HIS OWN WORDS: CORTINA ANSWER TO GOV. ANDRES TREVINO

 (On February 29. 1876 the U.S. House of Representatives published Report 343 titled "Texas Frontier Troubles" to address ongoing conflict along the Texas/US border. Most of it centered on accusations against Juan N. Cortina, who was blamed for instigating the troubles. At the time this letter was published, Cortina, who was born upriver in Camargo and whose family held land-grant titles to what is now Cameron County and the entire city of Brownsville, was being held by the Mexican government in the Santiago Tlatelolco prison in Mexico City. His response was directed at Tamaulipas Gov. Andres Treviño and his enemies in Brownsville, a city he raided and occupied and held for two days in September 1859. After the raid, Cortina went on to be named military governor of Tamaulipas, elected mayor of Matamoros, fought in Puebla against the French, and participated in the execution of Emperor Maximilian in Queretaro.)   

"On the northern frontier, it is well known while the Americans of the South, or they say they were confederates, hate me, the origin of this hatred is secret from nobody, and particularly for the Treviños,  a hatred in which I glory, because I think that any one that is born a Mexican should be proud to contribute or to have contributed to cause the rights of his countrymen to be represented, which have been so often trodden underfoot by those who only support brute force to justice and reason....

"..I saw myself compelled in Texas to defend the Mexican name, you, through a contrary feeling, have been and are constantly on the side of these that ridicule and despise us, for they omit no means, no matter how repugnant, to hold up to the nation, as authors of robbery on both sides of the Rio Grande, Mexicans, of who I am said to be an accomplice. With respect to this, I will say it is not so, and that if in Texas robberies of cattle are committed, it is by Americans of Mexican origin, who are tired of suffering vexations and plundering, of which they have been and are the victims, seeking this shameful traffic a compensation for their suffering."

"...But if I wear the sash of a brigadier general, I did not obtain it by palace intrigues, but for the following services, that I will lightly sketch. Although absolutely ignorant of military service, nevertheless, from my early youth, I bore arms in the difficult and dangerous struggle against Indians, defending my rancho and the interests of my family. Judging me to be experienced in this sort of warfare, the frontiersmen of the north, in 1859, confided in me their great cause in critical times, I will show.

"...Those unfortunate inhabitants saw themselves abandoned by their own government, tyrannized over, despoiled of everything, and destined by their new conqueror to be the new helots of America, or the slaves of their slaves. So it is, seeing themselves outlawed, and becoming desperate, they saw no other future that that of the damned Dante written on the gates of his empire, 'Abandon all hope!' But at supreme moments the saying of (Ireland's Liberator Daniel) O'Connell is verified, 'Peoples, like men, situated in extreme cases, profit by the opportunities offered by God.' This is what happened to these unfortunates, who in those solemn moments believed me to be the instruments destined by Providence to save them.

"In effect, in about the middle of 1859, I went to Brownsville, and being at a cafe, I saw that an American sheriff (Robert Shears) was dragging off a poor Mexican by the collar. Indignantly I asked him, 'Why do you ill-treat this man?' He answered me insolently, and then I punished him for his insolence and avenged my countrymen by shooting him with a pistol and stretching him at my feet. Immediately I mounted my horse, with my protege behind me and withdrew amidst the stupor of the Yankees and the enthusiastic hurrahs of the Mexicans. From that moment the Texas Mexicans proclaimed me and recognized me as their chief, and with  those valiant patriots after having twice defeated considerable parties sent to arrest me, I took Brownsville, proclaiming victoriously the Mexican Republic, and chastising its enemies...

"...I joined General (Ignacio) Comonfort...and accompanied him with my forces, where his division received to operate in conjunction with the general-in-chief of the army of the east (Ignacio Zaragoza, hero of Cinco de Mayo) in the neighbor hood of Puebla, when in May 1863, we defeated the French at San Lorenzo...

"By this service, a commission as governor of Tamaulipas made out in your favor (Treviño's) remained without effect, and , in spite of all you could do, could not be enforced in Matamoros, I being appointed general governor and commanding-general of said state, and presented by the city of Matamoros, through its illustrious common council, with a sword of honor. When (Nuevo Leon and Coahuila Gov. Santiago) Vidaurri, in concert with other generals, abandoned the government of the citizen President (Benito) Juarez, I was his principal support, without which his ruin was inevitable, accompanied by grave, if not irreparable, prejudice to the national cause...

"When the general government retired as far as El Paso del Norte, I found myself compelled to serve the empire for a time, to save some forces and to preserve to the Republic the troops of our command, which I succeeded in doing, for shortly after, with that force, I combated the empire in the center of Tamaulipas, and at the siege and taking of Matamoros. of Mexico, and Queretaro, when was consolidated the independence of Mexico by the taking and shooting of Maximilian, whom I and General (Ramon) Corona captured on the 15th of May 1867...

"Latterly, my presence on the frontier has maintained peace with the United States and the autonomy of Tamaulipas, for which the people of Matamoros have honored me by electing me for the past and present year as mayor."

Gen. Juan N. Cortina
Heroic Matamoros, September 8, 1875