"Texas Rangers from Gringos 40" Topic

The Apache/Comanche Wars range is now expanded with Texas Rangers (1842 I am told). 28mm of course from Gringos 40.

thanks for posting Liam
chap on the horse is one
of the Texas Ranger about
1842 ish…no actual uniform
but boy did they look the business!!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

Very nice paint job!

Shagnasty
many thanks
cheers
Ged
gringo40s.com

If you are ever in San Antonio, TX, the Texas Ranger museum is worth a visit.

Hi Dave thanks for that..Texas visit is on
the Agenda…a must see for me!!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

thanks for posting Liam…rear view
of our mounted Texas Ranger!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

I didn't know of a Ranger museum in San Antonio but do know of one in Waco right off I-35.

Yes, it is in Waco off of 1-35 and it is certainly worth a visit. Wow, that is a great rendition of a Ranger.

Shagnasty..a mate of mine went to the Waco one
totally loved it…
Choctaw many thanks indeed..!!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

I think this one is quite remarkable. There is something about highlighting dark blue that I never get right. I have just posted postillions driving a carriage where it totally failed for me (yet again!) I started too light and went over it the reverse, forgetting that acrylics dry darker than they go on. The result? Flat without highlights like these. I would point out the pistol as well. Great work

Very impressive.

Great work.

thanks for posting Liam..as you say blue is
a difficult colour to portray in painting miniatures
this chap is ….TEXC01 Texas Ranger Trooper with two Flintlocks and a Pepper-box.
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com
ps Shagnasty and 79th PA appreciate the comments thank you!!

well supplied this chap, plenty of kit

thanks for posting Liam…28mm Gringo40s latest release a swathe of Early Texas Rangers this guy reference in our Webstore is..TEXC01 Texas Ranger Trooper with two Flintlocks and a Pepper-box! top paintwork from Andy Singleton ..figure available from gringo40s.com
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

and another Texas Ranger, again very nicely painted in what are difficult colours I find. Yellow especially;

thanks Liam…yellow is indeed probably
the hardest ro get right…talking of hard
this guy is armed to the teeth ..Hawkin rifle
flintlock pistol and Bowie knife…amd another
flintlock!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

Ged described this gent as being in a "Dull red coat". Well I think it is the colour of Steve McQueen's shirt in the Magnificent Seven and only he was cool enough to get away with a pink shirt back then.

thanks for posting Liam
the colour used was for
a sun bleached Texas look
as the Rangers often only
had one change of clothes
if they were lucky.!!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

I thought the poor chap had split his one pair of pants, but looked again and saw that it is the brass butt of his firearm!

another Texas Ranger;

thanks for posting Liam
28mm Texas Ranger loading his
Colt Walker pistol….
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

and now he is doing the same, rear view!

thanks for posting Liam…
cheers
Ged
gringo40s.com

Ouch. That looks jolly painful;

Seems the range has expanded;

thank you Liam…indeed it has with
a swathe of New mounted Texas Rangers
and Dismounted Texas Rangers..including
the inevitable casualties from tangling
with the Comanches..the Paterson Colt 0.36
levelled the playing field for sure though!!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

This is way out of my comfort zone (which is 1815 and Sherman's, whatever the variety or letters and numbers after a US M4) but I will ask it and be mocked.

What decade did the revolver emerge? I thought of it as the Crimean War in the 1850s.OK, I know Travis (Harvey) in the first Alamo film, had a repeating flintlock as he died, but suspect the technology was not there in the 1830s.

Liam one hopefully correct answer relates to The Colt Paterson pistol was the first and really commercial repeating firearm using a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers in connection with a single, stationary barrel.though at the time they were known as pistols rather then revolvers..that came later… Its design was then patented by Samuel Colt on February 25, 1836, in the United States, England and France, and it got its name from being produced in Paterson, New Jersey.Ironically all the blued metal parts were made in Shefield UK ( in two companies..an office even being opened in the Uk..which shut after the Crimean War. Initially this 5 shot revolver was produced in .28 caliber, with a .36 caliber model..this being the definative pistol for the period. following a year later. As originally designed and used with devastating effect by Captain Jack Hayes and his Texas Rangers..against the fearless Comanches… at the battle of Walkers Creek IN 1844.Colt went on to produce the Walker Colt,named after his friend..the Army Colt ,and the more famous Navy Colt..a beast of a weapon!!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

