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1. Major Heintzelman to Colonel Lee.
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Headquarters Brownsville Expedition,          
Fort Brown, Texas, March 1, 1860.

          Sir: In compliance with the instructions contained in your letter of January 7, 1860, I have the honor to make the following report:
          In compliance with Special Order No. 103, headquarters department of Texas, San Antonio, November 12, 1859, I repaired to San Antonio and reported to the commanding general for instructions.
          I was directed to proceed towards Brownsville and disperse any hostile parties I might meet, &c. From accounts received soon after, the reports were believed to be greatly exaggerated, and the expedition was broken up. But I was directed to proceed to Brownsville and make full inquiries there and on the frontier above.
          I reached Brownsville on the night of the 5th of December.
          Juan Nepomosina Cortinas, (or Cortina,) the leader of the banditti who have for the last five months been in arms on the Lower Rio Grande, murdering, robbing, and burning, is a ranchero, at one time claiming to be an American, and at another a Mexican, citizen. At the time General Taylor arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande, he was a soldier in General Arista’s army. He has been for years noted as a lawless, desperate man.
          Ten years ago he was indicted for murder, and the sheriff attempted to arrest him, which made him for a long period keep out of the way until the witnesses were gone. In 1854 he again began to be seen about ; but no effort was made to arrest him until in the spring of 1859, when he was indicted for horse stealing, and he has since been a fugitive from justice. When he came to town he was always well armed, or had some of his friends around him, making it dangerous to interfere with him. His principal business has been dealing in stock, purchasing or stealing, as was the most convenient. He had great influence with his class of the Mexican population, and thus, as he controlled so many votes, was courted at elections by politicians.
          He has a ranch called San José, a few miles from town, and whenever there was any danger of arrest he would retire to this place and keep himself surrounded by a band of outlaws, as desperate as himself. Leading this lawless life, he and those around him made numerous enemies. On the 13th of July last he was in Brownsville with some of his ranchero friends, when a man who was formerly a servant of his was arrested by the city marshal for abusing a coffee-house keeper. Cortinas attempted to rescue the man ; he fired twice on the marshal, the second shot wounding him in the shoulder, and rescued the prisoner. He mounted his horse, took the prisoner up behind him, and with his friends around him rode off defying the authorities to arrest him. He escaped to Matamoras, and there was treated with consideration and lauded as the defender of Mexican rights.
          For this an effort was made by the sheriff to arrest him. A party was got up, but they did not succeed in getting what they considered a sufficient force and the possee never started. Several of the men who were active on this occasion were known to Cortinas, and they were marked.
          It has been reported that he held a captain’s commission in the Mexican army. He at one time was a lieutenant under General Garcia, but was detected selling the horses given to him for a remount, and was dismissed. Since these troubles commenced he has offered his services with fifty men to General Garcia, but they were declined.
          He probably held some commission in the custom-house or maritime guards. Under this pretext he recruited men and purchased arms. Don Miguel Tigerino, his first cousin, on the 28th of September, said in Brownsville to some of his friends that he “was a desperate, contrary, fellow. When every one thought that he had started for the interior he turned up suddenly in Brownsville.” He no doubt, when he came over here, intended to kill all his enemies that he could catch, and then go into the interior.
          Before daylight on the morning of the 28th of September Cortinas entered the city of Brownsville with a body of mounted men, variously estimated at from forty to eighty, leaving two small parties of foot outside—one near the cemetery, the other near the suburb of Framireno. The citizens were awakened by firing and cries of “Viva cheno Cortinas!” “Meusau los Gringos!” “Viva Mexico I’’ The city was already in his possession, with sentinels at the corners of the principal streets and armed men riding about. He avowed his determination to kill the Americans, but assured Mexicans and foreigners that they should not be molested. Thus was a city of from two thousand to three thousand inhabitants occupied by a band of armed bandits, a thing till now unheard of in these United States.
