Pierre "Frenchy" Cordona (born 1833) was a Confederate States Army soldier who served as a Captain in the 1st Louisiana Cavalry during the American Civil War. He was most famous for his career as a bushwhacker towards the end of the war, leading the River Junction ambush in Texas in May 1865 before being captured by Colonel Cord McNally. He later went on to help McNally with hunting down the same Union soldiers who had sold out their comrades by tipping off the Confederates about the robbed payroll train.
Biography[]
Cordona in 1865
Pierre Cordona was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1833 to a Mexican father and French mother. In 1861, he first met US Army Colonel Cord McNally while gambling in Abilene, Texas. Cordona went on to join the Confederate States Army at the American Civil War, rising to the rank of Captain. Cordona served in Texas, leading band of Confederate bushwhackers at the end of the war. In 1865, he and Sergeant Tuscarora Phillips ambushed a Union Army payroll train shortly after it left Plainsburg and before it could reach River Junction. In the ensuing attack, the Confederates surprised the Union soldiers and stole the gold, and they also captured Colonel McNally. Cordona decided to have McNally dress as a Confederate for use as a hostage and as a navigator to help the Confederates escape, while Cordona wore McNally's Union uniform as a disguise. McNally led them to the camp of the 10th Ohio Infantry, where he alerted the Union troops to the rebel presence. Cordona's raiders managed to escape, but McNally captured both Cordona and Phillips, who were held as prisoners until the war's end.
Blackthorne[]
Cordona in Blackthorne, Texas in 1865
The three men gained a mutual respect for each other, and, after the war's end and the release of the prisoners, McNally bought them drinks and asked them about the men who helped them set up the ambush. They were only able to provide physical descriptions, but McNally valued their help and gave them extra money to help them return to their homes; he also told them to inform the Sheriff of Blackthorne, Texas, Pat Cronin, if they ever ran into the traitors again. He ultimately did so, heading to the hotel at Blackthorne and awaiting McNally's arrival. When he heard gunshots on the first floor, he rushed down and shot George Hickman dead, and he identified the body of Whitey Carter as one of the two traitors. He then carried the unconscious Shasta Delaney upstairs and laid her down on his bed to recover; Cordona then spoke with McNally and told him that Sheriff Blue Tom Hendricks was trying to push Phillips' father from his farm, and Cordona convinced McNally to help him and Phillips fight back in exchange for their help with tracking down the other traitor. Delaney awoke to hear the two men talking about heading to Rio Lobo, and she convinced them to let her go with them, as she wanted to take possession of her late employer's wagon, and she could help them tell friend from foe.
Road to Rio Lobo[]
Cordona talking to Shasta Delaney in the desert hut
The trio rode 80 miles to Rio Lobo, stopping at a hut along the way to sleep. There, Cordona attempted to flirt with Delaney by giving her his blanket, but she told him that she disliked when men touched her, telling him of her past as a saloon waitress who had to endure harassment. Cordona asked her what she planned to do once she retrieved her wagon, believing that she could not travel with her wagon by herself, but she assured him that she could sell her Apache herb tonic just fine. He then expressed his liking for her, as she never cried; he acknowledged that, while she had cried for her dead friend, she never cried for herself. She told him to stop being nice to her, but, before he could turn away, she turned him around and kissed him, surprising him, as he usually initiated kisses. She explained that this was the reason why she did so, as she could control when the kiss could stop. They then went their separate ways to go to sleep for the night.
Rio Lobo[]
The trio at Maria's home
The trio then came to Rio Lobo and found shelter at the house of Delaney's friend Maria, and, while stowing away the horses across town, Cordona fled into a random house to hide from the sheriff. There, he met a half-naked woman, Amelita, who allowed him to wait inside until the coast was clear. They exchanged introductions before he returned to his friends, who assumed that he had just engaged in a romantic escapade; when Cordona mentioned that the woman's name was "Amelita", Maria told the trio that she recognized Amelita, who was her friend. The next day, as McNally spoke with a friend of Tuscarora's father, Ivor Jones, Cordona and Delaney hid under Maria's bed as lawmen came to search the house, and Amelita greeted them while washing her hair and showed them that the house was empty. Shortly after, McNally returned and decided to go to Old Man Phillips' ranch to rescue him, and Cordona and Delaney went with him. The three of them stealthily took out the lawmen guarding the ranch before speaking to the senile and paranoid old man, with Cordona convincing the old man that he knew his son by recalling how Tuscarora had written a letter to his father after being wounded in the arm during his first battle. They then recruited the old man to join them in travelling to the blackmailer Ketcham's ranch to take Ketcham hostage and force Sheriff Blue Tom Hendricks to release Tuscarora. They surprised Ketcham at his ranch and discovered that he was Sergeant Ike Gorman, one of McNally's former soldiers. They forced him to sign back the lands that he stole, which he agreed to after being caught on fire by dropped alcohol and saved by Cordona with a fire blanket.
Cordona at Ketcham's ranch
Cordona and McNally then strategized a new plan: McNally and the others would join Tuscarora at the jail rather than let Hendricks overpower them, while Cordona would ride to Longhorn Springs and summon the US Army cavalry there. However, he was unhorsed and captured by four men, and Hendricks held Cordona prisoner. Ultimately, the two sides agreed to meet shortly after sunrise the next day at an abandoned cantina by a creek at the edge of town.
Final shootout[]
Cordona's reunion with Delaney
There, during the prisoner exchange, a freed Tuscarora signalled Cordona to jump into the creek, allowing for McNally to keep Ketcham at gunpoint until Hendricks - upon learning of Ketcham's returning of the stolen ranches to their owners - shot Ketcham dead. This resulted in a shootout which left Hendricks and his bandits dead, and Rio Lobo was returned to the townspeople. Delaney then ran up to Cordona, and the two embraced and kissed, having saved the town. What happened next was unknown, but it was presumed that they went on to live and travel together as husband and wife.