110th Anniversary of Brownsville Raid at Historic Alonso Building

The Brownsville Historical Association (BHA) hosted a book signing for Harry Lembeck and invited three panelists to discuss mystery of shooting up of town 110 years ago.

 Executive Director for BHA Tara Putegnat introduced Jim Mills who served as moderator for the panel speakers.

Dr. Antonio Zavaleta, James Lieker and Joseph Chance exchanged views and theories surrounding the shooting which was blamed on Fort Brown soldiers of the 25th Infantry.

 Harry Lembeck, who sat with his wife Emily, joined the discussion when called upon add his 2¢

The Historic Alonso Building was the perfect setting for this fascinating discussion.

 We enjoyed a dish of what someone named as a chicken "Tamalateca" served with rice and beans followed by a sweet dessert before Mr. Lembeck began his presentation.

Mr. Lembeck used this map included in his book to illustrate the route taken by raiders the night of August 13th, 1906.  The maps arrows indicate that shots were fired from area where town and fort met and alleys and streets raiders traversed on before splitting into two groups.

Harry's book focuses on the Brownsville incident and aftermath in which Senator Joseph Foraker challenges the authority of Roosevelt to discharge without honor 167 soldiers without a hearing.  His book does not aim to uncover the truth of what happned but rather how the incident changed politics and direction African-American minority civil rights advocates would take.

A small display at the Historic Alonso Building gave a good account of the excitement created by the incident after the shooting in 1906.

This was the kind of testimony which was rejected when investigators asked questions to townspeople after the raid.  With several investigations private and secret and lengthy Senate reviews into the matter to discover who the guilty persons were, no hard evidence or incriminating statements could ever be secured.  According to Lembeck, Roosevelt acted in haste out of frustration with the townspeople and government people assigned to get to the bottom of the matter when he made the decision to punish the soldiers for their alleged "conspiracy of silence."

Folks who purchased a book stayed to have it signed after the presentation.

There are a limited amount of copies still available in the gift shop at the Brownsville Heritage Museum gift shop.

Leanne Barreda and her husband Mark getting their autographed copy of the book.  

BHA President Dr. Eric Valle, BHA Director Tara Putegnat, author Dr. Harry Lembeck, UT-RGV Professor and BHA Vice-President Dr. James Mills, author of Racial Borders:  Black Soldiers Along the Rio Grande (2002) Dr. James Lieker and BHA Board member Gilberto Velasquez who also did all the graphic work for advertisements.

Harry Lembeck with BHA Education and Program Director Craig Stone with poster and listing of sponsors who made the two-day event possible.  

The three panelists did an excellent job of presenting their "points" on the matter and it would be great to see Dr. Tony Zavaleta, Dr. Joe Chance and Dr. James Lieker come together for an extended amount of time to hear all they could have on the matter had there been more time.  Thanks to all these gentlemen for agreeing to participate.  We missed seeing long-time Brownsville historian Dr. Tony Knopp who would have also been on the panel but is he is on vacation with his wife Alma.  Next time Dr. Knopp!

Thanks to all who attended either event and showed their support for the work our local historical association does for our benefit.  We may never know who shot up the town but talking about it brings up more interesting questions about the case which make this one of Brownsville's most controversial and until recently, least talked about subjects.  At the end of the discussion there was talk about taking steps to place a marker in the former Fort Brown property (perhaps near or on Jacob Brown Memorial Center lawn facing International Blvd where army barracks once stood) to acknowledge the incident happened.  I hope to report on that in the near future.

TAKING ON THEODORE ROOSEVELT Webpage here!

Racial Borders: Black Soldiers along the Rio Grande Amazon link here!

2016 Taken on the Brownsville Raid Tour

James Mills gives vantage point from International Blvd. where city was once divided by Fort Brown by a dirt road and 4-5 ft high wall.

 There were four infantry barracks with rears toward wall which divided town from fort.

 The main entry to Fort Brown was where E Elizabeth St intersects with International Blvd today and becomes Universal Blvd today.

 About fifty-four attendees sat for a brief overview of what has become Brownsville's greatest and most controversial topic which was seldom spoken about until a century after.

James Mills gave a slide-show presentation to prepare us for the tour and answered questions afterward.,

It was a thrill to get to meet Harry Lembeck, author of Taking on Roosevelt:  How One Senator Defied the President on Brownsville and Shook American Politics and James Leiker, author of Racial Borders:  Black Soldiers Along the Rio Grande.

The tour made its way down Washington St toward Market Square with Mr. Mills pointing out locations where several details of incident were recorded and are now parts of the mystery of the raid.

 Market Square was where our City Police department was in 1906.

 "Several ear-witness say they heard shots fired by black soldiers right over there" 

 On E Elizabeth St was where several bars and saloons were located.  Weller's Saloon allowed soldiers to drink in an area at the back of the saloon.  Other saloons did not welcome black soldiers.

