ROBERT E. LEE "VINO, VIO, Y PERDIO" CHASING CORTINA

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Robert E. Lee first came within sight of the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in early 1847 when President James K. Polk grew irritated with Zachary Taylor for agreeing to an armistice with the Mexican army after defeating them in the Battle of Monterrey.

Angry with the general for having declared the armistice without his approval after capturing the city, Polk transferred half of Taylor's officers to General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, whom Polk ordered to lead an invasion of central Mexico. 

At the beginning of the U.S.-Mexico War, Capt. Lee served under Gen. John E. Wool in Northern Mexico having marched south from San Antonio to join Taylor. Prior to the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, Lee conducted valuable reconnaissance missions to ascertain the location of Santa Anna’s army. 

After the battle, Lee was transferred to the command of Scott, who had been assigned to lead the invasion of central Mexico.

Also among those transferred to Scott's army was Ulysses S. Grant who joined Lee on the trip to Veracruz and then on to conquer Mexico City. Left behind with Taylor was future Confederacy President Jefferson Davis who also earned praise for his role in the Battle of Buena Vista.

After the end of the war with Mexico that resulted in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Lee returned to the United Sates and remained in the Army.   

Lee had secured an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated second in the class of 1829. He served 17 years as an officer in the Corps of Engineers, supervising and inspecting the construction of the nation's coastal defenses. Service during the 1846 war with Mexico, however, changed that. As a member of General Winfield Scott's staff, Lee distinguished himself, earning three brevets for gallantry, and emerging from the conflict with the rank of colonel.

Following the Mexican War, from 1852 to 1855, Lee served as superintendent of West Point, and was therefore responsible for educating many of the men who would later serve under him – and those who would oppose him – on the battlefields of the Civil War. In 1855 he left the academy to take a position in the cavalry and in 1859 was called upon to put down abolitionist John Brown’s raid on October 16-18 at Harpers Ferry.

Lee remained with his family until February 13, 1860, and then returned to San Antonio to assume command of his regiment.

It was during his military service before the outbreak of hostilities in 1861 that Lee returned to South Texas, this time to search for Juan N. Cortina, who had taken over the city of Brownsville on September 1859 searching for his enemies. The public outcry by city residents resulted in Lee being sent here from his headquarters in San Antonio.

On March 15, 1860, he left San Antonio for Fort Ringgold and Fort Brown to pursue Cortina, five months after capturing Brown at Harpers Ferry.

Although he was unable to trap so slippery a foe, he succeeded in securing a promise from Mexican officials that they would effect the arrest. That, of course, didn't happen.

El Diario Del Gobierno De La Republica Mexicana published June 4, 1860, tells of Lee's April 1860 foray into Reynosa and northern Mexico seeking Cortina after the local militia, the Brownsville Tigers and the equally hapless Texas Rangers had failed to destroy him and were routed near his Cameron County ranch.

"The newspapers of April 25 of Brownsville tell us of the excursions taken by (Texas Rangers) captains John (Rip) Ford and John Littleton who, having received word that Cortina was hiding in Reynosa with some of his followers, on April 3 crossed the river and arrived there with about 80 men to search the city. There they found the city defended by armed guards said to be members of the national guard. The city's officials denied that Cortina or any of his men was there and the Rangers returned to Edinburg, later sending word to city officials that they were to arrest and turn over to them any Cortina followers in Reynosa.

"The city officials said that they should direct their inquiries to the authorities in Matamoros. A few shots were fired by both forces across the river and one Mexican was injured in the back by a shot fired by the men on the American side of the river. 

"On April 8, Colonel Lee arrived in Edinburg and again demanded that the authorities turn over the men who rode with Cortina. Mexican officials told him that the list of wanted men had been turned over to Capt. Santos Benavides and that they could ask him for their whereabouts. Unable to locate Cortina or his forces, and with the two forces facing each other across the river, Lee then disbanded the volunteers sent to capture Cortina and sent them to Goliad and discharged them.

According to the Brownsville Flag "As far as to the whereabouts of Cortina, there is no little uncertainty. One day he is said to be in one place, and then there are reports that he is located at another site 50 miles distant, and rumors abound of all manner of his actions. But there are two things that everyone agrees, and those are that 1) he is daily attracting more volunteers to his side, and 2) that he is highly popular among the Mexicans.

"There is ample hate in Tamaulipas against the Americans and according to the latest rumors, Cortina has crossed over the river in Santa Rosa with  500 Mexicans and Indians."

 

The Brownsville newspaper said that when hostilities broke out between the Texan Rangers and American volunteers and the Mexican garrison which was supported by 100 dragoons from Camargo and 200 marines from Matamoros, Lee moved to suppress the conflict and avoid an undeclared war between both countries.

"The arrival of Col. Lee could not have been more opportune because the Mexican soldiers fired upon the Texans and they returned fire, seriously injuring two Mexicans. Lee immediately sent a party with white flags to inquire on why the Mexicans were firing across the river. The situation was tantamount to a war between the two countries, and Col. Lee moved swiftly to stop it. When the American peace party reached Reynosa, they found a fortified city filled with armed defenders and the streets barricaded and prepared for hostilities" and Cortina and his men nowhere to be found.

It didn't turn out the same way it did with the first John Brown Lee encountered, this Juan Brown could not be found.

El Diario Oficial says that Lee claimed an agreement had been reached with Reynosa authorities on the Cortina question, but states that it was the war-ready preparations in Reynosa and its defenders' stated declarations they were prepared to fight that stopped the Americans from crossing the river and to engage in hostilities.