The Arizona Rangers were originally formed during a time when Indians and border crimes were rampant through the southwest. Their mission was to keep law and order through even the most wild and remote parts of the West. Funding for the Rangers was very minimal, after nearly 40 years the legislative act was passed to fund this group, originally 14 men, paying the Captain $120.00 per month, 1 Sergeant paid $75.00 per month, and 12 Privates paid only $55.00 per month. To this day Arizona Rangers Reenactment groups still help maintain law and order through the southwest.

The Texas Rangers were first formed in 1823 to keep law and order through Texas and the Southwest. After the Civil War their numbers grew. In the 1870’s the Texas Rangers were combating rampant lawlessness, fighting the raiding Indians, struggling against Mexican border disputes and battling the feuding cattlemen and desperados that were terrorizing the State of Texas.

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp began his lawman career as the Deputy Marshall of Dodge City. Soon after ending his career in Dodge City Earp settled in the town of Tombstone, AZ., where he participated in the famous shootout at the OK Corral in 1881. Not long after this battle, Earp left Tombstone to continue the fight against the legendary bandits known as “The Cowboys.” During Earps eighty years, he married 3 times, was a courageous lawman and gunfighter, owned saloons, raised horses, and prospected for gold. Wyatt died while living in California.

Doc Holliday, frontiersman, gambler, and gunfighter, is most noted for his participation in the shootout at the O.K. Corral in 1881, and for his involvement with Wyatt Earp in the fight against the outlaws known as the “Cowboys”. Although a dentist by trade, Doc preferred to earn his money on the gambling tables of the wild and wooly town of Tombstone. At the age of thirty-five Doc died of tuberculosis and alcoholism in a sanitarium in Colorado. The inscription on his grave reads, “He Died in Bed.”

William “Bat” Masterson was born in Illinois and spent his youth as Army Scout , railroad worker, and gold prospector. In 1877 he was elected Sheriff of Ford County, with his office located in Dodge City. Bat was voted out of office in 1879 and moved on to Colorado, Arizona, and finally New York City as the Sports Editor for the Morning Telegraph in 1907.

Pat Garrett began his career by bartending and opening a small café. He then moved on to cattle punching, and buffalo hunting before making his name as the legendary Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico. Garrett was most widely known for killing Billy the Kid, whom he once ‘rode with’ prior to the Lincoln County Wars. The above badge was created to commemorate the death of Billy the Kid. Garrett was murdered February 29, 1908 at the age of 57. The judge ruled this act as self-defense, and the perpetrator was let free.