Brite ranch raid

Neville Ranch Raid

Contents

Raid [ edit ]

From the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, raids into Texas by Mexican "bandits " became very common. More often than not, the so-called "bandits" were actually rebels. After the Brite Ranch Raid. on December 25, 1917, the Big Bend region was on high alert. The fact that three people had been murdered on Christmas day infuriated the local population. Villistas from the small border town of Porvenir were thought to be responsible so, on January 27, 1918, Texas Rangers and American soldiers surrounded the village and began searching it. While the soldiers were checking the houses, the Texas Rangers, under Captain Monroe Fox. gathered up fifteen Mexican men and took them to a nearby hill. There the Mexicans were executed and left on the spot. News of the massacre quickly spread throughout the area and, according to some accounts, the attack on Neville Ranch may have been launched in retaliation, being that many of the raiders had lived in Porvenir or had family there. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]

Neville Ranch was owned by Edwin W. Neville and located about six miles up the Rio Grande from Porvenir. It was in an isolated area, there were no neighbors close by and the lower ranch complex, where the attack occurred, had no telephone. Edwin W. Neville lived there with his son, Glenn, and his Mexican servant, Rosa Castillo, with her husband and three children. Following the raid at Brite Ranch, Edwin moved his wife and his two daughters to a home in Van Horn. On March 25, 1918, while on garrison duty at Candelaria. Captain Leonard Matlock, 8th Cavalry. received information from someone regarding an imminent attack on Neville Ranch. Matlock then sent out a patrol, under a Lieutenant Gaines, to warn Edwin that his ranch was in danger. Edwin was not at his ranch though, he was in Van Horn buying supplies. After hearing a report about what was going on, Edwin rode with his son for eight hours back to the ranch to check on it. Sometime later, while discussing rumors in the ranch house, Glenn heard something and went to a window to see outside. There in the darkness he saw " fifty approaching horsemen " who then opened fire with small arms. Apparently, the house provided very little protection from the bullets so the Nevilles retreated to a ditch about 300 yards away. Glenn was shot in the head at this point but he did not die immediately for the raiders had time to come up and finish him off with rifle butts. Rosa was also " shot and her body mutilated " in front of her children while her husband escaped on a pony. When the shooting stopped, the raiders focused on robbing the place of horses, food, clothing, bedding and other supplies. Meanwhile, Edwin was " wandering " through the desert. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

Aftermath [ edit ]

Rosa's husband found Lieutenant Gaines and his patrol six miles away from the ranch and told them what had happened. Gaines then followed the man back to the lower Neville Ranch, arriving just after the raiders left, and from there he went to the upper ranch to inform his commander, Colonel George Langhorne. by telephone. Colonel Langhorne responded by dispatching Captain Henry H. Anderson and Troop G, 8th Cavalry, from Everett Ranch, an army camp about thirty-four miles north of Candelaria. At the same time, Troop A, 8th Cavalry, was mobilized in Marfa and sent to Valentine by rail. From there they mounted up and set out for Neville Ranch. By 4:00 pm, on March 26, Captain Anderson had assembled both troops, and a mule train for supplies, at the ranch and he was ready to begin pursuing the raiders. The Americans crossed the Rio Grande into Chihuahua shortly thereafter and quickly found the Mexicans' trail. According to Colonel Langhorne, Anderson and his men followed the Mexicans over rough mountainous country for about seventy miles before the latter " doubled back " and began heading towards Pilares. Unable to escape, the raiders laid an ambush for the cavalrymen near Pilares which turned into a running battle of eleven miles. Langhorne reported that the raiders were reinforced at about that time by people from Pilares and that some Carrancista soldiers may have fought in the battle as well. Langhorne said that after the expedition a Carrancista officer, named Enrique Montova, " boasted he had fought against [the Americans] " and " drove [them] out [of Pilares] " while at the same time " professing to aid [them]. " [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]

When the battle was over, Captain Anderson ordered his men to burn all the buildings in Pilares except a single house. His command captured a " substantial cache of weapons ", including German - made Mauser rifles. and they also found evidence at the village linking the inhabitants to the raids on Brite and Neville Ranch. The Americans then returned to Texas, " barely ahead of a larger contingent of Mexican [Carrancista] cavalry. " Only one American was killed during the battle at Pilares, Private Carl Alberts. Mexican casualties range from ten to thirty-three killed and another eight wounded. Colonel Langhorne said; " Our soldiers found about 10 dead and found the horses of Nevill[e] and equipment belonging to Nevill[e]'s ranch and the boy that had been killed, and probably they killed a great many more than that. There were 29 in the raid, and the report as we checked it up showed there were about 33 killed. We lost Private Albert of A Troop in that fight. " [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ]

