Arizona Rangers
In 1901, the Arizona Rangers were created to rid the Arizona Territory of outlaws and corruption. They were well trained, well equipped and very effective at apprehending even the most dangerous of outlaws. They evolved into one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the entire country.
At the time, the Territory was a very dangerous place. The United States Congress denied the Governor's application for Arizona to become a State, partly because there was no law and order. Modeled after the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Rangers were tasked with hunting down and arresting outlaws in the Arizona Territory, especially along the Mexican border.
By 1908, most of the outlaws had been arrested, killed or had fled into Mexico. The Rangers brought law and order to the Arizona Territory. It was a safe place to live for the very first time. The Rangers were disbanded for political reasons in 1909. Shortly after that, Arizona became the 48th State.
The Rangers were resurrected again in 1957, and continue to serve the State of Arizona today.
The modern day Arizona Rangers were officially recognized by the State of Arizona when Governor Jane Hull signed Legislative Act 41 - State Government, in 2002. The State Legislature then passed a statute authorizing the Arizona Rangers to provide armed law enforcement assistance to any Local, State, Federal or Tribal law enforcement agency in Arizona. In addition, the Rangers provide complimentary event security for a variety of nonprofit organizations.
The Arizona Rangers are all volunteers. They receive no governmental funding and each Ranger pays for their own training and equipment. Last year the Arizona Rangers donated approximately 86,200 hours, saving the Arizona taxpayers millions of dollars.
Police Departments often call in the Rangers to assist with time consuming, menial tasks like traffic control, surveillance, crime scene preservation, court security and prisoner transportation. Each hour a Ranger donates allows those police officers extra time to protect each other, and the communities they serve. For smaller agencies, the Rangers are a force multiplier.
While working certain duties the Arizona Rangers do have full arrest authority. For example, Arizona Rangers working court security or prisoner transportation duties are officers of the court, and may have full arrest authority.
The Arizona Rangers operate as a 501 nonprofit agency.
History
There were a few Territorial Ranger groups prior to the formation of the Arizona Rangers in 1901. For the most part they were short lived, under funded and not very successful. While similar in name, they are not directly related to the current Arizona Rangers.First Territorial Rangers
The first Territorial Rangers were organized to police the new gold boom towns and mining camps in the western half of the New Mexico Territory that arose after the first gold strike in 1858 in Gila City. In his history of the Territorial Rangers, stretching back to 1861, Arizona State Historian Marshall Trimble revealed "Arizona’s first Ranger may have been one of the founders of Phoenix, Jack Swilling."Civil War- era Confederate Territorial Rangers
After the establishment of the Confederate Arizona Territory, Territorial Governor John Robert Baylor decided he needed to supplement existing militia companies with a regiment of militarized Rangers modeled after the war-time Texas Rangers. He intended this regiment to consist of several companies of cavalry. On January 25, 1862, the first Confederate ranger company, Company A Baylor's Regiment of Arizona Rangers commanded by Captain Sherod Hunter, was mustered into service at the town of Dona Ana located just north of present-day Las Cruces, New Mexico. Hunter's Company consisted of about 75 men for the most part residents of the newly created Confederate Territory of Arizona.The Confederate Territorial Rangers were armed with revolvers and Springfield Model 1847 smoothbore musketoons, probably taken from the Union Fort Fillmore after it surrendered in August 1861. The companies were enlisted for three years, or the duration of the war. They were picked for their skills and experience with the hardships of frontier life.
On February 10, 1862 Company A was ordered to occupy Tucson, the largest town in the western Confederate Territory of Arizona. Tucson was located along the Butterfield Overland Mail route, the only one between California and the Rio Grande and Mesilla valleys, and an ideal location for an advanced post to observe and delay the advance of Union forces gathering under Colonel James Henry Carleton at Fort Yuma. By taking possession of Tucson, Baylor would also protect the citizens and secure the Confederate claim to possession of western Arizona, which had been abandoned by Union troops in 1861. Company A arrived in Tucson on February 28, with the loss of only one life; Corporal Benjamin Mayo who had died of exposure at San Simon stage station on the 25th.
The invasion of Arizona by the Union "California Column" would have come much sooner but for the tactics of Captain Hunter and Company A. After Hunter's Company A retreated from Tucson and arrived in Mesilla on May 27, 1862, it was organized with two Arizona militia companies, the Arizona Guards of Pinos Altos and the Arizona Rangers of Mesilla, under Herbert's Battalion of Arizona Cavalry under the command of Lt. Colonel Philemon T. Herbert. It served as the rearguard to the remnants of the Confederate Army of New Mexico as it withdrew from El Paso to San Antonio, in July 1862. By the end of May 1863 the Arizona Battalion had been reduced by losses and it was disbanded. Company A still had enough men to continue as a viable company, and was kept in being but renamed as the independent Arizona Scout Company, attached to Green's Brigade. The other two companies of the Battalion were disbanded and the men consolidated with those of Company A to form the Arizona Scout Company.
