125 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, CORTINA STILL CONTROVERSIAL

"These two men[Ford and Cortina] are often used to argue that the relationship between Anglo and Mexican Texans in the second half of the nineteenth century was antagonistic. In fact, they had a complex relationship that included elements of armed conflict, wary cooperation, and even friendship, reflecting the all-too-human actual interactions of prominent men along the Rio Grande border in a turbulent era.” Dr. Richard B. McCaslin, author of "John S. “Rip” Ford of Texas: Fighting Stock."

By Juan Montoya

When Juan N. Cortina was held under house arrest in Mexico City in 1891, long after his depredations against his Anglo and Texan enemies on the U.S.-Mexico border, he was visited by his nemesis, former Texas Ranger John "Rip" Ford.

Back in Texas, Jerry Thompson wrote in a book, Ford remembered Cortina fondly for his "courtesy and hospitality" and graciously complimented on his young wife's looks.

Apparently, these men, who considered each other worthy opponents during the border troubles in the 1850s and during the Civil War at Palmetto Hill, had buried the hatchet and had learned to respect each other. Just three decades before, Ford had been in charge of the Texas Ranger contingent sent to assist the U.S. Army to drive Cortina from South Texas.

This  followed Cortina's occupation of Brownsville in September 1859 where he sought "flocks of vampires, in the guise of men who robbed Mexicans"of their property, incarcerated, chased, murdered, and hunted them like wild beasts."

He accused them of  abusing local Mexican Americans and taking their land with he connivance of U.S. authorities and the courts. After all was said and done, dictator Porfirio Diaz, seeking financial and political support for his regime, acquiesced to his Texas supporters which included the Stillmans and placed him under house arrest in Mexico, far from the border.

He died in 1894 in Mexico City and is buried there, although he petitioned Diaz several times to allow him to return to his home in Santa Rita to take care of his lands and stock and wanted to be buried here. In the twilight of his life, he said that he had made peace with the "Texas people" and wanted to leave the world without enemies.

Just recently, a couple of historical buffs that included members of the Brownsville Historical Association and some city officials, dreamed up a novel idea to bring people to the city's downtown. One hit upon the idea to combine a toga party March 15 and call it the "Ides of March" with a "Bring Cheno Back" fundraiser.

They never knew what kind of passions they incited. The first person who swore he would never participate in such an event was none other than Gene Fernandez, Old City Cemetery curator and manager of genealogy research, who has made presentations on the old warrior from Santa Rita.

In one, he said that Cortina's pronunciamiento against the alleged abuses of Mexican-Americans at the hands of anglo officials resembled verses "written by a drunk poet." Obviously, Fernandez, a descendant of Spanish merchants and related to other stakeholders in the Cortina Wars era still holds an old grudge.

But there was also reluctance on the part of other local residents to having the BHA or the city do anything that would antagonize Cortina' current enemies.

"Do we really want to offend anyone?," asked one of those who proposed the Cheno fundraiser. "Some people still hold a grudge against him. We don't want to make anybody angry."

Even a local academic who claims to be a direct descendant with Cortina urged the group to reconsider and advised that perhaps they should postpone the Cheno fundraiser to another, future, date.

"It might be too soon," he said. "And anyway, the Mexican government would probably not permit anyone taking his remains from their country and taking it to Texas."

And so it seems that Cheno will not be  apart of the March of Ides toga party and that the effort to bring his body home - which were undertaken in the past but stymied by the Mexican Revolution and the Great Depression - will be put off indefinitely.

"It's shame," said one of  the group. "This was going to be an opportunity to unite the city. Ford still has descendants living in Brownsville -the Cowens - and descendants of the Cortina family also live here. This could have been a good beginning to understand our history."

Cortina was more than the guerrilla chieftain who took over Brownsville. He also:

1. On May 5, 1862 (Cinco de Mayo), during the period of French intervention in Mexico,  helped to defend San Lorenzo during the Battle of Puebla.

2. Saw action at Matamoros and, envisioning himself as an independent and powerful caudillo, briefly cooperated with the French imperialists under Maximilian.

3. Later fought in central Mexico and was at Querétaro at the execution of Austrian archduke.

4. In 1863 proclaimed himself governor of Tamaulipas and was promoted to general of the Mexican Army of the North by President Benito Juárez. Cortina appointed himself governor again in 1866 but immediately relinquished the office to General Tapia.

5. In 1870, returned to the border  and forty-one residents of the Valley, including a former mayor of Brownsville and Ford himself, signed a petition asking that he be pardoned for his crimes because of his service to the Union during the Civl War. The petition failed in the Texas legislature on its second reading, in 1871.

6. In subsequent years, stockmen in the Nueces Strip accused Cortina of leading a large ring of cattle rustlers. Subsequent American diplomatic pressure was largely responsible for his arrest in July 1875 and his removal to Mexico City. He died in Atzcapozalco on October 30, 1894.