Gunfights & Sites in Texas Ranger History by Mike Cox

Author:Mike Cox [Cox, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2015-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

SOUTH TEXAS HERITAGE CENTER AT THE WITTE MUSEUM

This large, newly opened addition to the Alamo City’s venerable Witte focuses on the diverse cultures that shaped South Texas, from the Comanches, the nemesis of the Rangers, to the Spanish, Mexicans, Germans and others, as well as cowboys and outlaws. Also has an exhibit on the carretas, the oxdrawn carts that figured in the Cart War of 1857.

Visit: 3801 Broadway Street.

BROOKS COUNTY

Falfurrias

A COUNTY’S NAMESAKE

Brooks County was named for Captain J.A. Brooks, one of the Ranger commanders known as the Four Great Captains.

Born in Kentucky on November 20, 1855, Brooks moved to Texas around 1876, where he farmed for a time in Collin County. He joined the Rangers in 1883, serving in Company F. He was active in the fence-cutting trouble and suffered a serious wound in the Sabine County shootout with the Conner clan in 1887.

Moving quickly up the ranks, Brooks gained promotion to lieutenant of Company F in March 1888 and took over as captain a year later. Pick a trouble spot in Texas from the late 1880s to the early 1900s, and Brooks likely was there. He took part in the hunt for Catarino Garza in 1892 and later helped restore law and order in Southeast Texas oil boomtowns.

Resigning from the Rangers in 1906, Brooks moved to Falfurrias and became active in local and state politics. He served in the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Texas Legislatures. As a member of the house, in 1911, he sponsored the bill that created the county named in his honor. Leaving the legislature, he won election as the first county judge, an office he held until 1939. The old captain died on January 15, 1944, and was buried in Falfurrias.

Visit: Falfurrias Burial Park on West Travis Street, 0.4 miles west of Business U.S. 281. The Heritage Museum, 515 North St. Marys Street, Falfurrias. The museum has an exhibit featuring Captain Brooks and other South Texas rangers.

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