Legends of the Old West - TEXAS RANGERS Ep. 2 | "Fight Like The Devil"

Episode Date: May 5, 2019

Captain Jack Hays, Samuel Walker and a company of rangers fight a small battle with Comanches that has a big impact on history of the American West. The United States goes to war with Mexico and General Zachary Taylor enlists the help of the Rangers. The U.S. army marches into Mexico and the Rangers lead the charge from the Battle of Palo Alto to the Battle of Monterrey. Join Black Barrel+ for early access and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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By the time Ben was 24 years old in 1835, he and his younger brother Henry had decided they would seek their fortunes in Texas. Their plan was to travel with a man who had been their lifelong friend and neighbor. He was running for Congress, and if he failed, they would all go to Texas together. He did fail, but he was so anxious to get started, he left without the brothers. They hurried after him, but once they made it to Texas, Ben convinced Henry that he should go back to Tennessee for a while and take care of their aging parents. They would reunite again in the near future, but for now, Ben continued into Texas alone and arrived just in time to join the revolution. His reunion with that old friend from Tennessee who had rushed to Texas ahead of him was brief.

Just one year after Ben arrived in Texas, his old friend died in the siege of the Alamo. That friend was legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett. From Black Barrel Media, this is Season 5 of the Legends of the Old West podcast, presented by the Cowboy Lifestyle Network. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this is the second episode of a five-part series on the Texas Rangers. Fight like the devil. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio Fight like the devil. platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere. They have an all-in-one

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Terms apply. Anyone interested in the early years of the Texas Rangers is indebted to men like James Wilson Nichols. Nichols kept a journal, and he wrote about his experience in a ranger company led by Captain Jack Hayes and Lieutenant Ben McCullough. Nichols wrote, We kept scouts out all the time. When one would come in, another would go out, and those not on a scout were every day practicing horsemanship and marksmanship. The Rangers would plant posts in the ground 40 yards apart and as tall as a man.

As Nichols wrote, the Rangers would ride at full speed toward the first post and fire at it with their rifles. They'd keep riding and fire at the second post with their pistols. After two months of training, the rangers could hit a ring on the posts about the size of a man's head, and they could ride at full speed and snatch almost any object off the ground without breaking stride. They could lean to the side of the horse and fire under its neck like Comanches, and then straighten up and reverse the maneuver. By the early 1840s, the fighting styles and skills of the Rangers were a far cry from the early days when they would ride up to a position, dismount, and fight on foot. They had the horsemanship, the marksmanship, and perhaps most important of all, the Colt revolving pistol. From where we sit today, it might seem like a foregone conclusion that Samuel Colt would

become one of the most successful inventors and firearm manufacturers in the country. But for the first 10 years of his professional life, that wasn't even close to the case. He was granted a patent for his five-shot revolving pistol in 1836, which was produced at his first factory in Paterson, New Jersey. Therefore, it was commonly known as the Paterson Colt. At the time, it was vital for a gunmaker to get contracts with governments and armies. They were the only ones that ordered guns in quantities large enough to keep a company in business. Colt sold a small batch to the US government for use in the Second Seminole War in Florida

and another batch to Texas in 1839, but after that, the market dried up. By 1842, he was completely out of business. But the Patterson Colt was becoming a legend in and of itself on the frontier, especially in the hands of men who spent their lives in the saddle and had to fight on horseback. It was the perfect weapon for the Texas Rangers. Well, not quite perfect. In a couple years, a Texas Ranger would suggest some improvements that would greatly enhance its capabilities, but for now, it was wonderful. It was a force multiplier for the Rangers. Suddenly, a man armed with two Patterson Colts could fire ten shots without reloading, while riding a horse at full gallop in the midst of battle. A single Ranger was now as devastating as an entire unit used to be. Whenever Captain Jack could get his hands on the weapons, he gave them to his men.

