[00:57:01]Nearly every lesson learned by the young Ranger force is one paid for in blood.

[00:57:08]Conversely, while they are indeed snugly situated in their seat as the lords of the Southern Plains, the Comanche are experiencing monumental losses of their own.

[00:57:19]During the 1830s, large swaths of the tribe are decimated by smallpox. The Comanche, unable to deduce the source of the dreaded disease, would see thousands of their already relatively small tribe perish to the epidemic.

[00:57:37]The shifting geopolitical forces in Texas would prove another blow to the Comanche at this most inopportune time as the policies of later Texas governors like Mirabeau Lamar would call not only for a more offensive approach to dealing with the Comanche and other native tribes, but their outright extermination.

[00:57:58]The Texas Revolution would conclude on April 21st of 1836 and while the bloodshed between Texas and Mexico would cease, the fighting between the Rangers and the Comanche would now only intensify.

[00:58:13]As their numbers continued to dwindle, the Comanche's resolve to hold on to their expansive territories will only be further steeled.

[00:58:22]The Texas Rangers will continue to fight not only against Comanche raiders and hill country bandits, but against the Texas government itself as pleas from Ranger officers for greater supplies of men, ammunition, and weapons would often go unheeded by the cash-strapped administrations.

[00:58:42]They will be disbanded and subsequently reconvened numerous times in the coming decade as Texas morphs from Republic to official US statehood.

[00:58:53]In the 1840s, however, with the advent of New Jersey gunsmith Samuel Colt's new five and then six-shot revolvers, the nature of warfare in Texas would be changed forever.

[00:59:07]It would be veteran Ranger Samuel Walker who would take it upon himself to travel to New York to meet with Colt in New York City. Here, the two men would discuss changes that could be made to the initial design to better suit it for use by the Rangers.

[00:59:23]Though Walker would perish only months later during his service in the Mexican American War, the firearm he helped design would go on to change the very nature of the way his comrades conducted their very violent business.

[00:59:37]For his part, Smithwick would continue his service with the Rangers into the 1840s. He would marry Thurza M. Blakey in 1839 before moving to what is today Webberville, Texas.

[00:59:50]In the 1860s, after receiving notable opposition for his pro-unionist views, Smithwick would move himself and his family to Kern County, California.

[01:00:01]Though his wife would pass away in 1871, Smithwick would live to age 91, passing away in Santa Anna, California in the year 1899.

[01:00:12]But, the many stories from the life of Noah Smithwick, as well as the countless tales of Comanche bravery and brutality, and the innumerable tales of rescue and revenge on the Texas frontier, are for tonight other stories for other times.

[01:00:34]South Texas, August 1844.

[01:00:37]As the confines of Nueces Canyon tower around them, a group of four Texas Rangers cautiously make their way down the Nueces River.

[01:00:46]Sent on a special mission on the order of Ranger Captain Jack Hayes, their mission is to investigate the site of a recent battle, one that had taken place only four days prior amidst these undulating limestone-strewn hills. They are to survey the battle site for any remaining dead, and to investigate the surrounding area for any sign of their avowed enemy, the feared and mighty Comanche.

[01:01:13]As the blazing Texas sun begins to reach its noontime apex, the Rangers decide to rest for lunch. They select a spot on a small creek running off the larger Nueces.

[01:01:25]Believing their position to be secure, they appoint Rufus Perry to act as sentry and then leisurely set about taking their midday break.

[01:01:35]They lay out their bedrolls and stake their horses out to graze before tucking into a cold meal of beef jerky and hardtack. Two of the Rangers, James Dunn and John Curlin, indulge in a swim in the cool waters of the creek as their horses water themselves. Meanwhile, Ranger Kit Acklin remains in camp enjoying his meal as Rufus Perry wearily stands watch over the camp. Perry is an experienced Ranger, but even under his watchful eye, a group of Comanche have remained hidden in the brush only a few dozen yards away, completely unseen by the Rangers. The Comanche now manage to move into position to attack the camp and then, in a whirlwind of war whoops and arrows, they strike the camp in a vicious ambush. Rufus Perry is the first to fall, struck by two arrows in the torso and one in the face.

[01:02:29]Kit Acklin manages to jump to his feet, but is hit moments later by a number of bullets in the torso and then an arrow strikes him in the mouth.

[01:02:40]The arrow knocks out several of the young Ranger's teeth and practically emulsifies the inside of his mouth.

[01:02:46]But, despite these horrific wounds, he does not fall to the ground.

[01:02:52]Instead, Acklin pulls his revolver and manages to dispatch a Comanche warrior with a shot to the head.

[01:02:59]For a fleeting moment, the Comanche assault pauses as their fallen comrade causes many of the warriors to reconsider.

