"A hardened Indian-fighter...Maltby led a Ranger Company in frontier defense." - The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso (2008) "Full of the deeds of daring of men who were no less chivalrous than brave." - Southern History Association 1906 "Organized neighbors into a minute men militia as a Texas Ranger sergeant to protect the area from raiding Indians." – Tshaonline "Took part in the struggles between the Rangers and Indians and white desperadoes." – wikitree After serving for a year in the Civil War, "Captain Jeff" was ordered to go home to Texas and to organize a company of conscripts to arrest all deserters and "bushwhackers" and to put an end to frequent raids by a hostile band of Kiowas and Comanches. In 1906, William J. Maltby ("Captain Jeff") published "Captain Jeff; or, Frontier life in Texas with the Texas Rangers," the unvarnished story of a participant in the events that took place in the 1870s and went to the making of Texas. It deals with Native American raids on the frontiers, with the struggle against Big Foot, the Kiowa, and with his lieutenant, Jape, the Commanche, who were wreaking havoc in Burnett County. It is full of the deeds of daring of men who were no less chivalrous than brave and is told in an authentic vernacular, bringing to life those by-gone days of early Texas. Regarding the band of raiders, Captain Jeff was informed that "one of their number has a remarkably big foot; it is generally believed by all that have seen his tracks that he is a man of powerful physique, and is the chief of his tribe." This chief of the raiders would become known by the Texas Rangers as "Big Foot." That Big Foot, the Kiowa, was no ordinary horse-thief was demonstrated when he stole the mount of Captain Jeff from Sheriff's Gideon's lot in Brownwood one night in 1874. Big Foot had ranged this section of Texas from the close of the Civil War with a band of Indians, one of whom, Comanche Jape, was notoriously cruel. Prior to Captain Jeff taking charge, all efforts of the settlers and law officers from Burnet to Brown County had failed to cope with the band. In describing one skirmish, Captain Jeff writes, "the yell of a band of Indians echoed and re-echoed from bluff to bluff all along the Rio Grande caused the hair on our heads to raise straight up, and looking in the direction from which it came, 10 Indians some 300 yards distant were coming on us with the speed of a hurricane. Jeff said, 'Leave the mules, drive the spurs to your horses and jump into that gulley.' The Indians circled and came around within 150 yards at full speed ..." There are those who think that historical sources are dull, heavy and uninteresting! Such sources as Captain Jeff's book can never be uninteresting to a reader who has in him a spark of imagination. Captain Maltby and his Rangers are types of the men who redeemed Texas for civilization and this account of his deeds and his reminiscences, which form a part of the volume, are well worth reading. About the author: William J. Maltby known as "Captain Jeff" (1829-1908) was born in Illinois. During the 1840s and 50s he served in the US Army in Arkansas & Texas as scout, teamster, and messenger. Moving to Texas, he helped build several frontier forts. Mary Frances McKiney and William were married in 1857 in Burnet County, Texas, having eight children.