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No. 172 LETTER FROM JOHN S. FORD TO H. R. RUNNELS
Head Quarters Texas Rangers, Camp Runnels, June, 2nd 1858.
Governor
In a communication addressed to me you request that I should submit, for consideration, suggestions in regard to the condition of the frontier and the means best calculated to give it protection. I deem it unnecessary to call your attention to the great extent of the frontier of Texas-embracing as it does a line not falling far short of one thousand miles on the Rio Grande- a line of quite the same length, if not more, from El Paso to 30 or 40 miles north of the Canadian, thence with the boundary of the U S Indian Territory for several hundred miles. The whole may be estimated at 2500 miles. On either side of this frontier line are numerous tribes of Indians, fond of war, of plunder, and of deeds of violence. They have for many years been waging a war upon the white or European race, which threatens, if suc- cessful, their expulsion from the country or their extermination. The achievements of the citizens soldiers of Texas, during the days of the Republic, in operating against these foes, constitute a bright chapter in the history of American chivalry, and one of the chief laurels which encircled the brow of the infant republic, when she surrendered her nationality and became one of a mighty galaxy of confederated sovereignties. When the people of Texas were invited to enter the union they were promised protection. Texas went into the confederacy as an equal-a co- sovereign, and her citizens were entitled to all the rights, privi- leges, and immunities granted by the constitution to the citizens of the other states. Have we enjoyed them? Let the pen of the impartial historian answer. Since we entered the union there has ben no period, since the termination of the war with Mexico, that our people have been protected. Frequently the forces of the Gen- eral Government stationed upon this frontier of 2,500 miles have not amounted to one thousand effective men. Men have been murdered under the most aggravated and cruel circumstances. Our people have been tortured in the most inconceivable and brutal manner by our savage foes. Women have been violated in the presence of their husbands-daughters have been ravished in the presence of their mothers--children have been carried into a captivity infinitely worse than death. The cries of distress and
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