          He made his headquarters in the deserted garrison of Fort Brown, and sent mounted men through the streets hunting up their enemies. He broke open the jail, liberated the prisoners, knocked off their irons, and had them join him. He killed the jailer, Johnson, a constable named George Morris, young Neale in his bed, and two Mexicans; was after Glaseche, the wounded city marshal, and others. One of his men was killed by the jailer, in the attack on the jail.
          Cortinas himself rode up to a store on the levee and called for spirits of turpentine. A few minutes after this, General Caravajal made his appearance on the levee, and said that he would try and put a stop to all this, and seeing Don Miguel Tiguino on the opposite bank of the river, called to him to cross over to this side instantly. This he did, on horseback, accompanied by Don Agassito Longosia. General Caravajal then sent for Cortinas, and, after a talk with him, he with his men, mounted and on foot, numbering about sixty, marched along the levee out towards his mother’s rancho, about nine miles above the town.
          His party did not make any attempt to plunder or rob, but were active in looking for the persons who had assembled to accompany the sheriff to arrest him, or for those who could be witnesses against him for former offences. Two of those killed had personal enemies amongst Cortinas’s men.
          His sole object appeared to be revenge, but his men were getting liquor, and the consequences were only prevented by the exertions of the gentleman above named and the Mexican consul, Don Manuel Tresino, in inducing him to leave the town. There were but thirty or forty native Americans in the place, and they mostly unarmed, and being taken completely by surprise, no effort was made to oppose him. There are said not to be over eighty American citizens, native or naturalized, in the two counties of Cameron and Hidalgo. Many of the foreigners in Brownsville refused to give any aid in its defence.
          Two days after (30th of September) Cortinas issued his first proclamation, in which he bid defiance to law, and assumed to protect those whom he alleged had been injured on account of their Mexican origin, and accusing the lawyers of despoiling them of their lands.
          After leaving Brownsville he encamped at his mother’s rancho, and was there joined by stragglers from town, and Mexicans from the neighboring ranches. Several of the citizens of Matamoras and Brownsville now visited his camp, and had interviews with him. He appeared only to wish to have time to cross his property, stock, &c., into Mexico. He took his time, without being molested, and then crossed with his men. He and his men stayed about Matamoras publicly, unmolested by the authorities.
          About the 12th of October, several days after he left this side, the sheriff, with a posse, started up the river to visit his rancho, and to reconnoitre the country. They caught Thomas Cabura, said to have been Cortinas’s second in command, on the 28th of September, and brought him in a prisoner. When Cortinas, who was in Matamoras, heard this, he told some of the most influential men there that if the citizens of Brownsville did not immediately release Cabura, that he would “lay the town in ashes, &c.” A prominent merchant in Matamoras came over at 11 o’clock p.m., at the request of those Mexican gentlemen, to persuade the people of Brownsville to comply with his demand, whilst an express awaited, on the other side, their answer, to carry it to Cortinas. His demand was refused, but he was informed that the man was in the hands of the sheriff, to be dealt with by the laws of the country.
          The night after the arrival of Captain Tobin’s company Cabrera was found hung.
          Cortinas, with forty men, crossed the river the same night. He received their answer, and took up his old quarters, at his mother’s rancho. Here he collected men and arms, and prepared to carry out his threats, occasionally sending threatening communications to the authorities. His men would make their appearance on the outskirts of the town in open daylight; but the citizens had now organized and armed, and kept a guard day and night.
          Some Mexican troops, who had been called over about the 30th of September, and who had returned home when Cortinas recrossed to the Mexican side, were now invited over again. About seventy-five men came over, with a piece of artillery, to join an expedition which the citizens were preparing for the purpose of attacking Cortinas. They were of the National Guards, of Matamoras, under the command of Colonel Loranco and Don Miguel Tigerino, who accompanied the expedition as a volunteer.
          There were about twenty Americans, under Captain Thompson, and forty Mexicans, from the town and ranches below, under a Mexican called Portillo, all mounted. They took along a four-pounder howitzer.
