161 YEARS AGO "CHENO" CORTINA TOOK OVER BROWNSVILLE

(Ed.'s Note: On September 28, 1859, local rancher Juan Nepomuceno Cortina, heir to his mother's ranch on the Espiritu Santo Grant that covered most of Cameron County including the land where the City of Brownsville was later situated, rode into town with between 60 to 100 men seeking out his enemies. After he was urged by a delegation from Matamoros to quit the occupation, he issued the proclamation below two days later. Cortina went on to become a brigadier general in then Mexican army and later military governor of Tamaulipas A copy of the original proclamation was made available to us by a researcher who found it in the Yale University Library.)

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

PROCLAMATION OF CITIZEN J. NEPOMUCENO CORTINA, to the residents of the State of Texas, and mainly to those in the city of Brownsville. (Yale University Library)

FELLOW CITIZENS: a serious event in which, by fate, I have resulted the main figure since the early morning of the 28th of this year puzzles and scares you, perhaps, due to its consequences and evolution. There is nothing to be afraid of. Lawmen and honorable citizens are, for us, inviolable in their persons and interests. 

Our goal, as you have seen and whose evidence you cannot deny, has been to punish the insolent impunity of our enemies; they have conspired and built, so to speak, an inquisitorial and insidious lodge to chase and rob us by no other crime or motive than our Mexican origin, and because they undoubtedly think that we have been displaced of the goods they themselves do not have.

To protect ourselves and exercising the sacred right of self-preservation, we have congregated in a Popular Meeting to discuss how to put an end to our malaise. The degree of origin, relationship, and collective suffering has been, so to speak, the cause of those who, like me, directly embrace the object proposed while setting foot in our beautiful city coated by the stunning look of fury.

Moreover, we must reject as unfair the alarm and tone that they wanted to set on our business by transferring their blindness to others to the point of making them beg for Mexico’s intervention, arguing that their goods and relatives were at the hands of vandalism. So what? Did some outrages occur in the time we had possession of the city as the judges of its fate? Would our enemies be so blind, petty, and foolish to deny the real facts? Would someone say that he was robbed, harassed, or had his house burned down...?

After organizing...we have walked the streets of the city in search of our enemies to punish them because the rule of law and justice administered by their own hands, unfortunately, have had no effect. Some of them, as reckless as reluctant to abide our demands, have died for having wanted to carry their anger beyond the limits that their weak roles allowed: three of them died––all criminals and widely known in town for their attacks. 

The others, even more unworthy and miserable, crawled through the mud to avoid our anger and now, perhaps, pretend with their bluster be the cause of endless evil due to their cowardice. They hide, but we knew where they were, and we did not want to attack the dwellings of others thinking about the regret of having them confused with one of the reputable people, as at the end did happen.

...As we have mentioned, they – with a crowd of lawyers – have made a secret conclave, with ramifications, to dispose Mexicans of their lands and seize them immediately. This is proven by the behavior of a one Adolfo Glavecke, who, empowered by his role of congressman and in collusion with such attorneys, has spread terror among the unwary, making them believe that he will hang Mexicans using any allegation; that he will burn their homes, etc., etc., so that he could force them to abandon the land and thus achieve his purpose. 

This is not a supposition: it is a reality; and in the absence of arguments other than this public threat, everybody will be persuaded by what criminal men, such as the Marshal, the prison guard, Morris, Neale, etc., etc., are able to do. The first one, Neale, in his background and behavior has always been a despicable and traitor: he is the murderer of the ill-starred Colonel Cross, of Captain Woolsey, and Antonio Mireles, murdered in Rancho Las Prietas (a theater of his assassinations). In sum, he is a traitor that has instigated some and helped others; he has been the author of one thousand misdeeds, and to redeem himself and disappear witnesses of his deprivations, he has been the first one to chase them to death... 

...There can no truce between those men and our people. The land they are taking contains our wealth and investments; degradation and political problems of our unfortunate Republic of Mexico has forced us to abandon it and remove ours possessions; the Treaty of Guadalupe left us in poverty and victims of our emotions; we were eager and diligent to enjoy the desired well of freedom in the classic country of your origin, we were induced to became naturalized citizens and become part of the Confederate society, flattered by the luxuries and pleasant future of living offered; and we instilled in our children a feeling of gratitude towards a country beneath whose shadows we could have built their happiness. 

We gave the world a testimony indicating the aspirations of all Mexicans, emphasizing the most important, that of being free men. We have found that freedom. Mexicans will not see an end to their disgraces and will lament the loss of a section of the territory, but with the satisfaction that its old fellow citizens will live peacefully on it, as to grant them the Providence of an illustration of the advantages provided by the quietude and public peace. 

Yet, all this has been no more than a dream, and our hopes are dashed in the cruelest way the disillusionment could strike, we have not, and cannot find any other solution to our problem than making an effort and destroying the obstacles to our prosperity once and for all.

It is necessary to accept that the moment has arrived, there are no more than six or eight oppressors. Hospitality and any other noble sentiments shield them for now from our fury, and the human laws, as you have seen, are sacrosanct to us.

No other innocents shall die, no; but if necessary, we will live wandering and waiting for the opportunity for revenge and purge the society from those inferior people that will debase it with their opprobrium. Our families have returned as foreigners to beg asylum on what was once their homeland. Our wealth, if it will be the subject of our enemies' greed, will be better off to our own vicissitude. 

As to the land, anything granted by nature to sustain our people; and they accept all the consequences that could take place. Our enemies shall not possess our lands, for they will shed their blood as payment for their actions. We have, however, the hope that the government, for the sake of dignity and justice, accepts our demand by prosecuting and judging those men or otherwise leaving them to become the target of the consequences of our irreversible resolution.

I only need to add that accidentally segregated from the other neighbors (for being away from the city), but not having renounced our rights as North American citizens, we reject and vigorously protest against having the Mexican National Guard interfere in such a foreign issue. There is no way to excuse such weaknesses on the part of those who claim it.

Juan Nepomuceno Cortina
Rancho de Carmen, Cameron County.
September 30, 1859.