MEXICAN SPIES FOR U.S. PIONEER BROWNSVILLE RESIDENTS

By Juan Montoya

A band of criminals and highway men who preyed on travelers between Veracruz and Puebla during the Mexican-American War and were recruited as a spy company for invading U.S. forces became some of Cameron County's pioneer residents after the war.

And the descendants of their leader – Colonel Jose Manuel Dominguez – eventually went on to become some of the county's leading citizens, attaining high-ranking positions in law enforcement and elected office.

In 1847, President James Polk grew impatient with Gen. Zachary Taylor's progress in northern Mexico and transferred many of his officers – including then-Lt. Ulysses S. Grant – to the army under Gen. Winfield Scott for the invasion at Veracruz and then the march to Mexico City. 

Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock was also with Taylor at the start of the war and was made Scott's inspector general. Hitchcock wrote a diary during the campaign where he roundly criticized Taylor for not gathering adequate intelligence to plan his maneuvers.

While at Puebla, Hitchcock found Dominguez, a weaver who had been the victim of extortion by Mexican officials, and a score of other criminals and highway men languishing in a prison in a Puebla prison. Scott authorized Hitchcock to hire a spy company of up to 200 men to aid the army as it moved along the guerrilla-infested national road.

This was the famous Dominguez Spy Company and their duties included protecting U.S. troops and wagon trains that traveled between Vera Cruz and Mexico City and providing intelligence in respect to the movement of regular Mexican troops and guerrillas.

They were also known for their distinctive dress: "round felt hats encircled with a red band and short “parrot green” coats “with a red collar and cuffs,” which provided a colorful contrast to the sky blue uniforms worn by American soldiers.

Various dispatches by Scott and other officers indicate that the Dominguez Spy Company not only assisted the U.S. forces with intelligence and acted as couriers, but fought courageously in important the battles of Molino del Rey, the convent of Churubusco, and the castle of Chapultepec against the San Patricios, a battalion of Irish soldiers – some of them U.S. Army deserters – who went over to the Mexican cause.

In those battles, both groups were literally fighting "with a rope around their necks" because they knew they would be executed if they were captured by their former countrymen. Between 30 to 50   San Patricios were hanged or branded immediately after the Battle of Chapultepec.

Historians say the spies fought for the United States because they thought the leaders of Mexico were corrupt and had abused their power.

After conquest of Mexico and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe in February 1848, Hitchcock had Dominguez and 62 men with 30 dependents put aboard a ship with U.S. troops on July 2, 1848 at Veracruz and sent to New Orleans. Had they remained in Mexico they would have been executed for fighting on the U.S. side.

Historian Jack Bauer said that despite Hitchcock's support for them and Gen. William O. Butler suggestion that Congress authorize enlisting the Mexicans into the army and paying them regular salaries, the administration declined.

Even though Dominguez went to Washington and met with President Polk after landing in New Orleans, American newspapers represented him as a traitor to his race and a bandit. Congress declined to help him or his fellows with land or financial support to resettle in the U.S.

In the end, nearly all the company settled in Cameron County, Texas.(Texas State Historical Association). Part of Domínguez's family settled at Alexandria, La. and Domínguez and several of his officers later sought bounty land under the act of May 14, 1856, but their claims were rejected.

The 1850 federal lists Dominguez in Cameron County and gives his occupation as “gentleman” with declared assets worth $2,500. He died on June 30, 1868 at his home in Brownsville.

Once in Cameron County, Dominguez had a son in 1849, Ygnacio Dominguez, who became a Brownsville city marshal under Santiago Brito and helped capture the robbers responsible for the Rio Grande Train Robbery in 1891.

This was the same Lt. Dominguez who lost an arm August 12, 1906 as a result of having his horse shot under him and his arm shattered by rifle fire during the infamous Brownsville Raid for which black "Buffalo Soldiers" were blamed before their exoneration in 1970.

He was buried in the Brownsville City Cemetery after his death in 1927.

Ygnacio's son, Raul Dominguez, born in 1904, graduated from St. Joseph Academy under the Marist Brothers and was  funeral director for 10 years before seeking public office as Cameron County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2 in 1934. He was reelected with the support of some of the leading citizens of Brownsville in 1936. (See graphic.)

What happened to the rest of the Dominguez Spy Company who settled in Cameron County? That's a subject worthy of investigation by better historians than me.

(Our gratitude to Dr. Marie Theresa Hernández, Professor of World Cultures and Literatures at the University of Houston for her invaluable assistance in providing documentation for this post. We look forward to her upcoming book on Juan N. Cortina.)