Small national park tells
BIG story
STORY BY David and Kay Scott
During a late December Texas road trip along the Gulf Coast and Rio Grande River we stopped a few miles north of Brownsville to visit Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, one of the 433 units managed by the National Park Service.
We had visited the site a couple of decades ago but at the time found little more than a sign identifying the location. The park is now up and running with a visitor center, picnic area, cannons, flags and improved trails marked with informative signage interpreting one of America’ s significant, but little-known military battles.
Walking into the visitor center we were greeted by park ranger Helen Dhue. Mentioning our earlier visit and the site’ s subsequent development, ranger Dhue replied,“ We tell visitors this is a small park that tells a big story.”
Palo Alto Battlefield NHS is the only unit of the National Park Service that focuses primarily on the Mexican-American War. Results of the two-year conflict certainly make it a major story, although neither of us could recall it receiving much attention in school despite the United States being able to gain control of approximately half of Mexico’ s territory.
The initial conflict involved Texas, an area colonized by the Spanish in the 1700s, that was annexed by the United States in 1846, 10 years following the Republic of Texas declaring its independence from Mexico. None of this sat well with Mexican authorities who claimed ownership of the land and considered its international border to be north of the Rio Grande, along the Nueces River.
President James Polk chose to demonstrate U. S. authority by constructing an earthen fort along the Rio Grande River. The fort would later be used by Confederate forces during America’ s Civil War.
Construction of the fort precipitated a Mexican attack followed by a massing of several thousand soldiers by each country at Palo Alto, a broad prairie where the initial battle of the Mexican-American War took place.
6 Community Life