A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of
The Garza Revolution,
1891–1893
Records of the U.S. Army Continental
Commands, Department of Texas
A UPA Collection
from
Cover: Telegram from Captain John G. Bourke of the 3rd Cavalry regarding his plans for patrolling the
Texas-Mexico border (Reel 1, Frame 0076). Bourke is one of the most frequent correspondents in the
collection.
The Garza Revolution,
1891–1893
Records of the U.S. Army Continental
Commands, Department of Texas
Guide by
Daniel Lewis
A UPA Collection from
7500 Old Georgetown Road ● Bethesda, MD 20814-6126
Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis,
a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-60205-006-8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Scope and Content Note .........................................................................................................................
Source Note.................................................................................................................................................
Editorial Note.............................................................................................................................................
Collection Level Terms............................................................................................................................
v
ix
ix
ix
Reel Index
Entry 4877, Letters and Reports Received Relating to the Garza Revolution
Reel 1
[September 1891–January 14, 1892]...................................................................................................
1
Reel 2
[January 15–December 1892]..............................................................................................................
7
Reel 3
[January–September 1893]...................................................................................................................
14
Principal Correspondents Index ...........................................................................................................
Subject Index ..............................................................................................................................................
25
29
iii
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
On September 16, 1891, Captain E. L. Randall, sent a telegram from his post at Fort Ringgold, Texas, to
the assistant adjutant general of the U.S. Army’s Department of Texas with the following news: “I have
received information that at six o’clock last night C. E. Garcia crossed into Mexico when 14 miles below here
with over 50 armed men, his object to attempt a revolution” (Reel 1, Frame 0004).
The man to whom Randall referred as C. E. Garcia was actually named Catarino Garza, a name the
officers in the U.S. Army’s Department of Texas would come to know only too well over the next two years.
In September 1891, Catarino Garza issued a proclamation to the people of Mexico. Arguing that his fellow
citizens were treated like “despicable slaves,” that the Mexican government was plagued by “frightful
corruption,” that freedom of the press had been squashed, and that the Constitution of 1857 had been
betrayed, Garza called on Mexicans to “rise in mass in the name of liberty, the constitution and the public
conscience”(Reel 1, Frame 0121–0126).
In support of his revolutionary goals, according to documents in The Garza Revolution, 1891–1893,
Catarino Garza and about sixty to eighty of his followers crossed into Mexico in September 1891 to
overthrow the Mexican government. Over the next two years, U.S. Army personnel in the Department of
Texas worked with the Mexican government in an attempt to track down the revolutionaries.
This collection, filmed from the holdings of the National Archives Building, Washington, D.C., consists
of correspondence of the U.S. Army Department of Texas from September 1891 through September 1893.
During this time, U.S. Army officials filed almost daily reports on the status of their operations along the
Texas-Mexico border. In these telegrams, letters, and official reports, officers reported on their own troop
movements, scouting operations, sightings of and skirmishes with the revolutionaries, and conditions on local
ranches and in villages in the region.
The major correspondents represented in the collection are Captain John G. Bourke of the 3rd Cavalry,
Captain George F. Chase of the 3rd Cavalry, Captain George K. Hunter of the 3rd Cavalry, Captain E. L.
Randall at Fort Ringgold, U.S. Consul at Matamoras John B. Richardson, Captain F. H. Hardie of the 3rd
Cavalry, Stephen O’Connor of the 23rd Infantry, M. Romero of the Mexican Legation in Washington, D.C.,
and P. Ornelas, the Mexican consul at San Antonio.
The events covered in the collection fall into two distinct periods. The first period lasted from September
1891 through April 1892. After an interlude from April to November 1892 (with one brief episode in July), a
new round of activity began in December 1892 and continued through to September 1893, when the
documentation in the collection ends.
As we know, on September 15, Garza and his men crossed the Rio Grande River into Mexico. For the
next eight months, the U.S. Army and the Mexican Army pursued Garza and his band. Despite several
skirmishes with Garza’s followers, Garza regularly eluded the military authorities. The terrain in the Rio
Grande River Valley proved to be a good place for Garza and his men to hide. U.S. Army officials repeatedly
wrote expressing their frustrations at marching hundreds of miles, only to find little or no evidence of the
insurgents. Captain John G. Bourke of the 3rd Cavalry was one of the main leaders throughout the campaign.
Bourke often submitted very detailed reports that chronicled the activities of the men under his command.
On October 12, 1891, for example, a little less than one month into the operation, Bourke described a typical
scouting expedition: “Every house in a suspected locality is examined, names of inmates taken down, number
of horses on hand ascertained, and the vicinity examined for fresh horse or wagon tracks, manure, fires, signs
of bedding, anything to suggest the recent presence of strangers” (Reel 1, Frame 0113). On this particular
trip, Bourke wrote that his men had not found anything suspicious. Bourke’s men repeatedly had similar
experiences, and Bourke was not afraid to communicate his frustrations to his superior officers. In a
v
November 15, 1891, letter, Bourke wrote that the scouting missions his men conducted were “without the
slightest result, beyond wearing out horses, men, and officers.” Both Bourke and some of his fellow officers
were quite outspoken about why they had so much trouble getting any credible information regarding Garza’s
whereabouts. On October 6, 1891, Bourke wrote: “The difficulty of the task performed may be inferred from
the fact, which is of course well known to the Department Commander, that the population in this valley is
essentially Mexican—the language, dress, customs, weights and measures, money used—everything about
them—may be put down as Spanish, therefore, it is almost an impossibility to separate a ‘revolutionist’ from
one of the ordinary inhabitants.” To solve this problem, Bourke recommended that the field officer in charge
of the troops should be able to speak Spanish.
Perhaps the best summary of the first seven months of the expedition comes from Captain George F.
Chase of the 3rd Cavalry. In a January 11, 1892, letter, Chase wrote: “I have plenty of schemes with which to
catch Garza, but his whereabouts is like the end of a rainbow, always a few miles away.” Despite their
frustrations, correspondence from January and February 1892 shows that the U.S. Army started to make
some progress against the rebels. On January 19, 1892, Chase reported the arrest of Frank Garza. Frank
Garza told Chase that he had been with the rebels for one month, but he left because he had been “poorly
fed” and “paid nothing.” Frank Garza also said that very few men remained with Catarino Garza.
On January 31, 1892, scouts for the 3rd Cavalry unexpectedly bumped into a small group of Garza’s men.
One of the scouts, a man identified only as Glover, was killed. The two scouts he was with, Cuellar and
Moreno, were able to escape. In a February 3, 1892, telegram, George F. Chase reported that the men had
been caught in a cul-de-sac: “it was a terrible place, it is a wonder that any of them got away.” This tragedy
was followed by more hopeful news. February letters mention that because the U.S. Army was constantly
patrolling the area, Garza’s men had separated into small groups of from two to ten men each. After Frank
Garza’s January capture, in February the army arrested several key Garza followers. These were Manuel
Cadeno Canales, Feverion de los Santos, and Fortunatio Quellar.
The closest the U.S. Army came to catching Garza apparently came on February 18, 1892. On that day,
according to a March 2, 1892, letter from John G. Bourke, Captain George F. Chase found what he thought
to be the shoeprint of Catarino Garza leading away from the house of his father-in-law, Alejandro Gonzales.
Heavy rains that night, however, helped Garza to make his escape. The U.S. Army continued to pursue Garza
in March and April, but by April the planned revolution seems to have disintegrated, and the correspondence
breaks off at the end of April. In July there are two letters regarding a possible renewed attack, but it proved
to be only a rumor.
The collection resumes in December 1892 with a different set of circumstances. This second group of
events spanned from December 1892 to September 1893. During this period, Catarino Garza is surprisingly
absent from the scene, but the revolution he began was carried on by his followers, led by a man named
Francisco Benavides. In November 1892, a proclamation, signed by Benavides was circulated along the
Texas-Mexico border. The proclamation read in part: “We have appealed to reason and he [Porfirio Diaz] has
not listened to us; we have appealed to patriotism and he has despised us; let us, therefore, rush to the last
recourse which remains to us. Our end is noble, since it contemplates the restoration of our liberty
besmirched and defiled by the tyrants of Tuxtepec. Let us leave the plough to grasp in hand the sword and,
guided by love of our Fatherland, let us re-conquer upon the field of battle the rights which have been
usurped from us under the specious pretext of consolidating that abominable peace which has shed so much
blood…. Forward, Mexicans! Let us march to die for liberty. Immortal glory for those who know how to die
for her! Scorn and degradation for those who prefer to be slaves rather than patriots!” (See Reel 2, Frame
0595, and Reel 3, Frames 0123–0125, for English translations of the proclamation.)
In early December 1892, a group of Benavides followers executed the most deadly attack of the Garza
Revolution when they mounted a surprise raid on the Mexican village of San Ignacio. Lieutenant P. W. West
of the 3rd Cavalry submitted the first account of the attack. In a December 15 letter, West wrote, in part:
“Last Saturday about 11 a.m. 150 bandits attacked the troops of the Sixth Mexican Cavalry stationed across
the river. The men were at stables at the time and were unprepared. Twenty men and two officers were killed
or burned to death, the ranch being set on fire. The rest of the men, women & children, also the troop
horses, were driven to this side [of the Rio Grande River]. Most of the troops are now in this town [San
vi
Ignacio, Texas]” (Reel 2, Frames 0507–0509). The aftermath of the attack dominates the remainder of the
collection as the U.S. Army mounted a renewed effort to track down the 150 men involved.
Beginning in December, the reports describe much more frequent contact with the rebels than occurred
during the September 1891 through April 1892 phase of the campaign. A December 31, 1892, telegram from
Captain F. H. Hardie, for example, described a confrontation between the Mexican Army and forty-five
“bandits.” Two days earlier, two U.S. Marshals had been captured by a group of about forty rebels, only to
escape when the rebels unexpectedly encountered the Mexican Army. Starting in January 1893, the U.S. Army
started to arrest many men they believed to have taken part in the attack on San Ignacio. Much of the
collection from January 1893 through August 1893 consists of brief telegrams reporting the capture of
suspected rebels. Captain John G. Bourke arrested the largest number of men at one time when he captured
nineteen men during a two-week scouting operation from February 3 to February 17. By March 1893,
Captain Henry Jackson of the 7th Cavalry claimed that most of the key leaders had been captured. The U.S.
Army continued to make arrests from April through August, and these arrests are documented in the
collection. The collection concludes with a letter from Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor summarizing his
observations of the military operations conducted after the attack on San Ignacio. Overall, the documents
from 1893 give the impression of a group of rebels increasingly on the run and a movement that was slowly
fading away.
The Garza Revolution is relatively unknown to students of U.S. history, but readers of the documents in
this collection will find it a fascinating episode, and might consider the extent to which the critique offered by
Garza and Benavides was a precursor to the Mexican Revolution that began less than twenty years later.
vii
SOURCE NOTE
The documents microfilmed in this edition are from the holdings of the National Archives
Building, Washington, D.C., Records of the U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of
Texas, General Records, Entry 4877, Letters and Reports Received Relating to the Garza Revolution.
EDITORIAL NOTE
LexisNexis filmed all documents in Entry 4877. The documents in Entry 4877 were arranged in
loose chronological order in the collection at the National Archives. During the filming, LexisNexis
staff rearranged the documents into chronological order by month and year.
COLLECTION LEVEL TERMS
The following subject terms apply to all folders in this collection and therefore do not appear in
either the Reel Index or the Subject Index.
Border security
Catarino Garza
Foreign relations
Insurgency
Mexico
Military personnel
National defense
Texas
U.S. Army, Department of Texas
ix
REEL INDEX
The following index is a listing of the folders that compose The Garza Revolution, 1891–1893: Records of the
U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of Texas. The four-digit number on the far left is the frame
number at which a particular file folder begins. This is followed by the file title. Substantive issues are
highlighted under the appropriate category. Within each category, substantive issues are listed in the order in
which they appear on the film, and each one is listed only once per folder. The Content Notes field includes
transcriptions of selected documents in the collection. These transcriptions represent the guide writer’s best
effort to decipher the handwriting in these letters.
Reel 1
Frame No.
Entry 4877, Letters and Reports Received Relating to the Garza Revolution
0001
September 1891.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border as well as pursuit of Garza by the Mexican Army and the U.S. Army
Department of Texas during September 1891.
Subject Terms: Military campaigns and battles; Military strategy; Rio Grande River; Law enforcement.
Persons as Subjects: Emiliano Lojero.
Geographic Place Names: Fort Ringgold, Texas; Camargo, Mexico; Matamoras, Mexico; Fort Brown,
Texas.
Principal Correspondents: E. L. Randall; A. P. Morrow; P. Ornelas; J. C. Kelton; George Torney; A. P.
Morrow; William F. Wharton; John B. Richardson; John G. Bourke; Emiliano Lojero.
Dates: September 1891.
