John H. Rogers

1863 - 1930

John Harris Rogers was born near Kingsbury, Guadalupe County, Texas, on October 19, 1863.

Rogers first enlisted in the Rangers in September 1882 serving under Capt. S. A. McMurray in Company B. He served until December of 1883. In the spring of 1884 he reenlisted. This time he was serving in Company F under Capt. Joe Shely. In 1889 he was promoted to sergeant and finally to Captain on October 19, 1892.

In 1885, Rogers was involved in his first close Ranger encounter with outlaws. Capt. Scott and Company F were ordered to Brown County to try and put a stop to the fence cutting activities in the area. Coming upon a group of outlaws in the act of cutting a fence, the Rangers opened fire, leaving two fence cutters dead.

Later, a shoot out with the Conners gang would leave Rogers, Scott and Sgt. Brooks wounded and Ranger Jim Moore dead. Rogers was again wounded in the line of duty in Laredo where he was enforcing quarantine regulations during a smallpox epidemic. This wound to his shoulder required the removal of a short length of bone from his arm. To compensate for his shortened and weakened arm, Rogers carried a specially constructed Winchester.

Capt. Rogers resigned from the Ranger force in 1911. In 1913 he was appointed U. S. Marshall over the Western District of Texas. He served in this position for eight years. In 1927 he was recalled as a Captain in the Ranger service, a position he held until his death in Temple, Texas, on November 11, 1930.

Suggestions for further reading:

• W. W. Sterling, Trails and Trials of the Texas Ranger, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968
• Walter Prescott Webb, The Texas Rangers, 1935
• The New Handbook of Texas, Austin: Texas State Historical Commission, 1996, Vol. 5
• Darren L. Ivey, The Ranger Ideal Volume 2: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1874 – 1930, Denton: UNT Press, 2018
• Curren Rogers McLane, The Rogers Family Genealogy
• Vertical files, Texas Ranger Research Center, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, TX