Cortina, Juan Nepomuceno, << kawr TEE nah, hwahn `nay` poh moo SAY noh >> (1824-1894), was an early leader of the civil rights struggle of Mexican Americans and a folk hero. He served in the Mexican forces in the Mexican War (1846-1848) and fought the unfair treatment received by Mexican Americans in Texas after the war.
Cortina was born on May 16, 1824, in Camargo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He later lived near Brownsville, Texas, and he became angry with judges and Brownsville attorneys whom he accused of taking land from Mexican Texans who were unfamiliar with the American judicial system. He became a leader to many of the poor Mexicans who lived along the Rio Grande.
On Sept. 28, 1859, Cortina led about 75 men in a raid on Brownsville. His followers killed five men, three of whom Cortina had accused of abusing Mexican Americans. Cortina then issued a proclamation asserting the rights of Mexican Americans and demanding the punishment of anyone violating those rights. The Cortina War (1859-1860) followed. It ended when a U.S. Army-Texas Ranger force drove Cortina across the Rio Grande. Cortina later became a governor of Tamaulipas, Mexico, and a general in the Mexican army. He died on Oct. 30, 1894.