Content Notes: (Reel 1, Frame 0004) In a September 16, 1891, telegram, Captain E. L. Randall
reported: “I have received information that at six o’clock last night C. E. Garza crossed into
Mexico when 14 miles below here [Fort Ringgold] with over 50 armed men, his object to attempt
a revolution.”
(Reel 1, Frame 0006) In a September 17, 1891, telegram, Randall reported: “Information
received leads me to think that the revolutionists is dispersed will recross the Rio Grande above
this post. I will send a scout up the river to Camargo to act as events may require please answer.”
(Reel 1, Frame 0008) In a September 18, 1891, telegram, Colonel A. P. Morrow reported
from Laredo, Texas: “Lieut. Carter and twenty five men G Third Cavalry left post at seven thirty
yesterday evening to scout Rio Grande in the direction of Ringgold. Detachment will reach
Carrizo today. Can learn nothing reliable concerning armed parties supposed to have crossed to
Mexico.”
(Reel 1, Frame 0010) In a September 17, 1891, telegram, from Fort Ringgold, Captain E. L.
Randall reported: “The Mexican troops were engaged with the revolutionists at Migre seventeen
miles from here. I have a report that was trouble yesterday at Guerrero, but am not sure of its
truth. Will do my best to arrest those who have violated the neutrality laws.”
1
Frame No.
(Reel 1, Frame 0015) In another telegram from September 17, 1891, Randall reported:
“Lieut. Langhorne Comdg. reports that he went to Gruella ranch 18 miles from here, found that
a party of about 60 men had crossed night of 15th. They came from Palito Blanco 80 miles north
of crossing; many of them were Mexicans from Camargo and commanded by C. A. Garza. A
large body of Mexican troops are in pursuit, having engaged them yesterday near San Miguels.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0020–0021) A September 18, 1891, telegram from Captain E. L. Randall,
commanding officer at Fort Ringgold, noted that arrest warrants were issued for Garza and four
members of his band and that other warrants would be issued as soon as the names of other
followers were known.
(Reel 1, Frames 0026–0027) A September 19, 1891, letter from Adjutant General J. C.
Kelton to the Secretary of War asked for permission for troops to be deployed from Fort Brown
and Fort Ringgold to prevent Garza from recrossing the Rio Grande River.
(Reel 1, Frame 0029) A September 19, 1891, telegram from E. L. Randall noted that all of
the river crossings in the vicinity of Gruella were patrolled by U.S. Army troops.
(Reel 1, Frames 0039–0040) In a September 22, 1891, telegram, Capt. George Torney,
commanding officer at Fort Brown, informed the assistant adjutant general that General
Emiliano Lojero of the Mexican Army believed that Garza had recrossed the Rio Grande River
back into Texas, however, a telegram from the same day (Reel 1, Frames 0051–0052) from
William F. Wharton stated that they had reports of armed men crossing into Mexico near Fort
Ringgold.
(Reel 1, Frame 0049) A September 24, 1891, telegram, noted that Garza was probably
“hidden in woods near Reynosa” and that others of his men had crossed into Texas.
(Reel 1, Frame 0067) On September 30, 1891, John G. Bourke, captain of the Third Cavalry,
reported that Garza’s men had apparently separated into two groups and crossed back into Texas
at two different points; in an undated letter (Frames 0070–0071), John B. Richardson argued that
it was a “discredit to the United States” to allow American citizens to assist with “expeditions as
these just now disturbing the peace of Mexico,” and he recommended a large increase in the size
of the force at Fort Brown to deal with this problem.
0074
October 1891.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border, as well as pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army during October 1891.
Subject Terms: Military campaigns and battles; Military strategy; Rio Grande River; Law enforcement;
Farms and farmers; Revolutions.
Persons as Subjects: Ruiz Sandoval.
Geographic Place Names: Fort Ringgold, Texas; Fort McIntosh, Texas.
Principal Correspondents: John G. Bourke; Jose F. Gonzalez; D. S. Stanley; Hugh Swain; William F.
Wharton; John B. Richardson; A. P. Morrow; Charles H. Edstrom; E. L. Randall; William W.
Reese.
Dates: October 1891.
Content Notes: (Reel 1, Frame 0076) In an October 1, 1891, telegram, Captain John G. Bourke
reported that the Mexican consul believed Garza and Ruiz Sandoval would attempt to return to
Mexico between Camargo and Reynosa.
(Reel 1, Frames 0082–0085) In an October 6, 1891, letter, Bourke reported that, in the valley
of the Rio Grande, Garza had many sympathizers and that the periodicals he found in the region
were all critical of Mexican President Diaz, the man Garza was intending to overthrow; Bourke
continued: “The difficulty of the task performed may be inferred from the fact, which is of
course well known to the Department Commander, that the population in this valley is
essentially Mexican—the language, dress, customs, weights and measures, money used—
everything about them—may be put down as Spanish, therefore, it is almost an impossibility to
separate a ‘revolutionist’ from one of the ordinary inhabitants”; Bourke recommended that the
field officer in charge of the troops should be able to speak Spanish and concluded the letter by
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Frame No.
noting: “It is proper for me to say that all officers and men of this post [Fort Ringgold] have
been energetic and vigilant, and that the relations maintain[ed] with the Mexican consular and
military representatives, as well as with our own civil authorities, have been of the most cordial
nature.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0096–0099) An October 7, 1891, letter encloses a September 21, 1891, letter
from John B. Richardson, U.S. Consul at Matamoras, in which he wrote that there was a great
deal of uncertainty regarding Garza’s location. He concluded the letter by stating that any
reduction in the number of U.S. troops in the area would be a mistake.
(Reel 1, Frame 0101) In an October 8, 1891, letter, Captain Bourke, however, noted that
because of the difficulties of locating Garza’s band, the task might be more suitable for U.S.
marshals who knew the people of the region better than the U.S. Army.
(Reel 1, Frame 0113) In an October 12, 1891, letter, Bourke discussed the scouting
operations of the Third Cavalry: “Every house in a suspected locality is examined, names of
inmates taken down, number of horses on hand ascertained, and the vicinity examined for fresh
horse or wagon tracks, manure, fires, signs of bedding, anything to suggest the recent presence
of strangers,” but he wrote that they had not found anything suspicious.
(Reel 1, Frames 0121–0126) Garza’s proclamation to the people of Mexico was forwarded to
the assistant adjutant general by Bourke in an October 13, 1891, letter. Frames 0121–0125
include an English translation and the original Spanish. Garza’s proclamation claimed that
because the Mexican government treated its citizens like “despicable slaves,” was corrupt, had
stifled freedom of the press, and maintained its power by suppressing any peaceful means of
bringing about change, Garza felt justified in leading his men to “rise in arms in defense of our
lives.”
0153
November 1891.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border, as well as pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas during
November 1891.
Subject Terms: Military campaigns and battles; Military strategy; Rio Grande River; Law enforcement;
Farms and farmers; Arms trade; Military intelligence; Arrest.
Geographic Place Names: Fort Ringgold, Texas; Carrizo, Texas.
Principal Correspondents: John G. Bourke; J. C. Kelton; Jose F. Gonzalez; John Jordan; A. P. Morrow;
Warner P. Sutton; E. L. Randall; William B. Wheeler; M. Romero; Charles E. Hays; Lorenzo
Garcia.
Dates: November 1891.
Content Notes: (Reel 1, Frames 0154–0156) A November 2, 1891, letter from Captain John G. Bourke
to the assistant adjutant general noted that he believed Garza had many followers in the area
along the Rio Grande River.
(Reel 1, Frames 0163–0167) In a November 4, 1891, letter, Bourke reported that he, along
with three officers, eight enlisted men of the Third Cavalry, U.S. deputy marshal and two
Mexican guides went to the La Grulla (Crane) Ranch on the Rio Grande River with the intention
of arresting members of Garza’s band who were said to be in hiding on the ranch. Bourke noted
the La Grulla Ranch was “not a single farmhouse or a cluster of farmhouses, but a village of
good size, with houses and gardens arranged in streets, the whole covering an area of half a mile
square.” Bourke, continuing his description of La Grulla, wrote that eighty-five of its residents
vote as American citizens and that there were also Mexican residents who were not naturalized as
American citizens. Bourke wrote: “We visited every habitation and ascertained the name and
occupation and whereabouts of all grown persons,” and he described the farming operations that
took place in La Grulla. Bourke noted that there was “not the slightest trace of the presence of
any of the revolutionists” despite the fact that one of Garza’s key men, Cayetaro Garza
Elisandro, was known to keep at store in La Grulla. Bourke also wrote that he was surprised by
the lack of cleanliness of some of the residents. Bourke concluded this letter by writing: “I repeat
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Frame No.
what I have previously stated, that there is not a single man in arms against the Mexican Republic
on this side of the Rio Grande.... Garza seems to have a great many sympathizers along this
valley, but they are not doing anything that I can learn. The apprehension of skulking fugitives
had best be left to the U.S. Deputy Marshals who know the population. All that, in my opinion,
the military need do now is from time to time to visit ranches such as ‘La Grulla’ to let the
people know that they are watched by the Army, for whose power they have both fear and
respect.”
(Reel 1, Frame 0185) A November 12, 1891 letter from U.S. Consul-General Warner P.
Sutton, at the Consulate General in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, expressed the belief that only the
U.S. Army was capable of sufficiently guarding the border and that the United States needed to
uphold their commitment to the neutrality laws and prevent revolutionists from crossing the
border if the U.S. government wished to maintain relations with Mexico.
(Reel 1, Frame 0198) In a November 14, 1891, telegram, Captain Bourke reported that he
was arrested by Mexican authorities after “a drunken customs guard maliciously” said that
Bourke and the U.S. Marshal he was traveling with were part of Garza’s band. Bourke wrote that
he was quickly released after Mexican authorities received a telegram from Warner P. Sutton.
(Reel 1, Frames 0205–0218) A November 15, 1891, letter from Bourke noted that many
reports said that Garza had only sixty-six men traveling with him, but Bourke felt that his force
was larger. Bourke also reported that Garza’s sympathizers insisted Garza had not recrossed the
Rio Grande River since his initial crossing into Mexico. Bourke continued by writing that the
missions he went on in search of Garza and his followers were “without the slightest result,
beyond wearing out horses, men, and officers. My trip across the river assures me that Garza’s
command is still there and likely to remain for an indefinite time and I will now give my
command a rest and not send detachments flying over the country on unfounded rumors.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0239–0240) In a November 21, 1891, letter from M. Romero of the Mexican
Legation in Washington, D.C., to Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Romero wrote: “As the acts
of Garza and his followers constitute a violation of section 5286 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States, the Government of Mexico hopes that this country will take the necessary
measures to cause the provisions of its laws to be executed, and to prevent the organization, in
its territory, of incursions into the territory of a friendly nation.”
0266
December 1891.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border, pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas and the Mexican
Army, as well as foreign relations with Mexico during December 1891.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Law enforcement; Rio Grande River; Railroads; Revolutions;
Military campaigns and battles.
Geographic Place Names: Fort Ringgold, Texas; Carrizo, Texas.
Principal Correspondents: J. M. Schofield; J. P. Martin; John G. Bourke; Carl Thomas; Sebastian
Esquivel; F. H. Hardie; A. P. Morrow; August Bringer; P. Ornelas; James G. Blaine; W. H. H.
Miller; Paul Fricke; Charles E. Hays; J. D. Mitchell; John J. Shelly; B. Reyes; M. Romero; Hamlin
Russell; J. B. Johnson; J. S. Hogg; Lorenzo Garcia; W. H. Mabry; R. A. Haynes; Warner P.
Sutton; R. Williams; Lameda Diaz; P. Ornelas.
Dates: December 1891.
Content Notes: (Reel 1, Frames 0287–0291) In a December 8, 1891, letter, Captain F. H. Hardie wrote
that his experience in scouting for Garza and his men in the vicinity of the Rio Grande River
taught him that “it was utterly impossible for one wearing the uniform of the United States Army
to gain any information as to the whereabouts of Garza and his band, the people along the river,
whites and Mexicans, seeming all favorable to his cause.” Consequently, Hardie employed the
services of two Mexican American deputy sheriffs. Hardie continued his report along lines
similar to those described by Captain John G. Bourke, noting: “the troop and detachments have
marched in consequence of this so called Garza revolution about 1200 miles in the two separate
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Frame No.
scouts.... I have yet, or has any member of it seen anyone, who, themselves have seen Garza.... In
conclusion, it is my opinion, that Garza never recrossed the river, after crossing at the La Grulla
ranch near Ringgold last September and I fiercely believe that he is still in Mexico.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0293–0302) A December 10, 1891, letter from Bourke contains a detailed
description of the Rio Grande River, a river he referred to as the “Nile of America.” He wrote
that the people of the river valley were both anti-American and anti-Mexican; he described the
large ranches in the valley but noted that most of the inhabitants were “desperately poor;”
Bourke argued that the construction of a railroad on the Mexican side of the river would go a
long way to bringing the valley under control.
