Balerio led Union raiders during the Civil War

CORPUS CHRISTI - Cecilio Balerio, a Nueces County rancher and horse-trader, commanded 120 men in an irregular Union cavalry outfit that rustled cattle and attacked Confederate wagon trains carrying cotton down the Cotton Road. Balerio's raiders lived in the brush and prowled the remote Wild Horse Desert.

Before the war, Balerio traded horses and mules around Corpus Christi. He also had a reputation for stealing horses. Maria von Blucher in a letter to her parents in Germany wrote that the Blucher remuda of horses was stolen by Balerio, "a noted horse thief. Among them was my pretty chestnut mare; so probably she is gone, along with the rest."

When the Civil War broke out, E.J. Davis, former Corpus Christi judge who became a Union leader, enlisted Balerio to attack wagon trains carrying cotton down the Cotton Road between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande. Balerio's outfit was, nominally, under the command structure of John Haynes' Second Regiment of Texas Cavalry (Union). But Balerio operated on his own, committing what the Confederates considered subversive activities and opportunistic marauding.

Balerio was 65 in 1861. He was assisted by two sons: an older son named Juan and 19-year-old Jose Mario. Balerio was in contact with Union commanders in Matamoros and later in Brownsville. He supplied Union forces with beef cattle rounded up from South Texas ranches. He also was in contact with Union blockade ships standing to off the Aransas Pass channel. The ships supplied Balerio with Burnside Carbines, Colt revolvers, blankets, and paid him in gold for his guerrilla activities against the Confederacy.

Balerio's cavalry was a persistent thorn for the Confederates. His troops hid in the mesquite brush from which they launched surprise attacks against targets of opportunity, usually stray cotton wagons and unprotected ranches. Confederates searched high and low for Balerio without success.

Early in March, 1864, Balerio's cavalry raided King Ranch and drove off 100 horses. Soon afterward, Balerio's son Jose Mario slipped into Corpus Christi to visit his girlfriend and, as he usually did, gather intelligence of the movements of Confederate patrols. He was captured by Capt. James Richardson, a Confederate officer, tried before a military court, convicted of spying and sentenced to be shot by firing squad.

Confederate Maj. Mat Nolan saw an opportunity. Nolan was in Col. John S. "Rip" Ford's command and he also was the sheriff of Nueces County. He told Jose his life would be spared if he would lead them to his father's camp in the brush. Balerio refused, but he broke down when he was taken before a firing squad. He told Nolan that his father's outfit was camped 50 miles below Banquete at a place called Los Patricios (near the present town of Falfurrias).

Nolan quickly assembled a force consisting of some of his men and some from Richardson's company. Jose Balerio was placed on a horse, his feet tied to the stirrups and his hands tied to the pommel. Behind him rode one of Nolan's men with orders to shoot Balerio at any sign of treachery. They rode southwest and halted before dawn on Sunday morning, March 13, 1864. The camp was unguarded. At the last minute, Jose gave a warning shout — "Cuidado!" (Look out!)

Balerio had 80 men there (40 of his company were elsewhere) and Nolan had 62. The fight in a dense mesquite thicket lasted 15 minutes. Balerio's guerrillas charged and, Nolan wrote in his report, fought gallantly. Two of Nolan's men were killed and two wounded. Five of Balerio's men were killed, their bodies found in the brush; blood trails indicated others had been shot and dragged away. Wounded horses left behind had to be put down. The father and two sons got away. Jose, who had been tied to his horse, apparently was allowed to escape as payment for leading the Confederates to his father's camp.

After this narrow escape, the Balerios crossed into the safety of Mexico and Cecilio went to see his nominal commander, Col. Haynes. For some reason, Haynes refused to see him. It was a deliberate, unjust snub, coming after such a hard-fought encounter. "Rip" Ford, Balerio's sworn enemy, in his memoirs made note of this slight. Ford described Balerio in admiring terms as a brave, crafty and resourceful officer, a tone suggesting he deserved better treatment from his Yankee overlords. "One thing is sure," Ford wrote, "after Captain Balerio's departure, no one came to take his place."

The war wouldn't be over for another year, but it was over for the Balerio family after their defeat at Los Patricios and after Jose's near execution by firing squad at Corpus Christi. Balerio never attempted to reorganize his raiders. The Balerios returned to Mier, Tamaulipas, where the elder Balerio was born. In 1868, Cecilio Balerio died, at age 72. Two years later, Reconstruction Gov. E.J. Davis awarded Balerio's heirs a quarter-section of land in South Texas for the services he rendered the Union cause during the Civil War.

This Week's Events