And in the summer of 1844, they put them to good use against the Comanches. The fight would leave a deep impression on the mind of Ranger Samuel Walker, and a serious scar on his back. Sam Houston never thought it would be so hard to find the Comanches. He wanted to make peace, but they were ghosts. What he didn't understand at the time was just how well Jack Hayes and the other Rangers had done their work under President Lamar. For two years, Houston sent envoys south, southwest, west, and northwest. In a final exasperated effort, he sent his men north, and they eventually found the Comanches along the Canadian River in present-day Oklahoma. The Comanches were still conducting their lightning-fast murder raids,

as settlers called them, but now they were doing them from long range. They would ride south in a wide arc around the line of white settlements and then strike with amazing speed. Many of these strikes weren't even the point of the raids. They were just opportunities. The Comanches were still moving along their old trails through West Texas toward their ultimate target of the raids. They were just opportunities. The Comanches were still moving along their old trails through West Texas toward their ultimate target of northern Mexico. When they felt like it or saw the chance, they would hit a farm or a community and then sprint back west before anyone even knew what happened. Texans on the frontier screamed about the atrocities, and Houston deployed the Rangers while trying to make peace.

Incidentally, the violence committed against the Texans was bad, there's no doubt, but it was moderate compared to the punishment the Comanches inflicted on the people of northern Mexico for a hundred years. The suffering of those people would have appalled even the most hardened Texans. But Houston's peace talks of 1843 and 1844 were falling apart, and for obvious reasons. He wanted the Comanches to stay west of the line of white settlements and to stop attacking Texans on the frontier. The Comanches said, okay, if we have to stay west of the line, then you have to stay east of it. That's fair.

West of the line? Then you have to stay east of it. That's fair. And of course, Houston said no. No one in the United States or the Republic of Texas could stop the westward expansion of white settlements, and even fewer wanted to. So, the peace talks broke down, and the Comanches moved south again, and the raids picked up. And Jack Hayes, Ben McCullough, and Samuel Walker met the warriors for a fight along the banks of Walker's Creek in June 1844. Captain Jack's company of 15 rangers was on a scout northwest of San Antonio in present-day Kendall County when they learned they were being tracked by a party of Comanches. Hayes always detailed one man to lag behind the main body to scout for sign.

Just because you didn't see any sign, didn't mean the Comanches weren't there. And just because you didn't see any sign, didn't mean the Comanches weren't there. Lo and behold, on June 8th, Hayes Trail Rider galloped into the Ranger camp with a report that he'd seen the tracks of ten Comanches. Hayes spotted a few warriors in the distance, but they drifted into the cover of some brush. Hayes ordered his men to mount up and they rode toward the brush. Three or four Comanches darted out from behind some trees and pretended to act surprised at the sight of the Rangers. They hurried across a creek, hoping the Rangers would follow. But Hayes was an old hand and he knew this trick.

He stayed put. As soon as the Comanches understood Hayes wasn't going to take the bait, they came out in force. 75 warriors against 15 Rangers. But Hayes didn't see the numbers that way. Each of his men had at least one Patterson Colt revolver. Together they could fire at least 75 shots without reloading. In Hayes' mind, the numbers were about even. The rangers rode slowly toward the Comanches. The warriors had the high ground, and they backed up toward the top of a ridge to maximize its value. They taunted the rangers to charge them in their superior position. The rangers rode forward, and then Hayes did the unexpected. At the base of the hill, the rangers were hidden from the Comanches.

the unexpected. At the base of the hill, the rangers were hidden from the Comanches. Hayes turned his horse and rode around the side of the hill, and the rangers followed. The rangers slammed into the Comanches from the flank, which completely surprised the warriors. The rangers opened up with their colts and scattered the warriors for a moment, but the Comanches regrouped and used their numbers to surround the Rangers. The Rangers fought back to back in a scene of chaos for 15 minutes before the Comanches broke away. A running fight ensued for two miles until the Comanche leader rallied his men to stand and fight. By that point, the Rangers had almost exhausted their first barrage of shots. Their Colt pistols gave

them a great advantage in the fight, but they became a liability when it was time to reload. The reloading process was cumbersome and time-consuming, and Hayes needed to end this fight while he still had the advantage. He shouted to his men, asking who still had a shot in his gun. Robert Addison Gillespie, usually called Ad Gillespie, rode forward. Hayes said, dismount and shoot the chief. Gillespie did,

and the chief fell, and the warriors fled in every direction, except for the 20 who were already dead on the ground. Samuel Walker probably didn't see Gillespie's shot. He was clinging to life somewhere back on the ground. Samuel Walker probably didn't see Gillespie's shot. He was clinging to life somewhere back on the battlefield. He was pinned to the ground by a Comanche lance that had been driven through his back. It would take several weeks for Walker to recover, and by the time he did, there was a new, old enemy looming on the horizon. The final confrontation with Mexico was coming up fast, and so was the end of the Texas Republic.

