[2] The conflict between Spain and the United States centered on the question of Cuba, where for several years insurgents had been fighting a guerrilla war against their colonial rulers; on April 20, 1898, the U.S. Congress recognized Cuban independence and simultaneously authorized the use of American military force to ensure it; four days later, Spain declared war on the United States.

Alamia's regiment trained at Camp Wood in San Antonio for a month before embarking for Cuba; the unit's first commander, Leonard Wood, was soon replaced by his second-in-command, Theodore Roosevelt; known affectionately as the Rough Riders, these troops won fame for their successful assaults on Kettle and San Juan hills, near the city of Santiago, on July 1, 1898.

While living in Brownsville, Texas Juan Alamia worked as a telegrapher for Western Union along with his younger brother, Jose Roman.

Alamia failed to follow the directions he was given and sent a communication to Mexico City of the true circumstances on the border.

[7] Captain Everette Anglin gave testimony before a committee of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate (66th Congress) investigating the outrages of citizens of the United States in Mexico.

Upon the marriage of a descendant of Juan Alamia and the brave lady who retrieved his body from the mesquite tree, the story in the corrido was shared.

Adrienne Peña-Garza told her father, a member of the state legislature, of the story shared with her by her husband Aquiles Jaime Garza.

Her father found the crumbling tomb of Juan Alamia in the old Brownsville cemetery and searched through old family records to piece together his story so that it could be told.

On August 5, 2003, the Texas Legislature honored the life and service of this brave and nearly forgotten American with a resolution telling his story.