          The expedition started on the 22d of October, met the enemy nine miles from town on the 24th, routed him from his first position, and followed him up as he retreated into the chaparral, from which, without being seen, he kept up a constant fire. Here the Mexican gun stuck in the mud, and on the second discharge it was dismounted, and was then abandoned. The advance fell back. The other gun, with its ammunition, was also abandoned, but, it is said, not until it was thrown into the river. However, both the guns were in Cortinas’s camp that night. The flight now became general, all being anxious to be the first to reach Brownsville. The Mexican troops had four men wounded, and brought up the rear. One Mexican with Portillo was also badly wounded. Two men of Cortinas’s—all that he lost— were killed by the Mexican troops.
          The Mexican troops had but from eight to twelve rounds of ammunition, and they did not retreat until it gave out. They are accused, but I think most unjustly, of having fired blank cartridges, and that the cap squares were loosened to dismount the gun.
          Cortinas now had two pieces of artillery, and was much emboldened by his success. Large reinforcements joined him, some voluntarily, others he compelled from the neighboring ranches. He commenced levying contributions of arms, horses, beef cattle, corn, everything that he wanted for his men, sometimes giving receipts for what he took.
          He intercepted all the mails to and from this place, except the Point Isabel, by capturing the mail riders, cut open the mail bags, and had the letters read to him ; he cannot read or write. Once he sent in the letters opened, with a note apologizing to the postmaster, “as it was a matter of necessity for him to know what steps were taken against him.” By this means he knew more of what was going on outside of Brownsville than its citizens.
          He knew when the rangers with Captain Tobin were expected, and made arrangements to intercept them. Glaseche, however, went and guided them in about midnight, without their meeting any one. The same night Cortinas was known to be hovering about town, and Tobin’s men were received with a shower of grape, fired at them before they were recognized. This was the 10th of November.
          About eight days after, thirty men were sent under Lieutenant Littleton, towards the arroyo Colorado, to meet Captain Donaldson’s company. He missed Donaldson, but on the Palo Alto prairie fell into an ambuscade prepared by Cortinas, and lost three men killed and one wounded and a prisoner. The next day, when a party went out to bring the dead they found this man murdered and all the dead mutilated. They went to Santa Rita, seven miles from here, to attack Cortinas, but knowing that he had artillery, and thinking he was too strong, they only made a demonstration and returned to the city. All this only served to give Cortinas and his followers confidence. He now believed that he could stand his ground against the whole State of Texas.
          In the meantime more volunteers arrived. On the 22d of November the rangers under Captain Tobin, numbering about two hundred and fifty men, including in this Captain Kenedy’s company of citizens from Brownsville, the Indianola company, and a 24-pounder howitzer in charge of Lieutenant Langdon, United States artillery, who volunteered, again started out to exterminate Cortinas. On the 24th Captain Tobin had his whole force collected at Santa Rita, seven miles above town. Here he left the 24-pounder and about sixty men, and advanced with the main body of his force to make a reconnoissance. The advance, when near the intrenchment, two miles above Santa Rita, was fired upon by both cannon and small-arms. The fire was returned. Captain Tobin now gave the order to fall back and wait for the artillery, but the whole force fell back to Santa Rita. Here there was another council and a misunderstanding, and the next morning sixty men started back to town. The next day (25th) Captain Tobin again advanced, but when near the barricades there was another consultation, and it was decided to be imprudent to risk an attack, and the whole force marched back to Brownsville.
          It was a wise decision. In their disorganized condition an attack would have brought certain defeat. About a month before this the streets of Brownsville were barricaded.
          Cortinas was now a great man; he had defeated the “Gringos,” and his position was impregnable; he had the Mexican flag flying in his camp, and numbers were flocking to his standard. When he visited Matamoras he was received as the champion of his race—as the man who would right the wrongs the Mexicans had received; that he would drive back the hated Americans to the Nueces, and some even spoke of the Sabine as the future boundary. The lower order of Mexicans hate Americans, and the educated classes are not always exempt from this feeling. This is well shown from the difficulty we had in obtaining information. When his force and all his movements were well known in Matamoras, with daily intercourse with his camp, we were answered with vague and exaggerated accounts. Men who have lived here for years, and are united to Mexican women, could learn nothing reliable.
