Changes on the Western Frontier 431
THE BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ
In the border ballads, or corridos, of the American Southwest, few figures are as
famous as the Mexican vaquero, Gregorio Cortez. This excerpt from a ballad
about Cortez deals with a confrontation between Cortez and a group of
Texas lawmen. Although he is hotly pursued, Cortez has an amazingly long
run before being captured.
. . . And in the county of Kiansis
They cornered him after all;
Though they were more than
three hundred
He leaped out of their corral.
Then the Major Sheriff said,
As if he was going to cry,
“Cortez, hand over your weapons;
We want to take you alive.”
—Anonymous, “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez,” translated by Américo Paredes
Then said Gregorio Cortez,
And his voice was like a bell,
“You will never get my
weapons
Till you put me in a cell.”
Then said Gregorio Cortez,
With his pistol in his hand,
“Ah, so many mounted Rangers
Just to take one Mexican!”
CHIEF SATANTA’S SPEECH AT THE MEDICINE LODGE CREEK COUNCIL
Known as the Orator of the Plains, Chief Satanta represented the Kiowa people in
the 1867 Medicine Lodge Creek negotiations with the U.S. government. The
speech from which this excerpt is taken was delivered by Satanta in Spanish but
was translated into English and widely published in leading newspapers of the day.
All the land south of the Arkansas belongs to the Kiowas and Comanches,
and I don’t want to give away any of it. I love the land and the buffalo and
will not part with it. I want you to understand well what I say. Write it on
paper. Let the Great Father [U.S. president] see it, and let me hear what he
has to say. I want you to understand also, that the Kiowas and Comanches
don’t want to fight, and have not been fighting since we made the treaty. I
hear a great deal of
good talk from the
gentlemen whom
the Great Father
sends us, but they never do what they say. I don’t
want any of the medicine lodges [schools and
churches] within the country. I want the children
raised as I was. When I make peace, it is a long and
lasting one—there is no end to it. . . . A long time ago
this land belonged to our fathers; but when I go up
to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. These
soldiers cut down my timber; they kill my buffalo;
and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting; I
feel sorry. I have spoken.
—Chief Satanta, speech at the Medicine Lodge Creek
Council (1867)
Chief Satanta
▼
THINKING CRITICALLY
THINKING CRITICALLY
1. Comparing and Contrasting Compare and contrast the
views these selections give of the American frontier in the
second half of the 19th century. Use details from the
selections to help explain your answer.
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R8.
2.
From the gauchos of the Argentine pampas to the workers
on Australian sheep stations, many nations have had their
own versions of the cowboys of the American West. Use
the links for American Literature to research one such
nation. Prepare a bulletin-board display that shows the
similarities and differences between Western cowboys and
their counterparts in that country.
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Vaquero (modeled
1980/cast 1990),
Luis Jiménez. National
Museum of American
Art/Art Resource,
New York.
