Los Mascogos

After 1865, John Horse began working to re-secure the Mascogos’ land grant in Nacimiento. During the Parras period, the land was under recurring threat. Kickapoos and squatters temporarily claimed it, and Unionist refugees from the U.S. Civil War were even found living on the property in 1866. More ominously, Mexicans in the region sought title to the land, conspiring with Coahuila’s corrupt government officials.

As he had done in the 1840s when he sought aid from two U.S. presidents, John Horse appealed to the highest authority he could find, in this case Benito Juárez, the Mexican president and political leader of the forces that ousted Maximilian. The government under Juárez had confirmed the Kickapoo land grant in Nacimiento in October of 1866. In November, responding to Black Seminole appeals, Juárez affirmed the Mascogo grant as well. His action secured a homeland for John Horse and his followers, at least for the time being.