BRITE RANCH RAID

BRITE RANCH RAID . The ranch of Lucas Charles Brite qv. at Capote Peak in western Presidio County, was attacked by about forty-five Mexicans, possibly supporters of Francisco (Pancho) Villa. on Christmas Day 1917. The raid was well planned. The attackers cut the ranch's telephone lines to prevent any call for help. They chose a holiday, when most of the ranch workers were away and the Brites were at their Marfa home. The family of T. T. Van Neill, ranch foreman, was at the ranch. The first awareness of the assault came when the foreman's father saw riders dismounting in the yard and scattering for cover. He fired on the evident leader of the attackers, and a gunfight developed between the Neills and the raiders. The bandits captured two ranch workers and sent one, Jose Sanchez, to tell the Neills that the other would be killed if they did not surrender. The Neills knew they were outnumbered and gave the raiders the key to Brite's Store to appease them. After looting the store of clothes, canned goods, and cash, the raiders rounded up the best horses and stole all the ranch's saddles. During the looting of the store, postman Mickey Welch arrived at the ranch in his mail stage with two Mexican passengers. The robbers shot the passengers and hanged Welch in the store.

The bandits stayed at the ranch several hours and were still there when Rev. H. M. Bandy and his family arrived at the ranch to visit the Neills. The raiders allowed the Bandys to reach the Neill home, where the reverend led a prayer and took up a rifle to defend the ranch. The Bandys and the Neills were rescued eventually when a large number of armed neighbors and soldiers arrived in automobiles. James L. Cobb, a neighbor of the Brites, had heard the shots and investigated without being detected. Cobb then drove twelve miles to telephone Luke Brite in Marfa. Brite called Col. George Langhorne of the Eighth Cavalry for help. Although a large posse arrived in automobiles, the raiders escaped down the rimrock, where cars could not follow. Langhorne's soldiers borrowed horses from local ranchers and joined the troops from Ruidosa in pursuit of the robbers. On the morning of December 26 the raiders crossed the Rio Grande at the Los Fresnos ford into Mexico. Later that day some 200 members of troops M and G of the Eighth Cavalry crossed at the same point and pursued them. The American forces engaged in a running fight with about fifteen of the raiders and killed ten of them in a canyon not far from Pilares, Chihuahua. They recovered some of the stolen goods, but most of the horses were lost or in such poor condition that they had to be shot. The other raiders escaped into the mountains. Only one United States soldier, Private John F. Kelly, was wounded in the conflict. Fiske and his men returned to Texas with the recovered property that evening.

El Paso Times . December 27, 1917, January 4, 1918. Noel Leonard Keith, The Brites of Capote (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1950). Virginia Madison, The Big Bend Country of Texas (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1955; rev. ed. New York: October House, 1968). Ronnie C. Tyler, The Big Bend (Washington: National Park Service, 1975). U. S. Senate, Investigation of Mexican Affairs: Preliminary Reports and Hearings (66th Cong. 2d Sess.; 2 vols. Washington: GPO, 1920). Harry Warren Papers, Archives of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University.

Brite Ranch Raid

Contents

Raid [ edit ]

Brite Ranch was like other ranches in south Texas, it was as much of a small town as a cattle operation. The ranch was owned by Lucas Charles Brite and located in the Big Bend region, between the town of Marfa and the Rio Grande, fifteen miles east of the river. Since it was Christmas morning, most of the locals were away, except the ranch foreman T. T. Van Neill, his family, and one or two Mexican-American families. It was just after dawn when the raid began, Van's father, Sam, was the only one awake. He was sitting down drinking coffee when all of a sudden about forty-five armed Mexicans galloped into the ranch complex. Sam knew immediately who the Mexicans were so he ran to his son's room, equipped himself with a rifle, and took a well aimed shot at who he thought was the leader. Sam killed the man so the others returned fire on the house. By that time, Van was awake and joined in the fight. Mrs. Van Neill attempted to alarm the police but the raiders cut the telephone lines. The skirmish lasted for a while before the raiders realized they had little chance of getting into the Neill house without significant losses. They then captured a pair of ranch hands, one of whom, Jose Sanchez, was sent to the house to warn the Neills that if they continued to resist, both he and the other ranch hand would be shot. Van and his father were prepared to continue the fight but Mrs. Neill convinced her husband to give the Mexicans the keys to Lucas Brite's general store and avoid further confrontation. Van agreed, so instead of trying to break into the house, the raiders spent their time robbing the general store of clothes, food and money. They also gathered up all the best horses at the ranch and took them too. While this was going on, the unsuspecting postman. Mickey Welch, arrived at the store in his wagon with two Mexican passengers. The raiders captured all three of the men, shot the two passengers and hung Welch inside the store. [ 6 ]