John Salmon Ford stood in front of the Texas Congress in June 1845 and proposed a joint resolution. It was a great honor, and he was likely beaming with pride. The bill would approve the annexation of Texas to the United States of America. Ford was born in South Carolina and was two years older than Jack Hayes, Samuel Walker, and Bigfoot Wallace. He had come to Texas in 1836 during the Revolution and worked as a doctor and a surgeon in those early years. But now, in the summer of 1845, he was a congressman in the waning days of the Republic. Six months earlier, President Sam Houston had finished his second and final term as President of Texas. His hand-picked successor, Dr. Anson Jones, had won the narrowest of narrow victories to become the last president of the republic.

Jones was aligned with Houston in his desire for peace with the Comanches. Jones' opponent, Edward Burleson, was aligned with former President Lamar's policies of war with the Comanches. Burleson had been a stalwart in the Texas military stretching back to the earliest days of the Revolution. In the election, Jones edged out Burleson by a vote of 361 to 360. The more populated eastern counties, which were free from violence by the Comanches and bandits, voted for Jones. The more sparsely populated western counties, which were constantly terrorized by Comanches, voted for Burleson. In the end, the population centers won out. And it was increasingly clear to many political leaders in Texas that the Republic

needed to join the American Union. The Republic had neither the money nor the resources to adequately protect its vast western frontier. It needed the U.S. Army. In March 1845, four months after Jones took office, the United States Congress approved Texas statehood. Now, John Ford stood before the Texas Congress and asked it to approve of joining the Union, and it did. But right before that happened, President James K. Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor and 3,500 troops to go to Texas. The next three years would be a whirlwind as the United States went to war with Mexico, and the gateway to that war was the

brand new state of Texas. Mexico was not happy that the United States had extended an offer to Texas to join the American Union. As a result, it broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. In response, President Polk ordered General Taylor to take some troops to Texas as a precautionary measure, as he put it. In May 1845, Taylor sailed his infantry from Louisiana to Texas and marched his dragoons, the forerunners of the U.S. Cavalry, from present-day Oklahoma to Austin. In July, Taylor and his infantry landed in Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast.

When he arrived, General Taylor asked Texas to provide four companies of mounted volunteers for federal service, which meant he wanted the Rangers. mounted volunteers for federal service, which meant he wanted the Rangers. Logically, Jack Hayes was made a major and given command of the four companies. His four captains were John Price, David Cady, Peter Hansborough Bell, and Robert Addison Gillespie. Their mission in these early days was basically the same as it had always been. Guard the southwestern frontier against Comanche attacks and watch out for incursions by the Mexican army. On December 29, 1845, Texas officially joined the United States of America as the 28th state. And of course, relations with Mexico did not improve. Six weeks later, Anson Jones, the final president of the Republic of Texas,

transferred power to the first governor of the state of Texas, J. Pinkney Henderson. The first legislature of the new state convened a month later, in March 1846, and high on the agenda was to formally recognize the accomplishments of Major Jack Hayes, Captain Ben McCullough, and Captain Ad Gillespie. At the same time, General Taylor marched his soldiers from Corpus Christi down to the southernmost tip of Texas and established a supply base at Port Isabel. He sent Major Jacob Brown farther inland to establish a fort along the Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican city of Matamoros. The moment Taylor crossed the Nueces River, Mexico considered his movement an invasion of its country.

Mexico always viewed the Nueces as the boundary between Texas and itself, while Texas always asserted the Rio Grande was the boundary. Mexico considered Taylor's march into the area known as the Nueces Strip to be an act of war. If it wasn't already, an international conflict was now inevitable. Toward the end of April, Taylor authorized Texas Ranger Samuel Walker to recruit two dozen men for a spy company that would act as scouts for his army in South Texas. It took exactly one week for Walker and his rangers to get into a fight, but the first real action came three days earlier. On April 25, 1846, Mexican troops ambushed 63 American dragoons.

