DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — let me take you through it. Out here where the Nueces bends and the brush country stretches in every direction, you're standing at a spot that has seen more armies, more flags, and more history than most places three times its size. This is the Santa Margarita Crossing, and the ground beneath you has been quietly watching empires come and go since at least 1804, when a Spanish land grant was issued to Jose Herrera.
The ranchers who worked that grant established the crossing of the Nueces right here and gave the scattered settlement its name — Santa Margarita. Simple enough beginning for a place that was about to become anything but simple. Then in 1828, John McMullen and James McGloin came into the picture with a land grant from the Mexican government — an Irish colony, north of the river — and they founded the town of San Patricio.
And just like that, this crossing on the Nueces became a major stop on the Matamoros Road into Texas. Major roads draw major attention, and major attention eventually draws armies. The Mexican army figured that out in 1831 and established Fort Lipantitlan nearby to protect the crossing.
Smart move. Except on November 4, 1835, insurgent Texans captured it. That fort didn't protect anybody that particular day.
But the story wasn't done — not by a long stretch. On February 27, 1836, General Jose Urrea's army came through here and defeated the Texan forces of James Grant and F.W. Johnson at this very crossing before marching on to Goliad.
That is a date worth sittin' with for a moment. February 27, 1836. The revolution still hangin in the balance, and this bend of the Nueces is where Urrea won the day.
When Texas ultimately did win its independence, it was General Vicente Filisola who led the defeated Mexican troops back to Mexico — along this very same road, back across this very same river. Then came 1845. General Zachary Taylor crossed the Nueces here in the summer of that year and held his army in this region — waiting, watching — until March of 1846, when he moved to the Rio Grande.
That move, the marker tells us plainly, precipitated the U.S. War with Mexico, which ran from 1846 to 1848. One crossing.
One march south. A war. And the road just kept on being useful, because during the Civil War it changed its name — folks started calling the old Matamoros Road the Cotton Road — and it became a trade lifeline for the Confederacy.
Texas products moved through the Santa Margarita Crossing into Mexico, going around the federal blockade of Confederate ports. Armies, colonies, revolutions, wars, blockades — and through all of it, this crossing of the Nueces just kept doing what crossings do. Letting people through.
The question was always what they were carrying and where they were headed next.
What the marker says
Ranchers occupying the 1804 Spanish land grant of Jose Herrera established this crossing of the Nueces and named the scattered settlement Santa Margarita. In 1828, John McMullen and James McGloin received a land grant from the Mexican government for an irish colony north of the river and founded the town of San Patricio. This site soon became a major crossing on the Matamoros Road into Texas. To protect the crossing, the Mexican army, in 1831, established nearby Fort Lipantitlan, which was captured November 4, 1835, by insurgent Texans. On Feb. 27, 1836, Gen. Jose Urrea's Army defeated the Texan forces of James Grant and F.W. Johnson here before marching to Goliad. After Texas won independence, Gen. Vicente Filisola led the defeated Mexican troops back to Mexico along this road. After crossing the river here in summer of 1845, Gen. Zachary Taylor held his army in this region until March 1846, when he moved to the Rio Grande, the action which precipitated the U.S. War with Mexico (1846-48). During the civil war the old Matamoros Road, then called the "Cotton Road", served as a trade outlet for the confederacy. Texas products were transported via the Santa Margarita crossing to Mexico, circumventing the federal blockade of confederate ports.