The Three Sides of Adrian Vidal

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Adrian Vidal

Loss and Isolation

In a civil war of diverse personalities, ranging from larger than life to barely mentionable, one of the most unusual was a Tejano Confederate officer named Adrian Vidal.  Born in 1838 in Monterey, Mexico to the eighteen-year-old daughter of a Mexican provincial governor and a forty-one-year-old officer in the Mexican army, Vidal grew up in the northern Mexico town of Matamoros, located on the Rio Grande River across from Brownsville, Texas. His father, Luis, died from cholera and his grandfather was accidently killed by Lipan Apaches. Fortunately, Vidal’s mother, Petra, inherited the fortunes of her late husband and her father.  Now well-off, she and her eight children moved to Brownsville, where she met wealthy rancher and entrepreneur Mifflin Kenedy.  Raised a Quaker and of Irish descent, Kenedy was smitten with the attractive Petra and married her in 1852 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Brownsville. Being in a new family amidst a growing Anglo population was difficult for Adrian. Having a schoolmaster that referred to Mexicans as “vermin on the skirts of civilization – a complete pest to humanity” didn’t help his attitude toward school, much less his Anglo neighbors. With his mother occupied with a new husband, and bearing his children, Adrian was becoming isolated and resentful.

Serving The Confederacy

Under the guidance of his stepfather, Vidal became a steamboat pilot on the Rio Grande River. During that time, he gained valuable knowledge on both sides of the river that would serve him well during the Civil War. When he wasn’t helming a steamboat, he was a habitual gambler and drunkard who spent many hours at the Miller Hotel in Brownsville, running up his debt. At twenty-one, Vidal enlisted in the Confederate army as a private. He quickly rose through the ranks to become captain of a calvary unit. Mostly Mexican, they became known as Vidal’s Partisans, assigned to guard the mouth of the Rio Grande. Vidal became frustrated at the lack of supplies (made worse by a severe drought in South Texas), obtaining supplies, and the problem he had communicating with fellow officers in English. Problems aside, he managed to capture a Union gunboat in July 1863, gaining praise for his bravery.  Nevertheless, a lingering frustration with the lack of supplies and prejudice against his Tejano command boiled over into rage.

 

Serving The Union

Aware of an approaching Union invasion force and the possibility the Rio Grande valley would fall under Union control, Vidal and his men mutinied. On October 6, 1863, the Confederate commander of Brownsville, General Hamilton Bee, dispatched two men, Private D.H. Dashiel (son of the Texas Adjutant General) and Private Jerry Literal, to find Vidal and order him and his men to Brownsville to assist in defending, and more likely evacuating the city.  Upon finding Vidal, they were invited to supper at his camp. Instead, they were shot, killing Dashiel and wounding Litteral in the face. Litteral managed to ride his horse to Brownsville, bearing the unfortunate news about Vidal. Too wounded to talk, he scribbled on a piece of paper on what he discovered. Bee panicked at the news before dispatching Lt. Jack Vinton and ten men from Brownsville to find Vidal and ascertain his intentions. Heading toward the Gulf Coast, they encountered him and one hundred of his fellow mutineers, now referred to as “Vidalistas.” Vinton exchanged fire with Vidal and then retreated back to within a mile from Brownsville. It became obvious that Vidal was going to attack Brownsville. Crying “Muerte a los Americanos,” they instead diverted to the west of Brownsville, plundering ranches and killing ten along a nine-mile stretch of the Rio Grande. Three companies of the 33^rd Texas Cavalry arrived in Brownsville on October 29. They were immediately ordered to pursue Vidal. Before they could reach him, Vidal and his men crossed the Rio Grande into Matamoros.  Confused and furious over the weird turn of events, Bee claimed Vidal was acting under the orders of the U.S. Consul in Matamoros and had formed an alliance with Texas Unionists in Mexico. Even worse, he may have teamed up with Juan Cortina, a disgruntled Mexican rancher, politician, and folk hero for his ongoing war against Anglo politicians and law enforcement officials  that committed injustices against Tejanos. Known as “The Robin Hood of South Texas,”  Cortina had once occupied Brownsville before the war, until he was driven out by the U.S. Army and Texas Rangers.

In November 1863, Union troops invaded the Texas coast near the mouth of the Rio Grande.  Brownsville was occupied along with the length of the Rio Grande to Laredo. Weeks later, Vidal enlisted in the U.S. Army and commissioned a captain in the Union 2^nd Texas Cavalry Regiment. On February 27, 1864, Vidal married Ana M. de Chavero at the Immaculate Conception Church in Brownsville. Now in command of the newly formed Vidal’s Independent Partisan Rangers, Vidal carried his anger and frustration over to the Union side.  In May 1864, he attacked a column of cotton wagons in Mexico but was repulsed by Mexican troops guarding the column.  Scouting duty didn’t help his moral when he was ordered to fill out his activity reports in English, a language he couldn’t speak nor write.  Vidal wrote, “I find myself incompetent to carry on the company books as I do not understand nor have anybody in my company to understand the English language for this purpose.”

 

Serving Juarez

 

Resentful of having to serve under Anglo officers and wanting to spend more time with his wife, he sought a discharge. When it wasn’t forthcoming, he deserted, along with many of his men. Vidal was now a deserter from the Confederate and Union armies. Eventually he became a Juarista, serving alongside his mentor - Cortina. French troops under the Imperial Mexican Emperor Maximillian were approaching Matamoros. If Matamoros fell, Cortina, who supported Benito Juarez and his reformist government, would likely be executed.  Known for switching sides when it best suited his survival, Cortina approached U.S. Consul in Matamoros, Leonard Pierce. In return for capturing Brownsville, he asked to be commissioned a brigadier general in the U.S. Army. The Federals refused his offer. Instead, he sided with the Imperialists. Vidal left Matamoros to continue fighting for Juarez. Unfortunately, he was captured by the imperialists. Charged with treason, he was shot by a firing squad and later buried at Matamoros.

 

Check It Out

Check out the book “Vaqueros in Blue and Gray” by Jerry D. Thompson. It’s a badly needed study on the contributions of Hispanics during the Civil War. Thompson is the leading  authority on South Texas during the Civil War.