According to author Robert Elman, Juan Cortina and his followers were the first "socially motivated border bandits," similar to the Garzistas and the Villistas of later generations.

These have connived with each other, and form, so to speak, a perfidious inquisitorial lodge to persecute and rob us, without any cause, and for no other crime on our part than that of being of Mexican origin, considering us, doubtless, destitute of those gifts which they themselves do not possess.

"[citation needed]Cortina retained control over Brownsville until September 30, 1859, when he evacuated the town at the urging of influential residents of Matamoros.

Because of appeals from Brownsville residents, the United States Army sent troops from San Antonio to the nearby Fort Brown, which had been abandoned a few years ago.

With increasing pressure from the United States and Mexican Governments to cease all hostile activities, Cortina remained away from the scene for more than a year.

The American Civil War had just begun, and Cortina, who had aligned himself with the Federal government of the United States, invaded Zapata County, Texas.

[citation needed] Mexican author Carmen Boullosa published the novel Texas in 2013, which presents a fictionalized account of the First Cortina War.