(Reel 1, Frames 0346–0349) In a December 20, 1891, letter, Bourke reported the following
conversation with an informant: “Catarino Garza crossed the Rio Grande at La Grulla, Sept. 15
last with sixteen (16) men, he was disappointed in not receiving expected support, but attributed
his failure to very rainy weather. He moved into the interior of Mexico, and hid in the San Carlos
Mountains, not very far from Victoria, Tamaulipas. Here, he left his men to do such missionary
work as they could and went straight down to the city of Mexico, where he consulted with some
of his supporters, returning thence to the San Carlos Mountains. How long he remained there, I
could not learn, but he is asserted to have kept himself concealed on that side of the river for a
long time.” The informant also said that Garza’s main purpose was to work for the “restoration
of the Constitution of 1859, and a free election” and that he did not necessarily want a military
clash with the Mexican government. Bourke wrote that it was very hard to get the truth in the
region and he suggested that the U.S. government should place secret service men in the area to
collect intelligence.
(Reel 1, Frames 0377–0381) In a December 23, 1891, letter, Bourke reported on a skirmish
with Garza followers near La Grulla on December 22. One of Bourke’s men was killed and
another wounded. Bourke asserted that it would be easy to capture and destroy these “outlaws”
if they had sufficient numbers of men. He did acknowledge that Garza’s followers enjoyed
substantial support in the Rio Grande valley and that it was very easy for them to get any
supplies they needed. He wrote: “So long as the American Government dilly dallies with these
people, they will continue to plan and combine against Mexico, while at the same time they hate
the very sight of the Damned Gringoes, as they called us in the fight of the 22nd. The cheapest
thing to do is to shoot them down whenever found skulking about with arms in their hands and
to burn down some of the ranches which gave them shelter.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0460–0465) In a December 26, 1891, letter, U.S. Consul General Warner P.
Sutton reported that the troubles with Garza, which Mexican President Diaz saw in part as
arising from the United States not having sufficient forces stationed in Texas, was “seriously
jeopardizing our relations with Mexico.” In an enclosure to this letter, Sutton included a
December 23, 1891, letter to General Lorenzo Garcia in which he reported that Captain F. H.
Hardie was guarding the passes near Carrizo (Reel 1, Frame 0467).
(Reel 1, Frames 0469–0470) In a December 29, 1891, letter to the Secretary of War,
Secretary of State James G. Blaine enclosed a December 22, 1891, letter from Sutton that warned
that if the United States did not increase its troop presence on the U.S.-Mexico border, that the
Mexican government would see this as a violation of the neutrality laws.
0516
January 1–14, 1892.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border and pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas during
January 1–14, 1892.
Subject Terms: Prisoners; Military intelligence; Arrest; Military campaigns and battles; Rio Grande
River; Borders; Military personnel; Military supplies and property.
Persons as Subjects: Lorenzo Garcia; F. H. Hardie; Stephen O’Connor.
5
Frame No.
Principal Correspondents: O. W. Pollock; F. H. Hardie; John G. Bourke; William B. Wheeler; Louis T.
Morris; John B. Richardson; John T. Knight; P. Ornelas; George F. Chase; Florent D. Jodon;
J. M. Schofield; M. Romero; George K. Hunter; J. C. Kelton; D. C. Shanks; J. S. Hogg.
Dates: January 1–14, 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 1, Frames 0517–0518) In a January 1, 1892, letter, Captain O. W. Pollock of the
23rd Infantry reported on the status of the U.S. Army troops in the field in the vicinity of Fort
McIntosh, Texas.
(Reel 1, Frames 0531–0535) In a January 2, 1892, letter, Captain F. H. Hardie of the 3rd
Cavalry reported that he had arrested two of Garza’s followers as a result of information
provided by three Mexican men sent to him by General Garcia of the Mexican Army. Hardie
also reported on a skirmish with Garza’s forces on December 29, 1891. After a brief skirmish on
the night of December 29, the next morning Hardie and his men awoke to find that Garza’s
followers had abandoned their camp during the night. They later came across one wounded man
who they took as a prisoner. By December 31, Hardie reported that they had lost the trail of
Garza’s followers.
(Reel 1, Frame 0541) A January 3, 1892, telegram from Captain William B. Wheeler reported
on another skirmish with Garza’s men, this time approximately five miles from Rio Grande City,
Texas, but again, the revolutionists escaped.
(Reel Frames 0545–0555) A January 3, 1892, letter from Major Louis T. Morris of the 3rd
Cavalry contains extracts from the reports of several officials on the hunt for Garza. The report
of Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of the 23rd Infantry described the difficulty in getting accurate
intelligence: “Nothing can be learned from the Mexican population in this vicinity in regard to
Garza’s movements—they are either loyal to him or fear him.” O’Connor also reported that his
patrol along the river would be able to “detect but could not prevent the crossing of an armed
body of men.” He noted that he had only three men to patrol twelve miles along the Rio Grande
River.
(Reel 1, Frames 0557–0562) In a January 2, 1892, letter, Second Lieutenant G. T. Langhorne
of the 3rd Cavalry reported on the actions of a Private Walker, who he dispatched to catch
Captain F. H. Hardie. Langhorne wrote: “[Walker] rode some six miles following the trail
through the heavy sand and hearing some persons talking behind him he hid himself in the brush
near the road. He saw three armed men, evidently ‘pronunciados’ riding along the road and
determined to take them all in. When they were opposite him he challenged them and they tried
to draw their guns. He shot one, who fell to the ground, reloaded his carbine (he held the
cartridge in his mouth) and was about to shoot another when men from all sides began to fire at
him from the brush around him. He wheeled, started to run, and fired again killing a horse. He
ran back to the detachment to give warning followed for a mile by over twenty men firing at him.
When the detachment arrived on the scene, the revolutionists had scattered in all directions
leaving everything on the dead horse and a coat presumably of the wounded man in which was
found the commission of a lieutenant. I consider Private Walker’s conduct very gallant.” On
December 31, 1891, Langhorne’s men came upon the revolutionists again, but again they
escaped. He wrote: “Everything in their camp was captured—nine saddles, bridles, blankets, and
horses, two guns, ammunition, and many important papers including enlistment papers,
commissions, and an ‘Ordre General’ showing the organization of the revolutionists, and the
names of the officers.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0564–0567) In a January 1, 1892, letter from First Lieutenant W. D. Beach
of the 3rd Cavalry, Beach wrote: “On the night of December 28 while in camp here, a courier
arrived from Carrizo en route to Captain Hardie’s camp, 20 miles below me. I opened his
dispatch and ascertained that Deputy U.S. Marshal Haynes had located Garza’s camp 20 miles
north of Soledad ranch and requested Captain Hardie to join him as soon as possible. I sent the
courier on with a fresh horse to Captain Hardie informing the latter that I would join him with A
troop as he passed with G…. With Captain Hardie was a party of about a dozen rangers under
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Frame No.
Captain Brook. On the evening of the 29 we met and had a slight skirmish with an outpost of
what proved to be Garza’s main camp of about 150 followers.”
(Reel 1, Frames 0621–0625) A January 6, 1892, letter from Captain John G. Bourke of the
3rd Cavalry reported on a conversation with one of Garza’s followers, Sisto Longorio, who had
been taken as a prisoner by U.S. forces. Longorio said that Garza was “feeling very despondent
and his band has been disintegrating for some days. Don’t like being followed by U.S. troops and
Texas Rangers.” Longorio noted that all of Garza’s men started with horses and that they all had
Winchester rifles and some also had revolvers.
(Reel 1, Frames 0634–0635) A January 7, 1892, letter, from Captain George K. Hunter of the
3rd Cavalry noted that Garza’s exact location was unknown.
(Reel 1, Frames 0655–0656) A January 8, 1892, letter from Private Charles Hintz of the 23rd
Infantry consists of notes from the report of scout Timoteo Taylos.
(Reel 1, Frames 0686–0689) Typed extracts from a “Brief in Case of Mexican
Revolutionists,” dated December 29, 1891, through January 23, 1892.
(Reel 1, Frame 0745–0747) In a January 11, 1892, letter, Captain George F. Chase reported
from Palito Blanco, Garza’s home town. He noted that it was “by far the most prosperous
looking place I have seen since leaving San Antonio.” He continued: “I have plenty of schemes
with which to catch Garza, but his whereabouts is like the end of a rainbow, always a few miles
away.” He wrote that he believed that Garza’s forces had temporarily disbanded and that they
were scattered about in groups of two or three.
(Reel 1, Frame 0750–0753) A January 12, 1892, letter from Chase noted that he was “ready
to go anywhere that will do any good, but unless Garza can be located it is in my opinion useless
to tramp round the country.”
Reel 2
Entry 4877, Letters and Reports Received Relating to the Garza Revolution cont.
0001
January 15–31, 1892.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border and pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas during
January 15–31, 1892.
Subject Terms: Borders; Military intelligence; Military personnel; Arrest; Prisoners.
Persons as Subjects: Frank Garza.
Principal Correspondents: R. F. Bates; Stephen O’Connor; P. Ornelas; George K. Hunter; F. H .Hardie;
Louis T. Morris; J. M. Schofield; D. S. Stanley; James S. Nix; William B. Wheeler; George F.
Chase; W. H. Mabry; John T. Knight; John G. Bourke; P. Ornelas; George K. Hunter; W. C.
Short; H. M. Lazelle; Salvador F. Maillefert.
Dates: January 15–31, 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 2, Frames 0016–0017) In a January 16, 1892, letter, Captain George K. Hunter of
the 3rd Cavalry reported that he had received information that a large landowner named Ignacio
Guiterrez had furnished flour and corn meal and other supplies to Garza’s followers.
(Reel 2, Frames 0030–0032) A January 18, 1892, letter from Private Charles Hintz of the
23rd Infantry forwards notes from the report of scout Timoteo Taylos.
(Reel 2, Frames 0034–0036) In a January 18, 1892, letter, Captain R. F. Bates of the 18th
Infantry in Del Rio, Texas, wrote: “If I were to sum up the whole matter as far as this section of
the country is concerned, I would be honest in stating as a fact that Garza has no followers here.
He may have sympathizers, whites as wells as Mexicales, persons who are anxious to make
money out of the movement.”
(Reel 2, Frames 0039–0042) A January 18, 1892, letter from Captain F. H. Hardie of the 3rd
Cavalry noted that Sergeant Kaine and his men had traveled 150 miles on a recent scouting
7
Frame No.
mission in search of Garza. While such missions were common during the campaign to find
Garza, Captain Hardie did note that Sergeant Kaine had displayed “earnestness” and
“persistence” in carrying out his assignment. Concluding this report, Hardie wrote: “I have no
hesitancy in saying that better results and more satisfactory work could have been performed had
the Government had a telegraph line along the River from Laredo to Brownsville and in view of
the fact that similar affairs of this kind are liable to break out at any time, a telegraph line seems
to be an absolute necessity.”
(Reel 2, Frames 0046–0047) In a January 18, 1892, letter from James S. Nix, County Judge of
Starr County, Texas, to Texas Governor J. S. Hogg, Nix responded to the charge that he had
expressed sympathy for the Garza movement.
(Reel 2, Frames 0057–0058) In a January 19, 1892, telegram, Captain George F. Chase of the
3rd Cavalry reported that he arrested Frank Garza after a fifteen mile ride from his camp near
San Diego, Texas. Frank Garza confessed that he had been with Catarino Garza for one month
but that he had been “poorly fed” and “paid nothing.” Frank Garza also said that very few men
remained with Catarino Garza.
(Reel 2, Frames 0083–0086) A January 21, 1892, letter from First Lieutenant John T. Knight
of the 3rd Cavalry mentioned that Garza’s followers had broken into small groups of five to ten
men each.
(Reel 2, Frames 0117–0118) Another January 21, 1892, letter from Knight stated that his
reports describing the activities of spies were appearing in local newspapers. Knight knew that
Garza’s supporters read these newspapers, and consequently, he asked the assistant adjutant
general not to share the information in his reports with newspaper reporters.
(Reel 2, Frames 0132–0134) A January 28, 1892, letter from Major Louis T. Morris noted the
capture of Victoriano Lopez along with his horse, carbine, and ammunition. The arrest was made
by U.S. Marshal Lena Cuellar. Morris wrote that the carbine was known to be of the type issued
by Garza.
(Reel 2, Frames 0141–0143) A January 29, 1892, letter from First Lieutenant Knight encloses
a report he received from First Lieutenant W. D. Beach of the 3rd Cavalry. Beach wrote that
Garza was believed to be hiding between a ranch called Granjenitos and a ranch called Prieto.
When Beach’s men and Hardie’s men arrived in the area, they found no sign of Garza but
received word that his followers had broken into small groups and that many were in need of
food and other supplies.
(Reel 2, Frame 0153) In a January 29, 1892, telegram, S. F. Maillefert wrote that Garza was
reported to be at a place called Las Moras near Brackettville, Texas.
(Reel 2, Frame 0159) In a January 30, 1892, letter, P. Ornelas reported that Mexican General
Lorenzo Garcia believed that Garza was at Ceja del Prieto.
