Juan Cortina

Juan Nepomuceno Cortina de Cavazos (May 16, 1824 – October 30, 1894), also known by his nicknames Cheno Cortina, the Red Robber of the Rio Grande, the Rio Grande Robin Hood, colossus of the rio grande, and king of the western frontier (as the New York Time called him). He was a pure blood Spanish Mexican rancher, politician, military leader, outlaw and folk hero. Son of Doña Estefana de la Garza Goseascochea Cavazos de Cortina (1798-1867) and Trinidad Cortina. Cortina’s grandfathers are José Narisco Cavazos and Don José Salvador de la Garza; recipients of the two largest Spanish land grants in Texas, the 1792 San Juan de Carricitos Grant “Saint John of the Little Reeds,” named for its wetland prairie grass) of the 601,000 acres granted by king of Spain, King Carlos IV in 1792) and the 1781 Portero del Espíritu Santo Grant 285,000 acres (“Pasture of the Holy Spirit”) grated by King of Spain, King Carlos III in 1781. The family had more "haciendas" land grants on the south side of the Rio Grande, the north side was the Frontera where the family kept their livestock.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cortina and the second or maternal family name is Goseacochea.

Juan Cortina
Nicknames	Red Robber of the Rio Grande, Cheno Cortina, the Rio Grande Robin Hood
Born	(1824-05-16)May 16, 1824 Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Died	October 30, 1894(1894-10-30) (aged 70) Azcapotzalco, Mexico City
Allegiance	Mexico
Branch	Mexican Army
Rank	Brigadier General

John “Rip” Ford describes Cortina's mother Estefana as "She was a small woman, not weighing more than one hundred pounds, being at the time over seventy years of age. She was very good looking, had a pretty face, bright black eyes and very white skin. She was a lady of culture and indicated as much in her actions and had all the politeness of a well-bred Mexican."

The land grants on the north side Rio Grande were known as the Nueces Strip and Wild Horse Desert, the famous open range (unfenced) desert due to its fullness of Spanish livestock including horses "Mesteñeros" , cattle "Criollo Cattle" sheep "Churra", Spanish goats, Black Iberian pigs, donkeys, mules, and poultry. The land grants were live on and ran by Chenos interrelated kin-network including the family's: Garza, Cavazos, Ballí, Villarreal, Esparza, Salazar, Longoria, Salinas, Hinojosa, Treviño, Pérez, and Flores.

The livestock was brought to the New World by Chenos famous forefathers; the conquistadors including: Christopher Colombus, Hernan Cortes, Francisco Coronado, Crisobal de Onate, and Alonso de Estrada.

Doña Estefana de la Garza Goseascochea Cavazos de Cortina (1798-1867), heir to San Juan and Espíritu Santo land grants (886,000 acres). Mother of Sabas Cavazos & Juan N. Cortina. Circa 1860

The land and livestocks, what Cortina called his "Industry," were slowing and quietly being stolen by incoming Anglo land grabbing, cattle barons: Charles Stillman, Mifflin Kennedy, and Richard King using violence, dubious legal manipulation, and “blood titles." In 1859, Cortina had grown tired of the systemic racism, oppression, and murders of his friends, family, and mestizos by the hands of the Texas Rangers (then called "The Kings Rangers" for their allegiance to The King Ranch) eventually leading to the Cortina Wars. Cortina, was an important caudillo, military general and regional leader, who effectively controlled the Mexican state of Tamaulipas as governor.^[1] In borderlands history he is known for leading a paramilitary mounted Mexican Militia in the failed Cortina Wars. The "Wars" were raids targeting Anglo-American civilians who owned racial enslave plantations and illegal stolen land settlements.

From 1836 to 1848 when Cortina was 12–24 years old, parts of the El Espíritu Santo Land Grant & San Juan de Carricitos Land Grant North of the Rio Grande River were in the disputed territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces Rivers, claimed by both Mexico and the Republic of Texas. The situation had a big impact on Cortina and his perspective on government and power. When the United States defeated Mexico in the Mexican–American War in 1848, Mexico was forced to cede the disputed territory to Texas. Cortina opposed this concession. Under The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed February 2, 1848 cortina would remain rightful owner of his families lands. However the inrush of Anglos led to many land disputes and stolen lands by the hands of the Texas Rangers or King Rangers as they were called. Cortina defeats the rangers twice to claim back his lands and Brownsville. However, Cortina's Mexican militia was defeated and forced to flee into Mexico when the Texas Rangers, the United States Army and the local militia of Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Tamaulipas all organized and fought against his forces. According to Robert Elman, author of Badmen of the West, Cortina was the first "socially motivated border bandit," similar to Catarino Garza and Pancho Villa of later generations. His followers were known as the "Cortinistas."