After the Red River Campaign, from March–May 1864, the Texas Cavalry Division, under Major General John A. Wharton, was among the units ordered northward into Arkansas. The Arizona Scouts, went with them and for the rest of 1864 fought minor skirmishes and conducted routine picket duty and scouting. In November 1864, Captain James Henry Tevis returned to command of the Arizona Scouts until General Edmund Kirby Smith, surrendered all Confederate forces west of the Mississippi River on May 26, 1865.
The Tombstone Rangers
Marshall Trimble goes on to discuss the militia groups formed before Gov. Frederick Tritle authorized the first company of Rangers in Tombstone in 1882.Current Arizona Rangers
Originally, only one company was authorized, consisting of a captain, a sergeant and not more than twelve privates, but, in 1903, the force was increased to twenty-six men. The Rangers, many of whom in the early years were veterans of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, were skilled horsemen, trackers and marksmen. Though originally intended to be covert, the group became widely publicized and conspicuous, sported their badges boldly, and were distinctively well-armed.In addition to dealing with rustlers, and other outlaws, the Rangers were called on to deal with several large strikes by Mexican workers at mines in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. During the Cananea Riot in 1906, managers of the mine stampeded horses and fired shots into a crowd of striking Mexican miners, killing two. The Mexican's retaliated, burning a building with four Americans trapped inside. In response, and against the Governor's orders, Captain Thomas H. Rynning joined a civilian posse of 275 men and rode to Cananea to assist Mexican Federal Troops and state mounted police. Tensions flared and shots were fired. When the smoke cleared, more than twenty-five men, both Mexican and American lay dead.
On February 15, 1909, the Arizona legislature repealed the act establishing the Arizona Rangers. During the seven years of its operations, 107 men served with the Rangers. The vote to disband was vetoed by Republican Governor Joseph Henry Kibbey, but the Democratic-dominated assembly overrode the veto, backed by political pressure from county sheriffs and district attorneys in northern Arizona.
After the Arizona Rangers disbanded, many of the former Rangers stayed in law enforcement. Harry C. Wheeler was elected sheriff of Cochise County and Thomas Rynning became the prison warden in Yuma, Arizona.
Seven former Rangers reunited in 1940 to ride together in the Prescott Rodeo Parade. In 1955, the Arizona legislature authorized a $100 monthly pension for former Rangers who had served at least six months and who still lived in Arizona. Five men qualified for this pension.
William MacLeod Raine wrote the following about crime in Arizona Territory and the effectiveness of the Arizona Rangers in a 1905 edition of Pearson's Magazine:
More about the Arizona Rangers
In 1957 a nonprofit organization called the Arizona Rangers was organized, founded with the assistance of four former members of the agency. The modern Arizona Rangers were officially recognized by the state of Arizona in 2002, when Arizona Governor Jane Hull signed Legislative Act 41. The purpose of this act was "to recognize the Arizona Rangers, who formed in 1901, disbanded in 1909 and reestablished in 1957 by original Arizona Rangers." The recognition by the State of Arizona gives no law enforcement authority to the organization. Members of the organization receive 24 hours of initial training and then ongoing monthly training. Rangers are required to qualify to Arizona Peace Officers Standard of Training with their firearms, batons, handcuffs, and OC spray.The present-day Arizona Rangers are an unpaid, all-volunteer, law enforcement support and assistance civilian nonprofit organization in the state of Arizona. They fulfill a three-point mission: 1. Law Enforcement support, by working co-operatively at the request of and under the direction, control, and supervision of established law enforcement officials and officers; 2. Government and non-profit security services; and 3. Youth support and community services. All aspects of their mission preserves the tradition, honor, and history of the original Arizona Rangers.
The Rangers operate throughout the State of Arizona, but use about 20 Companies that operated semi-independently as local geography and community needs dictate while operating within the operating guidelines of a statewide organization. Each Company has a Captain who is a member of the Board of Governors and operationally reports to an Area Commander. So while there is only one Arizona Rangers organization, the Company Captains have latitude to make adjustments as to how their Company fulfills the mission in their local area.
When an applicant applies to become a Ranger, a full background check and a physical check are performed to ensure qualified candidates are processed. When an applicant is accepted, they are placed on probation until they complete all requirements, which includes Arizona Ranger Training Academy, a minimum of 24 hours of supervised duty with a Field Training Officer, a minimum of 90 days of probation, and meet other requirements placed upon them by the Company.
Leadership
The first Captain of the Arizona Rangers was Burton C. Mossman of Bisbee, Arizona. Mossman, who had previously been manager of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company in northern Arizona, had some success in controlling rustling of his company's cattle.In July 1902 after successfully recruiting and organizing the original Rangers, Mossman resigned to return to ranching. He was replaced by Thomas H. Rynning. The third and last commander of the Arizona Rangers was Harry C. Wheeler.
