Edward Burleson

Edward Burleson (December 15, 1798 – December 26, 1851) was a soldier, general, and statesman in the state of Missouri, the Republic of Texas, and later the U.S. state of Texas.

Early life
Known as the "Old Indian Fighter", Burleson was a veteran of the War of 1812 and had served in the Missouri and Texas militias. In October 1835 he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the Texas army and served under Stephen F. Austin in the opening stages of the Texas Revolution. During the Siege of Béxar, Burleson served as the second-in-command to Gen. Austin, and in November, 1835 he was elected Major General of Texas Volunteers and took command of the Volunteer army besieging San Antonio de Béxar and received the surrender of Mexican general Martín Perfecto de Cos. In March, he was appointed a Colonel of Texas Regulars and led the First Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Runaway Scrape and at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Burleson continued to serve in the army after the war and was eventually promoted Brigadier General of Texas Regulars.

Political service
He served as vice president of the Republic of Texas in President Sam Houston's second term from 1841 to 1844. He was a Presidential candidate in the Texas Presidential Election of 1844, but was defeated by Anson Jones. Although he served under Sam Houston, the two despised each other.

Burleson was also involved in the Mexican-American War after Texas was annexed by the United States in 1846.

The location of his grave in Austin is in what later became the Texas State Cemetery.

Special
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted as riot police and as detectives, protected the Governor of Texas, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic (1836–45) and the state of Texas.

The Frontier Rangers who are now called Texas Rangers, were unofficially created by former General and Vice President of Republic of Texas Edward Burleson in a call-to-arms written in 1823 and were first headed by Captain Morris. Ten years later, on August 10, 1835 Daniel Parker introduced a resolution to the Permanent Council creating a body of rangers to protect the border. The unit was dissolved by the federal authorities during the post–Civil War Reconstruction Era, but was quickly reformed upon the reinstitution of home government. Since 1935, the organization has been a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety; it fulfills the role of Texas's state bureau of investigation. As of 2009, there were 144 commissioned members of the Ranger force.

The Texas Rangers are the oldest state law enforcement body in the United States. The Rangers have taken part in many of the most important events of Texas history, and were involved in some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West, such as those of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, bank robber Sam Bass, and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. Scores of books have been written about the Rangers, from well-researched works of nonfiction to pulp novels and other such fiction, making the Rangers significant participants in the mythology of the Wild West. The Lone Ranger, for perhaps the best-known example of Texas Ranger-derived fiction, draws his primary alias both from having once been a Texas Ranger himself and from being the only surviving member of a posse of six Texas Rangers whose other five members (including his own older brother, a Texas Rangers captain) were killed in a massacre at Bryant's Gap.

During their long history, a distinct Ranger tradition has evolved; their cultural significance to Texians and later Texans is such that they are legally protected against disbandment. There is a museum dedicated to the Texas Rangers in Waco, Texas.

Memorials
Burleson County, Texas, was named after him.