Fort Brown, Texas, February 10, 1860.
On the 2d of February two companies of State troops, Captains Ford and Littleton, were placed under my orders by the commissioners of the State of Texas. I sent Captain Stoneman’s cavalry to occupy the country from this point to about thirty miles above, and the two companies of rangers to occupy from there up the river as far as Edinburg. On their way up, the morning of the 4th, they found some of Cortinas’s men depredating on stock, and killed seven of them. Corporal Duty, of Captain Ford’s company, with a guard, was sent in advance with the baggage wagons. At Zacetal rancho, opposite La Balsa, he encountercd 30 Mexicans, and drove them across the Rio Grande. His party, with some rangers under Major Tobin and Captain Tomlinson, from above, were fired upon from the Mexican side, and one man was mortally wounded.
In the meantime, the steamboat, which was near by, was also fired upon. Captain Ford arriving, he crossed the river with 49 men. After a sharp skirmish, kept up for about an hour, the enemy was driven from his defences, and the jacals were fired. He had two rangers wounded. The Mexican loss, according to their own account, is 29 killed and 40 wounded ; their whole force, 150 infantry and 50 cavalry. Captain Ford reports that the officers and men behaved admirably.
About midnight Captain Stoneman’s cavalry arrived. We had now about 200 men on the ground.
The next morning, the better to protect the boat, 47 officers and men, under Captains Ford and Littleton, crossed the river with their horses and accompanied the boat.
At La Palmas, two or three miles down, they encountered a body of armed men retreating before them. Some of them belonged to the “‘rural police;” part were rancheros, and the larger portion, no doubt, belonged to Cortinas. As the captain of the police would not vouch for them, the latter drew apart, and Captain Ford held a conference with the commander of the police. In compliance with my orders and the arrangement I made with General Garcia, the troops re-crossed to our side of the river the next day.
Captain Ford conducted with much prudence, and none of the inhabitants were molested or their property disturbed.
On the 8th I received a communication from Juaquin Arquilla, esq., temporarily in command at Matamoras. I enclose my reply, which explains itself.
The dangerous excitement of the last few days has abated; the troops will remove their positions on the river.
I have the honor to be, sir, very repectfully, your obedient servant,
Major U. S. Infantry, Commanding.
Assistant Adjutant General U. S. A., San Antonio, Texas.
A report 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)]