DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker on Ira Long tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Born May the fifth, 1842, in Indiana, reared in Missouri, Ira Long came up the hard way, and then he went and made it harder on purpose. He stepped into Confederate service during the Civil War and walked out of it wounded.
Twice. Most men who get shot once start reconsidering their life choices. Ira Long apparently was not most men.
He carried those wounds into a future that, if anything, asked even more of him. By 1874, when Texas reorganized its Rangers, Long was right there, commissioned as a first lieutenant. A year later, 1875, he was promoted to captain of Company A.
Now, Company A had a particular distinction: it served as the official escort of Major John B. Jones, the commander of the entire Ranger force. That means Ira Long wasn't out on some quiet stretch of the frontier counting fence posts.
He was riding alongside the man at the top, in the thick of whatever the Texas frontier could throw at them. And the frontier threw plenty. The marker says he did outstanding duty against Indians and outlaws, and then, in the same breath, it adds the Mason County War.
If you've ever heard of a Texas feud, you know that quieting one is a whole different kind of danger than a straight-up fight. You're riding into a country where everybody's got a grievance and a rifle and they've already decided whose side God is on. Ira Long rode into that, too.
He served for six years all told; six years of escorts and outlaws and feuds and frontier, and when you stack it on top of two wounds from the Civil War, you start to understand what the marker means when it calls him dedicated and courageous. Those aren't decorations. Those are the plainest words that fit the facts.
He died March the eighth, 1913. The marker doesn't embellish it. Neither will I.
Some lives speak for themselves.
What the marker says
(May 5, 1842 - March 8, 1913) Dedicated and courageous. Born in Indiana; reared in Missouri. Wounded twice in Confederate service during the Civil War. On reorganization of Texas Rangers, 1874, was commissioned first lieutenant; promoted 1875 to captain, Company A, official escort of Major John B. Jones, commander of Ranger force. Did outstanding duty against Indians and outlaws, and in quieting such feuds as Mason County War. Served for six years. Recorded - 1967