0167
February 1892.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border and pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas during
February 1892.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military personnel; Prisoners; Arrest; Military campaigns and
battles; War casualties; Borders.
Principal Correspondents: George K. Hunter; William B. Wheeler; W. D. Beach; Louis T. Morris; Charles
E. Hays; John G. Bourke; George F. Chase; J. M. Schofield; W. A. Holbrook; John T. Knight;
James O. Luby; Ignacio Ramirez; F. H. Hardie; J. W. Heard.
Dates: February 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 2, Frames 0170–0174) A February 1, 1892, letter from Colonel H. M. Lazelle of
the 18th Infantry encloses a January 31, 1892, report from First Lieutenant D. C. Shanks of the
18th Infantry. In this report, Shanks wrote that he investigated the area around Brackettville,
Texas, and that it was his belief that Garza was not in the area and that he had not recrossed the
Rio Grande River back into the United States.
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Frame No.
(Reel 2, Frames 0188–0189) In a February 2, 1892, telegram, Captain George F. Chase of the
3rd Cavalry reported that one of his scouts named Glover had been killed in a fight at the
Soledad ranch.
(Reel 2, Frames 0196–0198) In a February 1, 1892, letter, Second Lieutenant Charles E. Hays
of the 18th Infantry reported that he had investigated a tip from Mexican General Lorenzo
Garcia regarding the location of Garza. Hays wrote that he found “the information given was
without foundation.” His troops covered 110 miles and saw no sign of Garza or his followers.
(Reel 2, Frames 0202–209) A February 2, 1892, letter consists of the notes from the report
of the scout, Timoteo Taylos. Taylos’s report for January 22, 1892, describes the Los Ojuelos
ranch.
(Reel 2, Frames 0215–0217) A February 2, 1892, letter from Major Louis T. Morris of the
3rd Cavalry forwards a January 31, 1892, report from Captain Chase. In his report from Los
Angeles, Texas, Chase wrote: “The scouts I sent out on Thursday morning to look into the
country around the Soledad valley, Una de Gato, and Guiterrez have not yet returned. They were
expected on Friday. The sullenness and unwillingness to talk on part of Lopez (a prisoner in my
camp, who is a Garza man and has been with him) about that part of the country leads me to
believe that there is a strong party of revolutionists in that vicinity somewhere. The prolonged
absence of the scouts excites some uneasiness in my mind for their safety, and I shall with twenty
men from here this afternoon in that direction.”
(Reel 2, Frames 0219–0220) A February 3, 1892, telegram from Chase reported: “Glover,
Cuellar, and Moreno [Chase’s scouts] had nearly completed a large circuit of examination of
country, when just after dark Jany. 31, they were caught in a cul-de-sac, attacked, Glover killed,
Morenos horse killed, Cuellar and Moreno escaped both riding the same horse, it was a terrible
place, it is a wonder that any of them got away.”
Several letters from February report that Garza was unable to gather large groups of men
because the U.S. Army was constantly patrolling the area and could easily discover any large
gatherings of men in one area.
(Reel 2, Frame 0294) A February 13, 1892, telegram from Aide-de-Camp J. M. Schofield
reported that the secretary of war approved General D. S. Stanley’s request to hire scouts at five
hundred dollars per month for three months. The use of scouts who knew the terrain was
viewed by the military commanders as crucial to the campaign to capture Garza and his men.
(Reel 2, Frame 0303) In a February 18, 1892, letter from First Lieutenant John T. Knight of
the 3rd Cavalry, Knight wrote that he had captured Feverion de los Santos, Garza’s chief scout
and courier.
(Reel 2, Frames 0304–0305) On February 18, 1892, Manuel Cadeno Canales, a U.S. Army
officer, confessed to Captain John G. Bourke that he had been “an active partisan” of Catarino
Garza. Bourke, however, pardoned Canales on the condition that Canales would “do all in his
power to pursue, trail, and surround or capture the said Catarino E. Garza, who is now known to
be a fugitive from justice in this neighborhood, i.e. the neighborhood of Palito Blanco and
Goleta Ranchos, County of Nueces, State of Texas.”
(Reel 2, Frames 0316–0317) In a February 29, 1892, letter, Major Morris reported that
“Fortunatio Queller, a captain in the Garza pronunciado” had been arrested at Laredo, Texas.
Morris also wrote that his men went to a location where Garza men had reportedly been sighted,
but there was “no signs of them and from all reports there seems to be no prospect at present
that Garza and his band will get together again.”
0319
March 1892.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border and pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas during March
1892.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military personnel; Military campaigns and battles.
9
Frame No.
Principal Correspondents: John G. Bourke; P. Ornelas; Lorenzo Garcia; John T. Knight; James O. Luby;
Lorenzo Garcia; W. C. Short; Louis T. Morris.
Dates: March 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 2, Frames 0320–0329) In a March 2, 1892, letter, Captain John G. Bourke of the
3rd Cavalry wrote that, as of December 1891, it was believed that Garza was in hiding at the
ranch of his father-in-law Alejandro Gonzales in Palito Blanco in Meceo County, about fifteen
miles south of San Diego. On February 18, 1892, a force led by Captain George F. Chase
reportedly found the shoeprint of Garza leading away from Gonzales’s house. Although they did
not find Garza, they found his camp included many of Garza’s possessions. Bourke argued in the
letter that, if it had not been for heavy rain, he believed that they might have found Garza on this
trip. As it was, they did arrest Alejandro Gonzales. Bourke wrote: “If the Government of the
United States pursues nobody but ignorant peons and let some half dozen rich ranchmen go
free, it will have this Garza business on its hands for a long time to come; but let an example be
made of a few prominent inciters and abettors and the whole thing will at once collapse. In this
connection, it may be well to say that as we become better acquainted with the Garza
‘revolution,’ the more of a humbug it is seen to be; yet as it involved several hundred ignorant
and irresponsible followers, many of them desperadoes, to neglect to nip it in the bud, might
have been attended with serious consequences. Pablo Longoria, Jose Maria Santos, [Benito]
Rendon and other Garza men with whom I have talked are one in saying that Catarino Garza
was never joined by one man in Mexico, and that he never went down to Mexico, altho’ his
friends were mendaciously claiming the contrary. The support, active and passive, received by
Garza from certain officials of the United States, and of counties in Texas was a different matter
and should, in my opinion, be followed by prompt and severe punishment.” Bourke concluded
this letter by praising the work of Captain Chase and the other officers and soldiers involved in
the campaign.
(Reel 2, Frames 0334–0336) A March 4, 1892, letter from Lorenzo Garcia forwards the
report of First Lieutenant John T. Knight of the 3rd Cavalry describing a scouting trip into
Encinal County, Texas.
(Reel 2, Frames 0352–0357)A March 10, 1892, letter from Captain Chase summarized the
actions of his men since January 1892. At the end of the letter, Chase wrote: “In conclusion I
desire to say that the country has been constantly patrolled since early in January 1, from Laredo
nearly to Corpus Christi, on both sides of the Mexican National Railroad. My troops have
encountered the leader of the revolution, he was found hiding in the Monte with only two men.
My scouts have been attacked by banditti who were at one time engaged with Garza in
revolutionary movements. With these two exceptions my troops have not found any indication
of organized bodies for revolutionary purposes, nor do I believe that there is any further
necessity for troops in this section of the country for the purpose of protecting neutrality laws
with Mexico.”
(Reel 2, Frame 0364) On March 12, 1892, Captain Bourke recommended that U.S. marshals
be responsible for rounding up Garza’s followers.
(Reel 2, Frames 0374–0375) On March 14, 1892, Captain George K. Hunter of the 3rd
Calvary received orders to investigate a reported gathering of two hundred Garza followers in
the vicinity of Pena. Hunter reported that he found no evidence of such a gathering.
(Reel 2, Frames 0383–0386) In a March 18, 1892, letter, Captain Bourke reported that the
names of twenty-six men were submitted to a Texas state grand jury in connection with the
murder of a Colonel Edstrom.
(Reel 2, Frame 0390) In a March 23, 1892, telegram, Herbert Delamar and James O. Luby
reported on a skirmish between Garza’s followers and Texas Rangers south of Conception. One
ranger was reported killed.
(Reel 2, Frames 0392–0397) In a March 23, 1892, letter, Captain Bourke wrote that he
thought all of Garza’s followers “should at once be declared outlaws by our Government and
shot down wherever found.”
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Frame No.
(Reel 2, Frame 0401) On March 28, 1892, James O. Luby reported that the Texas Rangers
had located two hundred of Garza’s followers and that they requested assistance of the U.S.
Army.
0418
April 1892.
Descriptive Title: Movements of Mexican revolutionary Catarino Garza and his followers along the
Texas-Mexico border and pursuit of Garza by the U.S. Army Department of Texas during April
1892.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military personnel; Prisoners; Military campaigns and battles;
Grand juries; Arrest.
Principal Correspondents: E. E. Hatch; John G. Bourke; R. G. Williams; William A. Page; James Arnold;
John T. Knight; James O. Luby; F. H. Hardie; Louis T. Morris.
Dates: April 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 2, Frames 0419–0420) In an April 1, 1892, telegram, First Lieutenant E. E. Hatch
of the 18th Infantry reported that a scout for Captain J. H. Hardie reported that four hundred
Garza followers would cross the Rio Grande River near Las Cuevas, Starr County, Texas, on
April 1.
(Reel 2, Frames 0422–0426) In an April 2, 1892, letter, Captain John G. Bourke reported
that his troops had made a forced march of over fifty miles in order to join Captain Hardie and
the Texas Rangers near Las Cuevas. Bourke noted that they were in contact with Mexican forces
on the other side of the Rio Grande River. Bourke also expressed frustration at how easily
Garza’s followers were able to slip into the local surroundings and pretend that they were
innocent locals.
(Reel 2, Frames 0436–0437) In an April 3, 1892, letter, Bourke requested instructions as to
how to deal with Pablo Longorio and Cresencio Benavides, whom he was holding at Fort
Ringgold, Texas.
(Reel 2, Frames 0439–0440) In an April 4, 1892, letter, Second Lieutenant R. G. Williams of
the 1st Cavalry reported that he had sent men to investigate a rumor that Garza’s men were
moving in the direction of Carrizo, Texas.
(Reel 2, Frame 0445) In an April 5, 1892, telegram, Captain Bourke noted that he received a
report that two camps of Garza’s followers of about thirty men each were between Santa Maria
and Brownsville. He wrote that they had intended to cross the Rio Grande River at Cuevas but
had been prevented from doing so by U.S. troops and the Texas Rangers.
(Reel 2, Frame 0469) In an April 9, 1892, letter, Bourke reported a rumor that Catarino
Garza had committed suicide. Bourke reported that he would be traveling soon to San Antonio
and that during that trip he would stop by Palito Blanco and attempt to learn more about this
rumor.
(Reel 2, Frame 0474) By April 16, 1892, Major Louis T. Morris and Captain F. H. Hardie
concluded that Garza’s movement had disintegrated.
(Reel 2, Frame 0478) Just two days later, on April 18, 1892, Captain William B. Wheeler,
however, reported that about twenty “bandits” had come into contact with seven deputy
marshals and sheriffs and that one sheriff had been shot in the hand. U.S. Marshal Van Ripper
requested that U.S. Army cavalry be sent to track the bandits.
0483
July 1892.
Descriptive Title: Response of U.S. government to rumors that followers of Catarino Garza were
attempting to reorganize for a second attack on the Mexican Government, July 1892.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence.
Principal Correspondents: R. Williams; W. H. H. Miller.
Dates: July 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 2, Frame 0484) A July 2, 1892, telegram from R. Williams reported that the State
Department had received word that Garza’s followers were attempting another attack on the
Mexican government. The secretary of war instructed the commanding general of the
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Frame No.
Department of Texas to work with the Mexican Army to acquire accurate information about this
possible attack.
(Reel 2, Frame 0487) A July 9, 1892, letter from Attorney General W. H. H. Miller warned
that U.S. marshals could arrest people without a warrant only if the person was found
committing an overt crime.
0490
December 1892.
Descriptive Title: Raid by Garza followers on Mexican Army troops near San Ygnacio, and other
skirmishes between a reorganized band of Garza followers and the U.S. Army and Mexican
Army during December 1892.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles; Violence; Homicide; Foreign
military forces; Military rations and food; Transportation.
Principal Correspondents: J. O. Mackay; P. Ornelas; P. W. West; C. A. Hedekin; R. Williams; P. Ornelas;
James W. Forsyth; Nelson A. Miles; John G. Bourke; George K. Hunter; George F. Chase; S. H.
Keyes.
Dates: December 1892.
Content Notes: (Reel 2, Frame 0493) In a December 13, 1892, telegram, Captain J. O. Mackay reported
that he sent sixty men to investigate a rumor of violation of the neutrality law, and he ordered
the members of the expedition to capture or kill all persons believed to have been involved.
