1 Come all ye Texas Rangers, Wherever you may be, A story I will tell you Relating unto me.
2 My name 'tis nothing extra, I'm sure I will not tell; I am a Texas Ranger- I'm sure I wish you well.
3 'Twas at the age of sixteen I joined the jolly band And marched from San Antonio Across the Rio Grande.
4 We saw the Indians coming, Our captain gave command: "To arms, to arms! he shouted, And by your horses stand!"
5 We saw their glittering lances, The arrows round us hail. My heart did sink within me, My courage almost fail.
6 We saw the Indians coming, We heard them give the yell. My feelings at that moment No human tongue could tell.
7 We saw the smoke ascended, It almost reached the sky; My feelings at that moment- My time had come to die.
8 We fought for ten long hours Before the strife was over. The like of dead and wounded I never had seen before.
9 Nine hundred noble rangers As ever trod the West Lie buried 'side their comrades With arrows in their breast. or Sweet peace may be their rest.
Version F, received in 1912, from the MS of L. D. Cochrane of Harrison County, [MO], 'May 29, 1880.' Belden says Mr. Cochrane came to Missouri from Ohio. It is stated that the version has 14 verses but only the above are given. The Belden text is confusing; with mention that some verses are the same as those of version E. "Across the Rio Grande" would place the action in Mexico.
H. M. Belden, ed., 1940, "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society," pp. 338-339. Musical score same as version E, which will be given in a later post.