After a decade, on August 10, 1835, Daniel Parker introduced a resolution to the Permanent Council creating a body of rangers to protect the Mexican border.

They played important roles at various battles, acting as guides and participating in counter-guerrilla warfare, soon establishing a fearsome reputation among both Mexicans and Americans.

At the Battle of Monterrey in September 1846, famous Texas Rangers such as John Coffee "Jack" Hays, Ben McCulloch, Bigfoot Wallace and Samuel Hamilton Walker played important roles in the battle, including advising General William Jenkins Worth on the tactics required to fight inside a Mexican city.

This option was not pursued, in view of the emerging national political problems (prelude to the American Civil War), and the Rangers were again dissolved.

[20][21] During these times, many of the Rangers' myths were born, such as their success in capturing or killing notorious criminals and desperados (including bank robber Sam Bass and gunfighter John Wesley Hardin), their involvement in the Mason County War, the Horrell-Higgins Feud, and their decisive role in the defeat of the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache peoples.

The Apache "dreaded the Texas Rangers...whose guns were always loaded and whose aim was unerring; they slept in the saddle and ate while they rode, or done without...when they took up our trail they followed it determinedly and doggedly day and night.

In particular, Leander H. McNelly and his men used ruthless methods that often rivaled the brutality of their opponents, such as taking part in summary executions and confessions induced by torture and intimidation.

[29] The Great Depression forced both the federal and state governments to cut down on personnel and funding of their organizations, and the number of commissioned officers was reduced to 45, with the only means of transportation afforded to Rangers being free railroad passes or using their personal horses.

The agency was again damaged after supporting Governor Ross Sterling in his re-election campaign—after his opponent Miriam Amanda "Ma" Ferguson won, she proceeded to discharge all serving Rangers in 1933.

[33] Canales also introduced a piece of legislation, House Bill 5, which proposed reorganizing the Texas Rangers and increasing the minimum qualifications and pay.

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission has preserved the full transcript of the investigation, which consists of over 1600 pages of testimony and evidence.

[50]Despite the age of the agency, and the many contributions they have made to law enforcement over their entire history, Texas Rangers developed most of their reputation during the days of the Old West.

[51] American historian Andrew Graybill has argued that the Texas Rangers resemble the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in many ways.

He argues that each organization protected the established order by confining and removing Native Americans, by tightly controlling the mixed blood peoples (the African Americans in Texas, and the Métis in Canada), assisted the large-scale ranchers against the small-scale ranchers and farmers who fenced the land, and broke the power of labor unions that tried to organize the workers of industrial corporations.

It is a sensationalized apocrypha in that there was never actually a riot; rather, the phrase was coined by Ranger Captain William "Bill" McDonald, who was sent to Dallas in 1896 to prevent the illegal heavyweight prize fight between Pete Maher and Bob Fitzsimmons that had been organized by Dan Stuart and patronized by the eccentric "Hanging Judge" Roy Bean of Langtry, Texas.

In truth, the fight had been so heavily publicized that nearly every Ranger was on hand, including all captains and their superior, Adjutant General Woodford H. Mabry.

Banks was on good terms with White Citizens' Councils and was involved in resistance to school integration after Brown v. Board of Education.

Some cases are deeply entrenched in the Rangers' lore, such as those of outlaw John Wesley Hardin, bank robber Sam Bass, and Bonnie and Clyde.

Bass was able to elude the Rangers until a member of his party, Jim Murphy, turned informer, cut a deal to save himself, and led the law to the gang.

As Bass's band rode south, Murphy wrote to Major John B. Jones, commander of the Frontier Battalion of Texas Rangers.

They bought some tobacco at a store, and were noticed by Williamson County Sheriff Ahijah W. "Caige" Grimes, who approached the group and was shot and killed.

The gang quickly mounted their horses and tried to escape while continuing to fire, and as they galloped away, Bass was shot again in the back by Ranger George Herold.

[62] Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated scout, was put in charge of a 250-person private security detail hired by John Hays Hammond, a nephew of Texas Ranger John Coffee Hays, who in addition to owning large investments in Mexico was a close friend of Taft from Yale University and a U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate in 1908.

Moore discovered a man holding a concealed palm pistol standing at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce building along the procession route.

Methvin, allegedly cooperating with law enforcement, made sure he was separated from them that evening in Shreveport, and the posse set up an ambush along the route to the rendezvous at Highway 154, between Gibsland and Sailes.

[70] Feit was the primary suspect, but the case stalled for many years as the Hidalgo County district attorney did not feel that the evidence was sufficient to secure a conviction.

Feit, aged 85, was sentenced to life imprisonment, bringing to close the longest unsolved criminal case in Hidalgo County.

The Texas Rangers, with the approval of the Director, may conduct investigations of any alleged misconduct on the part of other Department of Public Safety personnel.

Currently, the favored attire includes white shirt and tie, khaki/tan or gray trousers, light-colored western hat, "ranger" belt, and cowboy boots.

Most Rangers also preferred to wear broader-brimmed sombreros as opposed to cowboy hats, and they favored square-cut, knee-high boots with a high heel and pointed toes, in a more Spanish style.