          A party of forty men, under Santo Cadena, joined him from Agua Leguas, in Nueva Leon, remained until they were loaded with plunder and then returned to their homes. Another party of sixty convicts escaped from prison at Victoria, in Tamuulipas, armed themselves, and, after a fight with the authorities, marched through the country to the Rio Grande, and joined him. Affairs remained in this state until we arrived here on the night of the 5th of December.
          I entered the town that night with Captain Stoneman’s company “E,” 2d cavalry, forty-six men, and “L” and “M” companies, 1st artillery, sixty-six men, and five men of the 1st infantry—in all, five officers and one hundred and seventeen men. In Fort Brown, were Captain Rickett’s company, 1st artillery, of forty-eight men.
          On our march from the Nueces to the arroyo Colorado we only met two Americans and a Mexican cart; all travel had ceased for some time. At the arroyo we first learned to a certainty that Captain Tobn was in Brownsville, but that he had not dislodged Cortinas, and got the most exaggerated accounts of the latter’s forces.
          The morning after our arrival I endeavored to get information as to the number, position, and objects of Cortinas ; every one appeared to be as ignorant of these matters as I was ; accounts ranged as high as fifteen hundred men. I finally satisfied myself that he could not have over three hundred and fifty men, and that he occupied a fortified position across the river road, about nine miles above town, and that his works were armed with two pieces of artillery. As to his objects no one knew.
          Captain Tobin informed me that he had about one hundred and fifty rangers, and placed himself under my command; I wished him to send out parties to reconnoitre their position; several went, but none of them ever got near enough to give me any information. At 1 o’clock a.m., the 14th of December, we marched out of Brownsville with one hundred and sixty-five officers and men of the regular army, and one hundred and twenty rangers; half an hour before day I halted a mile and a half from the point where I was told his intrenchment was.
          I was desirous of having a reconnoisasnce made before proceeding further; the rangers were so thoroughly stampeded by their previous expedition that it was only after much difficulty and delay that I could get any one to go, and then only by Judge Davis, who had been out with them before, volunteering to go with them ; we advanced and found that the intrenchment had been abandoned apparently for a week; it consisted of a heavy breastwork of ebony logs and earth mixed with brush across the road, with two embrasures and a ditch in front; about one hundred yards beyond another had been commenced to face the other way ; the first was badly located and could easily have been turned.
          After a short delay in clearing a road around these obstructions the march was resumed. About three miles further, where the road is straight and passing through a very dense chaparral with ebony trees, our attention was attracted by the waving of a flag six or seven hundred yards in advance, with a few men about it. In a moment more a burst of smoke and a round shot down the road informed me that the enemy was before us. Until this event the general impression was that Cortinas would not dare fire upon the United States troops.
          I immediately ordered the guns unlimbered and the fire returned. The rangers seeing with how much coolness the regular troops stood the fire of the enemy regained confidence, and were finally induced to advance to the attack. With the aid of “L” and “M” companies, 1st artillery, they took the enemies’ camp, at Vicente Guenais, a few hundred yards beyond, capturing some provisions and arms. The pursuit was continued about two miles further. Some horsemen made their escape across the river into Mexico. Where the enemy was posted the chaparral was so dense that but a small portion of the force was engaged. This was one of Cortinas’s principal camps, and had been long occupied, but he was not in it. The infantry were commanded by Pancho Balli, and the artillery by Antonio Juarez or Jantes, and in all about sixty men. The resistance they made was quite trifling. We had two men of the artillery slightly wounded, and a ranger mortally. The enemy lost eight.
          Here, whilst we halted to refresh the men and animals, Major Ford came up with fifty-five men. He heard the firing in the morning, and rode forty miles, via Brownsville, to join us.
          A rain set in, and continuing, the next morning we returned to town. I had learned that Cortinas was behind us, back in the country, and would probably come in on the river. We reached town without meeting any of the enemy.
