Leander H. McNelly: Difference between revisions

Leander H. McNelly was born March 12, 1844, in Follensbee[[Follansbee, BrookWest CountyVirginia|Follansbee]], Virginia (today West Virginia), to P.J. McNelly and his wife Mary Downey. McNelly suffered from consumption as a child, and in 1860 his family moved to [[Texas]] in the hope that the climate would improve his health. In Texas, McNelly helped his family raise sheep and regained his health.<ref>Davis (1985), p. 103.</ref>

On September 13, 1861, McNelly enlisted in the [[Confederate States Army]], joining Company F of the Fifth Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers under General [[Thomas Green (general)|Thomas Green]]. After the [[Battle of Valverde]] during the New Mexico campaign, Green named McNelly his aide. Following fighting in the [[Battle of Galveston]], McNelly was sent to [[Louisiana]], where he was given a commission on December 19, 1863. He led 100 guerrilla scouts, and once carried out a spying mission dressed as a woman.<ref name=davis105>Davis (1985), p. 105.</ref>

McNelly and his men were tasked with capturing [[Morgan City, Louisiana|Brashear City, Louisiana]] (now Morgan City), where 800 Union troops were stationed. After dark, McNelly and his 40&nbsp;troops marched back and forth across a long bridge that led to the city, shouting as if they were speaking to unseen generals and colonels. At dawn, McNelly and his small force rode into the Union camp under a flag of truce and demanded an unconditional surrender. The Union officers believed that the noise they had heard signified a very large Confederate force and surrendered immediately. McNelly was able to take all 800 Union troops prisoner.<ref name=davis105 />

In April 1864, McNelly was wounded at the [[Battle of Mansfield]]. He took no sick leave or furlough in the entire four&nbsp; years of fighting, however. In the last months of the war he led mounted scouts working near [[Hempstead, Texas]], to round up deserters, and his unit was one of the last Confederate Army units to disband.<ref name=davis105 /> Following the war, McNelly moved to [[Brenham, Texas|Brenham]], where he married and had a son and daughter.<ref name=davis105 />

On July 1, 1870, Governor [[Edmund J. Davis]] organized a [[Texas State Police]] force, naming McNelly one of its four&nbsp;captains. The new police force had an inauspicious start, as its first director promptly ran away with $34,000. Many of the officers were accused of killing prisoners and harassing voters. In his most visible job as part of the State Police, McNelly was assigned to [[Walker County, Texas|Walker County]]. AAn NegroAfrican-American man named Sam Jenkins had been murdered after telling a [[grand jury]] that he had been flogged. McNelly investigated the crime and arrested four&nbsp; men, one of whom was immediately released. The other three had smuggled weapons, and they opened fire as McNelly was returning them to jail. McNelly was wounded, and in a newspaper interview he later castigated the local sheriff for not finding the weapons. McNelly was also unhappy with Davis, who had promptly declared martial law. The State Police force was abolished on April 22, 1873.<ref>Davis (1985), p. 106.</ref>

The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] regained control of Texas in 1873, and in 1874, to combat massive lawlessness, the newly elected governor, [[Richard Coke]], created two branches of the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]], a [[Frontier]] [[Battalion]] under the command of [[Major (United States)|major]] John B. Jones, and a designated Special Force, commanded by McNelly, financed by cattle ranchers. McNelly's special group had the specific task of bringing order to the [[Nueces Strip]], a hotbed of cattle thievery and banditry, where [[Juan Cortina]], the [[Mexico|Mexican]] military chief for the Rio Grande frontier, was conducting periodic guerrilla operations against the local ranchers.<ref>Davis (1985), pp. 107, 109.</ref>

One of his unit's first assignments was to travel to [[DeWitt County, Texas|DeWitt County]] and resolve the [[List_of_feuds_in_the_United_States#Sutton–Taylor|Sutton-Taylor feud]]. The feud had begun in March 1874 when a member of the Taylor family killed a member of the Sutton family. McNelly and 40&nbsp;Rangers arrived in [[Clinton, DeWitt County, Texas|Clinton, Texas]], on August 1 and remained for four&nbsp; months to ensure that Taylor and the witnesses against him lived through the trial.<ref>Davis (1985), p. 107.</ref> Following that incident, McNelly was ill, and went home to recuperate on his cotton farm near [[Burton, Washington County, Texas|Burton]].<ref name=davis108>Davis (1985), p. 108.</ref> There is a contemporary report that six members of McNelly's unit were engaged in a gunfight with unknown parties six miles from [[Clinton, Texas]] on the Yorktown roadRoad, which resulted in one missing, one wounded, and two horses killed<ref>[httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=YgBkoOJ5ntIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sutton-taylor+feud&hl=en&ei=JhiCTcPMIuW10QHqsKXECA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=dOUGHBOY&f=false "The Texas Vendetta, or the Sutton-Taylor Feud".pp.31–32]. For outcome see The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-19001821–1900 By Mike Cox .p.243</ref>

In April 1875, Coke ordered McNelly to organize a special force and go to [[Nueces County, Texas|Nueces County]] . In two&nbsp;days, McNelly recruited 41&nbsp;men. He rejected most native Texans who had applied so that they would not have to face the possibility of shooting at their own relatives or friends. The group became very loyal to him, and called themselves the "Little McNellys".<ref name=davis108 />

McNelly's methods had been questioned throughout the years, and although he recovered many cattle stolen from the Texan [[Ranchranch]]es while aggressively dealing with lawlessness on the Mexican border, he had also gained a reputation of taking part in many illegal executions, and confessions forced from prisoners by extreme means. McNelly also made himself famous for disobeying direct orders from his superiors on several occasions, and breaking through the Mexican frontier for self-appointed law enforcement purposes. His actions proved to be effective, however, and he was responsible for putting an end to the troubles with Mexican bandits and cattle rustlers along the [[Rio Grande]] that were commonplace during the 1850-751850–75 period.