(Reel 2, Frames 0504–0506) Copies of the newspaper El Internacional published in Palito
Blanco. A March 5, 1892, telegram from Captain John G. Bourke of the 3rd Cavalry notes that
he captured these copies when they came upon Catarino Garza’s hiding place (see Reel 2, Frame
0344).
(Reel 2, Frames 0507–0509) In a December 15, 1892, letter, Lieutenant P. W. West of the
3rd Cavalry wrote: “Last Saturday about 11 a.m. 150 bandits attacked the troops of the Sixth
Mexican Cavalry stationed across the river. The men were at stables at the time and were
unprepared. Twenty men and two officers were killed or burned to death, the ranch being set on
fire. The rest of the men, women & children, also the troop horses, were driven to this side [of
the Rio Grande River]. Most of the troops are now in this town [San Ygnacio, Texas]. Not as
prisoners as reported, but some as deserters and others afraid to return fearing they will be shot
for desertion. I will see these soldiers tomorrow, and expect to have a letter from Comdg
Officer, Captain H. 5 Mexican Infantry, stating that they will not be treated as deserters if they
will return. I will simply notify them of this fact, but will not try and persuade them to return. I
would suggest that you telegraph General Garcia at Mier and urge him to protect these men, as
they were evidently forced by the bandits to cross to our side after the fight. Two of these
soldiers have died in this town from wounds. Captain H. states that the bandits crossed to this
side four miles above here and then scattered, most of them going into the interior, where, it is
impossible to find out, but Lieut. Hays and scouts will make a careful examination and all the
trails will be followed immediately. Captain H. also states that 25 of the bandits are now in this
town and he will send me a list of their names tomorrow. If I can find any one to identify these
men I will round up the town tomorrow, and endeavor to capture some of them. All of these
various reports will be thoroughly investigated before I leave this section. I fear I will find there
is nothing in them as I have in all of the others I have looked into. I cannot refrain from calling
your attention to the fact that it is almost impossible to get any information from people on this
side as to the identity or movements of these bandits. It is impossible for me to tell you what my
movements will be, but I can assure you that everything possible will be done to carry out your
instructions and those of the Dept. Comdr.”
(Reel 2, Frames 0511–0513) In a December 16, 1892, letter, West wrote: “I have the honor
to inform you that I have carefully investigated the report that Mexicans were held in San
Ygnacio as prisoners. After conversing with these men, 19 all told, I find that after the fight
across the river these men were forced to cross to this side by the bandits and now that they are
here fear to return to their own country. Some desire to return but say they will not unless the
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Frame No.
proper Mexican authorities assure them through our Military authorities that they will not be
treated as deserters.... Lieut. Hayes and scouts have made a careful examination of the country in
this vicinity and have just returned from having discovered the trail taken by the bandits. It is a
couple of miles above San Ygnacio and leads into the interior but what direction it takes I am
unable to inform you except that it goes a little east of north. The trail was made about four or
five days ago by about 100 horses. The attacking force was said to have about 175 men, but I
doubt it. I will take up this trail early tomorrow and endeavor to discover the whereabouts of at
least some of the bandits. Lieut. Hedekin will leave tomorrow for Carrizo where I expect to
rejoin him if I can find nothing on this trail.”
(Reel 2, Frames 0516–0517) A December 16, 1892, letter from J. O. Mackay includes a list of
the Mexican soldiers who fled to San Ygnacio, Texas.
(Reel 2, Frames 0574–0578) A December 20, 1892, letter from the Mexican consul at San
Antonio, P. Ornelas, discussed a proclamation that was circulated along the Texas-Mexico
border in November 1892. Ornelas noted that the proclamation was signed by Francisco
Benavides, a known follower of Catarino Garza. Ornelas argued that this showed the connection
between the attack on Mexican troops at San Ygnacio and an attack by Garza’s followers about
one year earlier at Rafael de las Tortillas. Ornelas also blamed the assault, in part, on U.S. forces,
because he argued that the United States was still allowing armed men to cross over into Mexico
and attack Mexican forces. Ornelas’s letter includes a report from General Bernardo Reyes,
describing the San Ygnacio assault. Reyes wrote: “On the 10th inst. a party of bandits proceeding
from the U.S. and divided into three squads entered in the neighborhood of Ramireno Ranch
into the Mexican Territory. Ramireno is situated between Guerrero and San Ignacio. Between
said squads there were caught four soldiers who were reconnoitering the country. Three of them
escaped and went to Guerrero to advise the authorities. Nevertheless, as the ranch of San
Ignacio is so near the place where the bandits crossed the river, before the troops from Guerrero
could arrive, the bandits being over one hundred, attacked the detachment at San Ignacio,
consisting only of forty soldiers and three officers. The detachment was at once placed in poor
conditions for defense, since the barracks were set on fire by the bandits; this notwithstanding
the resistance they made, lasted for three hours, from 12 to 3 o’clock, by which time, the
commander of the detachment, 2nd. Capt. Rutillio Segura, 2nd. Lieut. Manuel Corbarruvias, and
four soldiers were burned to death and four soldiers more killed by the bullets of the assailants.”
In contrast to the accounts of the U.S. Army, Reyes argued that the Mexican troops were being
held prisoner in San Ygnacio. A copy of the proclamation issued by Benavides in November
1892 follows the Ornelas letter. (See Frame 580 for the Spanish version. A translation of the
proclamation begins on Frame 0595.) The proclamation read, in part: “We have appealed to
reason and he [Porfirio Diaz] has not listened to us; we have appealed to patriotism and he has
despised us; let us, therefore, rush to the last recourse which remains to us. Our end is noble,
since it contemplates the restoration of our liberty besmirched and defiled by the tyrants of
Tuxtepec. Let us leave the plough to grasp in hand the sword and, guided by love of our
Fatherland, let us re-conquer upon the field of battle the rights which have been usurped from us
under the specious pretext of consolidating that abominable peace which has shed so much
blood.... Forward, Mexicans! Let us march to die for liberty. Immortal glory for those who know
how to die for her! Scorn and degradation for those who prefer to be slaves rather than patriots!”
(Reel 2, Frames 0581–0582) On December 20, 1892, Captain George F. Chase of the 3rd
Cavalry issued a field order directing Troop K of the 3rd Cavalry to proceed to the territory
between Los Angeles, Texas, to Los Ojuelos and the Ahericas Ranch “with a view of arresting,
capturing, or destroying any violators of the neutrality laws of the United States.” Troop D of
the 3rd Cavalry was given the same orders for the area in the vicinity of Lewis Ranch.
(Reel 2, Frames 0621–0623) In a December 24, 1892, letter, Captain Bourke described the
important work performed by the scouts hired by the U.S. Army. Bourke recommended
employing these men full-time in order to maintain order in the Rio Grand River valley.
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Frame No.
(Reel 2, Frames 0636–0642) A December 28, 1892, document lists the names of men wanted
by the U.S. government for violation of the neutrality laws, including information on those
already tried and punished.
After Chase’s order on December 20, 1892, the remainder of the December correspondence
mentions scouting operations, including encounters or skirmishes between U.S. troops and the
Mexican revolutionaries.
(Reel 2, Frames 0663–0665) In a December 27, 1892, letter, P. Ornelas suggested that if
Mexican troops were allowed to cross the Rio Grande River whenever necessary, that this would
allow them to root out the revolutionaries. As an alternative, Ornelas also proposed establishing
closer contact between the U.S. Army and Mexican Army.
(Reel 2, Frames 0732–0733) A December 31, 1893, telegram from Captain F. H. Hardie
reported on a confrontation between the Mexican Army and forty-five “bandits.” Hardie also
noted that the U.S. Army was scouting in the area.
Reel 3
Entry 4877, Letters and Reports Received Relating to the Garza Revolution cont.
0001
January 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
several key leaders during January 1893.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles; Law enforcement; U.S. Marshals.
Geographic Place Names: Camp Rendado, Texas.
Principal Correspondents: Henry Jackson; A. Mainero; C. A. Hedekin; Eugene Iglesias; F. H. Hardie;
George P. White; Stephen O’Connor; Frank Wheaton; S. H. Keyes; Salvador F. Maillefert; T. R.
Rivers; P. Ornelas; Louis Ceron; George F. Chase; J. T. Dickman.
Dates: January 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frames 0007–0008) In a January 2, 1893, letter from A. Mainero in Reynosa,
Mexico to Manuel Banaio, Mainero described why he thought troops should cover the line
between Davis and Brownsville: “You know perfectly well the topographic situation of Hidalgo
and Cameron Counties, knowing perfectly well also that they are the best suited places on the
Rio Grande border to hide criminals on account of their very thick woods and enormous
ravines. The following practical fact will confirm my assertions to the effect that the line should
be well guarded with the necessary troops from Laredo to Fort Brown. Since after the last assault
at San Ignacio, a great number of American troops were sent to Zapata County, with the result
that the bandits left that County, coming to take shelter in Hidalgo County. Finally, my dear sir,
the topographic situation of Edinburg does not protect the town enough to have it defended by
its own inhabitants, and it would not be surprising if it fell victim of an attack of the bandits with
the useless sacrifice of the sergeant and the four soldiers that constitute the only U.S. guard
which has been stationed there for some time since a company of cavalry and another of infantry
were recalled from that place.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0010–0013) In a December 30, 1892, letter, 2nd Lieutenant C. A. Hedekin
of the 3rd Cavalry wrote: “I have the honor to make the following report of my movements
since my last letter to you. On Dec. 26 at the suggestion of my trailer Martiriano Arce, I gave up
a projected scout down the river and went out to the northeast. The first two days I found
nothing of note, but the third, Dec. 28th, my trailer took me to a camp some two miles from San
Ygnacio that appeared to have been occupied about three days before by about one hundred
men and horses. Winchester ammunition boxes & Mexican army saddlery were scattered about.
Trails led out in all directions, but many joined and led to the northeast. This was made by about
sixty horses mostly shod. I followed this till noon when I came to the preceding nights’ camp of
the party. It was about five hundred yards from the south fence of Bruin’s pasture. One of Mr.
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Frame No.
Hall’s posse saw the smoke of a camp fire in the pasture but Arce reported after an investigation
that some of Bruin’s cowboys were camped there. In this connection I will say that Mr. Hall
received, after our return, a letter from reliable source, informing him that some forty
pronunciados were camped at that time, in the pasture. After some urging, the trailers found the
trail and followed it southward, but I found it impossible to get them to move quickly.
Accordingly I found myself at sunset following a trail that appeared to have been made about
noon. The guides then declared that they could go no farther, although the night was the clearest
moonlight, and I was therefore compelled to camp, probably within a few miles of the outlaws.
This brings me to the main object of this report which is to express myself on the subject of
Mexican guides. All the Mexicans of the poorer class along this border belong to or sympathize
with these outlaws, whether they are guides, trailers, or otherwise. Now in regard to this
particular trailer, Martiriano Arce. In the first place he persuades me not to go down the river
where outlaws intended to cross. He leads me aimlessly through the bush for two days. Then he
takes me to a camp three days old. He prevents me from attacking a camp in Bruin’s pasture and
then he has the effrontery to tell me that he cannot follow a large trail by bright moonlight. This
trail led to a camp near Lopena from which the bandits crossed the next day into Mexico. I
believe it is perfectly feasible to get for this service some of the Arizona Apache Indian scouts. It
is certainly possible to hire American cowboy trailers. Either makes a better trailer than any
Mexican and neither will play one false. Every border Mexican will.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0017–0018) A January 2, 1893, letter from Deputy U.S. Marshal Eugene
Iglesias forwards a report by Deputy U.S. Marshal Rosendo Guerra. Guerra described the arrest
of Antonio Palacios followed by an attack on the marshals by twelve “bandits.” The bandits
freed Palacios and took the marshals as prisoners. Summarizing Guerra’s report, Iglesias wrote:
“On the afternoon of the 29th, they numbering some 40 to 50 men, moved down the river to
Lopena, some 18 miles below Carrizo; arriving at Lopena about 8 o’clock pm. Some 3 or 4 men
came up and informed the captain that they had not noticed any Mexican troops over the river.
They went to the river that night, it was a bright moonlight night, the two deputies were placed
behind the 10 first men and followed by the remainder of crowd, they began crossing the river
when about some 10 or 15 yds from Mexican bank they were fired upon and a general fight
began between the bandits as they were in the river and the Mexican troops.” Deputy Guerra
was able to escape during the skirmish.
(Reel 3, Frame 0033) In a January 7, 1893, telegram, Lieutenant Colonel Parrington reported
“On the fourth instant it was reported that about twenty bandits were in the vicinity of Webb
Station. They forced the section boss to give them food. The Deputy U.S. Marshal sent scouts to
locate them. Nothing known of them at present. Webb Station 22 miles north of here [Laredo].”