          I was, on my return to town, informed that Cortinas was on his way to attack Point Isabel and burn the custom-house, full of valuable goods, and that he had also large parties towards the arroyo Colorado. I sent out three strong parties, but in a few days they returned with out meeting any one. I was now satisfied that he had concentrated his whole force, and was retiring up the river to lay waste the country.
          I started on the 21st of December with all the force I could collect, amounting to one hundred and fifty regulars and one hundred and ninety-eight rangers. I had information that was deemed reliable that Cortinas had fortified himself at the Baston, thirty-five miles from town, in Mr. Neale’s brick house, loop-holed and surrounded by corrals. We came in sight of the Baston at twelve o’clock, m. on the 23d, found the fences, corrals, and jacales burned, the house sacked, and the enemy gone.
          The next place I was told that we should certainly meet him was in a bend of the river a mile beyond—Edinburg. We reached Edinburg on Sunday, the 25th of December. Although we met several Mexicans from Reynosa, Mexico, not one could tell us anything about him, except that he had left after plundering the custom-house, post office, &c.,which we could see ourselves. His next position was a cane-brake,
a few miles beyond Edinburg; but when we arrived he had left.
          The next day I learned that Cortinas was occupying Ringgold barracks and Rio Grande City, with his troops encamped on the plaza. Major Ford, who was in advance here, sent Colonel Lockridge with the information. I determined to surprise him by a night march. As our march was most of the way in full view from the Mexican side of the river, we went into camp at the usual time and in the usual manner. At midnight we resumed our march in silence, and an hour before daylight were three miles from Rio Grande City. Here our spies met us with the assurance that he was still encamped in Rio Grande City.
          I now made the arrangement for Ford’s and Henon’s companies, eighty-five men, to make a detour, and get on the road to Koma, above the city, and Captain Tobin, with Tomlinson’s and Hampton’s companies, one hundred and thirteen men, to move in advance of our right flank, whilst the regulars, giving the rangers half an hour’s start, would advance with the artillery along the road, and attack him in front.
          We advanced in this order, but when we reached the barracks some ranger rode up and reported that Major Ford could not get beyond on the road, and had commenced the attack in front. On entering the town, I learned that most of his men had encamped about half a mile beyond. Here he had been attacked by Ford, who was supported by Captain Tobin, with his, Tomlinson’s, and Hampton’s companies. The enemy made a vigorous resistance, but as soon as he saw the regular troops, with the “white-topped wagons,” rise the ridge back of the town, he gave way. He here abandoned his provisions, half-cooked breakfast, and a baggage cart, but carried off his artillery.
          I ordered up more troops, but the men, fatigued by a march of forty miles since the morning before, could not overtake the advance, and were sent after those who had escaped into the chapparal. At this time a dense fog set in, enabling many of the enemy to escape into the thick chapparal which lined the whole road. I rode forward, and found the ranger companies all broken up, and strewed along the road, with most of the officers in advance. I soon overtook Major Ford, and gave directions to press the pursuit, as our victory would not be complete if they succeeded in carrying off their guns. After a pursuit of more than nine miles, we captured both his guns, loaded. There was no more attempt made at resistance, and here the last dispersed.
          Within a few minutes after the capture of the second gun, the men on foot and guns and all our wagons were up. They had made a march of nearly fifty miles in twenty-five hours, thirty of them with out stopping for water. There was not a straggler from the regular troops.
          The defeat was complete. We captured his guns, ammunition and baggage carts, provisions, everything he could throw away to lighten his flight, and entirely dispersed his force.
          We had sixteen rangers wounded, mostly very slight cases. Cortinas had between five and six hundred men, and his loss was about sixty killed and drowned in the river. Most of them who escaped got across the river into Mexico, and without arms. He fled to Grunoro, where he made his appearance next day. He afterwards was seen at Mier Camargo, Keynosa, and so continued down the river, collecting his stragglers. Many small parties were seen on the Mexican side of the river, but generally unarmed. I sent Captain Stoneman’s company the same evening to Koma for its protection. Captain Dawson, with “L” and “M” companies, first artillery, left on the 29th of December to garrison Fort Brown. I went to Koma, and remained until the 15th of January, 1860, then returned to this place to collect, in compliance with instructions, the names of the killed and amount of damage done by Cortinas.
