Sergeant James B. Gillett, circa 1879.

He said in his book, "Six Years with the Texas Rangers," that every man in his unit wore a big, wide brimmed cowboy hat. They wore all colors. This is a rare photograph to show a cowboy hat which looks like it belongs in Hollywood instead of a flat brimmed "Boss of the Plains" design which was so popular at the time. His has a rolled brim with a drop in the front. It appears to be a dark color, possibly black, possibly acorn.

He is wearing a vest. According to Gillett, all of his company wore vests for the pockets, as most cowboys did. You couldn't use hip pockets riding on a horse, so your pants pockets were limited to small items in the front pockets, and whatever was in the pockets wasn't easily accessible while riding. The vest provided a pocket for the watch, smoking materials, matches, etc.

Money, coins, was carried in the gunbelt.

He is wearing high square cut boots but no chaps.

His Winchester '73 is carried in a saddle holster on the right side. When Gillett joined the rangers when they were reformed after the carpetbagger government was thrown out, in 1874, rangers were issued .50 cal. Sharps carbines. He used his in his first fight with Apaches, chasing one Apache and shooting at him and reloading the Sharps at full gallop! After that fight the company bought a case of 10 Winchester '73s and deducted the cost of each man's rifle from his pay. The Sharps cost the government of Texas $17.50. The Winchester carbine was $40, while a rifle was $50. A ranger private was paid $30-40 a month during that era, depending on the whims of the legislature. So a Winchester was a big investment. Men who did not have pistols were issued "Colt's .45s" and the $17.50 was taken from their pay. Each man provided his own horse, saddle, and clothing. Gillett's horse was valued at $125 for replacement. The State of Texas would pay for a horse killed in the line of duty. Rangers, unlike U.S. Army troops, were authorized to ride horses to death if necessary to carry out the mission. Gillett blamed that on the Army's ineffectiveness against Indians in Texas. However, by the time he joined, most Indians had been driven from Texas by the Army. The last battles with Apache would be fought by both Army and Ranger troops, with the very last being a Ranger only affair involving Gillett's Company A under George Baylor.

Gillett used his Winchester well, killing outlaw Dick Dublin, a shot which cost Gillett $700, as the reward for Dublin was for arrest and conviction, not dead or alive. And he used it in battles with Apache, killing one in a duel in the rocks in which both men fired at the same time, but Gillett hit his opponent. He thought of himself a good shot with the Winchester, but he admitted Baylor, using his Springfield Sporting Rifle, in .45-70 was the best shot he had seen.

He treasured the Winchester and kept it all his life. It now resides in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum along with his Sharps. Only one other Winchester '73 from that direct shipment of rifles to the Ranger Company still exists. It, too, is in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.

Gillett's "Six Years with the Texas Rangers" is a treasure of information on the Texas Rangers in those years, 1875-1881. His notebook has also been published as "Fugitives from Justice, the notebook of Texas Ranger Sergeant James B. Gillett." The photos of his Sharps, Winchester, and Bowie knife, came from that. The photo of him above is in both books, but is shown reversed, as the original daguerrotype.

To see this full size, click here.

A similarly reversed tin-type of Billy the Kid had a lot of people, including a screenwriter, that Billy was left handed. Hence the awful Western movie, The Left Handed Gun. Gillett was right handed, and wore his Colt's .45 on his strong side hip, not crossdraw as was more common at the time. In front of it he wore his knife. The Colt is a 7-1/2" barreled blued model with ivory or stag or other white grips. The holster is apparently a 2 loop model.

Gillett later became marshall of El Paso, then owned and ran several ranches. He lived until 1937.