Battle of Rio Grande City
The Battle of Rio Grande City was a military engagement during the Cortina War between pro-Mexican Cortinistas and a group of US Army regulars supported by Texas Rangers. Background In 1859, the United States Army moved its garrisons on the lower Rio Grande to Fort Brown, prompting Chena Cortina to attack Rio Grande City and all along the Rio Grande Valley from Laredo to the Gulf of Mexico. Governor Hardin Richard Runnels ordered Rip Ford with a detachment of State Troops (Texas Rangers) to Fort Brown, where he combined forces with Major Heintzelman and other Texas Rangers under Captain Tobin. The march there "brought to light many acts of vandalism. Houses had been robbed and fired, fences burned, property destroyed or carried into Mexico. Settlements were broken up for the time being; the inhabitants had fled for their lives. Cortina had committed these outrages upon citizens of the United States...". On 26 December, Cortina was camped in the main street of Rio Grande City. Battle Major Ford's Texas Rangers were to turn the left flank of Cortina (on a little hill overlooking the town) while Major Heintzelman approached with his artillery at dawn on the 27th. Cortina's right flank was