In general, the men of the Arizona Rangers were extremely capable; their exploits were widely reported by the newspapers of the day. Many of these reports are collected in the book, The Arizona Rangers, edited by Joseph Miller.
Uniforms and insignia
Arizona Rangers were not issued standardized uniforms, as they were originally intended to operate undercover.Badges of the Arizona Rangers, which were first issued in 1903 were solid silver five-pointed ball-tipped stars, lettered in blue enamel with engravings etched in blue, and are a valuable collectible. An officer's badge was engraved with the Ranger's name, while badges for enlisted men were numbered. Upon resignation, a Ranger returned his badge, which was then available to be assigned to a new Ranger.
Similar agencies
The Arizona Rangers had been preceded by the organization of the Arizona Territorial Rangers in 1860. This group was formed by the Provisional Territorial Government, principally to protect against Apache raids. The intent was to have three companies of Territorial Rangers, two were formed in the mining camp of Pinos Altos, known as the "Arizona Guards" and the "Minute Men", and another, the "Arizona Rangers", in Mesilla by Captain James Henry Tevis.With the arrival of Baylor's Confederate Army in Mesilla and his declaration of a Confederate Territory of Arizona in early 1862, the Arizona Territorial Rangers were disbanded by Captain Tevis who joined San Elizario Spy Company in the Confederate Army. The Confederate Territorial Governor, General Baylor eventually saw the need for the rangers also and formed Company A, Arizona Rangers as the first of three companies for the defense of Arizona Territory. It was commanded by Captain Sherod Hunter and Second Lieutenant James Henry Tevis. The Arizona Rangers were sent to Tucson to defend western Arizona Territory. When the California Column drove the Confederates out of Arizona Territory, plans for organizing the Arizona Rangers were put off for years.
In the early 1880s, Arizona was not only having an Indian war, but border crimes and killings were making Arizona unfit to live in. Upon taking office, Governor Frederick Augustus Tritle faced a problem of lawlessness within the territory caused by outlaw cowboys and hostile natives. On April 24, 1882 he authorized formation of the 1st Company of Arizona Rangers in Tombstone making John H. Jackson its Captain. They were to be similar to Texas Rangers and combat outlaws and hostile Indians. His first assignment to the Rangers was to scout near the border of the territory for Indians, and for those who recently killed a teamster there. The Rangers Captain was only able to pay the first months wages, and the Governor despite his best efforts was never able to get them funded by the Territorial Legislature or Congress. On May 20, he wrote Johnston informing them they should continue until the end of the month when their pay ran out. Following the Earp Vendetta Ride and the departure of the Earps lawlessness in the area seems to have quieted.
The analogous agency in the Territory of New Mexico, organized in 1905, was called the New Mexico Mounted Patrol. Across the Mexican border in northern Sonora was a similar law enforcement agency called the Guardia Rural, colloquially known as the rurales. This group is often confused with another group often referred to with the same colloquialism, the Guardia Fiscal, which was commanded by a Russian, Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, who cooperated closely with the Rangers.
Another group known as the Arizona Rangers is based in Tucson and is part of Missouri Western Shooters.
Popular culture
Arizona Ranger, a low-budget black-and-white film produced by RKO, was released in 1948, starring Jack Holt and his son Tim Holt.In the 1965 film Arizona Raiders, Clint is released from prison and deputised as an Arizona Ranger by Captain Andrews to track down and capture the remnants of Quantrill's Raiders near the border of Mexico.
In the 1976 film The Last Hard Men, actor Charlton Heston portrayed Captain Sam Burgade, a retired Captain of the Arizona Rangers who pursues the ruthless outlaw who has escaped from prison and kidnapped Burgade's daughter for revenge. Burgade had been the arresting officer for the crime that sent the outlaw to prison.
An Arizona Ranger is featured in the song, "Big Iron", in Western singer Marty Robbins' album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. The song was later used in .
The television series 26 Men, aired from 1957–1959, told the stories of the Arizona Rangers.
The Arizona Territorial Rangers Reenactment Group, headquartered in Netcong, New Jersey, is a historical reenactment group.
In the video for Toby Keith's song, "Beer For My Horses", Willie Nelson portrays a retired Arizona Ranger.
Western Author: Ralph Cotton has penned over thirty adventure novels starring fictional Arizona Territory Ranger Sam Burrack.
Fallen officers
During the tenure of the Arizona Rangers, three officers died in the line of duty.| Officer | Date of Death | Details |
| Carlos Tafoya | Killed after the Battleground Gunfight | |
| Jefferson P. "Jeff" Kidder | Killed after a gunfight in Naco, Sonora | |
| John W. Thomas Jr. | Killed after a shootout in Sierra Vista, Arizona |