Bandit War The Bandit War , or Bandit Wars , refers to a series of raids in Texas between 1910 and 1918 that were carried out by Mexican rebels from the states of Tamaulipas , Coahuila and Chihuahua . Before 1914 , the Carrancista faction was responsible for most of the attacks but in January 1915 rebels known as Seditionistas drafted the Plan of San Diego and began launching their own raids . The plan called for a race war , to rid the American border states of their Anglo American population , and the annexation of the border states to Mexico . However , the Seditionistas were never able to launch a full - scale invasion of the United States so they resorted to conducting small raids into Texas . Much of the fighting involved the Texas Ranger Division though the United States Army also engaged in operations against the rebels . War . Seditionista Campaign . The height of the fighting was in 1915 . On January 6 , Basilio Ramos and a group of his followers drafted the Plan of San Diego , in San Diego , Texas , to try and bring the American border states under the rule of President Venustiano Carranza . Calling themselves the Seditionistas , the rebels then began attacking small American outposts and settlements along the Rio Grande , many of which were guarded by United States Army soldiers . The first attack took place on July 4 , 1915 , when a band of approximately forty mounted rebels crossed the border and raided Los Indios Ranch in Cameron County . The first bloodshed did not occur until five days later though , on July 9 , when an employee of the King Ranch killed one of the raiders near the Norias Ranch . On July 12 , two Mexican - American police officer s were shot , from a distance , near Brownsville , one later died . American authorities said " " the Mexican officers knew of the plans [ Plan of San Diego ] of their fellows before the real beginning of the operations and that this was the cause of the several efforts to assassinate them . " " Over the next two weeks there were various reports of raids , attacks on police officers , and assassination attempts on local land owners . By the end of July , the raiders were trying to cut off communications to the people in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and disrupt railroad transportation . On July 25 , they burned a bridge belonging to the St . Louis , Brownsville and Mexico Railway and then cut some telegram wires near Harlingen . A few days after that , the Governor of Texas , James E . Ferguson , sent the Texas Ranger Captain Harry Ransom into the Lower Rio Grande Valley to lead a " " pacification campaign . " " According to author John William Weber , Ransom was in charge of an " " assassination squad " " that conducted a " " scorched - earth campaign of annihilation " " against both guilty and innocent Mexicans . Some people suspected that the current fighting would ignite a full fledged war between the United States and Mexico . One South Texan wrote ; " " I have never been satisfied with the Alamo and Goliad events , and always have felt that there was something yet due the Mexicans from us , and if there is a second call and for a war , the Mexicans will certainly get what is due them from the Texans . " " On July 29 , a Mexican named Adolfo Munoz was killed near San Benito for " " scheming to rob a local bank and having connections with armed raiders . " " Cameron County Deputy Sheriff Frank Carr and the Texas Ranger Daniel Hinojosa arrested Munoz but , according to the officers , when they were leaving San Benito a party of eight armed men , wearing masks , forced them to give up Munoz . On the next day , Munoz ' s body was found about two miles from town , " " riddled with bullets " " and hanging from a tree . The lynching , whether perpetrated by the rebels or by the Texans , created an atmosphere of distrust among the local Mexican population for the Texas Rangers and other American police forces . J . T . Canales said ; " " every person who was charged with a crime refused to be arrested , because they did not believe that the officers of the law would give them the protection guaranteed them by the Constitution and the laws of this State . " " A lawyer in San Benito , named William G . B . Morrison , said that Munoz ' s lynching was " " the spark that fired the flame among the white people . " " However , a federal investigator said that the lynching was " " an expression of the indignation of the people against the repeated failure to enforce the laws . " " John William Weber says that " " personal conflict " " was the cause of some of the violence . Weber says the " " most important example " " was that of Aniceto Pizana , the owner of Los Tulitos Ranch . Pizana ' s neighbor , Jeff Scrivener , was known for wanting Pizana ' s land so in early August he told American authorities that Pizana was in league with the rebels and had harbored some of them during one of their raids . Despite this accusation , no evidence suggests that Pizana ever had any significant ties with the rebels , though he was a friend of Luis de la Rosca , a known raider who owned a store in Rio Hondo . In response to Scrivener ' s claim , a force of about thirty Texas Rangers , United States Army soldiers , and some deputy sheriffs attacked the Los Tulitos Ranch on August 3 . During the gunfight that followed , one soldier was killed , and three other people were wounded , including two deputy sheriffs and Pizana ' s son . Pizana himself got away and according to Weber he joined up with Luis de la Rosca after the attack on his ranch . From then on Rosca and Pizana became the " " primary military leaders of the Plan [ of San Diego ] . " " On August 6 , Luis de la Rosca led a raid on the town of Sebastian , killing A . L . Austin and his son Charles . Austin formerly served as the president of the Law and Order League which , according to federal investigators , " " had driven several bad men out of that section [ Sebastian , Texas ] " " and was therefore an ideal target for the raiders who thought of him as a racist . Within the next few days after the deaths of the Austins , several local Mexicans were killed by either the Texas Rangers or vigilante s . A posse led by the Texas adjudant general , Henry Hutchings , and Captain Ransom killed three people alone . Meanwhile , the rebels were destroying railroad property by ripping up tracks , burning bridges and attacking the repairmen who were sent to fix the problems . The " " most daring " " raid during the Seditionistas ' campaign occurred at the Norias Ranch , the headquarters for the southern most division of the King Ranch . On the night of August 8 , somewhere between forty - five and seventy rebels attacked Norias which was defended by a squad of American cavalrymen , a few policemen and a few ranchers . During the two - hour battle that followed , at least a dozen people were killed or wounded and possibly many more before the rebels retreated back towards Mexico . Another battle was fought on the next morning when the Mexican raiders encountered a force of Texas Rangers and soldiers as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande . The Americans reported that as many as twelve more rebels were killed and that very few made it across the river . For the next few weeks western Texas was plagued by " " almost daily killings " " , the most notable of which occurred on October 19 . That day a band of raiders derailed a train six miles north of Brownsville and killed several white people on board , leaving the Mexican passengers unhurt . When Captain Ransom arrived at the scene he found four Mexicans in the vicinity and executed them all . On October 21 , Rosca and Pizana led in between twenty - five and 100 rebels in the last important raid of the Seditionista campaign . Like most of the raids it was a failure for the rebels . This time a squad of eight army signalmen were besieged by the Mexicans at Ojo de Agua until being relieved by twelve men from the 3rd Cavalry , under Captain W . J . Scott . At least seven rebels died as result of the battle and at least seven others were wounded . The Americans suffered one civilian death , three soldiers killed and eight wounded . By December 1915 the threat of Mexican raiders was slowly diminishing but in the summer of 1916 a series of minor attacks began , all them occurring around Laredo , Texas . That year Luis de la Rosca rercruited his Villista cousin Jose Morin to capture San Antonio but a baker in Kingsville , known as Victoriano Ponce , informed the Texas Rangers who arrested both men in May . The two were apparently murdered by the rangers because they were never seen again after their arrest . According to United States Army investigators , over 300 Mexicans had been killed during the Seditionistas ' campaign .