Cortina was a fighting and enduring soul for Mexican rights in a time of toil turmoil, his military and political achievements include:

• Fought under General Mariano Arista in the Mexican–American War
• Became Governor of Tamaulipas in the 1860s
• Served as a General under Benito Juárez during Mexicos war against the French
• Allied with the US Union Army during the Civil War era
• Led the Black Tigers which raided stolen ranches throughout Texas freeing enslaved Africans Americans
• Later imprisoned by Porfirio Díaz under diplomatic pressure

Cortina continued fighting land grabbing, cattle barons Stillman, Kennedy, and King for decades. Cortina led a volunteer Tejano militia to protect Mexican family’s, their cattle & horses, their lands “rancheros”, and their equal unalienable rights. He fought to regain his stolen lands and property and led two defeats against the Texas rangers - then called “the kings rangers” due to their loyalty to Richard King of the King Ranch. Stillman, Kennedy, and King petitioned US president James Buchanan to send US Army troops to battle Cortina. Starting The First Cortina War (1859–1860), When Cortina seized Brownsville, the fort was built on his family’s land, part of the El Espíritu Santo Land Grant, that was stolen by Charles Stillman. ^{[2]: 189–190}

Early life and political rising

A young Juan Cortina wearing the Mexican Army uniform.

Juan Cortina was born in Camargo, Tamaulipas Mexico, the son of Trinidad Cortina and Estéfana Goseacochea, a wealthy cattle-ranching family. At the time of his birth, his family's Espiritu Santo land grant encompassed more than 260,000 acres. When he was three, his family relocated to the Rio Grande Valley, as his mother had inherited vast tracts of Espiritu Santo in the area surrounding Matamoros and Brownsville. As children, Cortina and his sister Juana were kidnapped by Texas Indians and lived with them as prisoners until their escape back to South Texas. In 1846, at age 22, he enlisted with a Mexican Army unit commanded by Gen. Mariano Arista, who had arrived at Matamoros in an attempt to stop the advancing forces of Gen. Zachary Taylor. Arista asked Cortina to form a force from the local vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) who worked for him and the nearby ranches. This irregular cavalry regiment (called the "Tamaulipas") was placed under his command, and as the Mexican–American War began, it participated in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.

With the end of the war and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, the Cortina family estates were divided by the new frontier, leaving a vast portion of their lands inside United States territory. Cortina became an important political boss for the South Texas Democratic Party, and although the new local authorities invalidated many of his land claims, he remained a large rancher. Many landowners of Mexican ancestry suffered from this situation as well, and eventually, Cortina came into conflict with an influential group of lawyers and judges of Brownsville, whom he accused of expropriating land from Mexican Texans or "Tejanos", who were unfamiliar with the American legal system. "Flocks of vampires, in the guise of men," he wrote, robbed Mexicans "of their property, incarcerated, chased, murdered, and hunted them like wild beasts". Cortina's own skirmishes with the law steadily intensified, and he was indicted twice on charges of cattle theft. However, he was not arrested due to his already considerable popularity among the poorer Tejanos, who considered this attempt to be nothing but another demonstration of legal harassment by the "Anglos" (the Texans of American origin) to their class. With the self-appointed purpose of defending the rights of this social group, Cortina gathered, trained, and armed a private army, and on many occasions, he used this force to resist the eviction of Tejanos from their lands. As a result, he became a popular leader among the poorer local population, many of whom considered him a hero against the abuse of power by the Anglos.

