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The Adjutant General to Colonel Lee.

Adjutant General’s Office,          
Washington, February 24, 1860.
          Sir: Information having reached the War Department of the continued depredations of Cortinas and his followers on American soil, the Secretary of War directs that you make use of your best exertions to put a period to the predatory operations of that band of outlaws, and that you employ for this purpose, if required, all the troops under your command that can possibly be spared for such service.
          The most vigorous measures for the capture of Cortinas and his band will be resorted to, and, if necessary, the Secretary of War directs that they be pursued beyond the limits of the United States.
          I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. Cooper,                    
Adjutant General.
          Brevet Colonel R. E. Lee, U. S. A.,
                    Commanding Department of Texas,
                              San Antonio, Texas.

A dispatch in Difficulties on Southwestern Border, House Documents, Volume 126; Volume 128, United States House of Representatives, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1860

During the 12 years following the Mexican-American War there were present on the frontiers of Texas and Mexico many factors that tended to create disturbances. The topography of the country, the sparsity and general character of its population, the lack of an extradition treaty and of sufficient national authority, wild Indians of uncertain abode, the Mexican tariff system, all caused friction and gave encouragement to lawlessness which not only retarded the development of the region but often threatened to interrupt friendly relations between the two republics. [Border Troubles along the Rio Grande, 1848-1860, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2 (OCTOBER, 1919)]

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