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2.

McNelly and his Rangers were not the only people persuing these rustlers, the U.S. Army was also on their tail. A Captain Randlett left Fort Brown with some ninety men of the 8th Cavalry with instructions to "follow the Thieves and hit them hard if you catch up with them." He was also told to try and connect with Capt. McNelly of the "State Troops" Some of these U.S.Troops went on to Ringgold Barracks, but Captain Randlett and some thirty troops continued on toward the Rio Grande searching for the crossing point of the cattle. The troops caught up with the cattle but were too late to stop them crossing, as they had been crossed from a steep bank that was unsuitable for the troops to cross from. Some shots were fired at the rustlers and two were killed. Darkness fell before the troops could find a suitable crossing so they set up camp and waited for the other troops to join them. The other troops were led by a Major D.R. Glendenin and as senior officer he disapproved of the idea of the troops crossing into Mexico for fear it would cause an "act of War".

McNelly disregarded any arguments that invading Mexico could incite an international incident, and decided the rustlers had got away with their thieving long enough, and if his men would follow him he would cross the Rio Grande and chase the rustlers to their lair.

McNelly then sent a cable to his superior, the Adjutant General in Austin on the evening of the 18th. It stated;- "A party of raiders here crossed two hundred and fifty cattle at Loz Cuevos,(his spelling) thay have been firing on Maj. Glendenins men. He refuses to cross without further orders. I shall cross tonight if I can get any support." He signed it L.H. McNelly Capt. Comdg Rangers. He then asked the army if they would assist him with troops, but was refused, although they offered back-up from the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. McNelly now spoke to his men, and William Callicott, in his letters to Walter Prescott Webb recalls the speech that McNelly made to his men: "Boys you have followed me as far as I can ask you to do unless you are willing to go with me. It is like going into the jaws of death with only 26 men in a foreign country where we have no right according to law but as I have gone this far I am going to finish it. Some of us may get back or part of us, or maybe all of us or maybe none of us will get back and if any of you don't want to go over with me step aside. I don't want you unless you are willing to go as a volunteer. Understand there is no surrender in this. We ask no quarter nor give any. If any of you don't want to go step aside." He now sent a second cable to Steele saying, "I commence crossing at one o`clock tonight (Nov. 19th). Have thirty-one men. will try and recover our cattle. The U.S. troops promise to cover my return Lt Robinson has just arrived making a march of fifty-five miles in six hours" (the same time Lt Robinson himself gave in his version). All versions of the number of Rangers on this sortie agree that it was 26, but McNelly tells Steele there were 31. Did he have some soldiers with him??

True to his word McNelly and his men, gathered on the banks of the Rio Grande and made preparations to cross. There is no complete list of the 26 men, but 12 of them were recalled by Durham, Callicott, and Robinson. They were; McNelly, Robinson, George A. Hall, Roe. P. Orrell, Durham, Callicott, Jesus Sandoval, John B. Armstrong, H.G.Rector, Robert Pitts, and William L. Rudd. After McNelly, Sandoval and Sullivan, the interpreter had crossed, Lieutenant Robinson, Sergeant Armstrong and George Hall crossed with their horses. No more horses were crossed as the boat they were using leaked and was not suitable. Also they were afraid that the horses might get bogged down on the opposite bank, so the rest of the men crossed, three at a time, without their mounts. Callicott says that they were all crossed and ready to move inland by 04:00a.m.

At dawn they made their way in the direction of where they were told the Las Cuevas ranch was. McNelly`s orders were that when they reached the ranch they were to go in guns blazing, but were not to shoot any old men, women, or children. They had been told that the ranch was only a mile from the river, but they had gone some three miles before they saw the ranch. Here again Robinson and Callicott differ in their versions of what happened next. Robinson says that the men at the ranch "popped it to us lively or a while". Callicot says that "We shot them down on the woodpiles, and wherever we saw one we killed him until we killed all we saw". George Durham says that when the shooting stopped McNelly realised they had arrived at the wrong ranch.

It was in fact a ranch called Las Cucharas, (translated as ranch of the spoons). Callicott called this ranch the Cachattus ranch, while Robinson calls it Las Ancharvas. Durham referred to it as Little Las Cuevas, but what ever it was called it wasn't the Ranch they had come to get the cattle from. They had killed the wrong men. Robinson estimated that they had killed seven and injured nine. Durham said that they had killed seventeen, but later heard there were Twenty-six dead. Callicott doesn't mention the number killed.(On the 20th November, McNelly sent a telegraph to Gen. Steele with the following message; "I crossed the river on the eighteenth. On the nineteenth I marched on foot to ranch Las Cuevas. Killed four men before reaching the ranch and five afterward." This was sent from Mexico) They were a mile away from the ranch they had meant to raid and the surprise element was no longer there, but they pressed on towards the Las Cuevas Ranch, owned by Juan Flores Salinas, to find from 200 to 300 Mounted Mexican soldiers were waiting for them.

McNelly and his men had only a few trees for cover, whereas the soldiers had their horses, so after the first exchange of shots, McNelly ordered his men to retreat by the same route they had come. When they reached the banks of the Rio Grande, according to official reports sent by McNelly later, "After a few shots I retreated to the river as the US troops were ordered not to cross. The Mexicans followed me to the river and charged me. They were repulsed and as they seemed to be in force, some forty US soldiers came over. The Mexicans made several attempts during the evening to dislodge us but failed. United States troops withdrew to left bank last night. I am in temporary earthworks and have refused to leave until the cattle are returned. The Mexicans in my front are about four hundred. What shall I do? (This was sent from Mexico on the 20th of November to the Adjutant General.)

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