In 1858, Cortina along with other rancheros attacked what was speculated to be the final surviving members of the Karankawa Indians, a Native American people whose homeland comprised the coastline of southern Texas, "when they were surprised at their hiding place in Texas and were exterminated."^[3]

The Cortina Troubles

Main article: Cortina Troubles

First Cortina War

Anglo families began immigrating to the Lower Rio Grande Valley after the Mexican Army was defeated by Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution, leading to Mexican State of Coahuila y Tejas becoming The Republic of Texas. Cortina opposed the land grabbing of several leagues of land granted to his wealthy Cavazos, De La Garza, Villrreal, Trevino, Esparza, Balli, and Hinojosa families of the Rio Grande. The tension between Cortina and the Brownsville authorities broke into violence on 13 July 1859. Brownsville town marshal Robert Shears was brutalizing Cortina's 60-year-old former ranch hand and real estate appraiser, Tomas Cabrera. Cortina happened to pass by, and asked Shears to let him handle the situation; Shears is said to have yelled at him in reply, "What is it to you, you damned Mexican?" Cortina fired a warning shot, then when Shears did not stop, he intervened and shot him in the shoulder. Cortina pulled the man up to his horse and quickly left the scene. On the 28 September he raided and occupied the town with a coterie of seventy men. Cortina's enemies had fled in the meantime, and during the occupation of Brownsville, he issued a famous proclamation to reveal his intentions to both communities. "(...) There is no need of fear. Orderly people and honest citizens are inviolable to us in their persons and interests. Our object, as you have seen, has been to chastise the villainy of our enemies, which heretofore has gone unpunished. These have connived with each other, and form, so to speak, a perfidious inquisitorial lodge to persecute and rob us, without any cause, and for no other crime on our part than that of being of Mexican origin, considering us, doubtless, destitute of those gifts which they themselves do not possess. (...) Mexicans! Peace be with you! Good inhabitants of the State of Texas, look on them as brothers, and keep in mind that which the Holy Spirit saith: "Thou shalt not be the friend of the passionate man; nor join thyself to the madman, lest thou learn his mode of work and scandalize thy soul." (Proverbs 22:24-25)

Cortina retained control over Brownsville until 30 September 1859, when he evacuated the town at the urging of influential residents of Matamoros. The following days, the townsfolk of Brownsville formed a twenty-man group in order to fight Cortina, called "the Brownsville Tigers". In November, the Brownsville Tigers learned that Cortina was at his mother's ranch in the nearby town of Santa Rita, five miles west of Brownsville. They immediately launched an attack, only to be sent into retreat in disarray by Cortina's forces.

Later the same month, the Brownsville Tigers were joined by a group of Texas Rangers, and Cortina decided to attack them. The offensive was unsuccessful, and on December, a second group of Rangers led by Capt. John "Rip" Ford arrived, larger and better organized. Because of appeals from Brownsville citizens, the U.S. Army sent troops from San Antonio to the nearby Fort Brown, which had been abandoned a few years ago. The fort's new commander, Maj. Samuel Heintzelman, united and coordinated all armed groups to put an end to the Cortina threat. Cortina retreated up the Rio Grande, until on December 27, 1859 Heintzelman and Ford engaged him in the Battle of Rio Grande City. Cortina's forces were decisively defeated, losing sixty men and all their equipment. Pursued and defeated by Ford again a few days later, Cortina retreated into the Burgos Mountains. The First Cortina War had finished, and with increasing pressure from both the United States and Mexican Government to cease all hostile activities, Cortina remained away from the scene for more than a year.

Second Cortina War

In May 1861, the much shorter Second Cortina War took place. The American Civil War had just begun, and Cortina, who had aligned himself with the Federal Government of the United States, invaded Zapata County. He was defeated by Confederate Capt. Santos Benavides at the battle of Carrizo, and retreated into Mexico after losing eighteen men. No longer would Cortina conduct large-scale military incursions within the territory of the United States, albeit accusations of promoting guerrilla actions against the richer Texan landowners in the area were numerous throughout the following years.^[4]

Later political career

In the following years, Cortina focused on his political career within the state of Tamaulipas. President Benito Juárez appointed him military commander of the forces stationed at the southeastern frontier.^{[citation needed]}

When the French intervention in Mexico began in 1862, Cortina sided with Juárez at first, and took part in the Battle of Puebla on May 5. However, as the French eventually defeated the Mexican forces led by the Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza and succeeded in establishing Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg as Maximilian I, sovereign of Mexico, Cortina sensed the opportunity to consolidate his power in the Tamaulipas region and switched sides by joining the invaders. This alliance was short-lived, and soon Cortina rose against the French. Commanding a large army that he had personally gathered and equipped, he engaged the interventionist forces that had landed near Tampico and defeated them. His further military actions along Central Mexico helped in the effort against the invasion, and he was present at the execution of Maximilian in Querétaro (June 1867). During this time, in the absence of a legal national authority, he appointed himself Governor of Tamaulipas twice - in 1864 and in 1865. He resigned from the office in 1866 in favor of Generals José María Jesús Carbajal and Santiago Tapia.

