bcbm
14th September 2005, 16:54
"We don't want you damn Yankees in the country"
- Francisco Perea
Recently I've been reading about the Anglo takeover of the Mexican North (today the American Southwest). One particularly area that interested me were the famous bandits who rose up after much mistreatment by Anglo settlers. While "official" Anglo history simply portrays them as murderous thugs, these are actually people who were sick of seeing their people mistreated and their land stolen. They took to the highways and country and even succeeded in some fantastic coups. To this day, many are remembered in song as folk heroes. Anyway, here are some of the more famous ones:
Joaquin Murrieta
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/watchthecitiesburn/JoaquinMurrieta.gif
1829?-1853, California bandit, b. Mexico. From 1849 to 1851 he mined in the California gold fields. After he and members of his family had been mistreated by American miners and driven from their claim, he became the leader of a band of desperadoes. For two years his robberies and murders terrorized California, until the legislature authorized Capt. Harry Love, deputy sheriff of Los Angeles co., to organize a company of mounted rangers to exterminate Murrieta's band. Surprised at his camp near Tulare Lake, Murrieta was shot, and most of his followers were killed or captured. Romanticization of his career began with the publication (1854) of John R. Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta.
More:
Joaquin Murrieta on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Murrieta)
Tiburcio Vasquez
"A spirit of hatred and revenge took possession of me. I had numerous fights in defense of what I believed to be my rights and those of my countrymen. I believed we were unjustly deprived of the social rights that belonged to us."
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/watchthecitiesburn/tiburciovasquez.jpg
Tiburcio Vasquez (1839-1875) was the last of the Mexican banditos to terrorize California in the 1870s and 80s. Vasquez represents the turbulent and often violent era after the United States took California from Mexico. It was a time of wrenching change, lawlessness and injustice. Vasquez's legendary exploits brought him from his birthplace in Monterey, reputed to be the son of a respected family, to Los Angeles where he was captured during a real wild west shootout. He certainly looked the part of a 19th Century romantic anti-hero, with a handsome, square-jawed face and dashing goatee. Fluent in both Spanish and English, he struck terror in the hearts of men and passion in the breasts of his many female admirers.
More:
Tiburcio Vasquez on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiburcio_Vasquez)
Juan Cortina
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/watchthecitiesburn/juancortina.jpg
Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Goseacochea (b. May 16, 1824 - d. October 30, 1894), better known as Juan Cortina or by his nicknames "Cheno Cortina" and "the Red Robber of the Rio Grande", was a Mexican rancher, politician, military leader, outlaw and folk hero. He is famous for leading a paramilitary Mexican force in the First and Second Cortina Wars, usually referred as the Cortina Troubles in 1859-61, against the U.S. Military, the Texas Rangers and the local militia of Brownsville (Texas) and Matamoros in the Rio Grande Valley area.
More:
Juan Cortina on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Cortina)
- Francisco Perea
Recently I've been reading about the Anglo takeover of the Mexican North (today the American Southwest). One particularly area that interested me were the famous bandits who rose up after much mistreatment by Anglo settlers. While "official" Anglo history simply portrays them as murderous thugs, these are actually people who were sick of seeing their people mistreated and their land stolen. They took to the highways and country and even succeeded in some fantastic coups. To this day, many are remembered in song as folk heroes. Anyway, here are some of the more famous ones:
Joaquin Murrieta
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/watchthecitiesburn/JoaquinMurrieta.gif
1829?-1853, California bandit, b. Mexico. From 1849 to 1851 he mined in the California gold fields. After he and members of his family had been mistreated by American miners and driven from their claim, he became the leader of a band of desperadoes. For two years his robberies and murders terrorized California, until the legislature authorized Capt. Harry Love, deputy sheriff of Los Angeles co., to organize a company of mounted rangers to exterminate Murrieta's band. Surprised at his camp near Tulare Lake, Murrieta was shot, and most of his followers were killed or captured. Romanticization of his career began with the publication (1854) of John R. Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta.
More:
Joaquin Murrieta on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Murrieta)
Tiburcio Vasquez
"A spirit of hatred and revenge took possession of me. I had numerous fights in defense of what I believed to be my rights and those of my countrymen. I believed we were unjustly deprived of the social rights that belonged to us."
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/watchthecitiesburn/tiburciovasquez.jpg
Tiburcio Vasquez (1839-1875) was the last of the Mexican banditos to terrorize California in the 1870s and 80s. Vasquez represents the turbulent and often violent era after the United States took California from Mexico. It was a time of wrenching change, lawlessness and injustice. Vasquez's legendary exploits brought him from his birthplace in Monterey, reputed to be the son of a respected family, to Los Angeles where he was captured during a real wild west shootout. He certainly looked the part of a 19th Century romantic anti-hero, with a handsome, square-jawed face and dashing goatee. Fluent in both Spanish and English, he struck terror in the hearts of men and passion in the breasts of his many female admirers.
More:
Tiburcio Vasquez on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiburcio_Vasquez)
Juan Cortina
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/watchthecitiesburn/juancortina.jpg
Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Goseacochea (b. May 16, 1824 - d. October 30, 1894), better known as Juan Cortina or by his nicknames "Cheno Cortina" and "the Red Robber of the Rio Grande", was a Mexican rancher, politician, military leader, outlaw and folk hero. He is famous for leading a paramilitary Mexican force in the First and Second Cortina Wars, usually referred as the Cortina Troubles in 1859-61, against the U.S. Military, the Texas Rangers and the local militia of Brownsville (Texas) and Matamoros in the Rio Grande Valley area.
More:
Juan Cortina on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Cortina)