 Here's a view from 1906 of E Elizabeth St.

 This is another view of E Elizabeth taken nearly a decade later.

Lieutenant Dominguez was shot in the arm around the corner from this location where the Miller Hotel once stood.

That's the Miller Hotel as it was on the corner of E Elizabeth and 13th St.

This spot was once 15th St between E Elizabeth and Washington St where a house owned by the Cowan family was shot into not long after a children's party had ended.  

 That might be the Cowan house that was shot into on the left which standing on 15th St which is now a paseo after the street was closed and paved for pedestrian traffic.

Another view looking down Cown Alley with house on right.  Streets were numbered or had American presidents named after them while some alleys were named families whose homes did not face main streets downtown.

 At Jefferson and International we got another perspective of the close distance from town to fort.

 Here is the vantage point 110 years before.

 E Elizabeth Street with Miller Hotel on left.  The main entry gate to Fort Brown in distance.

1906 Brownsville Raid / Brownsville Affray / Brownsville Affair August 13-14

Could this be the "tough element" with bad intentions....

From typewritten interview notes by Ralph Schmeling 

"Letters Exchanged between Joseph W. Parks and Ralph Schmeling concerning Negro Raid"

This photo has appeared in a few books but none have an inkling of who these men were.  They assume they were locals but it appears that they were not.  Just a few good ol' boys looking for live targets they can kill without consequence.

The Boys in Company B, C & D 25th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Soldiers

 Company B, C & D 25th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Soldiers at Fort Reno, Oklahoma

Company A 25th Infantry Regiment U.S. Colored Troops [they were not at Brownsville in 1906]

1909 ~ Ft. Brown barracks burn October 15

 Fort Brown Barracks tinted postcard

Brownsville Herald October 15, 1909

Three years after the Brownsville Raid Fred Tate, John Scanlon, R.B. Creagar and Vicente Crixell all came out to help put out the fire engulfing the barracks at Fort Brown.  Mayor Combe got in on the fun too.  If you want to really know what happened without really knowing what happened you can start by trying to read between the scratch lines of these digitized newspaper microfilm scans.  It's a researcher's nightmare or challenge.

No Niggers or Dogs Allowed cover

Please bear another reference to the "N" word  as Bronsbil Estacion takes a look at the cover of this master's thesis written by Ricardo Malbrew, a college student at the time who visited Brownsville, Texas in 2006.  Let's examine how it came about but first we'll talk about the title.

Here are three samples of signs we might have occasionally seen if we lived during the Jim Crow era mandated laws of racial segregation which were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.  In Brownsville of 1906 whites and Mexicans got along well enough and both some shared bigoted attitudes against African-Americans just like the rest of the country.  In Brownsville some business owners posted signs telling customers "No Niggers or Dogs Allowed" to send a clear message to black soldiers they were unwelcome in their bars or stores.

1949 Corpus Christi, Texas

We'll examine race relations between blacks, whites and browns in a future post.

In 2006 UTB/TSC publications printed the image on invitations for a memorial service to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1906 Brownsville Raid also known as the Brownsville Affair or Brownsville Affray.  I was in transition as I resigned my position with the archival wing of the college library to work for a historic museum and working simultaneously with the museum and college for this commemorative event.

Here's a photo of 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers late 1800s found on the internet.

Here's the same image reversed horizontally.

The image almost fits perfectly in the silhouetted shapes of the raiders.

 

Here is the concept.  The image of Buffalo Soldiers was deliberately sought to create a simple ambiguous image to accept the fact we will never know who the raiders were.  To the casual observer the shapes resemble; some with men with rifles but whether their hats are civilian or military is not so clear especially if you are only familiar with hats worn by soldiers like those we see in Robert Runyon photos from the 1910's and 20's which are shaped differently.  

The setting is from a Robert Runyon postcard showing the main entrance to Fort Brown which faced the city and barracks were soldiers were quartered.  It isn't to pinpoint the spot where the raid was launched but rather to illustrate the close proximity the fort and town to each other.

The blood-red sky doesn't symbolize the blood spilled that night as it wasn't a massacre or anything like that.  Only one man was killed and another had to have his arm amputated.  The red represents heat and anger; that's all.  August is one of the hottest months in Brownsville and the kind of environment where tempers can flare up in short-time.  Inserting a blood-red moon would have been a cliche' and the absence of a moon reinforces the fact that no one could have positively identified the raiders which us crucial in this case.

Mr. Malbrew later contacted me and asked if he could use the image for the cover of his thesis.

I haven't read or purchased the book but if it was re-titled as "Brownsville Revisited" to eliminate the "N" word from the controversial title then you can read it here for FREE by clicking on link below:

Brownsville Revisited by Ricardo Malbrew