That night the Neills were hosting a Christmas dinner party for some of their friends. The raiders occupied the ranch for several hours so when Reverend H. M. Bandy and his family arrived from Marfa to have dinner with the Neills, Van had to send a young Mexican boy out to tell the raiders not to shoot them. The raiders let the reverend and his family go to the Neill's house and when they got out of their wagon Bandy delivered a quick prayer and then armed himself with a rifle to help defend the ranch. According to Ronnie C. Tyler, author of The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier, there were other dinner guests already at the ranch but they escaped somehow and went to get help. The rancher James L. Cobb, who lived three miles outside of the ranch complex, heard the gunfire so he drove towards the sound to investigate the situation. Cobb stopped a short distance away from the ranch and saw the Mexicans robbing the store. He then got back into his car and drove twelve miles to the nearest telephone and called Lucas Brite, who was at his home in Marfa. Brite informed the local sheriff and he went even further by alerting the 8th Cavalry, which was stationed in the area. Shortly thereafter, a large posse and some cavalrymen assembled in vehicles to drive to Brite Ranch. They almost caught up with the raiders but the Mexicans quickly mounted up and rode south across the Candelaria Rim, where the Americans could not follow. [ 6 ]

Aftermath [ edit ]

On the next day, Colonel George Langhorne launched a punitive expedition into Mexico with the intention of capturing or killing the raiders and returning stolen property. Langhorne borrowed some horses from the ranchers for his men, who arrived in vehicles, and after joining up with reinforcements from Ruidosa. the expedition crossed the Rio Grande into Chihuahua at a ford called Los Fresnos. Altogether, the expedition included two troops of 8th Cavalry, approximately 200 soldiers, and several men from the posse. Langhorne caught up with twenty-nine [ 7 ] raiders just across the Rio Grande in San Bernardino Canyon, near Pilares. During the running battle that followed, the cavalrymen killed ten of the Mexicans and recovered some of the stolen property, including several horses, most of which had to be shot because they had been ridden too hard and would die anyway if taken back across the border. Only one soldier was wounded. Meanwhile, the citizens in the Big Bend region were outraged about the raid and the murders of Mickey Welch and his passengers on Christmas Day. Some citizens formed a committee to disarm and keep watch on the Mexican population in the area but the Texas Ranger company of Captain Monroe Fox went even further. At around midnight on January 27, 1918, a force of rangers and 8th Cavalry soldiers surrounded the village of Porvenir, located on the Rio Grande across the border from a Mexican village. A search of the town then commenced and while the soldiers were looking through houses, the rangers gathered up fifteen men and took them too a nearby hill where they were executed. The Porvenir Massacre was later investigated in 1919, during a federal investigation of misconduct among the Texas Rangers, but nobody was ever charged for the crime. After the raid and the subsequent punitive expedition, Lucas Brite built a small fort to house Texas Rangers and protect the ranch but it was never needed. [ 6 ]

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Little Known History of the Texas Big Bend:

Documented Chronicles from Cabeza De Vaca to the Era of Pancho Villa

The 1535 arrival of Cabeza De Vaca at the junction of the Rio Grande and Rio Conchos marked the dawn of historic times in the Texas Big Bend. Beginning with Cabeza De Vaca, Glenn Justice traces Spanish accounts of the Jumano Indians and their remarkable chief Juan Sabeata.

Next the author ventures into the mid-nineteenth century when Don Milton Favor carved out a Big Bend cattle empire in the Chinati Mountains by constructing forts to defend this ranch from Apache and Comanche raiders. John Spencer's discovery of silver ore in the Chinati Mountains at the end of the Civil War set in motion silver mining at Shafter. Homesteaders poured into the Big Bend and the cattle industry took hold.

In 1910, a bloody civil war broke out in Mexico and a bandit turned revolutionary named Pancho Villa took up arms. For the next decade, Big Bend residents found themselves on the front lines of a terrible war that claimed the lives of as many as a million Mexicans. Villa's bold raid on Columbus, New Mexico in March 1916 started a reign of terror in the Big Bend. On Christmas Day 1917, Mexican raiders attacked the Brite Ranch. Less than a month later, a troop of Eighth Cavalry accompanied by a group of Texas Rangers retaliated for the Brite Raid by burning the village of Porvenir, Texas to the ground, killing fifteen of its inhabitants.

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Revolution on the Rio Grande: Mexican Raids and Army Pursuits, 1916-1919 (Southwestern Studies, No 95)

During the years 1910-1920, as many as a million Mexican citizens lost their lives in the first great revolution of the 20th Century. This bloody civil war did not confine itself to Mexico but spilled over into the United States, occasionally diverting American newspaper headlines from the Great War in Europe. In March 1916, Pancho Villa boldly raided the tiny border town of Columbus, New Mexico. On Christmas Day, 1917, the Brite Ranch in western Presidio County, Texas became the target of Mexican raiders. In January, 1918, the Eighth U. S. Cavalry and a group of Texas Rangers and ranchers retaliated for the Brite Ranch raid and burned the village of Porvenir, Texas, to the ground, killing fifteen of its inhabitants. Violence escalated at the Neville Ranch, at Pilares, Chihuahua, and elsewhere in the Big Bend. Using previously undiscovered sources, including military records and private papers, Glenn Justice, in his Revolution on the Rio Grande takes a fresh view of these border raids and retaliations. His account of the massacre at Porvenir and the U. S. reprisal at Pilares has not been fully told before.

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