The name horse marines was first used by Colonel Edward J. Wilson in the Kentucky Gazette to describe a group of mounted volunteer rangers during the Texas Revolution. Under the direction of Thomas Jefferson Rusk these horse marines patrolled the Texas coast in anticipation of a landing of Mexican troops.

Charles Drake Ferris was a member of the “Horse Marines”. The article below was written by Warren Angus Ferris and submitted to the Dallas Herald, October 14, 1871. The article mentions Major Isaac W. Burton, another member of the “Horse Marines”. Charles Ferris and Major Burton maintained a friendship and professional relationship by publishing a weekly newspaper that ran during the Texas Revolution from 1836 through 1838, called “The Nacogdoches Texas Chronicle“.