Battle of La Ebonal

Battle of La Ebonal
Part of the First Cortina War
Date December 13, 1859 Location Near Brownsville, Texas, United States Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Mexican Paramilitary Forces Cortinistas
Commanders and leaders
Samuel P. Heintzelman	Teodoro Zamora
Strength
290	~400
Casualties and losses
2 killed 5 wounded	~16 killed

Mexican Paramilitary Forces

The Battle of La Ebonal was fought in December 1859 near Brownsville, Texas during the First Cortina War. Following the Brownsville Raid, on September 28, and a few skirmishes with the Texas Rangers, rebel leader Juan Cortina led his small army into the hills outside of town and dug in near a series of cattle ranches. The United States Army responded by sending an expedition into the area, under the command of Major Samuel P. Heintzelman, with orders to pacify all resistance. A minor battle began on December 13, at a ranch called La Ebonal, and continued for a few hours as the Americans routed and then pursued the retreating Cortinistas.

The First Cortina War began on September 28, 1859 when Juan Cortina led about seventy-five men into Brownsville to punish the town marshal for past grievances. After killing between four and six people, releasing the prisoners from the town jail, and taking whatever arms and ammunition, the Cortinistas fled northwest to Rancho del Carmen, which was owned by Cortina's mother and used as his base for operations north of the river border. On October 12, the sheriff of Cameron County, James Browne, led a posse to the ranch and succeeded in arresting the sixty-year-old Tomas Cabrera, who was not only a close friend of Cortina but one of his chief lieutenants that had participated in the Brownsville raid. When Cortina found out what had happened to his friend, he issued an ultimatum to the people of Brownsville, threatening that he would "lay the town in ashes" if Cabrera was not released and if his enemies did not surrender to him. The situation quickly escalated from there. The citizens of Brownsville began constructing defenses, including a barricade to block the main road through town. They also formed a twenty-man militia, called the "Brownsville Tigers," which was sent to Rancho del Carmen and hastily defeated by 300 rebels, who captured both of the Tigers' small artillery pieces. Cortina had his men build a forward base for his artillery outside of town and he formed a frontline close enough to Brownsville so that it could be seen by the Americans at the barricade. However, other than a shot from the cannon every morning at 6:00 am, there was no battle at the town itself. Over the next weeks, volunteers flocked to Cortina's camps from both sides of the border. Among his new recruits were some sixty Mexican criminals, who had broken out of the prison at Ciudad Victoria, and a band of Tampacaus native Americans from near Reynosa.

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