The Porvenir massacre was an incident on January 28, 1918, outside the village of Porvenir, in Presidio County, Texas, in which Texas Rangers and local ranchers, with the support of U.S. Cavalry, killed 15 unarmed Mexican American boys and men. The Texas Rangers Company B had been sent to the area to stop banditry after the Brite Ranch raid. Despite having no evidence that the Porvenir villagers had been involved in recent thefts or the killings of ranchers, the Rangers separated 15 men and boys from the rest of the village and shot them on a nearby hill.
Background
As the Mexican Revolution had an increasing effect on Americans living near the border, anti-Mexican sentiment became more prevalent in the 1910s. Revolutionaries attacked farms, irrigation systems, and railroads. After Pancho Villa's Villistas led raids into the United States, most notably in the Battle of Columbus in 1916, federal, state, and local authorities took greater action to stop raids in the border region. Many Texas Rangers, including Company B, were ordered to secure the areas near the border and to stop raids by bandits, Villistas, and Anglo-Americans trying to provoke conflict with Mexico.
Another factor that increased anti-Mexican sentiment was the emergence of the Plan de San Diego in 1915. The Plan de San Diego was a manifesto made by two Texas Mexicans in an attempt to create an uprising against Anglo-American settlers in the lands acquired by the US after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War. Although unsuccessful, this plan spurred fears of more violence in the border states, in addition to banditry and the encroaching Mexican civil war.
The Brite Ranch raid took place on Christmas Day, December 25, 1917, in Presidio County. The mail hack driver was hanged in the store, and his throat was slit. His two Mexican passengers were shot and killed, and the ranch foreman was injured. The bandits stole thousands of dollars worth of goods from the store and horses before they fled toward Mexico. The U.S. Cavalry responded by chasing the suspected Villistas into Mexico.
Incident
On January 26, 1918, Texas Rangers Company B, under the command of Captain James Monroe Fox, entered and searched the homes of villagers in Porvenir after suspecting involvement in the Brite Ranch raid a month before. During the search, the Rangers found only two weapons: a pistol belonging to an Anglo-American man in the village, and a Winchester rifle belonging to a Tejano villager. Both weapons were confiscated, and three Tejano men were arrested and taken and detained at the Ranger camp. The men were released the next day. Shortly after two of the men returned to Porvenir, the Rangers reentered the settlement in the early hours of January 28, taking everyone out of their homes. In addition to the ten Rangers, eight U.S. Army Cavalry, and four local Anglo-American ranchers (John Pool, Buck Pool, Raymond Fitzgerald and Tom Snyder) were present at the village.
A total of 15 males, two boys and the remainder of the men, all ethnic Mexicans, were separated from the women, other children, and Anglo-Americans in the village. The Texas Rangers and ranchers led the men and boys outside the village to a nearby hill, reportedly leaving the U.S. Army Cavalry soldiers closer to the village. Shortly after, the party of Rangers and ranchers shot and killed all fifteen men and boys.
They left the bodies of the dead where they were shot. The next day, the son of one of the men killed, 13-year old Juan Flores, went with Anglo-American schoolteacher Henry Warren to the site and discovered the massacre. The remaining 140 villagers abandoned Porvenir. Many moved across the border to Pilares, Chihuahua, where they buried the deceased. The uninhabited village was razed by U.S. Army soldiers in the days following the massacre.
Victims
The list of victims was documented by Porvenir schoolteacher Henry Warren. Manuel Moralez, 47, who possessed a deed to 1,600 acres. His sixth child was born that night. Román Nieves, 48, who possessed a deed to 320 acres Longino Flores, 44, father of Juan Flores Alberto García, 35 Eutimio Gonzales, 37 Macedonio Huertas, 30 Tiburcio Jaques, 50 Ambrosio Hernández, 21 Antonio Castanedo, 72 Pedro Herrera, 25 Viviano Herrera, 23 Severiano Herrera, 15 Pedro Jiménez, 25 Serapio Jiménez, 25 Juan Jiménez, 16
The men killed were survived by a combined forty-two children.