They killed or wounded 17 men and took the rest prisoner, and at that point, there was no turning back. General Taylor called on Texas to send him more ranger companies, and the Texas government quickly went to work. At dawn on April 28, Mexican troops surprised Walker's rangers in their base camp. They charged in and killed six rangers before the rest could scramble away. Later that day, Walker and his company were scouting the road between Taylor's headquarters and Major Brown's garrison at Fort Texas when they ran into 1,500 Mexican soldiers. at Fort Texas when they ran into 1,500 Mexican soldiers. Many of Walker's rangers had never seen combat like this, and they broke and ran. Walker and 12 men valiantly covered their escape so they wouldn't be overwhelmed by the superior force. Five days later, the Mexican army in Matamoros

began to shell Fort Texas across the Rio Grande River. At 3 a.m., Walker slipped into the fort and gathered vital intelligence from Major Brown, and then rode through the night to Taylor's camp. Not long after Walker's daring move, Major Brown was killed by cannon fire. In his honor, Fort Texas was renamed Camp Brown, and today, it's the city of Brownsville. Up north in Austin, the governor and the Rangers answered Taylor's call. Governor Henderson gave Jack Hayes command of the 1st Regiment of Mounted Rifles, which was made up of Rangers from West Texas. George Wood was given command of the 2nd Regiment, which was made up of Rangers from East Texas. George Wood was given command of the 2nd Regiment, which was made up of rangers from East Texas. They joined with 60 men recruited by Ben McCullough and hurried to South Texas

to link up with their comrade Sam Walker. Down on the border, Taylor marched his men from his supply base at Port Isabel toward Fort Texas. As they approached the plain of Palo Alto, they met the Mexican army in the first full engagement of the war. 2,300 Americans clashed with 4,000 Mexicans in a battle that ended in a stalemate as darkness engulfed them. The Americans were able to counter the Mexicans' superior numbers thanks to their new flying artillery. Major Samuel Ringgold had developed small cannons mounted on light carriages that could be moved rapidly around the battlefield, and they saved the day for the Americans. The flying artillery would be used to great effect by another young officer later in the war. He was a Virginian named Thomas Jackson, but history would know him by another name because of a battle he would fight in his home state almost exactly 15 years from now.

After that battle, he was known as Stonewall Jackson. After the bloody stalemate on May 8th, the Mexican army pulled back to Risaca de la Palma at dawn on May 9th. But General Taylor wasn't about to let them leave so easy. In the early morning hours, he attacked and won the day. In the battle, Sam Walker had another close call with an opponent armed with a lance. As Walker charged into the action, his horse was shot out from under him. As he crashed to the ground, a Mexican soldier with a lance tried to stab him. But he shot the man, leapt on the man's horse, and rode back into the fight. The troops at Fort Brown shelled the Mexican army. The Texas Rangers followed the fleeing

soldiers relentlessly. They shouted to each other to remember the drawing of the black beans, and they took no prisoners. The rangers shot every soldier they overtook. They chased them to the Rio Grande, and then over the river and into Matamoros. Once the rangers' blood was up, they couldn't be stopped. The American army and the Texas rangers forced the Mexican commander to retreat southeast toward the interior of the country in the safety of Monterey. Two days after the pair of engagements, President Polk asked the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war against Mexico, and he got it. Congress authorized 50,000 soldiers for one year.

Five days later, Sam Walker and the Texas Rangers scouted Matamoros and discovered the Mexican army had left town. The American army occupied it without a shot fired. And then, Samuel Walker became famous. The story of how he was almost killed by a Mexican Lancer and then shot the man, jumped on his horse, and led his men into battle hit the newspapers from New Orleans to New York. horse and led his men into battle hit the newspapers from New Orleans to New York. And for the first time, the name Texas Rangers was printed in wide circulation to describe these wild horse soldiers from America's newest state. Walker was famous nationwide, and so were the Rangers. Jack Hayes and the new Ranger regiments arrived in Matamoros in June 1846,

a month after Walker and Taylor had pushed out the Mexican army. Hayes was immediately elevated to colonel and given command of all the Rangers, and Walker became his lieutenant colonel. For the first time, Texas Rangers stood shoulder to shoulder with regular U.S. Army troops and officers trained at West Point. The contrast was stark. The Rangers were the dictionary definition of a motley crew. A volunteer in the Louisiana militia decided he wanted to transfer to the Rangers. His name was Samuel Reed, and he joined a company led by Ben McCullough.

