Follow Me to Hell: McNelly's Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice

by Tom Clavin

Overview

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Tom Clavin's Follow Me to Hell is the explosive true story of how legendary Ranger Leander McNelly and his men brought justice to a lawless Texan frontier.

In turbulent 1870s Texas, the revered and fearless Ranger Leander McNelly led his men in one dramatic campaign after another, apprehending cattle thieves, desperadoes, border ruffians, and other dangerous criminals and throwing them in jail or, if that's how they wanted it, six feet under. They would stop at nothing in pursuit of justice, even sending twenty-six Rangers across the border to retrieve stolen cattle—taking on hundreds of Mexican troops with nothing but their Sharps rifles and six-guns. The nation came to call them “McNelly’s Rangers.”

Set against the backdrop of 200 years of thrilling Texas Rangers history, this page-turner details the tough life along the Texas border that was tamed by a courageous, yet doomed, captain and his team of fearless men.

New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin takes readers deep into the heart of Texas and beyond in this thrilling true account of some of the most legendary frontier lawmen of all time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250214553
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/04/2023
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	59,422
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

TOM CLAVIN is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and has worked as a newspaper editor, magazine writer, TV and radio commentator, and a reporter for The New York Times. He has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and National Newspaper Association. His books include the bestselling Frontier Lawmen trilogy—Wild Bill, Dodge City, and Tombstone—and Blood and Treasure with Bob Drury. He lives in Sag Harbor, NY.

Table of Contents

Contents

Author’s Note
Prologue


Act I: Colonists and Captains
Chapter 1: ‘Texian Devils!’
Chapter 2: Luckless Liberators
Chapter 3: The Long Republic
Chapter 4: A Connecticut Yankee
Chapter 5: The Empresario
Chapter 6: The ‘Magna Carta’
Chapter 7: An Inkling of Independence
Chapter 8: Unlearned Lessons
Chapter 9: Austin Behind Bars
Chapter 10: ‘Come To Our Aid’
Chapter 11: ‘How Do You Like That Answer?’
Chapter 12: Looting and Shouting
Chapter 13: ‘Hurry On!’
Chapter 14: ‘Victory Purchased with Blood’
Chapter 15: Take the Fight South
Chapter 16: From Bad to Worse
Chapter 17: The Finest Company
Chapter 18: ‘My Men Evinced No Dismay’
Chapter 19: ‘Boys, Fight To the Last!”
Chapter 20: Invading Comancheria

Act II: Lone Star Lawman
Chapter 21: ‘Walking Whiskey Keg’
Chapter 22: Gettysburg of the West
Chapter 23: ‘Coolness and Courage’
Chapter 24: Frontier Forces
Chapter 25: ‘True To His Colors’
Chapter 26: Farmer and Father
Chapter 27: No Book To Stop This Bullet
Chapter 28: Follow the Money
Chapter 29: Another Long and Bloody War
Chapter 30: Quick With a Gun
Chapter 31: ‘A Perfect Reign of Terror’
Chapter 32: The Peacekeepers
Chapter 33: Reporters and Rangers

ACT III: Their Backs to the River
Chapter 34: Patrolling the Nueces Strip
Chapter 35: ‘You Must Be the Judge’
Chapter 36: Emperor McNelly
Chapter 37: ‘Got You Now!’
Chapter 38: ‘Master of the Situation’
Chapter 39: ‘The Jaws of Death’
Chapter 40: ‘Kill All You See’
Chapter 41: Rio Grande Standoff
Chapter 42: ‘Death Squad’
Chapter 44: Capt. McNelly Goes to Washington
Chapter 45: ‘This Rash Young Man’
Chapter 46: ‘Two Best Pistol Fighters in Texas’
Chapter 47: The New Lieutenant
Chapter 48: ‘The Brave Who Sink to Rest’


Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

01/09/2023

Bestseller Clavin (coauthor, The Last Hill) sketches in this scrupulous if meandering history the origin story of the Texas Rangers. Beginning in 1821, when Anglo settlers “thought it a good idea to have a sort of militia always ready for future provocations” by local Indigenous tribes, Clavin recounts land skirmishes, cattle raids, Civil War battles, and more. The book’s focal point is Leander McNelly, a member of the infamous Sibley Brigade during the Civil War, who famously tricked 400 Union soldiers into surrendering to his unit of 40 Confederates. McNelly’s “daring courage and consummate skill” in the Battle of Galveston and other Civil War clashes led to his appointment in 1874 as captain of a Texas Ranger unit in Washington County, Tex. Tasked with ridding the Nueces Strip between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers of bandits and cattle rustlers, McNelly was renowned for his bravery, cunning, and independent streak; he risked international conflict by leading raids into Mexico, but also helped evolve the Rangers “into the modern police force of today.” Though there’s plenty of action, McNelly’s fascinating character often gets lost in historical minutiae and filler. This saga sags a little too often. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Tom Clavin:

“In this accurate telling, Clavin tells the exhilarating story of the Texas Rangers in the 1870s, led by Ranger Leander McNelly. This book covers their pursuits of cattle rustlers, desperados, and other criminals and taking them in, dead or alive. Clavin's extensive research and passion for the subject shows through his writing.” —Men’s Journal on Follow Me to Hell

“Clavin is one of the most popular and bestselling Western authors writing about the Old West … His pace keeps the story moving forward and he provides details on the historical characters and events that make you want to read more on the topic after [finishing] the book.” —True West on Follow Me to Hell

"Clavin knows Western history ... [he] tells a good story." —Library Journal on Follow Me to Hell

“A rollicking tale of a Texas lawman and the iron-jawed contingent that rode with him...Fans of the Wild West and its pistol-packin’ miscreants will enjoy Clavin’s latest.” —Kirkus Reviews on Follow Me to Hell

“Fascinating … this is a stirring account.” —Forbes on Follow Me to Hell

"‘Lightning Down’ has an overarching positivity and celebration of resilience.” —AP News

"Absorbing...Fun and revealing." —The Wall Street Journal on Dodge City

"Clavin tacks up the truth like wanted posters in every chapter." —The New York Times Book Review on Wild Bill

"Breezy narrative style...fascinating lore." —NPR on Tombstone

From the Publisher

01/01/2023

At 5' 5" and 125 pounds, Leander McNelly was an improbable figure for a hero. But as captain of the Texas Rangers in the mid-1870s, he was a legendary fighter who led his unit from the front and never asked of them things he wouldn't do himself. He first became a police officer when Governor Edmund Davis established a Texas State Police force in 1870 and named McNelly as one of four captains. One of McNelly's first assignments was arresting and bringing back his own boss: he had absconded with $38,000. Lack of funds closed the unit, but it was reestablished in 1875 to address widespread cattle rustling, and McNelly was rehired, leading a unit in south Texas in 1875–76. He died the following year at the age of 33. Clavin (Tombstone) knows Western history, but the story he tells here is inconclusive—the Texas Rangers would arrest someone; then the suspect would escape or be let loose—and laying out the backstory for every person introduced slows the narrative repeatedly. Still, Clavin tells a good story. VERDICT Primarily for lovers of Western history.—David Keymer

Library Journal

2023-02-07
A rollicking tale of a Texas lawman and the iron-jawed contingent that rode with him.

Before there were the Texas Rangers, writes Clavin, an old hand at popular Western history, there were other rangers, assembled and deputized mostly to kill Native Americans and Mexicans. One early band “were not technically Rangers but pretty much served as such until Stephen Austin gave them a name.” As Clavin notes, the Mexicans who first allowed the Anglos to settle in Texas soon came to regret the decision. Whereas they had hoped that the new settlers would constitute a buffer between them and raiding Apaches and Comanches, they saw that the newcomers “were not adhering to Catholicism and continued to own slaves,” both violations of Mexican law. The author doesn’t soft-pedal the racist ethos surrounding the Rangers, but neither does he paint a heroic portrait of the likes of Travis and Crockett or the free-shooting pacifiers of the borderlands. One most effective of these early groups was a troop led by a Confederate veteran named Leander McNelly, who lived out a long life enforcing the law on the frontier in parallel with more organized police forces until finally being folded into the Texas Rangers in 1874. McNelly had plenty of scrapes and adventures, and he wasn’t shy about crossing into Mexico, violating international law, when the occasion suited him. Among the most noir of his bêtes noires was the outlaw John Wesley Hardin, who makes a much more interesting figure overall than McNelly. It took years to bring Hardin, elusive and seemingly impervious to bullets until his last moments, to justice, a story that takes up many pages here. McNelly, for his part, helped shape the Texas Rangers into a formidable force, and, as Clavin notes, he was acknowledged as such by being “a member of the first class inducted into the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame” decades after his death.

Fans of the Wild West and its pistol-packin’ miscreants will enjoy Clavin’s latest.

Kirkus Reviews