Who Really Owned Brownsville?
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The Stillman–Basse–Hord Statement and the Battle for the Town
If you think land disputes in South Texas are a modern problem, think again.
Sometime after 1853, merchants E. Basse and Robert H. Hord published a public defense of their claim to the land beneath the young city of Brownsville. Their statement reads less like a legal brief and more like a frontier declaration: this town has a rightful owner — and we can prove it.
What follows is one of the most fascinating early title fights in Brownsville history.
The Spanish Grant
According to Basse and Hord, the land on which Brownsville stands traced back to an 18th-century Spanish grant known as “El Espíritu Santo.” In 1781, the Spanish Crown granted it to Don Salvador de la Garza, and through inheritance it eventually passed to the Cavazos family.
By the 1820s, when Matamoros was incorporated under the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, officials were instructed to determine whether nearby lands were public or privately owned. Their own report concluded that the land belonged to Doña Francisca Cavazos, heir under the Spanish grant.
Yet, according to the statement, Matamoros authorities began using portions of the land without formally compensating the owner — a move Basse and Hord later described as a “lawless invasion of private rights.”
The matter lingered in litigation for years.
Enter Charles Stillman
After the U.S.–Mexico War ended in 1848 and American troops evacuated Matamoros, merchant Charles Stillman saw opportunity on the north bank of the Rio Grande.
He purchased the possessory rights of several labor-holders and, together with Samuel A. Belden, laid out what would become Brownsville. The town grew almost overnight — reportedly reaching two thousand residents within months.
But the land beneath it was anything but settled.
The Snively Claim
In the meantime, a man named David Snively filed a land location at Corpus Christi, apparently assuming there were no valid Spanish or Mexican grants in the area. His claim included the site of Brownsville.
Rather than fight, Stillman bought Snively’s location and had it surveyed. Those documents were filed in the Texas General Land Office.
It was classic Stillman — avoid prolonged litigation when you can secure the ground instead.
The Cavazos Lawsuit
Then came the major blow.
In 1849, Rafael García Cavazos and wife sued Stillman, Belden, and others in federal court at Galveston, claiming title under the original Spanish grant.
After a five-week trial, the court ruled in favor of Cavazos. The Spanish grant was valid. No legal expropriation had occurred. The land beneath Brownsville belonged to the Cavazos heirs.
To protect themselves and those who had bought town lots, Basse and Hord purchased the land outright from the Cavazos claimants — for $33,000.
They now claimed to hold title by three separate routes:
The labor titles
The Snively locations and surveys
The original Spanish grant confirmed by court decree
In their view, the matter was settled.
The Mussina Affair
But the controversy did not end there.
Jacob Mussina of New Orleans claimed a one-fourth interest in the Brownsville property under an earlier partnership agreement with Stillman. According to Basse and Hord, Mussina never paid his share of the costs but still attempted to assert ownership.
The partnership collapsed. The dispute spilled into newspapers. Accusations of bad faith flew in both directions.
Brownsville, barely out of infancy, was already tangled in interstate legal drama.
When the City Tried to Take Control
As if private lawsuits weren’t enough, the municipal government added fuel to the fire.
After Brownsville’s incorporation in 1850, city authorities passed controversial ordinances — including attempts to seize ferry operations as public property. Mayor Bigelow vetoed one such measure and was reportedly removed from office.
Levee dues were imposed. Taxes were created. At one point, city officials even organized themselves into a “court” to review private land titles.
Property owners revolted.
The Texas Legislature eventually repealed the city charter. Brownsville was reincorporated in 1853 — though even that process, according to Basse and Hord, was marred by procedural confusion.
Why This Matters
The Basse & Hord statement is not just a defense of land title. It is a window into how fragile — and volatile — early Brownsville really was.
The town’s prosperity rested on:
Spanish colonial grants
Mexican constitutional law
Texas legislative acts
Federal court rulings
Private contracts
River commerce
And human ambition
Brownsville was born not only from trade and opportunity, but from litigation and negotiation.
The violence of party feeling, as Basse and Hord called it, eventually subsided. But the struggle to define ownership shaped the city’s early character.
In the end, they left the matter “to the judicial tribunals of the country.”
And Brownsville continued to grow.
Source:
Statement of E. Basse and Robert H. Hord regarding the Cavazos land case and early Brownsville titles (c. 1853).
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