The Men Who War the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers (52 page)

  6: Glory and Infamy

1. Wilkins,
   Highly Irregular Irregulars,
   75–78; Reid,
   Scouting Expeditions,
   125.
   
2. Wilkins,
   Highly Irregular Irregulars,
   75–80; Bauer,
   The Mexican War,
   90; Clayton and Chance,
   March to Monterrey,
   63.
   
3. Reid,
   Scouting Expeditions,
   127–29; Bauer,
   The Mexican War,
   90; Clayton and Chance,
   March to Monterrey,
   63.
   
4. Holland, “Diary of a Texan Volunteer,” 25; Bauer,
   The Mexican War,
   90.
   
5. Bauer,
   The Mexican War,
   90–92; Holland, “Diary of a Texan Volunteer,” 25.
   
6. Wilkins,
   Highly Irregular Irregulars,
   83.
   
7. Holland, “Diary of a Texan Volunteer,” 25.
   
8. Eisenhower,
   So Far from God,
   120–21; Caperton, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays,” 43; Chamberlain,
   My Confession,
   80.
   
9. Quoted in Smith,
   Chile con Carne,
   82.
   
10. Caperton, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays,” 44; Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    130; Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    152–53.
    
11. Sowell,
    Life of “Big Foot” Wallace,
    122–23.
    
12. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    159.
    
13. Quoted in Caperton, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays,” 45.
    
14. Sowell,
    Life of“Big Foot”Wallace,
    123; “Steel clashed against steel . . . ,” Chamberlain,
    My Confession,
    90. Chamberlain was not present at the battle of Monterrey, being in San Antonio with Gen. John E. Wool’s troops at the time. He did, however, fight at Buena Vista and had firsthand knowledge of combat in northern Mexico. He probably drew his account of Monterrey from conversations with Rangers, from official records, and from other published accounts, and it is considered, within the limitations of secondhand information, to be an accurate description (see William H. Goetzman’s introduction to
    My Confession,
    8–9).
    
15. Chamberlain,
    My Confession,
    92.
    
16. Sowell,
    Life of “Big Foot” Wallace,
    123.
    
17. Holland, “Diary of a Texan Volunteer,” 26; Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    141; Oates, “Texas Rangers in the Mexican War,” 68.
    
18. Barry,
    Buck Barry,
    38–39.
    
19. Oates, “Texas Rangers in the Mexican War,” 68.
    
20. Ibid., 68; Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    106–7; Henry,
    Campaign
    Sketches,
    222; Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    144–47; Taylor to AAG USA, HED 60:430.
    
21. Melchior Hoffer to Walker, August 14, 1846, and Mary Bordley to Walker, November 6, 1846, bothin Walker Papers; Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    114.
    
22. Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    114.
    
23. Ibid., 114; Wilson,
    Colt: An American Legend,
    18–20.
    
24. Colt to John Mason, December 1, 1846, Walker Papers.
    
25. Wilson,
    Colt: An American Legend,
    23–26; Colt to J. T. Walker, December 16, 1846, Walker Papers. Jonathan T. Walker was Samuel Walker’s brother.
    
26. Colt to Samuel Walker, January 18, 1847, Walker Papers; Wilson,
    Colt: An American Legend,
    26–28; Webb,
    Great Plains,
    177–79.
    
27. Quoted in Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    87n.
    
28. Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    123–25; Chance,
    Mexico Under Fire,
    113.
    
29. Dobie, “Mustang Gray,” 109–12.
    
30. Chance,
    Mexico Under Fire,
    113; Chamberlain,
    My Confession,
    6, 10.
    
31. Smith,
    Chile con Carne,
    294–95.
    
32. Dobie, “Mustang Gray,” 112.
    
33. Lamar Papers No. 2326,
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    4:1:167–68.
    
34. Lane,
    Adventures and Recollections,
    53–59; Chamberlain,
    My Confession,
    350, n113.
    
35. Taylor to AG USA, June 16, 1847, HED 60:1178.
    
36. Smith,
    Chili con Carne,
    293–94.
    
37. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    113–15; Samuel H. Walker to Jonathan T. Walker, August 4, 1847, Walker Papers.
    
38. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    114–16; Oates, “Texas Rangers in the Mexican War,” 70.
    
