Texas Ranger Campsite

Arrington took command of Company C at Coleman in 1878, the Handbook of Texas says, and that July it was sent to Fort Griffin to restore peace after vigilante activity. In the summer of 1879 it moved to the Panhandle to look into raids on ranches, and Arrington's opposition to federal Indian policy soon set him against Lt. Col. J. W. Davidson at Fort Elliott. That September he set up the camp here. In 1880 and 1881 his men ranged over much of the Panhandle and were stationed for a time at Mobeetie and Tascosa.

What the plaque says

Texas Ranger Campsite (One mile north) Law and order for plains area began here in 1879 with creation of Camp Roberts, first ranger station in Panhandle. Company C of the newly formed Frontier Battalion of Texas Rangers was located here and commanded by Captain G. W. Arrington, Civil War veteran, hard-fighting Ranger, later a Panhandle sheriff and rancher. Battalion commander was Maj. John B. Jones. Frontier Battalion was created to protect settlers from marauding Indians and outlaws; rowdy cowboys also needed disciplining. Captain Arrington's C Company was to have 75 men to meet these duties--he never had more than 28. A large territory and few men to cover it meant scouting parties always on the move. Living conditions on the vast, arid plains, scouting trips, encounters with violence, long watches over dangerous captives made a Ranger's life hard. Each man was self-supporting, furnishing his own saddle, ropes, guns, clothing, horse, bedding; he received small salary, ammunition and food from the state. Shooting matches provided much of his off-duty entertainment. By 1881 local Indian menace was removed; Rangers went to new frontier, 1882. Remnants of Camp Roberts today are foundations of three sod buildings around an old well used by the Rangers. 1967

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum — 3.6 mi
  Crosbyton's museum of Blanco Canyon, built in 1958 as a copy of Hank Smith's Rock House, and the place to learn the canyon's 1871 fight between Mackenzie's cavalry and Quanah's Quahadi Comanche.
• Spur-Dickens County Museum — 23 mi
  Dickens County's museum on the main block of Spur, a town born on November 1, 1909, when the first train reached the land a New York syndicate was selling off from the Spur Ranch.
• Motley County Historical Museum — 31 mi
  Matador's museum in the 1928 Traweek Hospital, in the county seat a Scottish-owned ranch created by having its cowboys open one-day businesses to pass a state rule.

More markers nearby

• Main Supply Camp on Historic Mackenzie Trail — steps away
• Two-Buckle Ranch Headquarters, Kentucky Cattle Raising Company — steps away
• Battle of the Freshwater Fork of the Brazos — steps away
• Old Dewey Lake — steps away