          A difficulty about the organization and command of the rangers created much embarrassment and delay. An election was held, and Tobin was elected major. I endeavored to have the rangers distributed along the river in small parties to prevent the reorganization of the enemy’s forces, but my orders were never fully carried out.
          Two commissioners of the State of Texas, Messrs. Navarro and Taylor, now arrived in Brownsville, to inquire into the causes of this disturbance, and authorized to reorganize the rangers They mustered all out of service, and then mustered in Ford’s and Littleton’s companies
          I was called upon by the commissioners to say what force of rangers would be sufficient for the protection of the frontier. With but one company of cavalry I was of the opinion that the two then in service would be sufficient. They were placed under my command.
          I placed Captain Stoneman’s cavalry and Ford’s and Littleton’s companies of rangers on the river between here and Rio Grande City, with orders to keep out small parties. Cortinas’s men were very active at this time crossing over and driving stock into Mexico.
          Cortinas, soon after his defeat at Rio Grande City, established a camp at La Bolza, thirty-five miles above here, with the avowed object of attacking the steamboat Ranchero, on her return from the towns above. This being her first trip since last September, it was well known that she would have a valuable freight. Her whole cargo was valued by the officer of the boat at $200,000.
          During his stay at La Bolza Cortinas recruited men, procured arms, ammunition, and supplies. He crossed at Las Rusias to the American side of the river, intercepted the United States mail carrier, cut open the mail bags, and rifled them of their contents. He threatened the carrier with death for serving the Americans, and only spared him because the contractor is a Mexican. He was taken to La Bolsa and there kept until he made his escape in the confusion of the fight of the 4th of February. At La Bolsa a frequent subject of conversation was the intercepting and robbing of the steamboat. During the time Cortinas was in constant communication with the inhabitants of Matamoras and other towns on the river.
          On the 31st of January I called, with one of the Texas commissioners and the American consul, on General Garcia, the Mexican commander of the line of the Brazos. He showed us the instructions he had to coöperate with the United States forces in arresting Cortinas and dispersing his bands. He told us that he had sent out but could not learn where Cortinas was to be found. We had known for near a month past that he was at La Bolsa.
          On the 4th of February, near La Bolsa, Cortinas’s men fired from the Mexican side of the river on a party of Captain Ford’s men, mortally wounding one, and also a few minutes after, on the steam boat; to repel this attack, and to protect the lives and property on board the boat, it was advisable to cross into Mexico; Captain Ford, with Major Tobin and Captain Tomlinson, crossed with forty-nine men, attacked Cortinas in his camp, and after a sharp skirmish drove him out of it. Cortinas is said to have had about two hundred men, and that his loss was twenty-nine killed and forty wounded. We had but two men slightly wounded. Captain Stoneman, who was a few miles below, hastened up with his company, and before daylight the next morning we had over two hundred men on the ground.
          At 10 ½ o’clock p. m. an express reached me with a report of what had occurred. The town was wild with excitement; people declared that war had commenced. A party got together with the object of crossing at this ferry and seizing the ferryboats, which are kept at night on the Mexican side in charge of a guard. As there has been, for some time past, considerable alarm of an invasion of filibusters and rangers, a strong Mexican guard has been kept at the ferry.
          Some gentlemen who met them came and told me as I was returning to the garrison. I found the party armed on the bank of the river; I had but little difficulty in convincing them of the folly of such an act; that it would only complicate affairs; that the boats were now in our power, but that we were not prepared nor authorized to occupy Matamoras.