[01:03:07]However, seeing the condition of the wounded Rangers, the Comanche soon redouble their efforts and another charge is made upon the Rangers' position.

[01:03:17]Acklin again pours a torrent of fire from his revolvers into the attacking force, again falling several Comanche.

[01:03:25]At the same time, Rufus Perry, despite his grievous wounds, manages to roll onto his side and from this position, he too pours fire into the oncoming Comanche.

[01:03:38]With several more dead and dying warriors now lying prostrate upon the rock-strewn ground, the Comanche charge is again momentarily repulsed.

[01:03:48]Acklin, himself losing a considerable amount of blood from his own wounds, now rushes to the downed Perry.

[01:03:56]Perry's wounds are so severe that he is unable to rise and walk under his own power.

[01:04:02]So, the sizeable Acklin heaves Perry onto his shoulders and makes a mad dash for the top of the riverbank, where, for reasons inexplicable to Acklin, the remaining two members of their Ranger party, in Dunn and Carlin, have simply watched the fight unfold thus far.

[01:04:21]Both Rangers are experienced in frontier combat, veterans of countless encounters with the Comanche. The question of why they did not come to their comrades' aid reverberates loudly in the mind of Acklin, and though he knows another Comanche attack is imminent and that now is likely not the most prudent time to address the subject, he makes his displeasure known to Dunn and Carlin.

[01:04:46]Dunn and Carlin, for their parts, insist that charging headlong into the fight would have amounted to not only a poor tactical decision, but sheer foolhardiness on their part.

[01:04:58]Quoting author and former Ranger Andrew Soles' later account of the battle in Early Settlers and Indian Fighters in Southwest Texas, quote, "Their plea was that it was useless to make an attempt from their position on the river and that they knew they would be cut off before reaching their companions. They had stripped off their clothing and were in the water when they heard the fight commence at the camp, and at once came out and mounted their horses without clothing, ready for the fight in case the Indians were too strong and plundering the camp.

[01:05:30]But, after each man has briefly stated his case, all concur that this is no time for further arguments as the Comanches swarm the hills around them.

[01:05:41]It is decided that they must cross the river in hopes of putting the Nueces between themselves and the Comanche.

[01:05:48]With Rufus Perry bleeding profusely, he is carefully laid across the back of one of the horses and then gingerly led across the river by Dunn and Carlin, leaving a trail of blood and gore behind them as they move through the water.

[01:06:03]Acklin, now without his horse, then crosses to meet his cohorts, himself leaving a trail of blood as he doggedly swims from one shore to the other.

[01:06:15]Once across the river, they now confer amongst themselves as to their next move.

[01:06:20]Perry, unable to load his revolver, asks Dunn to load the weapon for him.

[01:06:26]Dunn takes the pistol, but before reloading it, decides to scramble to the top of a nearby tree in order to gain a better vantage point of the Comanche.

[01:06:36]To his horror, he sees a Comanche force several hundred warriors strong, far larger than the Rangers had initially anticipated.

[01:06:45]He hurriedly descends from the treetop and breathlessly informs his companions of the size and movements of the oncoming Comanche.

[01:06:54]He exclaims that, quote, "The valley is full of Indians and a large band of them is coming this way."

[01:07:00]Seeing no possibility of their tiny, wounded force being able to hold off an an of this size and scope, it is decided that Dunn and Carlin, the only two Rangers who are uninjured and still with their horses, will make the lengthy, treacherous journey to San Antonio in order to procure reinforcements.

[01:07:21]The painfully obvious fact amongst the Rangers is that Acklin and Perry, too grievously wounded to make an attempt at retreat, are already effectively dead.

[01:07:32]Again, quoting from A.J. Sollin, Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas, "We will not judge the actions of these two Rangers too harshly. They said it was useless for them all to get killed. They looked upon Acklin and Perry as already dead, badly wounded and no horses to escape on, and it seemed that there was no chance for the two wounded Rangers left alone on the banks of the clear, beautiful river with a horde of yelling savages on their trail." End quote.

[01:08:03]Now, left alone and without any hope of escape, Acklin and Perry's minds raced to the sickening memories of accounts of those Rangers unfortunate enough to be taken alive by the Comanche out here on the bleeding edges of Texas.

[01:08:19]Even in these early years of Texas, accounts abounded amongst Rangers and civilians alike of those who had suffered the endless tortures and depredations wrought by the Comanche upon their captives.

[01:08:32]Many young Rangers had perished after hours of being roasted alive under hot coals whilst staked out on the dry Texas plains.

[01:08:42]Many were found mutilated with their arms, legs, ears, noses, and scalps cut off, often eviscerated and emasculated.