39. Samuel H. Walker to Jonathan T. Walker, October 15, 1847, Walker Papers.
    
40. Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    349.
    
41. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    114–16; Greer,
    Colonel Jack Hays,
    170–71; Ford,
    Rip
    Ford’s Texas,
    81–85.
    

  7: A New Era

1. Technically, Santa Fe was claimed by Texas, being east of the Rio Grande. The federal government, however, had never really acknowledged the claim and finally settled the matter by purchasing the disputed territory from Texas as part of the Compromise of 1850.
   
2. Caperton, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays,” 67–73; Maverick,
   Memoirs,
   95–96; Greer,
   Colonel Jack Hays,
   216–21. During the Hays era, the term “El Paso” referred to “el Paso del Norte” (the Pass of the North), a ford of the Rio Grande between mountain chains at the bend where the river turns north into New Mexico. A small American settlement called Hart’s Mill was established at the pass itself, and several other settlements grew up along the river above and below Hart’s Mill. These ultimately consolidated into the modern city of El Paso. On the opposite side, the Mexican city of El Paso del Norte is now known as Ciudad Juárez. Citizens of El Paso, Texas, sometimes call their city “Pass of the North” in deference to its geographical location.
   
3. These companies are discussed in Henry W. Barton, “Five Texas Frontier Companies During the Mexican War.” Horton sent several letters to Secretary of War William Marcy and other federal officials, which are reprinted in Winfrey and Day,
   Texas Indian Papers,
   5:8–13 and 17–19.
   
4. Webb,
   Texas Rangers,
   127–28; “With the exception . . . ,” Olmsted,
   Journey
   Through Texas,
   298.
   
5. HR 352, Payment of Texas Volunteers, 1.
   
6. Ibid., 1–2; Wood to Fitzhugh, January 15, 1848, and Wood to S. P. Ross, March 14, 1848, both in
   Texas Indian Papers,
   3:100.
   
7. Harris,
   Gila Trail,
   30. The Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth is located on the site of the old military post.
   
8. Myers Papers, Folder 10; Webb,
   Texas Rangers,
   128–29.
   
9. HR 352, 2. When the state applied to the federal government for reimbursement for the three companies requisitioned by the army, the House Committee on Military Affairs determined that the United States should reimburse Texas the cost of the initial two companies as well, stating that “this call for volunteers was absolutely necessary for the safety of the citizens” and the governor would have been derelict in his duty not to order it.
   
10. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    141.
    
11. Ibid., 142–43; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    142–43.
    
12. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    149; Petition from the Citizens of Rio Grande to Bell, undated [1850], Winfrey and Day,
    Texas Indian Papers,
    3:138–39.
    
13. Ford’s life is covered in W. J. Hughes’s biography,
    Rebellious Ranger: Rip Ford
    and the Old Southwest,
    and in his own memoirs,
    Rip Ford’s Texas.
    
14. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    145.
    
15. Ibid., 147.
    
16. Ibid., 150–54.
    
17. Olmsted,
    Journey Through Texas,
    300.
    
18. Nat Benton, claims against the state, January 8, 1856, and March 31, 1857, TAGF; Executive Department to Col. H. K. Craig, U.S. Ordnance Department, undated, 1858, TAGF.
    
19. Wilson,
    Colt,
    30.
    
20. Barton, “The United States Cavalry and the Texas Rangers,” 508–9.
    
21. Hughes,
    Rebellious Ranger,
    106.
    
22. H. Clay Davis to Bell, July 9, 1852, TAGR.
    
23. Harmon, “United States Indian Policy in Texas,” 382. Harmon’s basic information is sound, although the article should be used with caution because of specific problems in spelling and dates. For example, he says “Fort Marvin Scott” for Fort Martin Scott (Fredericksburg), places Fort Phantom Hill in James County when it actually is in Jones County, and dates the establishment of Fort Stockton during the period 1849–53, when in fact it was founded in 1859.
    
24. Olmsted,
    Journey Through Texas,
    301–2.
    
25. Untitled documents, RG 401, TAGF.
    
26. Governor Elisha M. Pease to “Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives,” August (day illegible) 1856, ibid.
    
