Troubles on the Western Frontier

4. Colonel Lee to the Adjutant General.

Headquarters Fort Duncan,
March 20, 1860.

          Colonel: Information from Eagle Pass was received at San Antonio the day I left (15th instant) that Cortinas, with a large force, was ascending the valley of the Rio Grande, and threatened to attack the village at this place. This report was corroborated by letters received from Laredo. On coming up with Captain Brackett’s company, 2d cavalry, on the 16th, I therefore directed my course to Fort Duncan, instead of Fort McIntosh, as I had intended.
I find, upon my arrival, that there is no truth in the report. Mr. Duclos, a well-known citizen of Eagle Pass, and for some years engaged in furnishing supplies to the army in Texas, made the above communication to the chief quartermaster at San Antonio. He now informs me that he derived the intelligence from the officers of the Mexican custom-house in Piedras Negras, a village opposite.
Everything in this section of country is quiet, and the usual intercourse and commerce between Mexico and the United States is uninterrupted.
I shall therefore to-morrow proceed down the Rio Grande to Laredo, and if affairs in that quarter are quiet, will continue to Ringgold barracks, above which point I cannot learn that Cortinas has at any time ascended. Before leaving San Antonio, I had ordered to this place one of the artillery companies from Fort Clark, which has arrived, and I shall take with me to Laredo company H, 2d cavalry, commanded by Lieut. Eagle, in case it may be required.
I have given you the above information lest the report I speak of may have reached Washington, and caused uneasiness to the Secretaryof War.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

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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)]