The Garza War in South Texas

A Military History, 1890–1893

By: Thomas Ty Smith

Narrated by: Paul Seyler

South Texas and northern Mexico formed a seedbed of revolt in the late nineteenth century. In the 1890s, two decades after he had launched his own successful revolution from South Texas, Mexican president Porfirio Díaz faced a cross-border insurgency intent on toppling his government. The Garza War, so named for the revolutionary firebrand and editor Catarino Erasmo Garza, actually comprised three concerted Texas-based attempts to overthrow Díaz: a June 1890 raid led by Francisco Ruiz Sandoval, the Garza Raid of September 1891, and the San Ignacio Raid of December 1892.

In the first detailed military history of the Garza War, Thomas Ty Smith reveals how an armed insurrection against a foreign government, conducted on American soil, drew the US Army into a uniquely complex conflict whose repercussions would be felt on both sides of the US-Mexico border for generations to come.

Though not intended as a direct threat to the United States, the insurgency, in using Texas as a staging area, threatened US neutrality laws. Smith describes how what began as a measured and somewhat limited effort by the United States to enforce the Neutrality Act in Texas eventually escalated into an all-out shooting war between the army and the Garzistas, elevating the counterinsurgency campaign into the highest military, diplomatic, and political echelons of both America and Mexico.

The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2023 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2024 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“This remarkable and exceptionally well researched volume is certain to captivate readers.” (Jerry Thompson, author of Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas)

“Ty Smith presents another massive exposition...to unearth historical milestones of Texas history.” (Andrés Tijerina author of Tejanos and Texas Under the Mexican Flag, 1821–1836)