Captain George Stevens
Decatur, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Captain George w. Stevens was born in Lowndes County, Alabama, on July 12, 1830. He lived in Arkansas briefly where he married Martha McDonald in 1852. The couple moved to the Wise County area in 1855 and Stevens became a leader in the efforts to defend the frontier from raids by Native American tribes. Stevens served in Company “C” of the “Frontier Cavalry,” or the 46th Cavalry Regiment. Stevens’ first wife, Martha, died in 1858 and Stevens married Nancy Buchanan. During the 1860s, Stevens served as Wise County Sheriff. By the 1870s, most frontier warfare with Native Americans ended due to their resettlements on reservations. During this time, the Texas Rangers slowly transitioned from military to law enforcement. In 1874, with the close of the post-Civil War reconstruction era, Stevens was designated the Captain of Company “B” of the Texas Rangers’ “Frontier Battalion.” The battalion, comprised of 75 members mostly from Wise County, engaged in numerous battles across the frontier in an effort to end the war for the frontier. At one such battle at Buffalo Springs in Clay County, Capt. Stevens was severely wounded. By the end of 1874, Stevens resigned as captain and again sought office as county sheriff. Lt. Ira Long, also a wise county native, was promoted to command company “b.” Long was previously selected by Battalion Commander, Major John B. Jones, to lead Jones’ “escort.” In 1878, Sheriff Stevens and a local posse joined the pursuit of the famed Sam Bass outlaw gang. One member of the gang was killed in a gunfight at salt creek just west of Cottondale as the rest of the gang escaped. The gang was caught again a month later in Round Rock. Stevens died April 11, 1893, and is buried in Flat Rock Cemetery located five miles outside Decatur.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George W. Stevens came to Wise County in 1855 and became a leader in defending the exposed Texas frontier, serving in a frontier cavalry company and as county sheriff during the turbulent 1860s. In 1874 he was named captain of Company B of the Texas Rangers' Frontier Battalion, leading some seventy-five men — mostly Wise County neighbors — in the last campaigns against Comanche and Kiowa raiders, and he was severely wounded in a fight at Buffalo Springs. He later helped chase the notorious Sam Bass gang before his death in 1893.
Why it matters
Stevens's career traces the Texas Rangers' pivotal shift from frontier warfare to law enforcement, at the very moment the open frontier was closing across North Texas.
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Related people
- · George W. Stevens
- · Sam Bass
- · John B. Jones
Related events
- · Battle at Buffalo Springs
- · Pursuit of the Sam Bass gang
Themes & tags
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