The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 153
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Intrigue on the Rio Grande
oppressed on the one band by a band of carpet-baggers that would
divest us of every vestige of liberty, while on the other hand by a
nation of brutes, who pride themselves in robbing the citizen of
his labor."'' In Corpus Christi the mood was even more incendiary:
"The American people of Texas will not much longer allow them-
selves to be trampled upon and their earnings indiscriminately appro-
priated. Redress will be sought and the Rio Grande will be no bar-
rier.""
Although Secretary of War William W. Belknap assured Coke that
immediate action would be taken to meet the crisis, the apparent
absence of any positive measures and the continuation of sporadic
raids compelled the governor to reiterate the critical situation to
President Grant in late May. C:oke minced no words. The obligation
to defend national territory was a lederal, not a state responsibility,
he stated, and graphically described the deplorable conditions in
Texas: "Citizens are being murdered, thousands of cattle being driven
across the Rio Grande, the roads are infested with bands of robbers."
In the governor's opinion the Texas-Mexican frontier faced "the im-
minence of a sanguinary border war.""'
General Sherman questioned the seriousness of the case and con-
fided his doubts to Secretary Belknap that all of the raiders came from
Mexico. In his guidelines for the United States forces in Texas, Sher-
man instructed army officers to explain to Texas officials that the first
responsibility for maintaining order fell to the local authorities and
that the United States army should only assist them if it amounted
"to a hostile invasion from Mexico." T b General Ord, the newly ap-
pointed commander of the Department of Texas, Sherman wrote that
usual procedures should be followed; however, the citizens of the
state should be encouraged to assist the army in apprehending maraud-
ers. "It is not a war by Mexico against the United States but none-
theless provoking.'"
Immediately following the Nuecestown raid Texas Adjutant Gen-
eral William Steele sent Captain McNelly and his company of forty-
1TResolution signed by thirty-six citizens and published in the Corpus Christi Weekly
Gazette, April 17, 1875.
"Ibid., June 5, 1875.
'"Belknap to Coke, March 31, 1875, AGO, M666, Roll 195; Coke to Grant, May 29,
1875, Governors' Correspondence, Box 0o.
20Sherman to Belknap, April ,o, 1875, AGO, M666, Roll 196; Sherman to Ord, May
1, 1875, ibid., Roll 195.153
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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/m1/165/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.