          The next morning I addressed a note to General Garcia, informing him of what had occurred, and calling upon him now to co-operate with me in arresting Cortinas. I knew that he had received an express an hour or two earlier than we, and that from eighty to a hundred men had left the same night, but it was believed more to aid Cortinas than to arrest him. The object of my note was more to learn the feelings of the Mexican authorities than from any expectation of any action on their part towards arresting Cortinas. He had too many friends in Matamoras, and I doubt whether they had the power, if they had the inclination, to arrest him.
          A few hours brought me a reply, in which General Garcia informed me that he had sent out a portion of the rural police, and would send more as soon as they could be organized, and asking me to withdraw our troops. Don Miguel G. Cabezas, the second alcalde, and Don Manuel Treviño, the Mexican consul, brought the letter, and were authorized to give me explanations.
          I learned from these gentlemen that about forty men of the police force had gone, and that more would leave in the afternoon and evening. More went, as promised. In the conversation with them I impressed upon them the absolute necessity for the most prompt and energetic measures on their part to arrest this man, for if he was permitted to go on, the most grave consequences would follow. As we had accomplished our object, and as I did not wish to continue this cause of irritation, I sent orders for the troops to recross, which they did the next day, after an interview with the commander of the police force.
          When Captain Ford came in sight of the police force there was a large number of armed men around. Some sixty of these withdrew to our side. These men the police force would not vouch for. They were evidently Cortinas’s men.
          The prudence of Captain Ford and the good order he had observed, together with his prompt withdrawal, have quieted down the excitement. After the flight at La Bolsa, some one along, but not of his command and contrary to Captain Ford’s orders, set fire to the jacales and fences, and they were consumed. On the 7th of February Inaquin Arguilles, who succeeded General Garcia in the command, addressed me a note making reclamations for the burning of these jacales, as some compensation for the violation of their territory. In my reply I justified the act, as they had failed in their international obligations in permitting Cortinas, after having been driven from our soil, to occupy their territory, recruit, arm, and equip his men, and occupy those jacales for weeks, for the avowed object of attacking this steamboat engaged in lawful traffic, &c. To this I have received no reply.
          A few days after his defeat at La Bolsa we again heard of Cortinas, with from forty to sixty men, encamped near a rancho called “La Mesa” about six miles further from the river and nearly opposite his old place.
          Captain Ford took post on our side of the river, nearly opposite, and was getting minute information as to the localities, with the intention of surrounding his camp. A few days ago he broke up this camp and went up the river, it is supposed by some, to Camargo, and by others for the interior. Linaus and Cadruta are mentioned. He has evidently left this frontier. His brother says that he intends to join the Indians. His mother and a brother are desirous to return to this side of the river and to reoccupy their ranches. This has strengthened me in the belief that he has left permanently.
          In reviewing the events of the past five or six months, I arrive at the following facts:
          Cortinas has been an outlaw and fugitive from justice for the last ten years. Some politicians found that he could influence a large vote amongst his countrymen, and during an election he was courted. Thus there was never any great effort made to bring him to justice. His mother owns ten leagues of land in a body near town, much of it covered with a dense chapparal. A few miles back from his house, near the river, he built a rancho called San José, which is arranged for a secure retreat, where it would be difficult to surprise any one. This was an asylum for horse and cattle thieves, robbers, and murderers, for those whose enemies would not permit them to live on the Mexican side of the river, or who dared not show themselves in the thickly settled parts of this State.
          In Brownsville there were several persons who had made themselves obnoxious to him and his associates. His first object in coming here was, no doubt, revenge to get rid of these. Then he would have gone off into the interior with some of his friends, in a government employment, until his deeds were forgotten. But the arrest of Cabrera, as he was ready to leave, kept him back. He recrossed the river to rescue Cabrera, and punish those who held him in custody. The idle and the dissolute flocked around him, lured by the prospect of plunder. He soon gained notoriety, and the affair grew beyond his control. The hatred of Americans on the frontier, amongst all classes of Mexicans, brought him men and means. Our side of the river furnished some horses and beef, with but few arms. Most of his arms, ammunition, and supplies to maintain his forces for so many months, came from Mexico, and principally from Matamoras Most of his men were “pelados” from the towns and ranches along the Rio Grande. On the Mexican side he always found a market for his plunder. At Rio Grande City, in an ammunition box which we captured, were orders in which he is styled “General en Gefe,” and he went about with a body guard.