[01:08:53]It could not be known, but was widely assumed that many of these mutilations were carried out on the victim while the unfortunate person was still alive. Now, seemingly left to this inevitable fate, Acklin and Perry are left with the simple, unavoidable question, will they allow themselves to be overrun and taken alive by the Comanche?

[01:09:17]Or, will they fight until the bitter end?

[01:09:21]Despite their dire circumstances, Acklin and Perry resolve that they will either save themselves or die fighting.

[01:09:30]However, the pair are now without any weaponry, save for their large Bowie knives, a mainstay tool for nearly all Texas Rangers at this time.

[01:09:40]To compound this problem, for all their resolve, Perry, his eyes now kicked shut with dried blood, is practically blind.

[01:09:49]Acklin, seeing he is now the only relatively able-bodied one between them, decides that he will again shoulder his comrade and move their position up the riverbank to one that might be more easily defended.

[01:10:03]But, just as Acklin is agonizingly positioning Perry across his shoulders and beginning to slowly rise to his feet, the shrill, piercing cry of the Comanche warriors once again fills the air.

[01:10:18]Though they are still across the river, the Comanche have now spotted the blood trails left by Perry and Acklin as they made their way to the water.

[01:10:27]Now, as if tracking a pair of wounded animals, the warriors begin to follow the blood trails and quickly surmise that the Rangers have crossed the river.

[01:10:37]Acklin, his mouth now nearly swollen shut from his own injuries, tells Perry, in words barely audible due to his wounds, that he will attempt to hide him and then attempt to hide himself in hopes of evading the oncoming Comanche.

[01:10:54]As the Comanche begin to cross the river themselves, and precious seconds tick away. Acklin finally manages to strain his way to a standing position under the weight of Perry's nearly lifeless body.

[01:11:07]Then, taking as much care as possible to conceal their trail, Acklin makes his way upstream.

[01:11:14]For several minutes, he trudges on.

[01:11:17]Though both of the wounded Rangers' wounds have stopped bleeding, their compromised state makes any sort of progress seem virtually impossible.

[01:11:26]But, just as Acklin is ready to crumble to the ground, he spots a large plot of driftwood at the river's edge, covering roughly an acre in which fallen trees have been swept to this spot through various floods.

[01:11:41]With the Comanche now having crossed the river and rapidly closing the distance between themselves and the Rangers, Acklin gingerly sets his wounded comrade down before hurriedly crawling into the maze of driftwood, and then pulling Perry in after him.

[01:11:58]As Acklin continues this harrowing process of crawling and pulling his wounded comrade along, they both hear the Comanche approaching.

[01:12:08]Finally, Acklin comes to a halt.

[01:12:11]In whispered tones, they agree that it is best that they split up, agreeing that if one of them is left undiscovered and able to physically recover, that man will make a run for San Antonio.

[01:12:25]Both men sense this may very well be the last time that they see each other alive, and with heavy hearts and few words spoken, they firmly shake hands before Acklin crawls away, hoping to put as much distance between himself and Perry as possible in order to decrease the likelihood of them both being discovered. Acklin makes his way upstream as Perry hunkers down where he is, unable to do more than listen as the war cries of the Comanche fade. For a few ominous minutes, it seems to Perry that they have fallen into silence and perhaps abandoned their pursuit.

[01:13:08]Then he hears the whispers.

[01:13:11]Weary of the Rangers firepower, the Comanche now attempt to approach their quarry as stealthily as possible, believing them to be cornered somewhere in this driftwood thicket. Still unable to see through the dried blood that cakes his eyes shut, Perry can only listen as the muffled voices and plotting footsteps draw nearer and nearer to him.

[01:13:35]To his horror, the Comanche walk directly over his position.

[01:13:40]Each warrior skulking by at a rate that seems to Perry to be intentionally torturous.

[01:13:47]Still, he remains silent and miraculously is left undiscovered as the Comanche continue their way across the thicket and further upstream.

[01:13:59]Though greatly relieved that the Comanche have passed him over, Perry's thoughts now center on his concern for his comrade Acklin, whose trail the Comanche have surely followed. All he can do now though is listen intently for the resumption of the Comanche's louder war cries indicating that they have discovered Acklin. However, after a sickening few minutes of waiting and listening, Perry hears nothing.

[01:14:28]But despite this fortuitous sign, he knows the Comanche are intent on exacting their revenge for the warriors that Acklin has slain and that they will not give up their pursuit easily.

[01:14:41]Still, despite being in agonizing pain and unable to see, Perry knows he cannot remain here in the driftwood for long.

[01:14:51]His only hope now is to make his way to the river and then somehow navigate the 120 mi on foot to San Antonio.

