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The Adjutant General to Colonel Lee.

Adjutant General’s Office,          
Washington, March 2, 1860.
          Colonel: Referring to the letter I had the honor to address to you the 24th ultimo, in relation to the outlaw Cortinas, I am now in structed by the Secretary of War to say that you will notify the Mexican authorities on the Rio Grande frontier that they must break up and disperse the bands of banditti concerned in the outrages which have been committed for some time past in that quarter upon the persons and property of American citizens; and further, that they will be held by you responsible for the faithful performance of this plain duty on their part.
          I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. Cooper,          
Adjutant General.
          Brevet Colonel R. E. Lee, U. S. Army,
                    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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