Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Wednesday, August 18, 1999

The term "cow-boy'' originated in our own backyard. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, these "cow-boys'' raided into the Nueces Strip - the no man's land between the Republic of Texas and Mexico - for cattle and horses, first, then plunder. This started soon after the battle of San Jacinto.
   Many of these "cow-boys'' were, pure and simple, bandits and killers. (I use the term hyphenated, as it was used originally, to distinguish these early "cow-boys'' from their hardworking successors.) J. Frank Dobie in "The Longhorns'' describes them as "nondescript young men, uninformed, undisciplined, self-willed. Their great hunting ground was the area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande.''
   After San Jacinto, loyal Mexican citizens were ordered to evacuate to below the Rio Grande. Those who failed to do so risked being tried as traitors. As ranchers of Mexican descent moved south, they left their herds of cattle and horses. Mexican Gen. Vicente Filisola ordered his men to drive south all the cattle found on the army's line of retreat, but huge herds were left behind.
   The Texas army needed meat. Soldiers were sent into the abandoned area to drive cattle east to feed the army. The practice spread and soon there were bands of men rounding up the cattle left behind by the departed Mexican ranchers. Some of the bands did more than round-up stock. Hobart Huson in "Refugio'' wrote that in 1839 there were many bloody battles between "cow-boys'' and citizens of Mexican descent "and bloody and horrible was their retaliation on each other.''
   One "cow-boy'' outfit in Victoria was called the "Band of Brothers.'' In September, 1839, this group, according to a Texas army report, "took from a party of Mexican traders all their property and killed eight of them.'' There was another massacre of Mexican traders in 1842. These merchants came to Refugio from Camargo and, after several days trading, left with their purchased goods of callico and tobacco. They were followed by a group of "cow-boys'' led by "Mustang'' Gray. After eating supper with the traders, the "cow-boys'' pulled their guns and tied up the traders. Gray told them they had a few minutes to make their peace with God, and then they began shooting. After the shooting was over, they stripped the bodies of their clothes. One man, who pretended to be dead, survived. He made his way back to Victoria and told the story. As recorded in Huson's book, "the good people were horror-stricken at the outrage, but no attempt was made to bring the criminals to justice.''
   In an effort to try to bring law and order to the Nueces Strip, "volunteer'' companies were established in 1841. One company of 30 men in the Corpus Christi area was under the command of John Yerby. This group was as bad as the "cow-boy'' outfits they were supposed to control. Eugenia Reynolds Briscoe in her history of Corpus Christi wrote that Corpus Christi's founder, H. L. Kinney, called them "robber Texians'' and tried to dissuade them from robbing Mexican merchants, but to no avail.
   The band attacked a trade caravan on its way to Corpus Christi and captured goods, cash, and horses. Although there was no resistance on the part of the traders, Briscoe wrote, "eight men were murdered by Yerby's 'volunteers.' '' The thieves had a falling out over the division of the spoils and split up. Seventeen of the group left to follow James Ornsby while nine stayed with Yerby. (A member of the group who elected to go with Ornsby was Ewen Cameron, the big Scot who was executed in Mexico after the Mier expedition; Cameron County is named for him.)
   After that attack, a unit of Mexican troops arrived and trailed Yerby and his band to 30 miles south of Corpus Christi. The Mexican force struck at dawn and all of Yerby's gang (except for a guide) was killed. Ornsby's "volunteers'' tried another line of work; they signed on to become part of Kinney's private army. Another "volunteer'' company operating in the Corpus Christi was led by W.J. Cairns. His company was organized to break up the small marauding parties. A group of Mexican traders visited Kinney's trading post and stayed until Christmas Day, 1839. When the merchants left, they were followed and attacked by Cairns' outfit.
   The "cow-boy'' raids were followed by vaquero raids mounted from Mexico. Such raiding parties would plague the Nueces Strip for the next four decades (up to and after the Civil War), as marauders crossed the Rio Grande to steal cattle, kill and plunder, and then return to their sanctuary across the river. But, perhaps, the original "cow-boys'' started it all.
   (Murphy Givens can be reached by e-mail at givensm@caller.com or by phone at 886-4315. Previous columns can be found on-line at caller.com/mgivens.)
  
  
  

---

  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.