(Reel 3, Frames 0041–0042) In a January 7, 1893, letter, 1st Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of
the 23rd Infantry, wrote: “I have the honor to report that I arrived at this point [Camp Rendado,
Texas] at 11 A.M. the 3d instant and located camp in the immediate vicinity of the ranch and at
once took steps to make myself conversant with the situation here. I have discovered that the
following named parties, residents of Rendado, are now with the outlaws. Zavaleta, Captain
Antonio Garza, Pedro Teneyuca, Pancho Alderete and Pablo Talamantes. These men are
supposed to occasionally visit Rendado at night for the purpose of visiting their families and
securing supplies, also to gain information as to the movements of troops. Since the night of the
5th instant all the approaches to the ranch have been picketed, Lieut. Swain and myself giving
the matter our personal supervision.... I shall keep this picket work up until I capture the parties
named, or make it so hot for them that it will be impossible for them to approach the ranch with
safety for themselves.... If there is any truth in the statement of parties resident here, the outlaws
are now in the chapparal north of Retemal and Rio Grande City in Starr and Hidalgo Counties.
If I had a sufficient number of pack animals and an addition of 20 men to my present strength I
shouldnt hesitate an instant to enter the chapparal districts as I am convinced Infantry could
patrol those districts to much better advantage than cavalry. Now a word as to the proprietor of
the Rendado Ranch ‘Don Bernardo de la Garza’. I am convinced that all his sympathies are with
15
Frame No.
those who oppose the present administration of affairs in Mexico, but I do not believe he is
active in the direction of his sympathies. I have ascertained that one of his sons is married to a
sister of the wife of the later General Martinez, an ardent opponent of President Diaz’s and who
was assassinated some time since at Laredo, Texas.”
(Reel 3, Frame 0042) Attached to O’Connor’s January 7, 1893, letter is a January 17 note
from Brigadier General Frank Wheaton. Wheaton wrote: “Lieutenant O’Connor’s station, the
Rendado Ranch, is one of the most important points in the bandit district and has long been
considered on their main rendezvous. At this place I have our main field depot for troops now in
the field operating North of a line running through the Salineno Ranch where a troop of the 7th
Cavalry is temporarily located. Detachments from Los Angeles, Realitos, and Fort Ringgold have
recently scouted in the Federales district referred to by Lieut. O’Connor, they have just been
temporarily withdrawn on indication that a large band of renegades are about to assemble in that
region. Information on this point is looked for at an early date, and several detachments are now
in readiness to move or are moving to proper points to insure a speedy concentration of our
field detachments where they may be a prospect of discovering an assemblage of bandits and
striking them before they scatter. The difficulties of success in capturing these violators of our
neutrality laws are infinite, the chapparal hides and protects them and just now we are laboring
under the additional difficulty that there is for the first time in years plenty of water and fair
grazing in the infested region which is nearly as large as all New England.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0047–0053) A list of names of Mexicans submitted by Captain George F.
Chase of the 3rd Cavalry.
(Reel 3, Frames 0058–0060) In a January 8, 1893, letter, Major S. H. Keyes of the 3rd
Cavalry wrote that Sheriff Sheely asked Keyes to discontinue scouting operations in the area
around Fort Ringgold because the sheriff wanted to give the outlaws a chance to gather together.
Sheely argued that he thought this might be one way to capture a large number of the rebels at
one time.
(Reel 3, Frames 0070–0071) A January 10, 1893, letter from T. R. Rivers summarizes his
findings made during a scouting operation. After detailing the many miles Rivers and his fellow
scouts marched, he wrote: “About all the distance traveled was covered over trails or through the
thickest ‘chapparal’ where there are no trails. All ranches, trails, and water holes were examined
for signs of ‘revolutionists’ or ‘bandits’—especially even a number of water holes in the eastern
part of Bruno’s pasture examined for signs of recent camps or tails in their vicinity. Nothing that
I discovered or saw indicates the presence of any armed parties in any of the country passed
through; no recent trails, camp fires in the vicinity of water holes or anything of that nature
having been discovered, and I am of the opinion that any armed parties who at any time may
have been in that section have scattered entirely or have gone individually to other sections.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0086–0087) In a January 17, 1893, letter, 1st Lieutenant O’Connor wrote: “I
have the honor to state from information received from Silviano Montalvo two well known
revolutionists, Jesus Ramirez and Severia no Saiz, were located in the vicinity of San Antonio
Viejo, situated on the stage road to Ringgold, and 15 miles distant from Rendado. Leaving here
with 15 men at 8 P.M. on the 15th inst. I reached and surrounded the Ranch at 1 o’clock A.M.
the 16th and awaited daylight. From Montalvo I had learned that Ramirez had an invalid sister at
the ranch and hence there was strong probability that he would be near her. At daylight the place
was thoroughly searched but could not find him. Upon inquiry I ascertained that he had visited
the place at 7 P.M. (the evening I left camp) and had again disappeared into the chapparal. I
gained the information that the two men mentioned are depredating upon ‘Don Bernardo de la
Garza,’ killing his cattle and stealing horses, and have taken advantage of this fact to secure his
assistance in apprehending them, he has or will direct his vaqueros to locate them for me, and
with his assistance I have great hopes of success.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0109–0115) A January 23, 1893, letter from 1st Lieutenant J. T. Dickman of
the 3rd Cavalry described scouting operations and the capture of three men: Francisco
Benavides, Prudencio Gonzales, and Cecilio Echavarria.
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Frame No.
(Reel 3, Frame 0116) In a January 23, 1893, telegram, Captain Chase reported: “Dickman has
returned to camp, he had a sharp fight with a party of bandits yesterday afternoon, it resulted in
wounding and capturing Echavarria, a captain and one of the most desperate of the bandits, a
deserter from the Mexican Army, who emptied every cartridge in his Winchester before he was
captured. Sergeant Kraup with three men and D troop captured the bandit chiefs Benavides and
Gonzales. They saw the bandits first and laid for them in the brush. The officers and men of the
squadron have worked night and day through cold and storm conducting themselves with
bravery, patience, and judgment worthy of commendation during the execution of the plans for
the capture of the bandit leaders.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0123–0125) Captain John G. Bourke of the 3rd Cavalry forwarded a
translation of a proclamation issued by Francisco Benavides in November 1892 from
Tamaulipas, Mexico. The proclamation read, in part: “To-day, the little that the poor man has is
taken from him, the man who speaks his mind is assassinated, the press is muzzled. All our
liberties have disappeared under the awe-inspiring blade of the Chieftain of Tecoac.... We have
returned to an inquisitorial epoch much more shameful than that of Torquemada. And since our
people are dying exhausted by hunger or by the inquisitorial despotism of Porfirio Diaz, let us
raise our heads burdened by so many misfortunes, let us break out into one single cry whose
formidable echo shall cause to tremble the throne of this shirtless foot-pad who has trampled in
the mire the glory, the greatness and the liberty of the nation. We have appealed to reason and he
has not listened to us; we have appealed to patriotism and he has despised us; let us, therefore,
rush to the last recourse which remains to us. Our end is noble, since it contemplates the
restoration of our liberty besmirched and defiled by the tyrants of Tuxtepec. Let us leave the
plow to grasp in hand the sword and, guided by love of our Fatherland, let us re-conquer upon
the field of battle the rights which have been usurped from us under the specious pretext of
consolidating that abominable peace which has shed so much blood. The shades of Cuauhtemoc,
of Morelos and Juarez are watching over us from the Throne of Eternity and are waiting to see
us fulfill our duty as they fulfilled theirs, covering with laurels and renown the humble place of
their birth.... Forward, Mexicans! Let us march to die for liberty. Immortal glory for those who
know how to die for her! SCORN and DEGRADATION for those who prefer to be slaves
rather than patriots! Mexico, dry thy tears, because thy sons are moving forward to die for thee,
rather than to behold these outraged and degraded. Mexicans: forward! The grave or happiness
awaits us! Let us march without hesitation and lash with our chains the brow of Porfirio Diaz.
Long Live LIBERTY!!! Down with TYRANTS!!!”
(Reel 3, Frames 0140–0145) On January 27, 1893, Lieutenant J. T. Dickman of the 3rd
Cavalry forwarded a transcript of an interview with Prudencio Gonzales, one of the rebel leaders.
0153
February 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
several key leaders during February 1893.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles; Arrest; Law enforcement; Foreign
military forces.
Principal Correspondents: George K. Hunter; S. H. Keyes; Stephen O’Connor; John W. Foster; P.
Ornelas; Henry Jackson; George F. Chase; C. Romero; J. M. Schofield; John G. Bourke; B. G.
Duval; T. B. Dugan; O. Elting; T. R. Rivers; T. S. Maxey.
Dates: February 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0158) In a February 5, 1893, telegram, Major S. H. Keyes of the 3rd
Cavalry reported the arrest of Severiano Moreno Ramon.
(Reel 3, Frame 0160) In a February 5, 1893, letter, 1st Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of the
23rd Infantry reported the arrest of Santos Saldano.
(Reel 3, Frame 0167) In a February 7, 1893, telegram, Major Keyes reported the arrest of
Estavan Benavides. Benavides gave Keyes a list of sixty-three men who crossed the Rio Grande
River at San Ignacio. The list is on Reel 3, Frames 0239–0241 and Frames 0242–0244.
17
Frame No.
(Reel 3, Frames 0178–0179) On February 6, 1893, C. Romero, from the Legation of Mexico
in Washington, D.C., sent a letter to Secretary of State John W. Foster. Romero wrote: “The
Government of Mexico, desiring to take measures to defend the national territory, by punishing
the marauders who organize in United States territory and periodically cross, in armed bands, for
the purpose of committing arson, robbery and murder, on the soil of Mexico, and also to put a
stop to their incursions, is of the opinion that it would be well for each Government to apprise
the other of the measures which it thinks proper to take in its territory to prevent these bands
from meeting and organizing, and to punish them if they enter the territory of the other. The
Government of Mexico has a force stationed on its Texan frontier sufficient to annihilate any
marauders who may cross, if they will fight, and this has been shown by the fact that in none of
the various incursions which they have made during the past three years have been able to
remain on Mexican soil for more than two days; our efforts are frustrated, however, by the
circumstance that, when the invaders are attacked by Mexican troops, they cross to United States
territory, where they can not be pursued by our forces. My Government thinks that it would
perhaps be premature to propose to that of the United States an arrangement similar to that
concluded for the pursuit of hostile savage Indians, according to which the troops of either
country might cross to the territory of the other in pursuit of those armed bands of outlaws and
marauders, organized in the territory of the other which have no political character. Perhaps, if
this state of things continues, the United States Government may hereafter think proper to
propose the conclusion of such an arrangement to that of Mexico. For the present it would be
well for the War Departments of each of the countries interested to inform the other what forces
it proposes to assign to preserve the peace on its frontiers, and what system it proposes to adopt
for the attainment of this end, so that, both acting in concert, the purpose had in view by both
Governments might be more easily accomplished.... Timely information communicated by the
officers in command of our forces to those of the United States forces will conduce to the
preservation of peace on both sides of the Rio Grande, and if these views meet the approval of
the Government of the United States of America, the officers in command of the Mexican
forces will be instructed to carry them out.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0180–0181) In response to Romero’s letter, on February 20, 1893, Major
Commanding General J. M. Schofield wrote, in part: “I cordially concur in the suggestion of the
Mexican Government to the effect that timely information be communicated by the officers in
command of the forces on either side of the Rio Grande to those commanding the
corresponding forces on the opposite side, of any movement of a lawless character, either from
the United States into Mexico, or the reverse, so that the earliest possible action may be taken for
the attack, pursuit and capture, of all engaged in such lawless enterprises. Also, that on the
United States side of the Rio Grande as well as on the Mexican, detachments be stationed at all
the fords of the river, so as to prevent the crossing of marauders in either direction without
being exposed to immediate pursuit and attack by the forces of the two Governments on the one
side or the other of the river. The difficulty encountered by the United States forces is the same
in kind, but much greater in degree, than that experienced by the Mexican troops, for the reason
that the marauders do not appear in organized bands on the American side of the river,
especially after having committed their depredations in Mexico. They do not offer an object of
attack for even a single troop of cavalry on the American side, while on the Mexican side they
must appear, for a short time at least, in organized forces, in order to commit the depredations
which they design. The Mexican troops therefore are given some, although unsatisfactory,
opportunity to attack and pursue them. The function of the United States can only be to assist
the civil officers in pursuit and arrest of the marauders after they have returned from Mexico,
and some time to prevent, as far as possible, their crossing into Mexico, this latter, however,
being exceedingly difficult, because they may cross even individually, or in very small numbers,
so as not to attract attention. It is not possible to say for any definite period of the future how
large a force it may be found expedient or necessary to station in Texas for the important service
required there. But in view of the nature of that service the force need not be so large as that on
18
Frame No.
the other side of the river, for the reason that under no circumstances can anything more than
the very small detachments be required, either to prevent the crossing into Mexico or for the
pursuit of the criminals after they return.”
(Reel 3, Frame 0190) A February 13, 1893, telegram, from Captain O. Elting reported the
arrest of Dario Hernandez.