[01:15:02]Now, the beleaguered Ranger slowly crawls his way back through the driftwood thicket, guiding himself by feel and making his way toward the sound of the rippling water.

[01:15:14]After painstakingly dragging himself over rocks, branches, and fallen logs for what seems like an eternity, Perry's outstretched hands are finally greeted with the feeling of the slick, >> [music] >> cool riverbank mud.

[01:15:29]Cautiously, he pulls himself to the water and after slaking his all-consuming thirst, immediately dunks his entire head into the cool river, seeking to ease its endless throbbing and to cool his overheated body.

[01:15:46]Finally, he manages to wash the caked blood from his eyes.

[01:15:51]He is greeted with the still darkness of night.

[01:15:55]Though he is relatively sure the Comanche have now left the area, he is still alone without weapon or horse in the middle of the Texas wilderness.

[01:16:06]With no other option, Perry again drinks heavily from the river and spends a considerable time cooling himself and regaining some measure of strength before finally straining his weary body upright >> [music] >> and step by weary step beginning the long, painful trek back to San Antonio.

[01:16:29]He knows that even if the uninjured Rangers Inman and Carlin had made their way back to San Antonio and sent reinforcements, they will likely be unable to find either himself or Acklin as both have ventured so far from the location where they were last seen. For six long days and nights, Perry makes his way northeast, the entire time suffering of thirst, starvation, and rapidly festering wounds.

[01:16:59]Finally, the bedraggled, blood-soaked figure of Rufus Perry is spotted by the Ranger lookouts on the outskirts of San Antonio.

[01:17:08]He is so disfigured from his wounds and caked in gore that at first his comrades do not recognize him.

[01:17:17]When they do, he is quickly brought to the Rangers headquarters where he is informed that a rescue party, or what many have considered to be a recovery party, has already been sent out by Captain Hayes.

[01:17:31]During Perry's trek to San Antonio, Don and Carlin had arrived back to the city, both being badly sunburned and saddle sore, having made their escape wearing nothing more than they had while swimming.

[01:17:46]They had reported Rufus Perry and Acklin to be all but assuredly dead.

[01:17:51]Now, with Perry's reappearance, the Ranger headquarters becomes a whirlwind of activity as all the men who can be spared are marshaled into a second rescue force that can span out in search of their lost comrade in Acklin. But just before they are able to ride out of town, and only two hours after Perry had appeared on the outskirts of San Antonio, Kit Acklin is spotted, himself nearly unrecognizable due to his wounds and physical deterioration.

[01:18:24]Acklin, too, is rushed to the headquarters where he and Perry are attended to by the best doctors that can be procured in the whole of San Antonio.

[01:18:34]After a matter of weeks, the men are nursed back to health and both will eventually rejoin the Rangers ranks.

[01:18:43]While John Curlin will go un-reprimanded for his conduct during the fight, James Dunn will be formally reproached by Captain Jack Hayes himself for not assisting his comrades in a more prudent manner. However, Dunn's reputation, as repeatedly noted by A.J. Sowell in his account of this battle, remains strong within the Rangers.

[01:19:06]Sowell tempers his narrative with the caveat that, "quote James Dunn was censured by Captain Hayes and others of the company, but he was a good Ranger and had no chance in this affair. He was looked upon as one of the most daring men Hayes had, end quote."

[01:19:22]Dunn and Curlin, too, will both go on to continue their service with the Rangers.

[01:19:27]Rufus Perry would eventually move to West Texas before returning to the Texas Hill Country, where he would pass away in Johnson City in 1898 at the age of 76.

[01:19:40]Kit Acklin, like millions of other Americans, including fellow Rangers Jack Hayes and Bigfoot Wallace, would make his way to Northern California in 1850 with the advent of California's Gold Rush.

[01:19:53]Here, he would settle in the Sierra Nevada town of Mariposa, where he would serve as a local constable until his death in 1871 at the age of 52.

[01:20:05]The story of Rufus Perry and Kit Acklin's impossible survival on the banks of the Nueces is but one of an endless succession of accounts of bravery, violence, and fortitude that are replete within the annals of Old West history.

[01:20:20]But the many stories of battles from the lives of Texas Rangers like Perry and Acklin, as well as the Rangers who fought beside them, and the innumerable battles between themselves and not only the Comanche but the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War are for tonight other stories for other times.

[01:20:42]Thank you again for joining us on this episode of History at the OK Corral. Be sure to click the like button, [music] share this episode with a friend, and become a subscriber. Also, if you'd like to support our work and gain early access to episodes [music] as well as ad-free viewing, you can become a member of this channel by clicking on the join button down below. Also, be sure to follow us on TikTok and Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter. Thanks again for watching and we'll see you next time on History at the OK Corral, home of history's greatest shootouts and showdowns.