and here I am told is that same Jack Coffee Hays. I heard of Purple, but not Jack Coffee, Hays, but Ged has an interesting story to tell about him

thanks for posting Liam…a lot had been written
about Jack Coffee Hays…this is a snippet taken from
an article..and IMHO one of the more fascinating ones
i have read…set in about 1841…prior to Walkers Creek
Quote
Hays based his tactics in equal parts on his mission, the Rangers' weaponry and the terrain. His men's rifles were most accurate when fired from afoot and not from the saddle of a restive horse, but if he dismounted his command and sought cover for a defensive action, he would surrender the initiative to the Comanches. They could attack or withdraw as they chose. Dismounting also put his command at risk if the enemy should succeed in stampeding their horses. To keep the Indians close at hand and inflict maximum punishment upon them, the Rangers must remain mounted. But to reload their single-shot muzzleloading rifles and shotguns without the risk of topping a lance thrust, they fell back behind cover along the north bank to pour powder and patch balls into their rifle barrels and seat fresh caps on the breeches of their pieces. All the men carried pistols as close-in weapons, enabling them to fire a fast second or third shot at powder-burn range; the pistols, too, were mostly muzzleloaders.

By early 1841, Hays had acquired a brace of five-shot Colt Paterson revolvers as well as a Colt revolving rifle. A sprinkling of his Rangers were similarly armed, enough so that those men with Colt repeaters were able to keep the Comanches at bay as other Rangers plied ramrods and fumbled with caps. The Comanches were justly respectful of the Texians' marksmanship with any firearm and wary of even a small number of the Colt "medicine guns" that seemed to give the Rangers a shot for every finger on their hands.

"We reloaded as quick as possible and charged them in return," Nichols recorded. The Texians crested the rise, thundered through the screen of trees lining the river and a flanking creek bed and emerged on the open plains again. They raced up to within 60 yards of the milling braves and then halted to fire a volley of slugs and buckshot into the enemy ranks. Again the frontiersmen fell back to the ford, and again the Comanches scattered before their fire, rallied and then resumed pursuit in the seesaw contest. Yellow Wolf noted with mounting rage the number of slain and wounded warriors who littered the ground amid clusters of dead ponies.

Another round of fire and falling back followed, but Hays realized the Indians, with vastly superior numbers, might eventually succeed in outflanking the Rangers, cutting them off from their riverbank refuge. On the next thrust, he tried a slightly different approach. Nichols recalled that Hays instructed half of his men to follow at a distance as a reserve while the rest delivered the charge. The leading squad of horsemen dutifully closed with the braves, fired a volley and spun in retreat. When the Comanches gave chase, they ran right into the teeth of the following squad's fire, including rapid fusillades from the Colts. "That plan worked well," exulted Nichols, "as the reserve ran in and killed several and wounded the chief, Yellow Wolf, severely."

The Comanches retrieved their dead and wounded and withdrew beyond rifle range. With their chieftain reeling on his horse and their losses mounting, the raiding party decided to cede the field to the Rangers. They abandoned most of their captured horses but held on to their captive, Dunn. Irish luck hadn't smiled on him after all—at least not yet.

Captain Hays and his men were glad enough to see the Comanches go. "Cal Turner, Joe Williams and myself were sent to the top of the hill to watch the maneuvers of the enemy," recalled Nichols, "while the wounded were taken care of." Two more men had been injured in the fight. Ranger Sam Luckey suffered a slight wound in the left thigh, while Dave Lawrence carried a bullet in the shoulder. (All would recover, but the misnamed Luckey would suffer another bullet wound within months when Hays rode into a Comanche ambush at Bandera Pass, and still another musket ball would draw his blood as he faced Mexican regulars at the Battle of Salado Creek in September 1842. The well-perforated Texian endured to face the Union Army 20 years later in Maryland at the Battle of Antietam, where he was ultimately killed in the bloodiest single day in American military history.)