(Reel 3, Frames 0192–0196) A February 13, 1893, letter from Captain H. C. Carbaugh
includes a list of those under indictment for violation of the neutrality laws.
(Reel 3, Frame 0197) A February letter from B. G. Duval, a clerk in the Department of
Justice, reported the release of Severiano Mareno.
(Reel 3, Frame 0198) In a February 13, 1893, letter, Duval reported the release of Juan
Sanchez.
(Reel 3, Frame 0206) A February 8, 1893, telegram from Lieutenant Slocum of the 7th
Cavalry reported the surrender of Santos Cadena and his son Pablo Cadena.
(Reel 3, Frame 0217) In a February 15, 1893, telegram, Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of the
23rd Infantry reported the capture of Gerardo Leal.
(Reel 3, Frame 0224) In a February 17, 1893, telegram, Major S. H. Keyes reported that
Captain John G. Bourke had arrived at Fort Ringgold with nineteen prisoners.
(Reel 3, Frames 0227–0230) A February 18, 1893, letter from Captain John G. Bourke of the
3rd Cavalry summarized the operations of his men from February 3, 1893 through February 17,
1893. During this time, Bourke and his men, including thirteen Seminole scouts, covered over
400 miles of territory. It was during this time that Bourke and his man captured the nineteen
prisoners referred to in Major Keyes’s telegram of February 17, 1893. Concluding his letter,
Bourke noted that one of the reasons for his successful mission was his use of local guides. He
wrote: “Local guides should be employed from point to point, thus ensuring the maximum of
knowledge of the country. I resorted to this method with great advantage on present trip.”
Bourke, however, criticized the wealthier inhabitants of the region, writing: “I regret to have to
say that numerous ranchmen and storekeepers are giving all possible aid to these bandits, and
withholding all information from the officers of the Government.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0245–0246) In a February 9, 1893, Major Keyes forwarded the list of the
names of men identified by Estavan Benavides as having crossed the Rio Grande River at San
Ignacio. The list is on Frames 0242–0244. In the letter, Keyes wrote: “Benavides says none of
them are in larger parties now than four or five and that they have no plans or arrangements
about getting together again; their principal object now is to escape extradition.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0249–0253) A February 20, 1893, letter from 1st Lieutenant T. R. Rivers of
the 3rd Cavalry forwards intelligence obtained during an interview with the rebel Dario
Hernandez.
(Reel 3, Frame 0257) In a February 24, 1893, telegram, Major Keyes reported that U.S.
forces had killed Eusebio Martinez, the man who had killed the scout named Glover in February
1892.
(Reel 3, Frames 0263–0266) In a February 26, 1893, letter, Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of
the 23rd Infantry, wrote: “I regard the Ranch owners of this country as persons who stand
directly cross the path of successful military operations, that through fear of the bandits, or of
dislike of the military forces of the Government, they purposely avoid giving information as to
the whereabouts of the outlaws, and have undoubtedly given the military false and misleading
information purposely. I have information which leads me to believe that a vast majority of the
landowners in this section think it the proper thing to give the troops false information, and in
my judgment the only way to correct this is to frequently patrol their ranches and whenever a
Revolutionist or bandit is caught on their property, to hold them to a strict accountability as
aiders and abettors of a lawless element.”
(Reel 3, Frames 0268–0270) A February 26, 1893, letter from Captain George K. Hunter of
the 3rd Cavalry includes a list of those men still wanted for violation of the neutrality laws.
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Frame No.
(Reel 3, Frame 0272) A February 27, 1893, letter from T. S. Maxey reported the arrest of
Ramon Paz.
0280
March 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
the known participants during March 1893.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles; Arrest; Law enforcement.
Principal Correspondents: S. H. Keyes; George F. Chase; Henry Jackson; Stephen O’Connor; George K.
Hunter; William B. Wheeler; P. Ornelas; Anson Mills; W. Q. Gresham; M. Romero; John S.
Mallory.
Dates: March 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0282) A March 9, 1893, telegram from Major S. H. Keyes reported the
arrest of Fernando Salinas and Rafael Ramirez.
(Reel 3, Frame 0284) A March 8, 1893, telegram from Captain George F. Chase reported the
arrest of Tomas Cuellar, Procopio Guiterez, and six others.
(Reel 3, Frame 0288) A March 3, 1893 letter from Captain Henry Jackson of the 7th Cavalry
reported the surrender of Antonio Palacios.
(Reel 3, Frames 0297–0299) In a March 8, 1893 letter, Captain Jackson reported that most of
the key leaders had been captured. As a result, he wrote: “The idea of any Revolution against
Mexico is gone, but there are some 50 or 60 still out who are implicated in the San Ignacio raid,
without money or food and who, on account of this extradition business, and in some cases civil
processes, are afraid to surrender; these men are in the brush, roaming from place to place,
stopping no 2 days at any one and will simply have to be hunted down. This can be done better I
think by a few Seminoles and the Shelys with his deputies than any other way.... Since my last
letter Rafael Nielo and Esperantis Ortiz have surrendered here and others are expected today.”
(Reel 3, Frame 0312) A March 13, 1893, telegram from Captain William B. Wheeler reported
the surrender of Jesus Sandoval, Chico Procopio, Secandio Ramirez, Juan Maldonado, and Juan
Guerra.
(Reel 3, Frames 0320–0326) In a March 12, 1893, letter, Captain George F. Chase of the 3rd
Cavalry provided a detailed summary of all operations since the San Ignacio raid. He wrote, in
part: “The sympathies of the people of the country were all with the Revolutionists. Nine tenths
of the people of the country were either active in their support of the Revolution (assisting it in
various ways by contributing supplies, furnishing information, etc. etc.) or they were prevented
by fear or other reasons from taking any active part against the Revolutionists.... The General
commanding the Department quickly comprehended the situation and when it was laid before
him, resolved upon a plan by which the Bandits might be brought to justice. He directed the
employment of two men who were familiar with the country, the inhabitants and the character of
the Bandits.... I selected Capt. Joe Shely later of the State Rangers and Mr. W. W. Shely, the
Sheriff of Starr County.... The first move on the part of the Shelys was to gain, as far as possible,
the assistance of the prominent land and stock owners in the infested district. Pursuant to this
plan, on January 2, 1893, a convention of stockmen was called at the San Pedro Ranch.... The
San Pedro Council lasted two days and resulted in many of the most prominent Mexican citizens
coming to our assistance and within a few days capturing the leaders of the San Ygnacio raid....
Considering the nature of the country and the character of the inhabitants in connection with the
enormous area over which we have been compelled to operate we may consider that we have
been successful to a degree which would have been impossible but for the assistance rendered us
by some of the people of the country who have been convinced that their interests are identical
to those of the General Government. In this connection I desire to call especial attention to the
services of the Shelys. They have been untiring in their efforts to serve the General Government.
They have ridden night and day since January 1, 1893, among the people on the border, bringing
to us the assistance of the leading men of the country, arresting Bandits wherever found,
inducing their surrender whenever possible and enforcing orders even to the killing of the most
20
Frame No.
treacherous bandit on the border. I also desire to express my appreciation of the services
rendered us by Don Jose Ramirez, the owner of La Purisima Ranch, who, in connection with
Don Jesus Ramirez, proprietor of the San Pedro Ranch have already located and placed in our
hands a number of Revolutionists, including Francisco Benavides, Prudencio Gonzalez, and
Rafael Ramirez.” Chase listed the names of forty-five men who had been arrested as of March
12, 1893. He concluded the letter with the following: “My information is to the effect that the
Bandits now at large are widely scattered, many of them having left the border country and gone
back into the interior. We have all the principal leaders with the exception of Jose Ma Flores and
he is now somewhere in the vicinity of San Antonio. As soon as Maximo Martinez is captured
and certain parts of the country looked into by scouting parties I should recommend the
withdrawal of the troops on the Mexican National Railroad.”
(Reel 3, Frame 0339) A March 23, 1893, telegram from Captain Henry Jackson reported that
Maximo Martinez had surrendered.
(Reel 3, Frames 0345–0346) On March 16, 1893, M. Romero of the Mexican Legation in
Washington, D.C., sent a letter to Secretary of State W. Q. Gresham. Romero wrote, in part: “It
is very satisfactory to me and it will be equally so to the Government of Mexico to observe the
diligence shown by the troops of the United States Regular Army in arresting and delivering to
the proper Judge the bandits organized in Texas, who attacked the Mexican town of San
Ygnacio, because in this way, and being certain that their crimes will not go unpunished under
pretext of wishing to give them a political coloring, it is very probable that they will abstain from
committing like offences, which besides the consequent results to the perpetrators, may have
that of affecting the good relations existing on the frontiers of two neighboring and friendly
nations.”
0376
April 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
the known participants during April 1893.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles; Arrest.
Principal Correspondents: George K. Hunter; Henry Jackson; L. S. McCormick; George F. Chase.
Dates: April 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0378) In an April 5, 1893, letter, Captain George K. Hunter of the 3rd
Cavalry wrote: “For the information of the commanding general I have the honor to report that
in my judgment the further continuance of U.S. troops in this vicinity is no longer a military
necessity. I do not believe that there are a larger number than two or three of the bandits
together at any one point and the situation has certainly resolved itself into one for the U.S.
Marshals to act. In my opinion the necessity for the additional expense of troops in the field has
ended.”
(Reel 3, Frame 0382) In an April 12, 1893, letter, Captain Henry Jackson of the 7th Cavalry
reported that five additional revolutionaries, Telesforo Flores, Victoriano Trevinio, Julian Garcia,
Santiago Uribe, and Mateo Arsola had been captured.
(Reel 3, Frame 0395) An April 20, 1893, letter from Major S. H. Keyes reported the capture
of Pedro Garcia.
(Reel 3, Frame 0398) An April 17, 1893, telegram from Keyes reported the surrender of
Jesus Flores.
(Reel 3, Frame 0400) An April 27, 1893, telegram from Captain George F. Chase reported
the arrest of Delfino Garcia.
0404
May 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
the known participants, December 1892 through May 1893.
Subject Terms: Law enforcement; Arrest; Prisoners; Military intelligence; Military campaigns and
battles.
Principal Correspondents: Joseph Shely; Henry Jackson; Anson Mills; J. P. Martin; George F. Chase.
21
Frame No.
Dates: May 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0405) In a May 3, 1893, telegram, Joseph Shely reported that he was
transporting twenty-one prisoners by train to San Antonio.
(Reel 3, Frames 0416–0438) A May 31, 1893, report from Captain George F. Chase
summarizes the operations of the troops under his command from December 1892 through May
1893. Appended to this report is a list of seventy-one men convicted in violation of the neutrality
laws.
0443
June 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
the known participants during June 1893.
Subject Terms: Arrest; Prisoners; Law enforcement; Military intelligence; Military campaigns and
battles.
Principal Correspondents: Joseph Shely; S. H. Keyes; W. W. Shely; T. M. Corcoran; Stephen O’Connor.
Dates: June 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0446) In a June 13, 1893, telegram, Major S. H. Keyes reported that
Joseph Shely brought four prisoners to Fort Ringgold.
(Reel 3, Frame 0450) In a June 23, 1893, telegram, Lieutenant T. M. Corcoran of the 7th
Cavalry reported the arrest of Juan Trevino.
(Reel 3, Frames 0454–0455) In a June 24, 1893, telegram, Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of
the 23rd Infantry reported the arrest of Jose Maria Benavides.
0461
July 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
the known participants during July 1893.
Subject Terms: Arrest; Prisoners; Law enforcement; Military intelligence; Military campaigns and
battles; Smuggling.
Principal Correspondents: S. H. Keyes; Henry Jackson; Stephen O’Connor.
Dates: July 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0463) In a July 5, 1893, telegram, Major S. H. Keyes reported that
Captain Shely had arrested seven men and brought them to Fort Ringgold.
(Reel 3, Frame 0468) In a July 10, 1893, letter, Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of the 23rd
Infantry wrote that Dario Hernandez planned to provide information that would lead to the
capture of Inez Ruiz and Jose Guerra. In return for this information and following the arrest of
the two men, O’Connor was to pay Hernandez 80 dollars.
(Reel 3, Frames 0482–0492) In a July 14, 1893, letter, O’Connor concluded one of his
mission reports with a blistering critique of the population living in the Rio Grande River valley.
He wrote: “In conclusion I desire to state that the Mexican population of the Rio Grande valley
is, as a whole, a criminal class. The tariff between the United States and Mexico has made
smuggling profitable, hence the son has followed in the footsteps of the father until now we
have a hereditary class of criminals to deal with, who do not hesitate to commit any crime while
in the pursuit of illegal gains. I do not know of any way of curing these evils, except to declare
marshal law, or to bring about a radical change in the social conditions of the valley. I regard the
large landholdings of the valley as being at the root of the evil, as where land ownership is
restricted to a few, pauperism, peonage, and crime follow as surely as night follows day. The
average Mexican, like the North American Indian has no respect for law, or the demands of
social organization, except as its execution terrifies him.”
