N.O. Reynolds
Center Point, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Lieutenant Nelson Orcelus Reynolds was a noted Texas lawman. Born in 1846 in Pennsylvania, Reynolds served in the Union army during the Civil War. In 1874, he enlisted as a Texas Ranger in Blanco County. Reynolds captured the Horrell brothers and forced them to sign a peace treaty to end the feud with the Higgins faction. As a result, he was given command of the newly formed Company "E." Reynolds was later responsible for jailing, transporting, and guarding John Wesley Hardin for his trial in Comanche County. He retired from Ranger service in 1879 and later served as Lampasas County sheriff. He married Irene T. Nevill in 1882. The couple had two children and lived in Center Point, where Reynolds was buried after his 1922 death. (2010)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pennsylvania-born and a Union veteran of the Civil War, Nelson Orcelus Reynolds enlisted as a Texas Ranger in 1874 and quickly made his name, capturing the Horrell brothers and brokering a peace to end their feud with the Higgins faction—a feat that won him command of the newly formed Company E. He was later charged with jailing and guarding the notorious gunman John Wesley Hardin for trial. After leaving the Rangers in 1879 he served as Lampasas County sheriff and settled in Center Point, where he died in 1922.
Why it matters
Reynolds personifies the frontier Texas Rangers who imposed a measure of law on a violent post-Civil War landscape of feuds and outlaws.
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Related people
- · Nelson Orcelus Reynolds
- · John Wesley Hardin
Themes & tags
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