"It was then too dark to charge them [the Indians] again," recalled a doubtlessly relieved Nichols, "and we awaited their charge….The savages did not seem disposed to fight anymore unless forced to, and as soon as it began to get dark, the Indians bundled up and left under cover of night, leaving us masters of the situation with a great quantity of their accoutrements and about 35 horses which they had abandoned." Hays was content to bandage his wounded, round up the reclaimed horses and return to San Antonio in triumph, knowing he had extracted from the Comanches a high toll in bitter coinage for their raid on the settlement.

This Texian victory, however, was of no help to James Dunn. Defeat had left the Comanches in a foul mood, and the Irishman waited for one of his captors to take it out on him. He watched as the Comanches concealed the bodies of 23 dead warriors to protect them from scalping and mutilation by the hated Texians or their equally despised Lipan Apache allies. Of the 37 wounded warriors, 13 would subsequently die from their injuries. Yellow Wolf survived his wound, only to face disgrace for having led his braves into a fight that had cost almost half of them their lives. Three years later, during a clash with Hays at Walker's Creek, a few miles north of the Pinta Trail Crossing, Yellow Wolf fell dead before the Rangers' volley.unquote
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

So what happened to Dunn? Sounds as though he somehow lived to tell the tale! Just shows the importance of keeping a reserve in a cavalry action. They showed much better discipline than the British regular cavalry at Waterloo

liam as far as i know he survived !
cheers
Ged
gringo40s.com

Another mounted one and Ged tells mehei is carrying a Colt Paterson .38, but I am sure he can add more;

thank for posting Liam indeed i can add a few extra details
28mm Texas ranger from a very recent Gringo40s release
..reference on the Webpage states..
TEXC03 Young Texas Ranger with Colt Paterson 0.36 Pistol Held High
Young Texas Ranger with Colt Paterson 0.36 Pistol held high and another tucked in his Belt
…thats the firebrand described in general!. top paintwork from Andy Singleton .
f.igure itself available from gringo40s Webstore under "28mm Texas Rangers
@www.gringo40s.com
regards Ged

Same chap rear view;

thanks for posting Liam…
more pictures and info to follow
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

and here is Hayes again only now in "Sombre Blue" I am assured (Not Purple)

Thanks for posting Liam…Hayes
was known for dressing in a quite
simple fashion..but in an elegant
way…reserved and not given to talking much
but coming alive in battle..a splendid leader
of men…….
regards Ged gringo40s.com

Another very nicely done figure in the expanding range. O was crious about his firearm which I took to be a Baker Rifle. Did not the Mexicans use them at the Alamo?

Nayway, this turns out to be an 1841 Mississippi rifle, as used to good effect at the battle of Buena Vista (1847) against Santa Anna. I'll be honest and admit I thought he was basically done after San Jacinto. What a comeback born survivor he was!

thanks for posting Liam
appreciated…Santa Anna
the comeback kid…i have
to admit the Mexican Cavalry
for 1846-48 are stunning looking
bunch of fellas…!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

and here is a Texas ranger in Buckskin from the 1840s I am told. Painted by Andy Singleton again and very nicely so! I am impressed by the highlighting on the buckskin.

thanks for posting Liam..hes an elegantly
attired chat..
ref on my site with details reads
TEX10 Dismounted Texas Ranger Loading 1816 US Rifle
Dismounted Texas Ranger Loading 1816 US Percussion Rifle
nb a popular weapon transformed from flintlock to percussion
as many weapons were..not all though.cost being everything ,when you consider the ordinary Rangers were paid a dollar a day..and for example a decent horse from about usd100.00!! regards Ged gringo40s.com

Another view. what struck me here is that the artist has somehow created a felt texture to the hat (well, in a very enlarged version of this)

thanks for posting Liam…the Hat
was very important to the Texas
Rangers..according to a friend in the
USA…especially the Straw hats stopped
ears being sunburnt if the brim was
not wide enough!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

Classic site for skin cancers, the upper border of the helix. More these days as our life expectancy is so much longer. Mind you, this chap looks like a veteran. I do think there is some great characterisation in this new range.

thanks for posting Liam
more pictures to come!
regards
Ged
gringo40s.com

Chap in what would pass for an Italian paratroop poncho at a distance, but a century earlier! Mississippi rifle I am told, which is so like a Baker. Nice paintwork here.