DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker out here in Kleberg County has to say — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Picture it: March of 1846. Zachary Taylor's army is on the move, marching south from Corpus Christi toward the Rio Grande.
And right here — right here at Santa Gertrudis Creek — they stopped. Four regiments, one after another, camped at this very spot on March 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. Four days.
Four regiments. The ground you're passing over held an army. War with Mexico over the boundary of Texas was coming, and it came soon.
The first battles — Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma — erupted near what is now Brownsville. General Mariano Arista led the Mexican army into those fights. When it was all over, the boundary of Texas was fixed at the Rio Grande, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo handed the United States New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
Not a bad result for a war that started at a river. But here's where the story gets genuinely eerie, if you let it. Of the 251 officers who camped right here at Santa Gertrudis Creek, twelve went on to lend their names to United States forts right here in Texas.
Twelve. We're talkin' Belknap, Brown, Blake, Bliss, Chadbourne, Duncan, Gates, Inge, Mason, McIntosh, Ringgold, and Worth. Men who slept on this ground, woke up here, maybe splashed their faces in this creek — and then marched into history hard enough to get a fort named after them.
And then there were the others. The ones who camped here and went on to command great armies in the Civil War — on both sides of it. Augur.
Bee. Bragg. Kirby Smith.
Longstreet. Meade. Pemberton.
Reynolds. Twiggs. Whistler.
Some of those names you know. Some you might not. But every one of them passed through this spot, eating trail dust and sleeping under Texas sky, before the war that would define a generation was even a whisper.
And two of the men who camped here — two of the 251 — became President of the United States. Zachary Taylor, whose army this was. And a younger officer in that same march: Ulysses Simpson Grant.
Presidents. Generals. Forts scattered across the Texas map.
All of it traces a thread right back to this creek, these four days in March, and an army that didn't yet know what it was marching toward. Some ground just holds more history than it looks like it can carry.
What the marker says
In 1846 Zachary Taylor's army marched from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande. On March 10,11, 12, 13, the four regiments in succession camped at this spot on Santa Gertrudis Creek. War with Mexico over the boundary of Texas began soon. The first battles -- Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma -- occurred near present Brownsville. General Mariano Arista led the Mexican army. The results of the war: the boundary of Texas was fixed at the Rio Grande; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the United States New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California; a notable group of men got training for later public service. Of the 251 officers camped here, many rose to national fame. The Honor Roll Twelve leaders in the Texas battles gave name to United States forts in Texas: Wm. G. Belknap, Jacob Brown, J. E. Blake, W. W. S. Bliss, Theodore L. Chadbourne, James Duncan, Clinton R. Gates, Zebulon P. M. Inge, George T. Mason, J. B. McIntosh, Samuel Ringgold, William Jenkins Worth. Many who camped here became commanders of great armies in the Civil War. Among them: Augur, Bee, Bragg, Kirby Smith, Longstreet, Meade, Pemberton, Reynolds, Twiggs, Whistler. Two of them -- Zachary Taylor and Ulysses Simpson Grant -- became President of the United States. Kleberg County Historical Survey Committee 1964