Reed is another man to whom we're indebted, like James Wilson Nichols, because he kept a journal. When his service in the war ended, he published a book about his time with the Rangers. Here was his first impression of these unique irregular fighters men in groups with long beards and mustaches dressed in every variety of garment with one exception the slouched hat the unmistakable uniform of a texas ranger with a belt of pistols around their waists a rougher looking set we never saw while hayes and his rangers awaited their next mission in Mexico, a future ranger captain slowly sank into the darkest period of his life up in Austin.

John Ford, the doctor and politician who had introduced the bill that delivered Texas to the Union, was in the midst of tragedy. His new wife had contracted tuberculosis. She was slowly dying dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Throughout the long, hot summer of 1846, he nursed her as best he could while his future brothers in arms took their war into the heart of Mexico. After the capture of Matamoros, General Taylor instructed the Rangers to scout Reynosa 60 miles up the Rio Grande.

When the Rangers arrived at the end of June 1846, their actions laid the foundation for the fearsome reputation they would earn throughout the war. Many Rangers in the regiments had been on the failed Mir expedition just a couple years earlier, and they had been on the failed Mir expedition just a couple years earlier, and they had been treated terribly at Reynosa. They had not forgotten. Now, first, they did their duty to the army. They scouted the road, they scouted the town, and they determined it was more or less safe. They were under orders to leave unarmed people alone, but now they were the dominant force. They were no longer helpless. They were no longer prisoners. And everywhere around them, they saw people who were responsible

for their pain four years earlier. Coincidentally, the town of Reynosa experienced a rash of deaths after the rangers arrived. As Samuel Reed wrote, notorious villains were found shot or hanging from tree limbs. The army decided that these deaths were probably mysterious suicides, and it looked the other way, for now. The strange deaths of the villains could possibly be overlooked, but the accidents continued to mount, and General Taylor was not happy. Taylor was not happy. It was July 4th, 1846, the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the rangers were in the mood to celebrate. They feasted on chickens and pigs from Reynosa, and they said these poor creatures had died accidentally during the July 4th celebration. There was certainly no need to let the meat go to waste, so they didn't. And during the same celebration, two buckets of whiskey also disappeared.

It was the damnedest thing. When the Rangers were in town, bad guys suddenly took their own lives, animals dropped dead in the street, and whiskey evaporated from the face of the earth. General Taylor called the Rangers licentious vandales licentieux » et ils commençaient seulement. La vraie lutte commençait lorsque les Rangers et l'armitation du magasinage. Mais avez-vous ce frisson d'obtenir le meilleur deal? Les membres de Rakuten, eux, oui. Ils magasinent les marques qu'ils aiment et font d'importantes économies, en plus des remises en argent. Et vous pouvez aussi commencer à gagner des remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés, comme Old Navy, Best Buy et Expedia, et même

cumuler les ventes et les remises en argent. C'est facile à utiliser et vous obtenez vos remises par PayPal ou par chèque. L'idée est simple. Les magasins paient Rakuten pour leur envoyer des gens magasinés. Et Rakuten partage l'argent avec vous sous forme de remise. Téléchargez l'application gratuite Rakuten et ne manquez jamais un bon deal. Ou allez sur rakuten.ca pour en avoir plus pour votre argent. C'est R-A-K-U-T-E-N After waiting for two months in northern Mexico,

General Taylor finally decided to march toward the interior of the country and strike Monterey. Despite his growing concern over the methods of some of the Texas Rangers, he couldn't deny that they were excellent horsemen and fearless fighters. Just before the army began to move on Monterey, the Texas Democrat in Austin printed a line that would become famous in Ranger lore. It read, a Texas Ranger can ride like a Mexican, trail like an Indian, shoot like a Tennessean, and fight like the devil. General Taylor once again put the Rangers out front and told them to scout the road

to Monterey, and on September 14, 1846, they made first contact. Ben McCullough's company exchanged gunfire on the road with 200 Mexican troops. Both sides withdrew, but now the Mexican army was fully aware that Taylor was marching on Monterey. The Mexican army fortified its defenses around the city. If the Americans wanted it, they would have to fight through a series of obstacles to take it. A week after first contact, the army arrived on the outskirts of the city.