27. Robinson, “Life and Death of an Indian Lover,” 18.
    
28. Davis to Bell, September 19, 1853, Winfrey and Day,
    Texas Indian Papers,
    5:155–57.
    
29. Harmon, “United States Indian Policy in Texas,” 394.
    
30. Neighborsto Bvt . Maj. Gen. D. E. Twiggs, commander DT, extractin Twiggs to Lt. Col. L. Thomas, AAG USA, January 20, 1858, HR 535,
    Claims for Spoliations,
    5.
    
31. Neighbors to Twiggs, extract, ibid., 5.
    
32. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    223–24; Runnels to Ford, January 28, 1858, TAGF; Brown,
    History of Texas,
    2:375.
    
33. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    227–32; Ford to Runnels, undated (May 12, 1858), TAGR. The first two pages of the report are missing; the extant copy, a transcript in the University of Texas Center for American History, begins with the discovery of the main camp.
    
34. Ford to Runnels, undated (May 12, 1858), TAGR. A more dramatic account of the fight appears in Wilbarger,
    Indian Depredations,
    320–26. Wilbarger (320) states that Iron Jacket got his name because “he wore a coat of scale mail, a curious piece of armor, which doubtless had been stripped from the body of some unfortunate Spanish knight slain, perhaps, a century [
    sic
    ] before—some chevalier who followed Coronado, De Leon, La Salle [
    sic
    ]. . . .”
    
35. Runnels to John B. Floyd, secretary of war, August 9, 1858, HR 535,
    Claims for
    Spoliations,
    6; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    239n.
    
36. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    239n.
    
37. “with power and authority . . . ,” Appointment of a Peace Commission, June 6, 1859, TAGF; Klos, “ ‘Our People Could Not Distinguish One Tribe from Another,’ ” 611, 615; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    167–72; Neighbours,
    Robert Simpson
    Neighbors,
    198ff.; Hacker,
    Cynthia Ann Parker,
    23; Robinson, “Life and Death of an Indian Lover,” 18–19. An opposing view of the situation is offered by Ranger James Buckner Barry in his memoirs, appropriately titled
    Buck Barry.
    Barry (112–17) contends the threat from the Comanche reservation was very real, and that the reservation Comanches routinely joined in the depredations of their hostile kin against surrounding settlements. He maintains that an ad hoc company of Rangers with Baylor as their commander was the logical—indeed the only possible—response to the situation, because they could get no relief from either the agency personnel or troops at Fort Belknap. In fact, Barry says (113–14) that at one point, having chased marauders from the Comanche reservation to the Lower Brazos Reserve at Belknap, they were fired on by U.S. soldiers and Indian auxiliaries, initiating a fight that “was bloody for a while.” Eventually Baylor, who Barry said was loath to continue fighting federal troops, ordered his company to fall back and break off the action. John Henry Brown, who commanded a Ranger company involved in the reservation dispute, claims the persecution of the reserve Indians was “more or less distorted for political effect.” While Brown admitted that the hysteria led to “the killing of probably two small parties of unoffending Indians, still it was unquestionably true that more or less of the depredations . . . were perpetrated by the Indians belonging to one or the other of the two reservations.” Brown,
    Indian Wars and Pioneers,
    121.
    
38. Sul Ross’s life is discussed in Judith Ann Benner’s biography,
    Sul Ross, Soldier,
    Statesman, Educator.
    Ross himself mentioned the adoption in a letter (July 12, 1884) to James T. DeShields, reprinted in Wilbarger,
    Indian Depredations,
    333. One of the most remarkable and intellectually gifted of all Ranger leaders, Ross not only became governor but also served as a Confederate general, framer of the present state constitution, and president of Texas A&M College. Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, is named in his honor.
    
39. Benner,
    Sul Ross,
    47–48.
    
40. DeShields,
    Border Wars of Texas,
    162–63.
    
41. Benner,
    Sul Ross,
    49–50; Hacker,
    Cynthia Ann Parker,
    24.
    
42. Gholson, “The Death of Nacona,” 1; Hacker,
    Cynthia Ann Parker,
    27. Gholson dictated his story on August 26, 1931. It should be remembered that Rangers of the period often were very young men, and he would have been in his late teens or early twenties at the time of the fight.
    
