The City of Laredo and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) invite the community to the unveiling ceremony of a historic marker at the site of the 1864 Battle of Laredo at Zacate Creek.
The project is part of the Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail, a collaboration with UTRGTV’s Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools program, and other entities.
The unveiling of the marker offers an opportunity to learn of Laredo’s role in the American Civil War.
The event takes place on Saturday, March 25, at 10:00 a.m. at the 100 block of Market St. at Sanders Ave.
From utrgv.edu
Zacate Creek
With the Union occupation of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in late 1863 and early 1864, cotton from as near as East Texas and as far as Arkansas and Louisiana was diverted to Laredo and Eagle Pass for transport to Mexico. In March 1864, a small federal army left the Lower Valley, intent on seizing or destroying the large amount of cotton reported to be stacked in St. Augustine Plaza, Laredo. About half of the expedition was comprised by members of the Second Texas Union Cavalry, a predominantly Tejano regiment. This Union force of more than two hundred men slowly advanced upriver during one of the worst droughts in recent memory. On March 19, 1864, one of Confederate Col. Santos Benavides’ men spotted the advancing federals outside of Laredo. Benavides rallied his small Confederate force, barricaded several of the streets with cotton, and placed snipers on the buildings around St. Augustine Plaza. In all, Benavides could only field seventy-two men. At three p.m., when the federals dismounted and advanced, a furious firefight erupted that lasted for more than three hours. Three times the federals advanced and three times they were driven back. Unable to seize the village in the growing darkness, the Union soldiers rapidly withdrew some two miles downriver and went into camp for the evening. Union casualties are uncertain but several bloody rags were found along the banks of Zacate Creek and scattered in the scrubby mesquite. None of Benavides’ defenders were killed or wounded.
