if McNelly acts on these orders and returns to Texas. Signed, Colonel Potter. In less than a minute, Captain McNelly penned his now famous reply: Near Las Cuevas, Mexico, Nov. 20 1875. I shall remain in Mexico with my rangers and cross back at my discretion. Give my compliments to the Secretary of War and tell him and his United States soldiers to go to hell. Signed, Lee H. McNelly, commanding. After a rested night's sleep, Captain McNelly moved his men directly opposite Camargo on the Texas side of the river. It was now Sunday, and the stolen cattle had been moved and penned in a corral, but still on the Mexican side of the border and under guard by plenty of armed horsemen riding herd. Diego Garcia, a Camargo official next in charge to the dead alcade, promised to move the cattle across by 3:00 pm. McNelly, however, was suspicious and pulled his men to Rio Grande City to relax while he made his plans. At 3:00 pm, McNelly returned to the ferry landing, took sixteen rangers in addition to himself, and crossed the river in a rowboat in another invasion of Mexico. He also took along five horses. The "Death Squad," as they have come to be known, were composed of Captain McNelly, Lieutenant Thomas Robinson, Lieutenant Jesse Lee Hall, alias Frank Bones, Sergeant George A. Hall, Sergeant John Barclay Armstrong, Sergeant R. P. Orrell, Corporal William L. Rudd, and Rangers Lincoln Rogers Dunnison, Randolph D. Scipio, Robert H. Pitts, William Crump Callicott, Thomas McGovern, Horace G. Mabin, Thomas Sullivan acting as interpreter, George Durham, and Jesus Sandoval, also an interpreter. James R. Wofford is listed in one account as also being along. It is known for certain that the five mounted men were Robinson, Sandoval, Hall, Armstrong, and Orrell. The squad marched up the riverbank to the customs house and demanded the cattle. When the Mexican captain stated they didn't do business on Sunday, the Texans promptly took him prisoner. McNelly then hauled the prisoner to the Texas side and told the captured Mexican leader to get the cattle started within the hour or he would die. Instead of 250 head returning to Texas, more than 400 were crossed back. Nearly every brand in the Nueces Strip was in the herd, from the King Ranch's "Running W" up near Corpus Christi to Hale and Parker's "Half-moon" brand