Texas: The Great Theft

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LET’S STATE IT UP FRONT, so we don’t get muddled: this is the year 1859.

We’re on the northern and southern banks of the Río Bravo, known to some as the Rio Grande, in the cities of Bruneville and Matasánchez. Heading into the wind on horseback we could make it to the sea in half a morning.

Bruneville and Matasánchez call themselves cities, but you be the judge of whether they should be called towns.

I should tell you a few things about them: Bruneville is part of the state of Texas, Matasánchez is part of Mexico. The former (Bruneville) hasn’t been around long, only since ’21, when Mexico declared its independence.

That year, Mexico’s Far North was sparsely populated, though there were a few ranches scattered around — like the ones owned by Doña Estefanía which extend from the Nueces River all the way south to the Río Bravo — you’d have to ride four days to cross her lands from south to north.

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