A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOWER RIO GRANDE

VALLEY

The Lower Rio Grande Valley consists of the extreme southern and southwestern part of the State of Texas and contains about 5,000 square miles. The Rio Grande (Big River) which divides Mexico from Texas, has created the Valley and its boundary on the south and west. Rio Grande City (adjoining Ringgold Barracks), 105 miles northwest from Brownsville, is the apex of the delta and the Gulf of Mexico its base.

A history of the Valley would be incomplete without a passing sketch of that of the Republic of Mexico of which it and the State of Texas at one time formed a part.

In depicting its history, if this book should elaborate on specific incidents and characters, the apology is that the descendents of many of the actors who made the history left descendants who still dwell in the Valley, and in whom these lines may awaken slumbering memories.