Texas Ranger Campsite

Law and order in the Plains area began here in 1879 with the creation of Camp Roberts, the first ranger station in the Panhandle. Company C of the newly formed Frontier Battalion of Texas Rangers was located here under Capt. G. W. Arrington, a Civil War veteran, hard-fighting Ranger, and later a Panhandle sheriff and rancher, while the battalion was commanded by Maj. John B. Jones. The Frontier Battalion was created to protect settlers from marauding Indians and outlaws, and rowdy cowboys also needed disciplining. Arrington's C Company was supposed to have 75 men for these duties, but he never had more than 28. Because the territory was large and the force was small, scouting parties were always on the move. Life for a Ranger was hard on the vast, arid plains, with scouting trips, encounters with violence, and long watches over dangerous captives, and each man was self-supporting, furnishing his own saddle, ropes, guns, clothing, horse, and bedding while receiving only a small salary, ammunition, and food from the state. Shooting matches provided much of the men's off-duty entertainment. By 1881 the local Indian menace had been removed, and in 1882 the Rangers moved on to a new frontier; remnants of Camp Roberts today are the foundations of three sod buildings around an old well used by the Rangers.

Texas · United States