Monterey sits at the base of some small mountains, which meant one side was completely cut off for attack or retreat. Taylor's plan called for a pincer move that would cut off the other avenues of escape and trap the Mexican army in the city. The Americans came in from the northeast, and Taylor sent part of his army to the west with General William Wirth. They would swing around the city and come down from the hills while also blocking the road out of town to cut off supplies and reinforcements. Then Taylor would come down from the north and east, and the two armies would collapse on the town from all sides and crush the Mexican force. Jack Hayes and his ranger regiments went west with General Worth. They scouted the area and determined that two hills were vulnerable and if they could be taken, they would be perfect staging grounds for the main assault. The Battle of Monterey began at 6 AM, September 21st, 1846

The night before the assault was wet and miserable. It rained all night, and the Rangers had little shelter and little food. The next morning, they were probably edgy and spoiling for a fight. In the midst of the early dawn, General Taylor's forces attacked the roads northeast of town and started to drive its defenders back into the city. To the west, the army and the rangers assaulted the first of the two hills, called Loma de Federacion. 300 rangers and artillerymen joined five companies of infantry and the Louisiana volunteers in charging up the hill. There was a small garrison on the top that operated two cannons. The Mexicans poured rifle fire on the Americans.

The cannons roared to life and showered the brush with grape shot. But the Americans had overwhelming force. The Rangers and the soldiers fought their way up the hill, screaming like furies to take the first cannon. They spun it around and fired it at the second cannon. Then they rushed at the small garrison and crashed through its defenses. The Mexican defenders fled the garrison and retreated to an abandoned bishop's palace at the base of the hill. With their work done on the first day, the rangers rested.

base of the hill. With their work done on the first day, the rangers rested. And then the rains came back, and they spent another wet, miserable night in the hills west of Monterey. The next morning, they had the grueling task of assaulting the second hill, Loma de Independencia. It was much more steep and more heavily defended than the first hill, but the Americans were determined to take it. Again, the regiment under Jack Hayes, with Walker, McCullough, Gillespie, and Bigfoot Wallace, teamed up with the regular army to scale the heights. And again, the Mexican garrison at the top of the hill poured fire down on the Americans. The Americans climbed 350 to 400 yards up the hill through a hail of gunfire, and the last 20 yards were nearly vertical. The Mexicans had created barriers with sandbags at the top of the hill, and the Americans had to fight their way through the breastworks

to attack the garrison. The Rangers and the Army regulars stormed the garrison and forced its defenders to retreat down the hill to the abandoned Bishop's Palace. The victory was hard fought and fairly won, but not without great cost. Long time Texas Ranger Robert Addison Gillespie was shot in the stomach and killed. At the end of the war, the Texas legislature carved out a new county from Behar and Travis counties and named it after Gillespie. That county is home to the famous Texas towns of Fredericksburg and Lukenbach. After Gillespie's death, Bigfoot Wallace took command of his company for the assault on the Bishop's Palace at the base of the hills.

The abandoned palace was the last obstacle before the Western army could strike into the heart of Monterey. At noon, General Wirth ordered an attack on the palace. By four o'clock that afternoon, the Americans had captured the building. The Mexican soldiers who weren't killed or captured fled back into Monterey. The west side of the city was secure, and the main assault began the next day. On September 23, 1846, General Taylor and his force moved in from the east. General Worth and his force, which included the Rangers, moved in from the east. General Worth and his force, which included the Rangers, moved in from the west. What followed was one of the early examples of true urban combat

fought by an American army. On the west side, the army moved out of the Bishop's Palace and began the trek to the plaza in the center of the city. They had to advance three miles down two parallel roads. Jack Hayes and his companies, which included those of Ben McCullough and Bigfoot Wallace, moved down the road on the right. Samuel Walker led his Rangers down the road on the left. The regular Army troops split into two groups and joined the Rangers in a literal street fight. The American's flying artillery rumbled down the paved roads. They launched cannonballs and grapeshot from both sides of the street. The missiles crashed into homes and businesses. They shattered walls and obliterated wood posts.

