March 26, 1863, The Ranchero (Corpus Christi, Texas)
From the Fort Brown Flag.
On the night of Saturday, the 14th, or rather on the morning of Sunday the 15th, a party of men, consisting of some citizens and some soldiers, so we have been told, (for the names and details of the transaction have been kept pretty close by the actors in the affair,) passed from the Texas side of the Rio Grande into Mexico, and captured and took prisoner a man named I. T. Montgomery, a very desperate character, who had made himself notorious and objectionable to the Confederate citizens on this frontier. At the time that Montgomery was captured, there happened to be present a Texas renegade named E. J. Davis, who pretends to hold a colonel’s commission in the Yankee army. Davis was with his family at the time, and it is probable that this circumstance is the only excuse for his being alive at this time, to perplex matters between people who ought to have more important matters to quarrel about.
The Texans crossed the Rio Grande early in the morning and soon surrounded the house in which Montgomery was lodged. Quite a number of renegades were in the house, and they soon showed a disposition to fight. This was just the card that suited the Texans, and our boys pitched in. The renegades soon found that fighting was not their game, and they commenced a lively skedaddle over the sand hills. They were fired at by our boys, and we are informed through their own party that they lost three men
As we said before, owing to the secrecy observed about the affair on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, we can ascertain none of the particulars of the transaction from those of our men who were engaged in it, and therefore we have to rely mainly on the statements of parties who have heard the talk of the runaway renegades.
Montgomery and Davis were brought to the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Montgomery is said to have been hung immediately after he was landed, and Davis was concealed in the bushes near Brownsville to prevent his being taken possession of by Gen. Bee.
As a matter of course this invasion of Mexico and capture of Yankees in that country, created great excitement and much anxious regret both in Matamoros and Brownsville. The renegades took it in high dudgeon and got up a torchlight procession in Matamoros which consisted of runaways, white and black, a few barefooted Mexicans, and any number of children. The same crowd could have been hired to turn out for any disreputable purpose, either to attend the funeral of a thief or the orgies of a prostitute.
The Mexican authorities acted very promptly and very calmly on the subject. Gov. Lopez simply made a demand for the surrender of the captured individuals, and as soon as Gen. Bee could obtain control of Davis, he returned him to the Mexican authorities. This act of justice was done on Wednesday, Major Gray acting as the agent of the Military in surrendering the renegade.
The Mexican population of Matamoros, that is the respectable portion of it, acted with a great deal of calmness on the occasion, and used their best endeavors to bring the matter to a peaceful termination. They perceived that the act was one purely personal, and that the two people should not embroil themselves for one of those events which no authority can at all times control.
When the renegades were captured they were at the mouth of the Rio Grande for the purpose of going away on a Yankee transport. When she learned of the capture she put to sea with the threat to return soon with forces to thrash the Texans at the mouth of the river.