          The whole country from Brownsville to Rio Grande City, one hundred and twenty miles, and back to the Arroyo Colorado, has been laid waste. There is not an American, or any property belonging to an American, that could be destroyed in this large tract of country. Their horses and cattle were driven across into Mexico, and there sold, a cow, with a calf by her side, for a dollar.
          At Rio Grande City, in answer to the complaints of his men that he had not fulfilled his promises, he told them that they should the next day have “manos libres’’ from ten to twelve. Our unexpected arrival saved the city from being sacked and burned, and the few Americans left from murder.
          Rio Grande City is almost depopulated, and there is but one Mexican family in Edinburg. On the road this side I met but two ranchos occupied, and those by Mexicans. The jacales and fences are generally burned. The actual loss in property can give but a faint idea of the amount of the damage. The cattle that were not carried off are scattered in the chapparal, and will soon be wild and lost to their owners. Business, as far up as Lerido, two hundred and forty miles, has been interrupted or suspended for five months. It is now too late to think of preparing for a crop, and a whole season will be lost.
          The amount of the claims for damages presented is three hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and twenty-six dollars and twenty one cents; many of them are exaggerations, but then there are few Mexicans who have put in any.
          There have been fifteen Americans and eighty friendly Mexicans killed. Cortinas has lost one hundred and fifty-one men killed; of the wounded I have no account.
          The severe punishment that this people have received it is to be hoped will long deter anyone from another such undertaking. A small garrison in Fort Brown would have prevented a thought of such a thing. No people care less for the civil, and are more afraid of the military power.
          His idea and that of his dupes was that this was in the nature of a Mexican pronunciamento; that he would, when he became formidable, be bought off by the authorities; that his men would return unmolested to their homes, and soon all be forgotten.
          The citizens of Brownsville are not entirely guiltless. Had they performed their civil duties, and brought this man to justice in the first part of his career, or had they even have had a military organization, the morning of the 28th of September Cortinas would have been shot down or arrested.
          It will be a long time before the ill-feeling engendered by this outbreak can be allayed. It is dangerous for Americans to settle near their boundary. The river is narrow, and now low, and easy to cross. A robbery or murder is committed, and in a few minutes the criminal is secure from pursuit. Both banks must be under the same jurisdiction. It will at once add to the value of the lands and promote settlement. The industrious, enterprising, active race on one side cannot exist in such close proximity with the idle and vicious on the other without frequent collisions.
          The class of the Mexican population (pelados) who joined Cortinas, are an idle, thriftless, thieving, vicious people, living principally on jerked beef and corn, a frijole as a luxury. The climate is such that they require but little in the way of clothing, or to shelter themselves from the weather, and the soil produces spontaneously much that they live upon. When they have enough to eat they only work on compulsion, which the system of peonage furnishes on the Mexican side of the river.
          For the protection of the frontier, I think that it will be necessary to station at least one company of infantry at Fort Duncan, one at Fort McIntosh, one at Fort Ringgold barracks, and two at Fort Brown. Until there is a more stable government on the other side, I would keep two companies of cavalry in the field, between Ringgold barracks and Brownsville.
          My thanks are due to the officers and men of the regular army, and to those of the rangers for their cheerful and efficient aid during the last four months. I also am much indebted for valuable information to Judge Haris, Mr. Yturia, Mr. Cummins, and Mr. Galsan.
          The accompanying lists give the names of the killed and the accounts of damages with the claims. I also add a few letters which, with my previous reports, will give you a full history of what has occurred. The two field returns give the names of the officers engaged on the 14th and 27th of December, 1859.
          Respectfully submitted,

S. P. Heintzelman,          
Major 1st Regiment Infantry, Com’dg Brownsville Expedition.

          Captain John Withers,
                    Ass’t Adj’t Gen., U. S. A., San Antonio, Texas.