Texas Rangers Series by Elmer Kelton

On the Texas frontier in the 1840s, a red-haired child whose family has been massacred is captured by a Comanche war party led by a great warrior named Buffalo Caller. The boy is rescued by Mike Shannon, a Mexican War veteran riding with a "ranging company" of Texans dedicated to protecting settlers against Indian raids, and is adopted by the Shannon family... moreOn the Texas frontier in the 1840s, a red-haired child whose family has been massacred is captured by a Comanche war party led by a great warrior named Buffalo Caller. The boy is rescued by Mike Shannon, a Mexican War veteran riding with a "ranging company" of Texans dedicated to protecting settlers against Indian raids, and is adopted by the Shannon family. In 1861 his adoptive father is bushwhacked and murdered and the boy--now known as Rusty Shannon--follows Mike's footsteps, riding to Fort Belknap to join the Rangers. Texas is now in the throes of secession and Union sympathizers are treated as traitors. One such "traitor" is Lon Monahan, whose family befriends Rusty. Lon Monahan's particular enemy is Colonel Caleb Dawkins, a former army officer and Confederate zealot determined to conscript the Monahan boys and drive Lon and all Unionists out of Texas. When the youngest Monahan attempts to escape Texas and wait out the war, Dawkins's thugs hang him and his father. Rusty Shannon carries heavy burdens. Both of his families are dead; he is haunted by Mike Shannon's murder, thinks he knows the culprit and intends to kill the man; his new-found friends have been lynched; and his duties as a Ranger conflict with his sense of justice. And he is fated to meet again the Comanche warrior whose band killed his family and took him captive over two decades ago: Buffalo Caller. less

The Texas Frontier, 1865The Civil War is over and Texas is reluctantly yielding to the Union soldiers spreading across the state, even into the dangerous Comanche country. David "Rusty" Shannon, proud member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Indian depredations, finds that the rangers are being disbanded. He makes his way home to his land on the Red River, hoping to take up the life of a farmer and the hand of the beloved girl he left behind, Geneva Monahan... moreThe Texas Frontier, 1865The Civil War is over and Texas is reluctantly yielding to the Union soldiers spreading across the state, even into the dangerous Comanche country. David "Rusty" Shannon, proud member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Indian depredations, finds that the rangers are being disbanded. He makes his way home to his land on the Red River, hoping to take up the life of a farmer and the hand of the beloved girl he left behind, Geneva Monahan.But Geneva has married in Rusty's long absence and the country is filled with hostiles—not just Indians, but hate-filled Confederates, overbearing Union soldiers, and army renegades. Rusty's youth as a captive of the Comanches returns to haunt him when, in pursuit of Indian raiders, he takes as prisoner Badger Boy, a white child taken from his murdered parents by a Comanche warrior. less

In the spring of 1874 the Ranger companies that protect settlers against Indian raids and outlaw bands are being reorganized and David "Rusty" Shannon is the most sought-after veteran for reenlistment.But Shannon has new goals for his life: He is in love with Josie Monahan, daughter of the family that adopted him, and he intends to marry Josie and take her to his farm on the Colorado River... moreIn the spring of 1874 the Ranger companies that protect settlers against Indian raids and outlaw bands are being reorganized and David "Rusty" Shannon is the most sought-after veteran for reenlistment.But Shannon has new goals for his life: He is in love with Josie Monahan, daughter of the family that adopted him, and he intends to marry Josie and take her to his farm on the Colorado River. Rusty also feels affection and responsibility for Andy Pickard, a headstrong teenager he rescued from captivity among the Comanche--just as Rusty himself was rescued as a red-haired boy decades before.Then an unspeakable tragedy--the murder of his beloved Josie--changes Rusty's plans for a quiet farmer's life and alters his peace-loving character. Bent on revenge, he relentlessly trails Corey Bascom, son of an outlaw family and the man Rusty believes is Josie's killer.But the trail Rusty is following may be leading him to the wrong man.Set in the tumultuous Reconstruction period of Texas history, Ranger’s Trail continues Elmer Kelton's chronicles of the origins of the renowned Texas Rangers, told as fiction but historically accurate in every detail and written by a favorite son of Texas. less

In this fifth volume of his Texas Rangers series, Elmer Kelton takes the young ranger Andy Pickard, once a Comanche captive called Badger Boy, into the midst of a bloody vendetta between hate-filled families. Pickard and ranger Farley Brackett, a former Confederate soldier, are assigned to deliver prisoner Jayce Landon to the sheriff of a neighboring county to stand trial for killing a man named Ned Hopper but from the outset the seemingly simple assignment gets complicated... moreIn this fifth volume of his Texas Rangers series, Elmer Kelton takes the young ranger Andy Pickard, once a Comanche captive called Badger Boy, into the midst of a bloody vendetta between hate-filled families. Pickard and ranger Farley Brackett, a former Confederate soldier, are assigned to deliver prisoner Jayce Landon to the sheriff of a neighboring county to stand trial for killing a man named Ned Hopper but from the outset the seemingly simple assignment gets complicated. The Landon and Hopper families are in a blood feud; the Landons are gathering to free Jayce, and the Hoppers are gathering to kill him.Filled with the author's always engaging characters and set in the historically accurate backdrop of post-Civil War Texas, Texas Vendetta chronicles the pinnacle era of the legendary Texas Rangers. less

This is Jericho's Road. Take the Other.When the young Texas Ranger Andy Pickard is assigned to the Texas-Mexico border he learns the meaning of this ominous notice on the edge of a great tract of ranch land above the Rio Grande. It is Jericho Jackson's country and Jackson is at war with a similarly ruthless cattle baron on the Mexican side of the river, Guadalupe Chavez... moreThis is Jericho's Road. Take the Other.When the young Texas Ranger Andy Pickard is assigned to the Texas-Mexico border he learns the meaning of this ominous notice on the edge of a great tract of ranch land above the Rio Grande. It is Jericho Jackson's country and Jackson is at war with a similarly ruthless cattle baron on the Mexican side of the river, Guadalupe Chavez.The two men are rustling each others' cattle, raiding and killing on both sides of the border, and heading for a bloody showdown-with the Texas Rangers standing between them. less

In this, the seventh novel in Kelton's acclaimed Texas Ranger series, former Texas Ranger Andy Pickard ("Badger Boy" as he was known as a youth living among Comanches), leaves his fiancée’s farm in north central Texas.  He begins to track the man, Luther Cordell, who he believes killed his friend, Sheriff Tom Blessing. Pickard is mistaken.  But although Cordell did not kill Blessing, the robber-ringleader must be brought to Ranger justice and the rest sorted out later.