
Taming the Nueces Strip
The Story of McNelly's Rangers
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. January 1962
Book
Paperback/Softback
204 pages
978-0-292-78048-4 (ISBN)
Description
Only an extraordinary Texas Ranger could have cleaned up bandit-plagued Southwest Texas, between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, in the years following the Civil War. Thousands of raiders on horseback, some of them Anglo-Americans, regularly crossed the river from Mexico to pillage, murder, and rape. Their main objective? To steal cattle, which they herded back across the Rio Grande to sell. Honest citizens found it almost impossible to live in the Nueces Strip.
In desperation, the governor of Texas called on an extraordinary man, Captain Leander M. McNelly, to take command of a Ranger company and stop these border bandits. One of McNelly's recruits for this task was George Durham, a Georgia farmboy in his teens when he joined the "Little McNellys," as the Captain's band called themselves. More than half a century later, it was George Durham, the last surviving "McNelly Ranger," who recounted the exciting tale of taming the Nueces Strip to San Antonio writer Clyde Wantland.
In Durham's account, those long-ago days are brought vividly back to life. Once again the daring McNelly leads his courageous band across Southwest Texas to victories against incredible odds. With a boldness that overcame their dismayingly small number, the McNellys succeeded in bringing law and order to the untamed Nueces Strip-succeeded so well that they antagonized certain "upright" citizens who had been pocketing surreptitious dollars from the bandits' operations.
In desperation, the governor of Texas called on an extraordinary man, Captain Leander M. McNelly, to take command of a Ranger company and stop these border bandits. One of McNelly's recruits for this task was George Durham, a Georgia farmboy in his teens when he joined the "Little McNellys," as the Captain's band called themselves. More than half a century later, it was George Durham, the last surviving "McNelly Ranger," who recounted the exciting tale of taming the Nueces Strip to San Antonio writer Clyde Wantland.
In Durham's account, those long-ago days are brought vividly back to life. Once again the daring McNelly leads his courageous band across Southwest Texas to victories against incredible odds. With a boldness that overcame their dismayingly small number, the McNellys succeeded in bringing law and order to the untamed Nueces Strip-succeeded so well that they antagonized certain "upright" citizens who had been pocketing surreptitious dollars from the bandits' operations.
Reviews / Votes
...the reader seems to smell the acrid gunsmoke and to hear the creak of saddle leather. (Southwestern Historical Quarterly)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
287 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-78048-4 (9780292780484)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2010
1st Edition
University of Texas Press
from
€34.99
Available for download
Persons
By George Durham as told to Clyde Wantland
Content
Foreword by Walter Prescott Webb
Introduction by Clyde Wantland
1. Ranger Recruit
2. Moving Out
3. Meeting Captain King
4. In Bandit Country
5. A Near Miss
6. The Fight at Palo Alto
7. A Time for Loafing
8. Betrayal
9. Rangers Without a Captain
10. Retaliation
11. After King Fisher
12. Nearing the End
13. Change of Command
14. But Still a McNelly
Introduction by Clyde Wantland
1. Ranger Recruit
2. Moving Out
3. Meeting Captain King
4. In Bandit Country
5. A Near Miss
6. The Fight at Palo Alto
7. A Time for Loafing
8. Betrayal
9. Rangers Without a Captain
10. Retaliation
11. After King Fisher
12. Nearing the End
13. Change of Command
14. But Still a McNelly