The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 84, July 1980 - April, 1981 Page: 19
502 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The El Paso Area in the Mexican Period
Paso del Norte, he exhorted the troops: "You go to reestablish the char-
acter of those Mexicans, and to chastise the enemy if he should dare to
touch the soil of the State: the State ennobled by the blood of the
fathers of our Independence."45
A Mexican force under the command of Captain Antonio Ponce de
Le6n met Doniphan's rough and ready volunteers on December 25,
1846, at the Battle of Brazito (which the Mexicans call Temascalitos),
some twenty-eight miles northwest of El Paso del Norte. The Mexican
troops, who had been confident of victory, were routed in a clash lasting
about thirty minutes. Reportedly, the Mexicans misinterpreted a bugle
call, which left them in a confused, demoralized condition and at the
mercy of a strong American charge. The old scalp hunter James Kirker,
who had been feuding with Trias over compensation for services ren-
dered, joined Doniphan's army after the battle, and on December 27,
American forces entered El Paso del Norte. As the American standard
was raised in the plaza, one Mexican patriot commented, "This sad
event was the last important occurrence of the mournful year 1846."46
Shortly after the American occupation, a junta of Mexican officials
voted overwhelmingly to continue the resistance and to carry the war
to the enemy insofar as possible. Meanwhile, Doniphan's troops ar-
rested several Mexicans for anti-American activities, including the
prefect Sebastian Bermidez and the priest Ram6n Ortiz, who had been
so hospitable toward the prisoners of the Texan-Santa Fe expedition.47
Somewhat later, eighteen-year-old Susan Magoffin, sister-in-law of
James Magoffin, recorded the opinions of Jose Ignacio Ronquillo, a
Pasefio aristocrat:
Don Ignacio is a second George Washington in his appearance, and is alto-
gether a great admirer of the man whose name is ever dear to the hearts [sic]
of the American; he says the course Mr. Polk is persuing [sic] in regard to
45Armando Chavez, Historia de Ciudad Judrez, Chihuahua (n.p., 1970), 225; Connelley,
Doniphan's Expedition, 385 (quotations).
46Abraham Robinson Johnston, Marcellus Ball Edwards, and Philip Gooch Ferguson,
Marching with the Army of the West, 1846-1848, ed. Ralph P. Bieber (Glendale, Cal.,
1936), 228-238; Almada, Resumen, 224; Moorhead, New Mexico's Royal Road, 19; Con-
nelley, Doniphan's Expedition, lol-1o2; Ralph A. Smith, "The 'King of New Mexico' and
the Doniphan Expedition," New Mexico Hutorical Review, XXXVIII (Jan., 1963), 29-32;
[Ram6n] Alcaraz, The Other Side; or, Notes for the History of the War between Mexico
and the United States, trans. Albert C. Ramsey (New York, 1850), 171 (quotation).
47"Junta militar del distrito . . . con el caracter de consejo de guerra," El Paso del
Norte, Dec. 27, 1846, Juirez Archives, Reel 14, frames 233-235; Johnston, Edwards, and
Ferguson, Marching with the Army of the West, 243; Gibson, Journal of a Soldier, 313;
Magoffin, Down the Santa Fe Trail, 211. One must make allowances for Susan Magoffin's
Spanish-"Bermdez" is spelled "Belumdis."
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 84, July 1980 - April, 1981, periodical, 1980/1981; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101225/m1/39/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.