Porvenir Massacre

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Porvenir records, and I want you to hear every word of it. Porvenir. Even the name sits quiet on the tongue.

It was a small farming and ranching settlement in the remote northwest corner of Presidio County, right along the Rio Grande. The kind of place where people were just trying to work the land and raise their families, far from everything. But the world around Porvenir was anything but quiet.

The Mexican Revolution had spilled violence across and along the international border, raids cutting through the immediate area, military conflicts churning the whole region into something dangerous and uncertain. And in the early morning hours of January 28, 1918, that violence came to Porvenir's door. A group arrived at the settlement before dawn.

Texas Rangers from Company B out of Marfa, U.S. Army soldiers from Troop G of the 8th Cavalry, and local ranchers. They came to the ranch of Manuel Moralez.

And there, in the dark, they separated fifteen able-bodied men and boys from the women, the children, and the other men. Fifteen. Initial accounts denied any wrongdoing.

But later testimony confirmed what happened to those fifteen. They were shot and killed. Family members crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico to bury them.

I'm going to say their names, because the marker says their names, and they deserve to be heard: Antonio Castañeda. Longino Flores. Pedro Herrera.

Vivian Herrera. Severiano Herrera. Manuel Moralez.

Eutemio González. Ambrosio Hernández. Alberto García.

Tiburcio Jáquez. Róman Nieves. Serapio Jiménez.

Pedro Jiménez. Juan Jiménez. And Macedonio Huertas.

Fifteen names. Buried across the river by the people who loved them. In June of 1918, Governor William P.

Hobby and Adjutant General James A. Harley acted. They disbanded Company B entirely.

Five Rangers were dismissed for their actions at Porvenir. Captain J.M. Fox was forced to resign.

But one man pushed further. State Representative J.T. Canales filed charges with the Texas Legislature against the Texas Rangers, charges of oppression and murder of hundreds of ethnic Mexicans along the Rio Grande.

An investigation began January 31, 1919. Legislators heard testimony about several incidents, Porvenir among them. When it was done, the Texas Rangers were reorganized and reduced in size.

And Porvenir itself? In the aftermath of the attack, approximately 140 remaining residents abandoned the community. The people who had built that place on the Rio Grande simply left.

What had been a settlement became silence. The marker stands now in Presidio County, placed in 2015, making sure that silence finally has a name.

What the marker says

Porvenir was a community in remote northwest Presidio County on the Rio Grande. In the midst of military conflicts and raids across and along the international border and in the immediate area during the Mexican Revolution, the small farming and ranching settlement was the site of a notorious tragedy in 1918. A group of Texas Rangers from Company B in Marfa, U.S. Army soldiers from Troop G of the 8th Cavalry, and local ranchers arrived at Porvenir in the early morning hours of January 28, 1918. They came to the ranch of Manuel Moralez and separated fifteen able-bodied men and boys from the women, children and other men. Though initial accounts denied any wrongdoing, later testimony confirmed that these 15 victims were shot and killed. Family members crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico to bury Antonio Castañeda, Longino Flores, Pedro Herrera, Vivian Herrera, Severiano Herrera, Manuel Moralez, Eutemio González, Ambrosio Hernández, Alberto García, Tiburcio Jáquez, Róman Nieves, Serapio Jiménez, Pedro Jiménez, Juan Jiménez, and Macedonio Huertas. In June 1918, Governor William P. Hobby and Adjutant General James A. Harley disbanded Company B, dismissed five Rangers for their actions at Porvenir, and forced Captain J.M. Fox’s resignation. State Representative J.T. Canales filed charges with the Texas Legislature against the Texas Rangers, for the oppression and murder of hundreds of ethnic Mexicans along the Rio Grande. At an investigation beginning January 31, 1919, legislators heard and received testimony regarding several incidents including Porvenir. As a result, the Texas Rangers were reorganized and reduced in size. In the aftermath of the attack, approximately 140 remaining residents of Porvenir abandoned the community. (2015)