43. Gholson, “The Death of Nacona,” 1–4; Hacker,
    Cynthia Ann Parker,
    26–27. The famous Nacona
    ^®
    brand of Western boot is named for Peta Nacona.
    
44. Gholson, “The Death of Nacona,” 4.
    
45. Hacker,
    Cynthia Ann Parker,
    28.
    
46. Ibid., 33–35. One of her sons was Quanah Parker, the last great Comanche war chief.
    

  8: The Cortina War

1. The name is often erroneously spelled “Cortinas.” The character Pedro Flores in Larry McMurtry’s novel
   Lonesome Dove
   is based on Cortina, as is Benito Garza in James A. Michener’s
   Texas.
   See Thompson,
   Juan Cortina,
   7–8.
   
2. Thompson,
   Juan Cortina,
   11.
   
3. Canales,
   Juan N. Cortina Presents His Motion,
   5; Ford,
   Rip Ford’s Texas,
   261.
   
4. Ford,
   Rip Ford’s Texas,
   261. During the Cortina War, Ford relentlessly hunted Cortina. In the Civil War, however, Ford’s wife refugeed to Matamoros, where Cortina protected her, establishing a love-hate relationship between the two men. Ford intervened on Cortina’s behalf when the latter fell afoul of the Díaz regime in Mexico in 1876. See Thompson,
   Juan Cortina,
   3.
   
5. Ford,
   Rip Ford’s Texas,
   261–64; Webb,
   Texas Rangers,
   176.
   
6. Webb,
   Texas Rangers,
   175–76; Coker,
   News from Brownsville,
   295–96; Canales,
   Juan Cortina Presents His Motion,
   9–10; Rayburn and Rayburn,
   Century of Conflict,
   64.
   
7. Affidavit of Robert Shears, January 14, 1860, U.S. Congress,
   Difficulties on
   Southwestern Border,
   129–30; Thompson,
   Juan Cortina,
   13–12; Rayburn and Rayburn,
   Century of Conflict,
   64–65.
   
8. “Long live Cheno Cortina! Death to the gringos! Long live the Republic of Mexico!”
   
9. In his official report, U.S. Appraiser General W. P. Reyburn said Neale had killed two Mexicans in fits of jealousy, and Morris “had perpetrated many Mexican murders.” Reyburn to F. A. Hatch, November 21, 1859, U.S. Congress,
   Difficulties on Southwestern Frontier,
   65.
   
10. Reyburn to Hatch, November 21, 1859, ibid., 65–66; Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    3–4; Thompson,
    Juan
    Cortina,
    12; Rayburn and Rayburn,
    Century of Conflict,
    66–67; Glaevecke, “A Story of Old Times,” 23.
    
11. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    179–81; “lay the town in ashes . . . ,” Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    4–5; “For God’s sake, urge the government . . . ,” anonymous citizen to New Orleans
    Picayune,
    October 10, 1859, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on Southwestern Frontier,
    40.
    
12. Runnels to Tobin, October 13, 1859, TAGF.
    
13. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    5–6; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    181-82. Heintzelman implied they lynched Cabrera, and Webb cites Rip Ford in actually accusing them of it. The broken-neck story was told by Judge Harbert Davenport and published in Webb, 181.
    
14. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    6–8; P. Jordan to “Dr. W.,” November 14, 1859, RG 401–100, TAGF; Hughes,
    Rebellious Ranger,
    162.
    
15. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    7; Twiggs to Secretary of War John B. Floyd, November 28, 1859, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on Southwestern Frontier,
    73.
    
16. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    6–8; Thompson,
    Fifty Miles and a Fight,
    138.
    
17. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    266; Runnels to Ford, November 17, 1859, TAGF.
    
18. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    266–67; Hughes,
    Rebellious Ranger,
    162–63.
    
19. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    7–8; Heintzelman to Twiggs, December 16, 1859, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on
    Southwest Frontier,
    87–88. Ford (
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    267) says the fight was December 6. Heintzelman’s date is used, as his report to Twiggs was dated only two days after the fight.
    
20. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    267–68; Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    8; Thompson,
    Fifty Miles and a Fight,
    143.
    
