The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 151
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Intrigue on the Rio Grande
a conflict between the two nations."'' Texan sentiment substantiated
McCook's evaluation. In a chauvinistic appeal to the memories of the
Alamo and Goliad the editors of the Brownsville Daily Ranchero
called for an opportunity to retaliate against their Mexican enemies.
"Give us the privilege to strike, and our despoilers shall know, that
the daring of Texans is as audacious, their rifles as unerring, their
steel as sharp, as in other days."'
Public clamor, newspaper publicity, and congressional pressure
finally forced a Reconstruction-minded Congress to appoint an inves-
tigating team to analyze the Texas border problem. In accordance
with a congressional joint resolution of May 7, 1872, President Ulysses
S. Grant appointed a three-man commission to study the grievances of
Texas.8 After holding sessions in Texas in 1872 and 1873, the commis-
sioners reported that the Mexican population on the west bank of the
Rio Grande, including both civil and military officials, had extensively
participated in or abetted the depredations." The aggregate claims
against Mexico totaled $48,496,235.25, a sum which further inflamed
Texan tempers.'" In its final report the commission called for the pro-
tection of the Texas community "whose members have been depleted
by the arrow of the Indian and the knife and pistol of the Mexican
assassin.""
Relations with Mexico were further exacerbated in May, 1873, when
five companies of the United States Fourth Cavalry, commanded by
Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, crossed the Rio Grande to raid a group
of Kickapoo Indian villages more than sixty miles inside Mexico.
Mackenzie burned three villages and returned to Texas, provoking a
note of protest from Ignacio Mariscal, the Mexican minister to
Washington. Tempers momentarily cooled somewhat in 1874, but
"McCook to Wilson, August 2, 1871, in Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on
the Relations of the United States with Mexico, House Reports, 45th Cong., 2nd Sess.
(Serial 1824), Report No. 701, pp. 85-86.
'Daily Ranchero (Brownsville), August i, 1871.
"The commission studied raids by both Indians and Mexicans. Depredations on the
Frontier of Texas (Serial 1565), 1, 43. The members of the commission were Thomas
Robb, for whom the commission was ultimately named, F. J. Mead, and Richard Savage.
During the second round of investigations Thomas Osborn replaced Mead. Depredations
on the Frontiers of Texas, House Executive Documents, 43rd Cong., 1st Sess. (Serial 1615),
Document 257, Pp. 1-2.
9Depredatzons on the Frontiers of Texas (Serial 1565), 6-8.
"The commission indicated that original losses amounted to approximately eleven
million dollars. Secondary losses and estimated increases from the initial losses constituted
the remaining sum. Depredations on the Frontiers of Texas (Serial 1615), 30o.
"Ibid., 32.151,
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971, periodical, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101200/m1/163/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.