I'll admit, I don't know much about the Civil War in Brownsville, Texas. So much of "the real fighting" was far removed from south Texas. Brownsville was spared a lot of carnage and prospered from guess what? Cotton.
Charles Stillman and his partners began raking huge profits on a business they were doing before the war began. Whatever could be shipped could be handled by Charles Stillman & Co. However, war also stopped business on occasion and he was under an incredible amount of stress with the risk of losing all his property and hid in Matamoros where he had plenty of friends and spoke the language. But the entire war prevented him from seeing his family and he was deeply saddened by that. Had he traveled north to see them, his property would have been seized and he would have been branded as a Union sympathizer. But I digress...
Did you know there is a building at our local college named after Robert E Lee? I get it. Most people don't care. That's fine. But did you know that many of these Civil War "heroes" were former invaders of Mexico? An unpopular war among historians is the invasion of Mexico by the United States. We also call it The War with Mexico or Mexican-American War. Whatever we say about it there is no use in getting angry over it. That is not how we are supposed to discuss history, is it?
Those of us choosing to live here do so and reap the benefits of those things that make our existence here as pleasant as can be expected - which is a lot. The media would have the rest of the country believe we are being overrun with illegal immigrants and cartel violence but we know we have it good here on the border -- so far. Our people are peaceful. We do not need to stir up hate here in Brownsville, Texas and act like what we see happening across America with people creating all sorts of animosity.
The majority of us do not have decedents who pioneered Brownsville's earliest histories. I know I do not but I still enjoy learning about the place I live. Those who do have long family history here should tell their stories whether it be on social media or printed material. People should tell us what they know about Juan Cortina or Texas Ranger atrocities if they want to. Tell the history in anger and you will get attention for a while but in the end no one wants to hear you whine. Tell the history and make your point and if you do not get the reaction you hoped for move on.
As for myself I think I would like to learn more about war and killing later. I am enjoying the stories about the buildings and the people in the photos that we see posted here on Bronsbil Estacion.
God bless America - Land of the free
Javier R. Garcia
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