St. Augustine Plaza, Laredo
St. Augustine Plaza is at the heart of a historic community established in 1755. In addition to the six flags that flew over Texas, Laredo had a seventh flag representing the Republic of the Rio Grande, an unsuccessful attempt to break with the Republic of Mexico in 1840. The capital of the Republic of the Rio Grande has been established as a museum and can be visited today on the south side of the plaza. During the Civil War, St. Augustine's was a beehive of activity after Confederate officer Col. Santos Benavides established his headquarters here. Benavides' original home, along with that of his brother-in-law, John Z. Leyendecker, can be seen on the west side of the plaza. Most Confederate troops were garrisoned in buildings on or near the plaza for much of the war. Laredo became particularly important when cotton moved across the river, especially after the federal occupation of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in late 1863 and early 1864. For the citizens of Laredo these were the “cotton times.” Union forces attempted to destroy five thousand bales of cotton stacked in the plaza when they attacked the town in March 1864. Benavides and his men barricaded the streets with cotton bales and placed snipers on the buildings around the plaza. Although St. Augustine's was largely treeless at the time, Benavides did manage to hang two horse thieves here during the war. A historical marker honoring the Benavides brothers, Santos, Refugio, and Cristobal, can be seen on the plaza today.
Listen
Details
Location: 201 St. Augustine St., Webb County
Access: 24 hour public access.
GPS Coordinates
Photos
St. Augustine Church on the square at
St. Augustine Plaza, Laredo, Texas
San Agustín Roman Catholic church was
originally founded in 1760 during the
Spanish regime. The original church
fell into disrepair and was reconstructed,
at the same time as Fort MacIntosh,
between 1866 and 1872. This photograph
of the Gothic Revival brick edifice shows
it unpainted, without its clock, and with
some differences in its steeple.
Webb County Heritage Foundation
Foundation, Laredo, Texas