The attitude of the Anglo American Texans towards Cortina changed completely with the defeat of the Confederacy and his important role in the defense of the Mexican Government, and after returning to his estates in Matamoros in 1870 he was formally invited on several occasions as guest of honor of the city of Brownsville. His support to the Union motivated many notable residents of the Rio Grande Valley (including a former mayor of Brownsville) to endorse a petition to the Texas Legislature, asking for a formal pardon for his crimes during the Cortina Troubles. Although this motion didn't prosper and was eventually rejected, Cortina had earned the lasting sympathy of most of the local population of both Hispanic and American descent. The Mexican authorities also honored him: he was appointed Brigadier General, and the largest battalion of the state of Tamaulipas was renamed "el Batallón Cortina" (the "Cortina Battalion").

Arrest and exile

Cortina supported General Porfirio Díaz, military hero of the French intervention in Mexico and political rival of Benito Juárez and his successor Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Cortina attempted to raise an army from the local population and sheltered Díaz following his failed rising. Repeated accusations against Cortina by wealthy landowners in Texas of conducting cross-border raids against their cattle and properties were eventually heeded by the Lerdo's administration, and used as public justification to detain him. In 1875, Cortina was arrested and brought to Mexico City.

On 29 November 1876, Díaz overthrew President Lerdo in the Plan of Tuxtepec, which saw his re-election as a violation of the Constitution of 1857. Cortina was allowed to return to Tamaulipas, where he once again tried to raise an armed force. But before he could put his new army to use, Díaz ordered his arrest and confinement within Mexico City for the second time.

Many factors contributed to Díaz's decision, the main ones being Cortina's ambition to power within Tamaulipas above anything, and the consequent unreliability and instability of his support, as he had already demonstrated many times in his life. Díaz had also received a large sum of money, estimated from anywhere between $50,000 to $200,000 from the wealthy South Texas ranchers to finance his seizure of power with the condition that, in turn, he would take care of stopping Cortina's raids on United States territory. Most important, Díaz was determined to remain in absolute control of the Government (as he did for the subsequent thirty-three years), no matter the means involved, and he systematically removed all traces of opposition that could have challenged his will. Also, with diplomatic pressure coming from the United States Government, which was concerned about Cortina's ambitions in Cameron County and his behavior in the past, the President decreed the arrest and execution of his former ally.

Gen. José Canales, a longtime enemy of Cortina, was sent to carry out the order and decided to bring him to Mexico City instead, fearing popular reprisals from the people of Tamaulipas. His old nemesis, John S. Ford, also interceded on his behalf. Cortina was kept at the military prison of Santiago Tlaltelolco, without being tried or sentenced. He remained there until 1890, when he was removed from prison and placed under house arrest in a comfortable home in Azcapotzalco, northwest of Mexico City. Cortina remained there until his death on October 30, 1894.

In popular culture

• Documentary on 'History On Point' "Juan Cortina’s Raid of Brownsville, TX 1859: Part 1" https://historyonpoint.com/podcast/raid-of-brownsville-part-1-juan-cortina/
• Cortina is the subject of Oscar Chávez's song, "Corrido de Juan Cortina".
• Charles B. Griffith wrote a script to be directed by Roger Corman about Cortina called Devil on Horseback in 1955 - it was never made^[5]
• He was portrayed by Joaquim de Almeida in the 1999 film One Man's Hero
• In the Law & Order episode "Boy Gone Astray", Connie Rubirosa mentioned that Cortina was one of her ancestors.
• Jack Elam portrayed Cortina in the 1961 episode, "The General Without a Cause" on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.
• The 1996 documentary film, The West by Ken Burns, presents a section on Juan Cortina directed by Stephen Ives.
• In the novel Texas by Carmen Boullosa, the character Don Nepomuceno is based on Cortina.