It was in 1875 that McNelly was faced with how to eliminate several [[Mexican people|Mexican]] [[bandit]] gangs. The first of these gang leaders was [[Juan Nepomuceno Cortina]], who had been a General in the Mexican army during the [[Mexican-AmericanMexican–American War]]. For years Cortina had raided settlements in the [[Brownsville, Texas]], area, always retreating across the Rio Grande to avoid Texas law enforcement. Cortina was from a wealthy family that owned more than {{convert|260000|acre|km2}} of land in that area, which had once included the location of the town of Brownsville. Cortina commanded a force in excess of 2,000 armed Mexican outlaws and [[gunfighter|gunmen]].

Further north up river, McNelly was faced with a gang led by Juan Flores Salinas. This gang did not have the manpower of the Cortina's gang, but was nonetheless as ruthless. This gang was headquartered at Camargo, Mexico, directly across the border from the [[US Cavalry]] [[outpost (military)|outpost]] of Ringgold Barracks, near [[Rio Grande City, Texas|Rio Grande City]].

From among American outlaws, McNelly's greatest rival was Texas gunman [[King Fisher]] and his band of outlaws. Although notable as rustlers, Fisher's band rarely raided US civilian populations, concentrating more on rustling cattle from their Mexican counterparts across the border. This added to tensions among the Mexican population, and gave an excuse for Mexican bandits to raid in the United States.

McNelly now moved south to end the bandit gangs that had run unchecked over that area for several years. Within one year's time, McNelly had completely destroyed both the bandit bands led by Cortina and by Salinas, by repeated actions where McNelly disobeyed orders and took his force across the border into Mexico. King Fisher's gang dispersed; Fisher went into retirement as a rancher, following a Ranger raid on his ranch during which McNelly arrested him. The two came to an agreement that Fisher's his over-the-border raids would cease. Fisher later became [[Sheriff]] of [[Uvalde County, Texas|Uvalde County]].

The first major gunfight between the Rangers and Mexican bandits occurred in June 1875. McNelly's Rangers surprised a group of sixteen Mexican cattle thieves and one whiteAmerican man, driving about 300 head of cattle toward the Rio Grande, and also toward Juan Cortina, and a steamer headed for Cuba. They were Cortina's hand-picked men, who had boasted they could cope with any Rangers or vigilantes. Captain McNelly issued his orders. "Don't shoot to the left or the right. Shoot straight ahead. And don't shoot till you've got your target good in your sights. Don't walk up on a wounded man. Pay no attention to a white flag. That's a mean trick bandits use on green-hands. Don't touch a dead man, except to identify him."

Spying the Rangers, the Mexicans took flight, driving the herd before them at a frenzied pace, until they reached a little island in the middle of a salt marsh. The Mexicans then turned and waited for the Rangers, who were right on their heels, to cross the shallow, muddy lagoon. But McNelly anticipated the ambush and stopped to issue his pep talk, "Boys, across this ''[[resaca (channel)|resaca]]'' are some outlaws that claim they're bigger than the law — biggerlaw—bigger than Washington law, bigger than Texas law. This won't be a standoff or a dogfall. We'll either win completely, or we'll lose completely."

Leander McNelly's most infamous exploit was his invasion of Las Cuevas, Mexico in order to get back stolen cattle. McNelly and his Rangers entered Mexico on theNovember 20th of November20, 1875. Under cover of brush and scrub oak, they made their way on foot to General [[Juan Flores Salinas]]' stronghold at the Rincon de Cucharas outpost of the [[Las Cuevas, Mexico|Las Cuevas]] ranch, which in English means "The Spoon Corner." Later that afternoon, Major [[A. J. Alexander]] from Ringgold Barracks arrived with a missive from Colonel Potter at Fort Brown, on the Rio Grande at Brownsville, urging McNelly to retreat. During the gunfight, McNelly was shot through both hands.

After a needed night's sleep, Captain McNelly moved his men directly opposite Camargo on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Thus, in another invasion of Mexico, twelve or thirteen Rangers, not including McNelly -– though accounts differ -– crossed the river in a rowboat. McNelly marched up the riverbank to the customs house and demanded the cattle. When the Mexican Captain stalled by politely saying they didn't do business on Sunday, he promptly took the Mexican Captain prisoner, hauling him to the Texas side of the border. He told the Mexican leader to get the cattle started back to the U.S. side within the hour or he would die. The operation was successful, and instead of 250 head returning to Texas, more than 400 were crossed back.

McNelly suffered from [[tuberculosis]], and retired in 1876 due to a deteriorating health. He died on September 4 of the following year in [[Burton, Texas]],Washington survived by his wifeCounty, Carey Cheek McNellyTexas|Burton, and two children. He is interred in Mount Zion Cemetery near Burton. <ref>http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fgTexas]].cgi?page=gr&GRid=7677129</ref>

==FilmsLegacy==

{{reflist|3}}

* {{citation |last=Davis |first=Joe Tom |title=Legendary Texians, Volume II |publisher=Eakin Press |place=[[Austin, TX]] |year=1985 |isbn=0-89015-473-2}}

* {{Handbook of Texas|id=MM/fmcag|name=Leander H. McNelly}}