Vintage Reprint: Photograph of Texas Rangers at Alice, TX c. 1906 by N.H Rose

➼ History & Context

The Texas Rangers have had a fearsome reputation as excellent trackers and ferocious fighters since they were first founded in 1823. Stephen F. Austin, worried that the Mexican law enforcement could not cover the lands around his colony effectively enough, paid the initial ten men out of his own pocket.

Officially recognized by the new Republic of Texas government in 1836, with the influx of more people to the area the Rangers quickly increased their ranks. Rangers were paid $1.25 per day and $5 per month for food and supplies, officers a bit more, and all had to bring their own horses, tack, weapons, and ammunition to the endeavor.

As author John C. Caperton said, “Each was armed with a rifle, a pistol, and a knife. With a Mexican blanket tied behind his saddle and small wallet in which he carried salt and ammunition and perhaps a little panola or parched corn, spiced and sweetened – a great allayer of thirst – and tobacco, he was equipped for a month.”

Tasked with patrolling for thieves and cattle rustlers and protecting Texans from raids from both across the border with Mexico and from the Native peoples that had been displaced from their ancestral lands, the Rangers developed their skills and reputation.

So lauded were they, and known for their favor for the Colt Paterson 5-shot revolver, that Colt approached them to collaborate on a new 6-shot revolver. A scene from one of the Rangers’ most famous exploits was even engraved on the cylinder – though in an interesting deviation Colt outfitted the mounted men in the uniform of the U.S. Dragoons. [Check out the Colt First Model Dragoon for more info on Colt’s evolved firearm]

➼ Photographer N.H. Rose

Noah Hamilton Rose was a painter and photographer known best for his vast collection of photographs depicting the Old West, a collection now housed at the University of Oklahoma though pieces of it can be found in museums across Texas.

Born in 1874 in Kendall County, Texas, Rose started out working for newspapers and teaching himself photography. For thirty years he traveled through small towns across Texas, working as a photographer and printer, doing portraits and special news events such as the Menardville flood of 1899.

After 1901, he often made lantern slides of his work and exhibited the depictions of shootings, gunmen, politicians, and judges. He was simultaneously collecting photos of notable figures of the day, taken by himself or not, and even wrote Emmet Dalton of the Dalton Gang requesting photos.

In 1921 he was hit by a car, and the resulting medical bills pressed Rose into publishing a mail-order catalog of his collection, eventually numbering over 2,000 – the start of a very successful business.

Heavyweights from Billy the Kid to Jesse James to the Texas Rangers had their photographs in the collection of N.H. Rose, and in 1951 he published a book with his friend, Album of Gunfighters.