The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 152
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the depredations did not appreciably abate. The raids from Mexico
continued and tensions again mounted. The climax came on March
26, 1875, when a party of thirty-three raiders plundered and burned
Nuecestown, Texas, only 12 miles from Corpus Christi and 150 miles
from the Rio Grande. This audacious foray into the heartland of Texas
terrorized Nueces and the surrounding counties. Armed bands of
vigilantes roamed the countryside, indiscriminately hanging Mexican
vaqueros and burning the homes of Mexican Americans.'" The gravity
of the situation was pointed out by General C. C. Augur, former
commanding officer of the Department of Texas and then commander
of the Department of the Gulf. Augur claimed that the Nuecestown
raid was "the most serious raid by Mexicans into our territory for
many years.""
Beset by demands from citizens for adequate protection for life
and property and hampered by insufficient funds and armed forces
to cope with the danger," the newly elected Democratic governor of
Texas, Richard Coke, appealed to President Ulysses S. Grant for assist-
ance. The depredations on Texas from Mexico had reached such
alarming proportions, Coke asserted, that they threatened "the depop-
ulation of the lower Rio Grande country."'"
Incensed by the last series of raids, Texans demanded federal
action. From Beeville came the cry: "Thanks be to God, Grant can
no longer blind the people with the smoke of Havana. [We are]
1"Testimony in Relation to Texas Border Troubles, 38, 71, 82, 128; Texas, Adjutant Gen-
eral, Supplemental Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Texas for 1874 (Hous-
ton, 1874), 4. Ernest Wallace, Ranald S. Mackenzie on the Texas Frontier (Lubbock,
1964), 92-lo7.
1"For accounts of the Nuecestown raid see William M. Hager, "The Nuecestown Raid
of 1875: A Border Incident," Arizona and the West, I (Autumn, 1959), 258-270; Leopold
Morris, "The Mexican Raid of 1875 on Corpus Christi," Quarterly of the Texas State
Historical Association, IV (1900-1901), 128-139; Coleman McCampbell, Texas Seaport
and the Coastal Bend Area (New York, 1952), 54-56; Corpus Christi Weekly Gazette.
March 27, 1875. J. Fred Rippy says the year 1875 was "destined to be the most perilous and
harassing the Texas frontiersmen had suffered." J. Fred Rippy, The United States and
Mexico (rev. ed.; New York, 1931), 290.
14Augur to Philip H. Sheridan, March 30, 1875, Adjutant General's Office, Letters
Received, Main Series, Texas Raids, 1875-1884, National Archives Microcopy 666, Roll
196. Reference to these records are hereafter cited as AGO, M666.
"1In accordance with the frontier protection act of 1874 Governor Coke had placed
the authorized six companies of Texas Rangers in the field. Governors' Messages, Coke to
Ross (inclusive) 5874-z89z (Austin, 1916), 96; H. P. N. Gammel (comp.), Laws of Texas
(1o vols.; Austin, 1898), VIII, 89.
"6Coke to Grant, March 30, 1875, Governors' Correspondence, Box 20 (Archives, Texas
State Library, Austin).152
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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/m1/164/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.