Site of Cortina Battle
Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Dec. 27, 1859 Crushing defeat for partisan leader Juan Cortina who in late 1859 laid waste the lower Rio Grande Valley. Cortina's band of 450 were surprised here at daybreak by Maj. S. B. Heintzelman with U.S. Army troops, joined by Texas Rangers recruited by John S. ("Rip") Ford. Cortina fled to Mexico by horseback. Many of his men jumped into the Rio Grande. Regarrisoning of Ringgold barracks put end to partisan raids for a time. But with the American Civil War (1861-1865) and Cortina's rise to power in Tamaulipas, raids were renewed — until Cortina was removed, 1875. (1970)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the eve of the Civil War, the lower Rio Grande Valley was thrown into turmoil by partisan leader Juan Cortina. On December 27, 1859, his band was surprised at daybreak here by U.S. Army troops under Major Heintzelman, joined by Texas Rangers, and scattered in defeat, with Cortina fleeing across the river. Regarrisoning of nearby Ringgold Barracks calmed the border, but raids flared again during and after the war until Cortina's power finally waned.
Why it matters
The clash reflects the volatile, contested character of the Texas-Mexico border, where questions of order, ethnicity, and sovereignty played out through decades of conflict.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Juan Cortina
- · S. B. Heintzelman
- · John S. Ford
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Elder B. Barton
Hidalgo, TX
Born in New York City in 1806, Elder B. Barton threw in his lot with the Texas cause and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive clash that secured the Republic of Texas's independence. Settling along the lower Rio Grande, he married Santitos Balli of Matamoros, raised sixteen children, and parlayed his veteran land grants and a supply business into a lasting mark on Hidalgo County's frontier economy. He died on his ranch in 1884, a bridge between the Anglo republic and the older Mexican society of the borderlands.
Old Zapata
Zapata County, TX
This marker recalls the founding of Old Zapata, whose settlers came in 1770 from Revilla, one of the Spanish colonial towns established along the Rio Grande under José de Escandón's colonization of Nuevo Santander. A nearby Spanish fort guarded the frontier village, and in 1842 the ill-fated Texian soldiers of the Mier Expedition passed through, foraging as they marched toward a disastrous defeat in Mexico. The site layers Spanish colonial settlement over the turbulent border conflicts of the young Texas republic.
Capitol, Republic of the Rio Grande
Laredo, TX
In 1840, a coalition of Mexican federalists rose against Santa Anna's centralist regime in Mexico City, proclaiming a short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande with Jesús Cárdenas as president and Laredo as its capital. The rebels recruited support in Texas and won early victories, but after roughly two years the movement collapsed and made peace with the centralists. This modest border building served as the seat of that breakaway government.
Republic of the Rio Grande
Laredo, TX
In January 1840, Antonio Canales and fellow Mexican Federalists met near Guerrero, along the Rio Grande, to proclaim the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande. They were loyal to Mexico's liberal 1824 constitution, which centralist leaders in Mexico City had set aside, and their breakaway state claimed lands on both sides of the river with Laredo as a capital. The republic lasted less than a year before Canales reconciled with the central government.