Rifle fire from all directions flooded the narrow lanes. Musket balls smashed into walls and tore through soldiers. Terrified screams rose up from the streets. The Rangers kicked down doors and used their Patterson Colt pistols in close quarters battle. They grabbed hammers and pickaxes and battered holes in walls so they could move from room to room and house to house without going out into the killing zones of the streets. They found ladders and climbed onto rooftops where they could pour fire down onto the retreating Mexican soldiers. Block by block, they fought nearly three miles to the central plaza.

By nightfall, they were one block from the enemy's last defenses. By nightfall, they were one block from the enemy's last defenses. As darkness fell over the smoldering city, the Rangers and the soldiers rested and readied themselves for the final push the following morning. But it never came. The Mexican troops raised the white flag, and General Taylor accepted their surrender at noon the following day. Taylor agreed to a ceasefire for eight weeks, which disgusted the Rangers and even President Polk.

The Rangers and the President believed Mexico was not yet vanquished and the war needed to continue. In the aftermath, one regular Army soldier reported that the Rangers essentially laid waste to parts of the city. They burned homes and killed as many as 100 people. Taylor, as he would be for the entire war, was caught between a rock and a hard place when it came to the Rangers. He had to praise them for helping him win a victory, but he was also furious at their lawlessness. A lieutenant in the 1st Infantry said, The Mexicans fear the Texans more than they do the devil, and they have good reason for it. at their lawlessness. A lieutenant in the 1st Infantry said, The Mexicans fear the Texans more than they do the devil, and they have good reason for it. The Rangers' enlistments ended ten days after the battle, and Taylor was only too happy to send them home. And they were happy to leave if Taylor planned to quit the fight before it had

barely begun. As the Rangers prepared to leave Mexico, General William Worth, their commander, gave them a special send-off. He certainly did not like the things they had done after the battle, but he also would not have been standing in the central plaza of Monterey without them. He ordered the Ranger regiments to form up in front of his quarters. One by one, he invited each man inside and gave him a handshake and a little celebratory wine. When every man had passed through, the Rangers gave General Wirth three cheers in appreciation. In his after-action report, he thanked Hayes, Walker, and McCullough by name.

And on October 2, 1846, the Rangers began the trip back to Texas. A major from Ohio noted wryly that it was a long way back home. He said, We saw them turn their faces toward the blood-bought state they represented, with many good wishes and the hope that all honest Mexicans were at a safe distance from their path. With that, the Rangers' work in Mexico was done, at least for now. When the Rangers returned to the U.S., they were greeted with a hero's welcome. Most returned to Texas, but Samuel Walker took the opportunity to travel back east. He visited Washington, D.C., and then made a fateful trip to New York City.

He met with Samuel Colt and told the down-on-his-luck inventor how much he and the Rangers loved the Patterson Colt. But, Walker said, it could use a few improvements. And, as it turned out, the war with Mexico was nowhere near over. In the new year, the Rangers reassembled to return to the fighting. And this time, they would go all the way to Mexico City. The end of the Mexican-American War is next time on the Legends of the Old West podcast. This season was edited and mixed

by Michael Martin at Sneaky Big Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. The theme song Yellow Rose of Texas was arranged and recorded by the Mighty Orc in Houston, Texas.

Much of the music for this show was produced by Rob Valliere in Phoenix. And a very special thank you to Matt Lowry in Ireland for producing color images of these famous Texas Rangers for the first time. Matt is a world-renowned photographer whose project My Colorful Past breathes new life into old photos. Check out his Facebook page for more of his work. check out his Facebook page for more of his work and as always thank you for listening

if you enjoyed the show please give it a rating and a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening you can check out our website blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and follow us on social media for news of the show our Facebook page is Legends of the Old West Podcast

and our handles on Twitter and Instagram are at Old West Podcast. Thanks again. We'll see you next week.