21. Headquarters, Department of Texas, Special Orders No. 113, December 16, 1859, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on Southwestern Frontier,
    88–89; Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    8; Ford,
    Rip
    Ford’s Texas,
    269–70; Hughes,
    Rebellious Ranger,
    163; Thompson,
    Fifty Miles
    and a Fight,
    142, 146–48.
    
22. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    8–9; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    270. The nineteenth-century Edinburg on the Rio Grande is designated on modern maps as Hidalgo. The present city of Edinburg, founded in the first decade of the twentieth century, is some fifteen miles inland.
    
23. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    9; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    270–71.
    “Quién vive?”
    literally translates as “Who lives?”, which is to say, “Which side do you support?” In Mexico, it is used in lieu of “Who goes there?” The reply is
    “Viva
    [
    cualquier político, general, cacique o
    causa
    ],
    ”
    meaning “Long live [whatever politician, general, chieftain or cause],” thus identifying the other party.
    
24. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    9; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    271. A modern visitor to Rio Grande City will be able to identify the hill, which is now surmounted by the Starr County Courthouse, although the river has shifted about a mile to the southwest and is no longer adjacent to the town. Cortina’s line probably ran along the modern esplanade from the courthouse to the drop-off at the former riverbank.
    
25. Heintzelman to Cooper, December 27, 1859, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on
    Southwestern Frontier,
    97; Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    9–10; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    271–75; List of wounded in the battle of Rio Grande City, Dec. 27, 1859, TAGF; Thompson,
    Fifty
    Miles and a Fight,
    155.
    
26. Tobin to Houston, December 28, 1859, TAGF; Tobin to Houston, January 2, 1860, TAGR; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    276–77; Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    10; Thompson,
    Fifty Miles and
    a Fight,
    161–62.
    
27. Tobin to Runnels, December 16, 1859, TAGR.
    
28. Ford to Houston, December 29, 1959, ibid.
    
29. Tobin to Heintzelman, January 2, 1860, TAGF; Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    10.
    
30. Navarro to Houston, February 15, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on South-western Frontier,
    120–22; Campbell to Capt. J. B. Ricketts, Commander at Ringgold Barracks, January 28, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    19.
    
31. Heintzelman to Navarro and Taylor, February 2, 1860; Special Order, Office of State Commissioners, February 2, 1860, both in U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on
    Southwestern Frontier,
    118–19. Despite Littleton’s support of Tobin during the election, Fordconsideredhimagoodofficer.SeeHughes,
    RebelliousRanger,
    169.
    
32. Heintzelman to Lee, March 1, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    10–11; Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    281–83; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    187–88.
    
33. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    283.
    
34. Ford to Heintzelman with addendum, February 4, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles
    on Texas Frontier,
    63.
    
35. Ford,
    Rip Ford’s Texas,
    283–86.
    
36. Heintzelman to García, February 5, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    65.
    
37. Long,
    Memoirs of Robert E. Lee,
    76–80; Samuel Cooper, AG USA, to Lee, February 24, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Difficulties on Southwestern Frontier,
    133; Lee to Cooper, March 15, 1860, U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    78.
    
38. Lee to Cooper, April 11, 1860, and Lee to Trevino, April 2, 1860, both in U.S. Congress,
    Troubles on Texas Frontier,
    83–84; diary entry, April 10, 1860, quoted in Long,
    Memoirs of Robert E. Lee,
    80. The original (1848) post commander’s house at Fort Ringgold is still shown to visitors as “the Robert E. Lee house,” although there is no evidence that he ever stayed there. Departmental commanders generally carried their own well-appointed camping equipment, rather than trust the often rudimentary housing at frontier posts. Upon its disposal by the War Assets Administration in 1948, the entire century-old post of Fort Ringgold was deeded to the Rio Grande City School District. Many of the buildings of the original antebellum post still exist, although in an advanced state of deterioration; preservation is hampered by state laws concerning the use of school funds. State education and school building maintenance laws, unfortunately, were not designed around the possibility that they would apply to one of the oldest and bestpreserved military posts in the trans-Mississippi West. Classes and support services are housed in buildings erected when the post was reconstructed beginning in 1867. Visitors to the post are subject to the standard state regulations concerning public schools.