Ranger Oaks, The - Seguin, TX
N 29° 34.171 W 097° 57.974
14R E 600134 N 3271531
A cluster of oak trees northwest of where the Guadalupe County Courthouse is located is famous for being the campground, the staging area, of one of the early groups of Texas Rangers formed. These trees were often used as their base camp.
Waymark Code: WMZG5Z
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/06/2018
Views: 0
In Seguin, TX, at the corner of N. Travis and W. Gonzales St, there is a small group of old oak trees dotted around the intersection and buildings which have a noble history. These oak trees are remnants of the oak grove that once encompassed this part of Seguin. Under these trees, the early group of Texas Rangers would camp and prepare to go on their assignments to protect the early pioneer settlers, to defend against renegade Indians, and protect officials of Texas.
The Rangers were started in 1823 by Stephen F Austin as a way to bring some law and order to the wild frontier being settled by many groups of pioneers. There already existed similar regional groups, such as the Gonzales Ranges, who used these oak trees around Seguin for the same purposes. It wasn't until 1837 that an official Ranger Company was formed. Some of the most outstanding Texas Ranger such as Capt. Jack "Coffee" Hays (as in Hays County) and Capt. Matthew Caldwell (as in Caldwell County and the city of Caldwell) were active Texas Rangers who used the oak grove as a campground to stage their expeditions into the far reaches of the Austin's land grant, the Republic of Texas, and the State of Texas.
The Texas Rangers were part police force, part military unit, part detective and investigator, but were always rugged, determined and effective to protect and serve. Today the Texas Rangers still exist (protected by State law) and have jurisdiction over law enforcement anywhere in Texas. They now operate more as the state's central intelligence agency, but their fame was forged during the colorful Wild West years from 1830s into the 1930s. These oak trees are witnesses to the events that made the Rangers famous.
In front of one of the trees on the corner of the intersection of Travis and Gonzales is a Sign of History that reads:
"As early as 1828 the oak trees in this area provided shelter to the forerunners of the famed Texas Rangers. The trees served as landmarks to early settlers and as a lodging area to these roving defenders of the frontier as they patrolled between Gonzales and San Antonio de Bexar.
Before the first company of Texas Rangers were commissioned in 1837, the Gonzales Rangers, under the command of Capt. Matthew Caldwell, used this shady spot as a campground.
Jack "Coffee" Hays, a resident of Seguin and one of Texas' most illustrious Ranger commanders also camped in the shade of these trees. In 1840, Hays is believed to have been appointed a Captain of the first permanent Ranger Company. Under Ranger Jack Hays and James Callahan, a group of renegades and Indians were captured, brought to town, and forced to dig a trench in the area of the Ranger Oaks. The captives were then lined up and shot so their bodies fell into the trench, thus saving some trouble of the burial."
History of Early Texas Ranger Companies:
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