The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961 Page: 466
574 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
patrolling the area from Fort Mason to the Red River had fled
to Kansas. The settlers, ranching and farming in the area, were
thus left to the mercy of small bands of savage Comanches, who
soon began attacking isolated homesteads, burning fields, destroy-
ing homes, and killing and scalping women and children. To
raise troops to protect them, the state military board placed calls
for volunteers in the newspapers and sent recruiters into various
counties. Volunteers were to arm, equip, and mount themselves,
and to bring enough provisions for six days.10
Among the recruiters chosen by the governor to raise com-
panies for frontier service was A. W. Crawford, sheriff of Har-
rison County. Receiving the order on April 1, Crawford immedi-
ately set up headquarters in Marshall and rode around the area
appealing to the citizens to take up arms.,1 By April io the com-
pany was full, numbering 13o men. On muster day, April 19,
wrote one member of the unit, "at an early hour the hitherto
quiet of Marshall is disturbed by the 'Neigh of the war horse,'
and the assembling of the Cavalry," as bodies of rowdy recruits
rode in from Panola, Upshur, and Marion counties. The men
were well mounted and equipped for service, except for carbines
and pistols, which were to be obtained later from Austin.
The process of organizing the company took up the whole
day. Horses were checked for fitness. The county judge swore
each man into state service in the courthouse. And this done,
the soldiers named their company the "W. P. Lane Rangers," in
honor of a distinguished citizen of Marshall, Major Walter P.
Lane, veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Mexican War.
After elections were held, which made Sam Richardson captain,12
the Rangers sat rather restlessly through a parting sermon, deliv-
loSan Antonio Herald, March 2, 1861; Belton (Texas) Democrat, March 8, 1861;
Texas Governor (Edward Clark), Governor's Message: Executive Ofice, Austin,
March 29, x86x [Austin, 1861]. Hereafter referred to as Governor's Message, March
29, z86x.
x"The above description of the raising of Crawford's company, later the W. P.
Lane Rangers, is based upon William W. Heartsill, Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-
One Days in the Confederate Army, or Camp Life, Day by Day, of the W. P. Lane
Rangers from April xg, x86x, to May 20, x865 (1876 ed.; reprint by Bell I. Wiley,
Jackson, Tennessee, 1954), 2-5.
12The common practice during the first part of the war was to allow the men
to elect the corporals and commissioned officers up to the rank of colonel. Brigadier-
generals and higher officers were appointed by the War Department.466
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961, periodical, 1961; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101190/m1/503/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.