All the Texas Rangers Badges and Their Unique Designs

Texas Rangers gathered at El Paso to stop the illegal Maher–Fitzsimmons fight, 1896. Image courtesy of Wikipeda.

The Texas Rangers were in charge of protecting the state from Indian and bandit raids. The rangers were originally organized in two groups, which had been formed after the Civil War Reconstruction. he first was the Frontier Battalion, which operated state-side. The second was the Special Forces, which were stationed in the area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Both groups were under the command of the Texas Adjutant General.

Why Did Texas Rangers Wear Badges?

From the 1880s on, Texas Rangers carried a Warrant of Authority and a physical descriptive list that served as proof of the Ranger’s identity and authority. Contrary to what you might believe, the state of Texas did not supply rangers with badges! The rangers would choose their badges based on taste and availability 0 so there was a large variety of designs.

The first Rangers to wear official badges were those working from 1935 on, when the Texas Rangers were reorganized as a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Since then, there has been three official designs: A shield overlaid with a circle star (1935), a blue enameled circle star (1957) and a badge decorated with wreaths of olive and live oaks (1962).

Historical Texas Rangers Badges

The Texas Rangers Ira Aten Badge

The newly formed Republic of Texas could hardly afford to pay the frontier force – in fact, the Rangers didn’t even have uniforms. Also, the Rangers didn’t necessarily want to be identified. Their ability to blend into the populace were a valuable one in an out-manned scenario. Not to mention that a badge would be of little consequence to the bandits.

The earliest surviving Texas Ranger badge that we can track to this day belonged to Ira Aten. It’s believed that the badge was created by a local silversmith – or Aten himself. The starting point for this badge was a Mexican Ocho Peso coin. Aten’s badge was not the first badge made. In 1875 Ranger Leander McNelly had been gifted one from local ranchers – but unfortunately it hasn’t survived.

Why a star for the Rangers? In 1836, when George Childress signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, he introduced a resolution at the general convention that “a single star of five points” be recognized as the emblem of the new republic. He also requested that all army and members of this convention, as well as any friends of Texas, wore it on their hats or bosoms.