International Travel Show will start Jan. 8

?Carl Chilton, author of a new book “Fort Brown: The First Border Post,” was recently a special guest at the Brownsville Heritage Complex/Stillman House Museum, where he talked about his book and signed autographs.
Chilton told the audience that when he retired he realized no one had written a comprehensive book about the impact Fort Brown had on Brownsville and on Texas. So, he decided to research the history and write a book that would detail Fort Brown’s history himself.

Chilton then gave a presentation covering much of the history of Fort Brown, which today is the site of the University of Texas-Brownsville campus.

Chilton said, in 1845 Texas became the 28th state to join the union. This enraged Mexico because it had never recognized Texas’ independence won in the Texas Revolution fought in 1836; Mexico hoped to recapture Texas one day. There was already a dispute over the alleged boundary. Mexico said the boundary was the Nueces River while the Texans claimed victory over all the land to the Rio Grande River.

After the annexation into the United States, President James K. Polk sent troops to the Valley to firmly establish the Rio Grande River as the official border of Texas. The troops landed in Corpus Christi and took three weeks to reach the banks of the Rio Grande. Lt. Ulysses Grant, who would one day become president himself, kept a diary where he reported seeing herds of wild horses roaming freely in the disputed territory.

After the arduous journey, the troops led by General Zachary Taylor, another future President, camped directly across from Matamoros and proceeded to build Fort Texas. It was the first fort to be established in the new state. A supply base for the troops was established at Point Isabel. Taylor was under orders to maintain the border but not to cross the river into Mexico.

He sent word to Mexican General Francisco Mejia that he did not intend to invade Mexico. Mejia sent word back that he was in Mexican Territory camped in Brownsville and the American presence there was considered “an act of war.”

General Taylor was not the least intimidated. He went about constructing a fort that had a perimeter of 800 yards, with nine-foot walls that had a 15-foot base. The fort was surrounded by a moat, and had four 18-pound cannons mounted on the walls.

The area was wild and largely open. Mexican scouts were known to cross the river frequently to see what the Americans were doing. It was possible to see downtown Matamoros from the top of the fort wall, which went up rapidly as there was a sense of urgency to get it finished.

The Mexicans responded to the fort by sending General Pedro Ampudia and 2,400 troops to Matamoros on April 11. Citizens of Matamoros asked that General Ampudia be replaced with General Mariano Arista, who was a well-respected soldier. On April 23, 1845 Mexico declared war against the United States.

General Taylor was told that Mexican troops had crossed into Texas. A scouting party of 63 men encountered a Mexican force estimated to be 1,200. A battle ensued as 16 soldiers were killed and others captured. Taylor sent a telegram to Washington telling President Polk that hostility had begun. On May 11, Polk appeared before Congress and told them “American blood had been shed on American soil” and asked for a declaration of war.

Informed by a Texas Ranger named Sam Walker that Mexican troops were marching toward Point Isabel, fearing that supplies to the fort could be cut off, General Taylor took 2,000 of his 2,500 troops to Point Isabel.

Major Jacob Brown was left in charge of Fort Texas. This was reported to the Mexican Army and they launched what would be known as the Siege of Brownsville, where the Mexican Army battled the soldiers remaining in Brownsville for a period of seven days, until the other troops returned to provide relief.

The siege began on May 2, when soldiers at the fort awoke to the ringing of church bells in Matamoros and saw a procession of priests in Matamoros blessing the cannons. Bombardment of the fort began the next day. In spite of being blessed, the Mexican cannons were unable to do much damage to the strongly reinforced walls of Fort Texas.

On May 5, a Mexican detachment of troops was spotted on the landward side of the fort; soon enemy soldiers surrounded the fort. By May 6, this bombardment of the fort from all sides was becoming very effective. A cannonball blew off Major Brown’s leg and he died three days later. The fort would later be renamed Fort Brown in his honor.

As the attack grew more serious, Captain E.S. Hawkins, who took command after Brown was injured, met with his men, who decided to “defend the fort to the death.” No one was sure of the whereabouts of General Taylor’s troops. The men prepared for a great assault they expected on May 7. It never came. It was on the afternoon of May 8 that the men could hear artillery fire in the distance and realized General Taylor had engaged the Mexican army.

There were actually two battles: The Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. American troops were decisively victorious at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. General Arista pulled the troops bombarding the fort away to fight Taylor’s other troops and then fled back across the river into Mexico. Fort Texas had survived the seven-day siege.

After the Mexican-American War ended, Fort Brown was designated a permanent fort because continuing border turmoil was expected. Major W.W. Chapman was put in charge of the fort construction. A second Fort Brown was constructed about a quarter mile to the north of the original site.

The new fort had seven officer’s residences, two barracks for enlisted men, an ordinance store, a quartermaster store, bakery, commissary, library and chapel. The buildings were built of used lumber. Necessities for the families, such as food supplies, were purchased in Matamoros and luxuries were shipped in from New Orleans.

Fort Brown was not a good place to live. Diseases such as Yellow Fever and cholera were rampant and the people drank polluted water from the Rio Grande.

But the fort continued to be important. When the Civil War broke out, the only way the Confederacy could get its cotton to market was to ship it to the Texas border. Cotton was then moved into Mexico and taken to Bagdad, a Mexican port below Matamoros, where it was loaded on steamships bearing Mexican flags for sale in Europe. From 1861 to 1863 the Confederacy controlled Fort Brown.

In 1863, the Union soldiers arrived and took over the fort. To assure the Confederates did not get the ammunition back, the ammunition was blown up. The action destroyed the Fort along with the ammunition.

After the Civil War, Fort Brown would be rebuilt for a third time. This time the buildings were made of local brick made on the ranches of the area. Some of those buildings are still standing today on the campus of the University of Texas-Brownsville.

McALLEN — City leaders are preparing for their second New Year’s Eve celebration with visitors from all over south Texas and northern Mexico at the Heart of the City’s 2010 New Year’s Eve Bash and Ball Drop.

The event, similar to the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop in New York’s Times Square, is being coordinated by Heart of the City, a committee charged with revitalizing the historic downtown area. The celebration is set for Dec. 31 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

"This particular event is unequaled in McAllen. There is no event like it, in terms of size,” said Chief Victor Rodriguez of the McAllen Police Department. 

Last year, there were approximately 15,000 to 20,000 people in attendance.

The event site spreads from Bicentennial Boulevard eat to Erie Street and from Expressway 83 north to Business 83 in downtown McAllen.

McAllen Mayor Richard F. Cortez said he hopes visitors will take everything McAllen has to offer.  

“We hope they experience the art and culture, special events, concerts, sporting events, family activities and the entertainment district found in our city,” said Mayor Cortez.

The highlight of the evening is the dropping of the New Year’s Eve Ball, at midnight, at the intersection of Main and Beaumont. The lighted orb used this year is 15 feet in diameter, which is two and a half times bigger than last year’s.

Live bands will perform on the streets. Among some of the performers are Manhattan, Bombasta, Chris Marshall, and Highway 7. In addition to live music, partygoers can feast on food from 40 food booths and can enjoy the nearly 40 clubs and restaurants in the 17th Street entertainment district. Tickets are also being sold to a VIP dinner hosted by Heart of the City, atop the city parking garage, at 15th and Beaumont streets.

To alleviate congestion and increase safety, the City of McAllen’s transit department will offer free park-n-ride pick-ups at the old Civic Center and the old Walmart.

For more information about the 2010 New Year’s Eve Bash and Ball Drop, call Heart of the City at (956) 686-4357, or visit www.exploremcallen.com.

Winter Texans have many places to celebrate the New Year