Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas (review)

2oo8Book Reviews89 tributes substantially to the clarity and coherence of his arguments. After clearly stating his thesis in a concise introduction, he uses his first chapter to provide evidence diat Grant's anti-American actions as a British agent began in die 1820s and included a clandestine involvement in the quixotic Fredonian Rebellion. In the next six chapters, Reid quickly shifts to die mid-i830s and traces Grant's numerous activities, first as a Coahuilan businessman, legislator, and recipient of controversial land grants and then as a warrior in the Texas Revolution. As the author shows, Grant's actions in the Revolution included fighting against Mexican troops in the siege of San Antonio de Béxar, helping to instigate the subsequent Matamoros expedition, and serving as an expedition leader until Mexican troops surprised and killed him on March 2, 1936. After devoting his eighth chapter to die relationship between England and the new Republic of Texas, Reid closes with a postscript that focuses on the administration of Grant's estate and the disposition of certificates issued to Grant in connection with the controversial land grants. Reid relies on meticulous research and an impressive synthesis of an extensive array of sources, including documents from the Colonial Office Records and Foreign Office Records located in the British National Archives and numerous primary and secondary Texas sources. He clearly demonstrates that from the 1820S through the early 1840s, Great Britain's concerns about American competition in foreign trade caused it to oppose the extension of the United States into Texas. In addition, imaginative interpretations of his evidence allow Reid to make intriguing arguments that Grant was a British agent and that Grant's actions in the Texas Revolution were motivated more by what Grant saw as England 's interests than by his own interests as a land speculator. Nevertheless, the lack of any direct evidence from Reid's sources makes those arguments more suggestive than conclusive. Scholars may find Reid's British sources, as well as his emphasis on England 's activities in Texas, of some interest. They may also find subjects for further research in his interesting appendix that contains brief biographical sketches of the men led by Grant in the Matamoros expedition. Nevertheless, The Secret War for Texas seems intended primarily for a general audience, and anyone interested in Mexican Texas and the Texas Revolution should find the book highly entertaining and thought provoking. Austin Community CollegeOwen L. Roberts Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas. By Jerry Thompson. (College Station : Texas A&M University Press, 2007. Pp. 342. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 978158445929. $32.50, cloth.) Juan Nepomuceno Cortina is one of those inescapable figures in the tumultuous history of Texas. Whether as a folk hero and protector of downtrodden Mexicans, or as a notable bandit and troublemaker of the frontier, Cheno Corti- goSouthwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly na has remained an unavoidable reference and a bona fide member of the U.SMexico borderlands pantheon. Thanks to Jerry Thompson's new book, this larger-tiian-life figure has become more approachable and human. Written in the most venerable historical style, Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas is an expansive biography that starts out with Corona's family background and early years in die towns of Camargo and Matamoros, follows his coming of age during the Mexican American War of 1846-1848, details his simmering feud with a clique of Anglo-American judges and attorneys from Brownsville, depicts his ambiguous role during the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s, and describes the waning years of this aging caudillo of the frontier. While the book covers the full arc of Cortina's life, the fulcrum continues to be the so-called Cortina Wars of 1859 and 1861 as this Mexican ranchero brazenly questioned the land dealings of less-thanscrupulous newcomers to the frontier and ultimately challenged the entire Anglo -dominated justice system that was set in place in the wake of the American takeover of die region. Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas is a gem. The archival research is impressive, but the wealth of information presented does not burden the text. Far from being one of those turgid monographs so...