Battle of Carrizo

Battle of Carrizo
Part of the Second Cortina War
Captain Santos Benavides
Date May 22, 1861 Location Zapata County, Texas, Confederate States Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
Cortinista militia	Confederate States of America
Commanders and leaders
Juan Cortina	Captain Santos Benavides
Strength
30 Cortinistas

The Battle of Carrizo was an 1861 battle, the only engagement of the Second Cortina War, and the final engagement of the wider Cortina Troubles. Juan Cortina, a Mexican rancher who had previously attacked American settlements in Texas' Rio Grande valley, sacked Carrizo, a settlement that was then the seat of Zapata County on May 22 with about thirty Cortinistas. In a forty-minute battle, Confederate Captain Santos Benavides decisively defeated Cortina, killing or capturing many of his soldiers and driving him back into Mexico.