At a time when the U.S.-Mexican border was still not clearly defined and when the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and land hunger impelled the Anglo presence ever deeper and more intrusively into South Texas, Juan Nepomucino Cortina cut a violent swath across the region in a conflict that came to be known as The Cortina War. Did this border caudillo fight to defend the rights, honor, and legal claims of the Mexicans of South Texas, as he claimed? Or was his a quest for personal vengeance against the newcomers who had married into his family, threatened his mother’s land holdings, and insulted his honor? Historian Jerry Thompson mines the archival record and considers it in light of recent revisionist history of the region. As a result, he produces not only a carefully nuanced work on Cortina—the most comprehensive to date for this pivotal borderlands figure—but also a balanced interpretation of the violence that racked South Texas from the 1840s through the 1860s. Cortina’s influence in the region made him a force to be reckoned with during the American Civil War. He influenced Mexican politics from the 1840s to the 1870s and fought in the Mexican Army for more than forty-five years. His daring cross-border cattle raids, carried out for more than two decades, made his exploits the stuff of sensational journalism in the newspapers of New York, Boston, and other American cities. By the time of his imprisonment in 1877, Cortina and his followers had so roiled South Texas that Anglo reprisals were being taken against Mexicans and Tejanos throughout the region, ironically worsening the racism that had infuriated Cortina in the beginning. The effects of this troubled period continue to resonate in Anglo-Mexican and Anglo-Tejano relations, down to this very day. Students of regional and borderlands history will find this premier biography to be a rich source of new perspectives. Its transnational focus and balanced approach will reward scholarly and general readers alike.

Jerry Thompson, a Regent’s Professor of history at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, holds a doctorate from Carnegie-Mellon University. The author of several books, Thompson has been working on this biography of Juan Cortina for more than twenty years.

“This book is of exceptional quality. Through painstaking research the author establishes a new standard for the history of the Rio Grande Valley, Northeastern Mexico and a higher level of understanding for the historical significance of Juan Cortina. It will become a classic of Texas History.”--John Mason Hart, The John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History, University of Houston

"Cortina's life was much more complex than commonly understood, and a major and exciting contribution of this book is its account of the role that Cortina played in the Mexican War against the French Intervention as well as the American Civil War."--Hispanic Outlook

“Between work on numberless projects (and in the process of building an illustrious career), Jerry Thompson relentlessly pursued this study on the life of Juan Nepomuceno Cortina. At last, the book we’ve been waiting for is finished. Like the many works that Dr. Thompson has produced since the 1960s, Cortina is meticulously researched, masterfully balanced, and lucidly written. In contrast to previous monographs on Cortina, Cortina relies heavily on primary sources housed in many depositories in Mexico and it offers as much treatment to Cortina’s involvement in Texas history as it does to his participation in events in Mexico. Navigating a historiographical spectrum that argues at one end that Cortina was a callous bandido, yet a protector of the Mexican race at the other, Thompson thinks it is best to leave ‘Cheno’ as symbolizing the universal hero who in the public mind defends a victimized group.” --Arnoldo De Leon, History Professor at Angelo State University

"With stunning research and a crisp narrative, Jerry Thompson takes us beyond Juan Cortina's famous 'war' against Anglo-controlled Brownsville and into Cortina's tumultuous life as a war lord on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. At last we have a full-scale biography of this fascinating figure, whose strong sense of justice for his people was matched only by his opportunism and ambition." --David J. Weber, Director, Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University

“This book is meticulously researched by a master historian who has a deep, profound understanding of 19th-century history along the Texas-Mexico border. It therefore provides a historically sound biographical portrait permitting readers to understand the complexity of both Juan N. Cortina and the border country that produced him.”--Choice

“Thompson’s book provides not only a powerfully written history of a Mexican American who symbolizes ‘resistance to oppression and intolerance,’ but also a clear, cogent explanation of the relationship between the United States and Mexico as they face each other across the Texas border."--Journal of American History

“Jerry Thompson’s sympathetic but balanced biography is a ‘must read’ for all students of Texas history and Anglo-Hispanic relations.” --East Texas Historical Journal

“Jerry Thompson has produced the definitive work on one of the most controversial and influential Mexicano/Tejano figures of Texas and Southwestern history . . . With stunning clarity and balance, Thompson has provided a much-needed narrative interpretation that brings to life one of the more colorful figures of Texas, Border and Chicano histories.”--Hispanic Outlook

“This is the most well-researched and thorough account of Juan Nepomuceno Cortina’s life that we have . . . . This book certainly shows that Cortina ‘established his niche in the grand sweep of time,’ but it will be left to other scholars to follow the many trails hinted at by Thompson.”--Western Historical Quarterly

“Jerry Thompson has performed a difficult feat: comprehensively examining a life that had almost as many turns as a circle.”--Journal of Southern History