0498
August 1893.
Descriptive Title: U.S. Army’s pursuit of those men involved in the raid on San Ignacio and arrest of
the known participants during July and August 1893.
Subject Terms: Arrest; Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles.
Principal Correspondents: Stephen O’Connor; S. H. Keyes; J. Wade.
22
Frame No.
Dates: August 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frame 0499) An August 1, 1893, telegram from Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor
of the 23rd Infantry reported that Eusebio Garcia and Anicelo Vela had been arrested.
(Reel 3, Frame 0505) On August 2, 1893, Major S. H. Keyes reported the arrest of four more
revolutionaries: Justo Vela, Aciano Sanchez, Felipe Trevino, and Serstones Lemon.
(Reel 3, Frame 0507) In an August 3, 1893, letter, J. Wade criticized the conduct of
Lieutenant Stephen O’ Connor. Wade wrote: “It seems to me that Lieut. O’Connor’s action in
raiding ranches, searching houses by day and night, and making arrests without warrants and in
the absence of civil officers of state or general government, picketing roads and interfering with
travel on the public highways, is going far beyond any authority he can possibly have and that its
continuance will lead to conflict with the civil authorities. I respectfully submit that the enclosed
reports show that Lieut. O’Connor is not a safe man to be trusted in command under the
conditions which obtain in this country at present and recommend that he be relieved at once
and ordered to return to his proper station with the infantry detachment now at Carrizo and San
Ygnacio. The cavalry detachment and the officer now at San Ygnacio will be all that is required
for both places.”
0510
September 1893
Descriptive Title: Report of Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of the 23rd Infantry, U.S. Army,
Department of Texas, summarizing his observations as a result of operations conducted between
December 1892 and September 1893.
Subject Terms: Military intelligence; Military campaigns and battles.
Principal Correspondents: Stephen O’Connor.
Dates: September 1893.
Content Notes: (Reel 3, Frames 0511–0519) On September 9, 1893, Lieutenant Stephen O’Connor of
the 23rd Infantry wrote: “Under present conditions I hold it next to an impossibility to catch
many of the murderous outlaws and bandits now at large. Of all the white men whom I have met
on the border, I know of but one who is not heartily in sympathy with the scoundrels who infest
Zapata and Starr counties.... The Customs inspectors are both married to Mexican women and
industriously engaged in raising half-breed families. These women are more or less connected by
family ties with the revolutionists, smugglers and bandits of the border.... All the deputy sheriffs
throughout the county are Mexicans, and when we consider the contempt they have for law and
order, and the additional fact that these people are practically one family, one blood through
intermarriage, some idea of the difficulties of the situation may be seen. Now I hold that there’s
one way outside the declaration of Marshal law to correct this evil. Under the old common law
of England, which is practically the common law of the United States, the house holder or land
owner who harbored or secreted a criminal was himself a criminal. It is notorious that the
proprietors of Rancho Ramireno have labored and protected Inez Ruiz and Jesus Guerra, that
they have been at the place with their full knowledge and consent, and that Ruiz’s family holds
permanent residence there. If the owners of Ramireno were indicted by the U.S. Grand Jury,
tried and punished, it would strike terror into the land and ranch owners of the border, and open
a road to the final settlement of the troubles now agitating the border counties.... I hold that the
local civil authorities should be entirely ignored in this matter; to employ one of them would be
in my estimation, simply employing a spy, working at all times in the interest of the criminals.... I
understand that the operations of the Shely brothers are now at a standstill. If this is true, I am
free to say, it is just what I expected, having succeeded in protecting their friends, both personal
and political and punishing their enemies. They are now content to let well enough along,
nothing else could have been expected of them, being, as I understand Mexican half-breeds, and
the southern portion of Starr County filled with their relatives, many of whom were engaged in
the late revolution on the border, Rafael Ramirez being one of them.... There are only two ways
of dealing with such people. Viz: to arrest them quietly and peaceably if possible, if this cannot
be done, kill them on sight, and pursue the rest until the last of them is dead or in confinement.
23
Frame No.
A settlement of this kind would be sufficient for all time to come and when one considers the
class of people, one has to deal with, it is the only safe method to pursue. Civil law is practically
dead in this region, no Mexican can be prosecuted for, much less convicted of a crime, if he
happens to be under the protection of a local land magnate, or one who is able to control votes
in the interests of the local officeholders, who are, generally speaking, white men, and these
officeholders regard any activity as an offense to them personally. In order to give you an insight
into the many difficulties which surround us here, the following facts are submitted. On August
the 31st I wrote a letter to Major Esquibel Comdg. the Mexican Garrison at Guerrero, informing
him that one Jesus Sais, a noted revolutionist who had been engaged in the Garza movement,
and who subsequently took part in the San Ignacio raid of Dec. 10th last, and who, in addition to
his other crimes was wanted on this side for attempt to murder, was living with his grandmother
at a certain ranch on the San Juan River, above Riez, Mexico. This letter was mailed by Copl.
Hintz at the Carrizo Post Office. Major Esqubel visited my camp on the 3rd inst. and informed
me that he had not received my communication but promised to notify me at once should it
reach him, since which time I have heard nothing from him. Guerrero is only 7 miles distant by
the wagon road, from my camp and the mail arrives there three times a week from Carrizo. The
postmaster at Carrizo is an active sympathizer with the criminals of the border and resents, very
emphatically, I am informed … my interference with the citizens of the border, in other words,
my pursuit of criminals. It is my intention to inquire further into this matter. If I had 8 Seminole
scouts and allowed to remain here for an indefinite period, I feel confident that I could
eventually succeed in making important arrests.”
24
PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENTS INDEX
The following index is an alphabetical listing of the principal correspondents in this microform
publication. The first number after each entry refers to the reel, while the four-digit number following the
colon refers to the frame number at which a particular file folder containing the document from the source
begins. Hence, 2: 0418 directs the researcher to the folder that begins at Frame 0418 of Reel 2. By referring to
the Reel Index, which constitutes the initial section of this guide, researchers will find a document list
including folder titles and substantive issues in the order in which they appear in the film.
Arnold, James
2: 0418
Bates, R. F.
2: 0001
Beach, W. D.
2: 0167
Blaine, James G.
1: 0266
Bourke, John G.
1: 0001, 0074, 0153, 0266, 0516; 2: 0001,
0167, 0319, 0418, 0490; 3: 0153
Bringer, August
1: 0266
Ceron, Louis
3: 0001
Chase, George F.
1: 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0490; 3: 0001, 0153,
0280, 0376, 0404
Corcoran, T. M.
3: 0443
Diaz, Lameda
1: 0266
Dickman, J. T.
3: 0001
Dugan, T. B.
3: 0153
Duval, B. G.
3: 0153
Edstrom, Charles H.
1: 0074
Elting, O.
3: 0153
Esquivel, Sebastian
1: 0266
Forsyth, James W.
2: 0490
Foster, John W.
3: 0153
Fricke, Paul
1: 0266
Garcia, Lorenzo
1: 0153, 0266; 2: 0319
Gonzalez, Jose F.
1: 0074, 0153
Gresham, W. Q.
3: 0280
Hardie, F. H.
1: 0266, 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0418; 3: 0001
Hatch, E. E.
2: 0418
Haynes, R. A.
1: 0266
Hays, Charles E.
1: 0153, 0266; 2: 0167
Heard, J. W.
2: 0167
Hedekin, C. A.
2: 0490; 3: 0001
Hogg, J. S.
1: 0266, 0516
Holbrook, W. A.
2: 0167
Hunter, George K.
1: 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0490; 3: 0153, 0280,
0376
Iglesias, Eugene
3: 0001
Jackson, Henry
3: 0001, 0153, 0280, 0376, 0404, 0461
Jodon, Florent D.
1: 0516
25
Johnson, J. B.
1: 0266
Jordan, John
1: 0153
Kelton, J. C.
1: 0001, 0153, 0516
Keyes, S. H.
2: 0490; 3: 0001, 0153, 0280, 0443, 0461, 0498
Knight, John T.
1: 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0319, 0418
Lazelle, H. M.
2: 0001
Lojero, Emiliano
1: 0001
Luby, James O.
2: 0167, 0319, 0418
Mabry, W. H.
1: 0266; 2: 0001
Mackay, J. O.
2: 0490
Maillefert, Salvador F.
2: 0001; 3: 0001
Mainero, A.
3: 0001
Mallory, John S.
3: 0280
Martin, J. P.
1: 0266; 3: 0404
Maxey, T. S.
3: 0153
McCormick, L. S.
3: 0376
Miles, Nelson A.
2: 0490
Miller, W. H. H.
1: 0266; 2: 0483
Mills, Anson
3: 0280, 0404
Mitchell, J. D.
1: 0266
Morris, Louis T.
1: 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0319, 0418
Morrow, A. P.
1: 0001, 0074, 0153, 0266
Nix, James S.
2: 0001
O'Connor, Stephen
2: 0001; 3: 0001, 0153, 0280, 0443, 0461,
0498, 0510
Ornelas, P.
1: 0001, 0266, 0516; 2: 0001, 0319, 0490;
3: 0001, 0153, 0280
Page, William A.
2: 0418
Pollock, O. W.
1: 0516
Ramirez, Ignacio
2: 0167
Randall, E. L.
1: 0001, 0074, 0153
Reese, William W.
1: 0074
Reyes, B.
1: 0266
Richardson, John B.
1: 0001, 0074, 0516
Rivers, T. R.
3: 0001, 0153
Romero, C.
3: 0153
Romero, M.
1: 0153, 0266, 0516; 3: 0280
Russell, Hamlin
1: 0266
Schofield, J. M.
1: 0266, 0516; 2: 0001, 0167; 3: 0153
Shanks, D. C.
1: 0516
Shelly, John J.
1: 0266
Shely, Joseph
3: 0404, 0443
Shely, W. W.
3: 0443
Short, W. C.
2: 0001, 0319
Stanley, D. S.
1: 0074; 2: 0001
Sutton, Warner P.
1: 0153, 0266
Swain, Hugh
1: 0074
Thomas, Carl
1: 0266
Torney, George
1: 0001
Wade, J.
3: 0498
West, P. W.
2: 0490
Wharton, William F.
1: 0001, 0074
Wheaton, Frank
3: 0001
26
Wheeler, William B.
1: 0153, 0516; 2: 0001, 0167; 3: 0280
White, George P.
3: 0001
Williams, R.
1: 0266; 2: 0483, 0490
Williams, R. G.
2: 0418
27
SUBJECT INDEX
The following index is a guide to the major topics in this microform publication. The first
number after each entry refers to the reel, while the four-digit number following the colon refers to
the frame number at which the file containing information on the subject begins. Hence, 1: 0153
directs researchers to frame 0153 of Reel 1. By referring to the Reel Index, which constitutes the
initial segment of this guide, the researcher will find topics listed in the order in which they appear on
the film.
Arms trade
1: 0153
Arrest
1: 0153, 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0418;
3: 0153, 0280, 0376, 0404, 0443,
0461, 0498
Borders
1: 0516; 2: 0001, 0167
Camargo, Mexico
1: 0001
Camp Rendado, Texas
3: 0001
Carrizo, Texas
1: 0153, 0266
Crime and criminals
homicide 2: 0490
smuggling 3: 0461
Farms and farmers
1: 0074, 0153
Foreign military forces
2: 0490; 3: 0153
Fort Brown, Texas
1: 0001
Fort McIntosh, Texas
1: 0074
Fort Ringgold, Texas
1: 0001, 0074, 0153, 0266
Garcia, Lorenzo
1: 0516
Garza, Frank
2: 0001
Grand juries
2: 0418
Hardie, F. H.
1: 0516
Homicide
2: 0490
Law enforcement
1: 0001, 0074, 0153, 0266; 3: 0001, 0153,
0280, 0404, 0443, 0461
Lojero, Emiliano
1: 0001
Matamoras, Mexico
1: 0001
Military campaigns and battles
1: 0001, 0074, 0153, 0266, 0516; 2: 0167,
0319, 0418, 0490; 3: 0001, 0153,
0280, 0376, 0404, 0443, 0461, 0498,
0510
Military intelligence
1: 0153, 0266, 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0319,
0418, 0483, 0490; 3: 0001, 0153,
0280, 0376, 0404, 0443, 0461, 0498,
0510
Military rations and food
2: 0490
Military strategy
1: 0001, 0074, 0153
Military supplies and property
1: 0516
O'Connor, Stephen
1: 0516
Prisoners
1: 0516; 2: 0001, 0167, 0418; 3: 0404,
0443, 0461
Railroads
1: 0266
Revolutions
1: 0074, 0266
29
Rio Grande River
1: 0001, 0074, 0153, 0266, 0516
Sandoval, Ruiz
1: 0074
Smuggling
3: 0461
Transportation
1: 0266; 2: 0490
U.S. Marshals
3: 0001
Violence
2: 0490
War casualties
2: 0167
30
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In September 1891, Catarino Garza called on the people of Mexico to rise with him and
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