Battle of Laredo: Laredo, TX.
March 18 - 19, 1864
On the Border of Tejas (Texas) & Mexico
In 1846, during the Mexican–American War, the town was occupied by the Texas Rangers. After the war, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ceded the land to the United States. A referendum was held in the town, which voted to petition the American military government in charge of the area to return the town to Mexico. When this petition was rejected, many who had been in the area for generations moved across the river into Mexican territory, where they founded Nuevo Laredo. Many others, especially original land grantees on the north side of the Rio Grande, remained, becoming Texans in the process. In 1849, the United States Army set up Fort McIntosh (originally Camp Crawford). Laredo was rechartered as a city in 1852.
It Was All About Cotton
Allthough it was considered by many historians a "minor engagement", the Battle of Laredo was fought during the American Civil War. Laredo, Texas, was a main route to export cotton to Mexico on behalf of the Confederate States amid the Union blockade of ports along the Gulf of Mexico. On March 18, 1864, Major Alfred F. Holt led a Union force from Brownsville, Texas, to destroy 5,000 bales of cotton stacked at the San Agustín Plaza. About half of the expedition was comprised of 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. Colonel Santos Benavides commanded 42 Confederate soldiers and repelled three Union attacks at Zacate Creek. Colonel Santos Benavides secured passage of the 5,000 cotton bales into Mexico.