Nueces Strip

The Nueces Strip or Wild Horse Desert is the area of south Texas between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. The Republic of Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern border; Mexico claimed the Nueces River (150 mi or 240 km north of the Rio Grande). The area between the two rivers became known as the Nueces Strip. Both countries invaded it, but neither controlled it nor settled it.

It was the scene of the first fighting in the Mexican–American War in 1846. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, Mexico ceded the Nueces Strip to the U.S.

Ever since 1848 the border area has had a reputation for lawlessness and smuggling, and was a main zone of activity of the Texas Rangers.

War in 1846

U.S. President James K. Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor and his forces south to the Rio Grande, entering the Nueces Strip. The U.S. claimed the land citing the 1836 Treaties of Velasco. Mexico rejected the treaties and refused to negotiate; it claimed all of Texas. Taylor ignored Mexican demands to withdraw to the Nueces. He constructed a makeshift fort (later known as Fort Brown/Fort Texas) on the banks of the Rio Grande opposite the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

Mexican forces under General Mariano Arista prepared for war. On April 25, 1846, a 2,000-strong Mexican cavalry detachment attacked a 70-man U.S. patrol that had been sent into the contested territory north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River. In the Thornton Affair, the Mexican cavalry routed the patrol, killing 16 American soldiers.

Further reading

• Richardson, Chad, and Michael J. Pisani, eds. The Informal and Underground Economy of the South Texas Border (University of Texas Press; 2012) 335 pages; explores the risks and benefits of an "undocumented economy" in the region known as the Nueces Strip.