MYTHS YOUR FATHER TOLD YOU #2

By Juan Montoya

"Brownsville and Cameron County are named after great military heroes."

Not exactly.

Jacob Brown

When Zachary Taylor arrived on the Rio Grande from Corpus Christi, he had his engineers construct a massive earthen fort on the bend in the river facing directly across from Matamoros.

Although the name went through different names (Polk, Texas, Taylor, etc.), it is best, and still, remembered as Ft. Brown. When Taylor left to Point Isabel to protect his supply line from Mexican soldiers, he left Major Jacob Brown in charge of the fort.

The most charitable narrative of what happened next is that the Mexicans attacked the fort May 3 by shelling its walls. Though the confrontation at Fort Texas lasted six days, with periods of heavy cannon fire, casualties were remarkably low. There's good reason for that. The Mexican artillery was notoriously bad, with the U.S. arms of higher technological quality.

Though the confrontation at Fort Texas lasted six days, with periods of heavy cannon fire, casualties were remarkably low.

Only two U.S. soldiers died in the bombardment, but that toll included Brown. He was struck in the leg by a cannon ball on May 6. Apparently, Brown wandered outside the fort during the bombardment and a cannon ball bounced off the wall of the fort and shattered his leg. After his leg was amputated, he survived for several days only to die on May 9, just hours before the siege ended.

A fanciful drawing depicting Brown killed by an exploding shell is just that, fanciful.

Had he remained inside the fort, Brown would have lived to fight again.

However, as a result of this mindless act, we are now living in a town bearing this luckless individual's name.

EWEN CAMERON

Cameron was born in Scotland and enlisted in the Texas army during the Texas Revolution. He frequently led raids into what is now South Texas and harassed Mexican towns and ranches.

On December 26, 1842, he was part of the Mier Expedition, a failed attack on on the Mexican border settlement of Ciudad Mier.

At that time, there was no war declared and the Texans were seen as marauders on the Mexican side of the border.

Cameron and the other Texans were taken prisoner and sent to a prison in Mexico. At Perote Prison, a jar containing 159 white beans and 17 black ones was presented to the Texans prisoners. Each man drew a bean from the jar. The 17 Texans prisoners who drew black beans and were then executed by a Mexican firing squad.

Cameron had selected a white bean, which should have saved his life, but he had earned the hostility of Mexican army officers and for his role in a failed escape attempt at prison.

His ill-advised attempt to escape from his enemies deep within their territory ended up by his execution by a Mexican firing squad at Perote Prison on April 26, 1843.

Mythbuster

So there you have it. Brown should have had more sense than to wander outside the fort, and Cameron should have quit while he was ahead.