[1] Celebrated by fellow Mexican-Americans for his ability to evade the authorities, as well as his impassioned words in court, Cortez's life was converted into a legend by people on the Rio Grande border.
However, Mexico's rejection of this annexation and a disagreement over the location of the new border, namely, a dispute over the area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River, led to the Mexican-American War.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promised American citizenship to residents who wanted to stay in Texas, but Tejanos in the lower Rio Grande Valley were relegated to second-class status.
[4] The vast majority of Mexican-Americans also suffered racial discrimination, and cultural, ethnic, and religious differences between Anglos and Hispanics persisted in the decades after the Mexican War.
"[7] In his book about Gregorio Cortez's life, Américo Paredes highlights the role of the Texas Rangers division in exacerbating the cultural conflicts on the border due to their alleged violent methods.
[11] To move beyond this dichotomy, historian Robert M. Utley exposes the complex nature of the relationship between the Mexican Americans and the Texas Rangers.
While some rangers may have been "ruthless, brutal and more lawless than the criminals they were prosecuting," he argues that there is no systematic evidence of persecution of Mexican-Americans by this police force.
After eleven years as vaqueros, or cowboys, and farmhands, Cortez and his brother settled on a farm in Karnes County, renting land from a local rancher.
[13] At the time that Cortez and his family had immigrated to South Texas, Anglos had also begun to penetrate the region in increasing numbers, particularly with the arrival of the railroad.
As political and economic power shifted to the newcomers, most Mexican Americans, like Cortez, lived as hired agricultural workers or as tenant farmers.
[17] After the run-in with Sheriff Morris and Deputy Boone, Cortez wanted to take his injured brother to the closest town, Kenedy, Texas, for medical assistance about 10 miles away.
[19] After narrowly escaping the standoff on the Robledo ranch, Cortez "walked directly south to the banks of the Guadalupe River [...] to another friend, Ceferino Flores.
Though Cortez succeeded in creating disorientating routes for officers to follow, he traveled close to the Corpus Christi-to-Laredo railroad and made it evident that he was moving toward Laredo.
[13] As the law was close behind him, Cortez took risks; having his newfound horse jump over sharp wire fences or pretending he was a cattle herder.
[25] The amount of money raised is unknown, however, the fund was largely advertised by a newspaper publisher, Pablo Cruz, and the Sociedad Trabajador Miguel Hidalgo in San Antonio and saw donations flood in from rich landowners and even local "rancheros".
[14] The appeal was upheld as the court doubted that Cortez could have murdered both officers within quick succession, as he would have been in two places at the same time, and denied Manuel Tom's crude translation of the word barn.
However, the prosecution backed by the rage of local police forces continued working to see Cortez serve life behind bars or be sentenced to death.
[citation needed] Legal proceedings transferred to Pleasanton, Texas where a ruling imprisoned Cortez for two years for horse theft.
[citation needed] However, there was no celebration of the acquittal, as soon thereafter, a court in Columbus, Texas found Cortez guilty for the murder of Sheriff Glover and sentenced him to life in prison.
[33] The Court of Criminal Appeals soon upheld the conviction, and on Jan 1, 1905, Gregorio Cortez began his life sentence in the Huntsville Penitentiary for the murder of Sheriff Glover.
[17] Cortez was sentenced not for the death of Morris (which sparked the entire escapade), but for his alleged murder of Sheriff Robert M. Glover, who was killed during the pursuit.
After his pardon in 1913, Cortez thanked those who helped secure his freedom, spent his later years in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and joined the losing Huertist forces of the Mexican Revolution.
"[36] As Cortez's story spread to Mexican-American settlements across the United States and Mexico, it was transformed into a ballad where he was often revered as a hero of the border Mexican community whose resilience against persecutory law enforcement inspired many.
In Américo Paredes's book, With His Pistol in His Hand, he recites eleven versions of El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez each sung by numerous guitarreros (guitarists) near the Mexican-American border.
[37] Though each corrido had their own style, flair, or message wanting to be relayed, they all exaggerated the life of Cortez to transform him into a Mexican folk hero.
The life and legend of Gregorio Cortez were studied by the scholar Américo Paredes in a doctoral thesis on corridos that was later published in a revised version by the University of Texas Press in 1958 under the title With His Pistol in His Hand.
This part integrates elements of sociolinguistics, through an analysis of the choice of words and the mixing of English and Spanish, anthropology, through an ethnographic description of the border culture, ethnomusicology with a study of the different variants of Gregorio Cortez's Ballad and their meanings[42][19] The legend was turned into the film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, starring Edward James Olmos, in 1982.
[47] This sense of authenticity is due in part to the documentary style used by the director to tell the life of Gregorio Cortez, but also to the choice made by Villasenor to develop the point of view of the people involved in the story, regardless of their ethnicity, thus presenting real historical characters and not the stereotypes of a myth.
[46] In an interview, the film's director, Robert Young, suggested that he wanted to represent the different interpretations surrounding life and legend.
"[49] Cortez's story was adapted into a concept EP by black metal band Maquahuitl, titled Con Su Pistola en La Mano.