Yours to Command: The Life and Legend of Texas Ranger Captain Bill McDonald

Chapter 13. Brownsville Affair: A Muddled Incident

This newspaper headline summarized the trouble between Bill McDonald and the United States Army, during the aftermath of the raid on Brownsville, Texas, by “unknown parties” in the middle of the night on August 13, 1906.2 In the “Brownsville Affray,” so-called in official documents, the raiders within a few minutes riddled buildings with bullets, killed one individual, and wounded two others. Soon after the raid McDonald and several other Rangers were ordered to Brownsville to assist state and local officials on the scene in maintaining order and discovering the identities of the attackers, allegedly black soldiers of the Twenty-Fifth Infantry stationed at Fort Brown. Captain Bill’s investigation took place in an environment of confusion, fear, suspicion, hostility, and—more significant for the operation of the American federal system—jurisdictional disputes about the authority of the national government and the powers of a state. At one point in this charged atmosphere, Major Augustus P. Blocksom, an army investigator on the scene, reported to his superiors, “It is said { 2 4 3 } Chapter 13  BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR: A MUDDLED INCIDENT Gallant Ranger Would Have Stood Off Any Number of Soldiers While He Had the Authority.1 here he [McDonald] is so brave he would not hesitate to ‘charge hell with one bucket of water.’ ”3 The origins of Fort Brown and the settlement at Brownsville in the southeastern corner of the state can be traced back to the coming of Spanish-Mexican pioneers and the impact on the area of the U. S.-Mexican War. By the 1850s Cameron County had been formed, with Brownsville as the county seat. Between 6,000 and 8,000 people lived in the town at the turn of the twentieth century. Nearly two-thirds of the population were Hispanic Texans, with only a few hundred black residents. At the same time the coming of the railroads and the development of truck farming and citrus growing brought more economic prosperity. By the early 1900s the lifestyles of the citizens of Brownsville not only had the imprint of southern and western beliefs but also had the outlook of a Mexican border town.4 With a sudden and inexplicable thrust raiders carried out a small-scale attack on Brownsville. The often-told story was that around midnight on August 13, 1906, a group of black soldiers, numbering about a score, opened fire on the townspeople for several , ghastly minutes. This band of troops began shooting from inside Fort Brown, one of the American military posts along the Mexican border. Leaving the confines of the fort, which was situated on the outskirts of Brownsville, by vaulting a low wall, the raiders assaulted the areas of the town within several hundred yards of the military post. More than a hundred bullets from the rifles of the black soldiers riddled buildings, killed one individual, and wounded two others. Then the invaders returned to the garrison without being captured by either the residents or policemen in Brownsville or the army personnel who were on duty at Fort Brown.5 The aftermath of the raid went through various stages for several years. The first steps included reactions by local, state, and national leaders; investigations and reports by army officers, especially Major Blocksom and General Ernest A. Garlington; the arrest of thirteen former and current black soldiers by Ranger Captain Y O U R S T O C O M M A N D { 2 4 4 } McDonald; and the discharge “without honor” of the black troops at the fort by President Theodore Roosevelt. Instead of bringing closure to the affair, however, such actions ignited a fire storm of criticism from people throughout the country. Into the fray came black national leaders, those involved with the Constitution League, members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the United States Senate, and army generals sitting as a Court of Inquiry. In the days after the raid the Brownsville newspaper complained about slow-moving events. The first stanza of a poem went thus: Of governor who’s slow to act When minutes mean to die or live; Of people’s servants loath to move, And of a chief executive Who asks for full particulars Of “that” and “this,” the “how” and “why,” Say, have we time for all of this When hours may mean to live or die?6 The volumes of testimony, which were compiled...