Bagdad was a town established in 1848 on the south bank of the mouth of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Because the town was inside the municipality of

Matamoros, Tamaulipas Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and the municipal seat of the homonymous municipality. It is on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Br ...

, it was also known as the Port of Bagdad or the Port of Matamoros. It was officially declared non-existent in 1880.

History

During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, the town allied with the

Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

in its rebellion against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. One of the first appearances of Bagdad was found on a map entitled "Map of the Country Adjacent to the Left Bank of the Rio Grande Below Matamoros, 1847." Today, nothing remains of the original settlement. A small lighthouse is located along the shores of Bagdad Beach about east of the former settlement. The resort town of

Playa Bagdad Playa (plural playas) may refer to: Landforms * Endorheic basin, also known as a sink, alkali flat or sabkha, a desert basin with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake * Dry lake, often called a ''playa'' in the so ...

is located about to the south.

References

* Graf. ''Brownsville Weekly Ranchero'', June 15, 1867. * Irby, James A. ''Backdoor at Bagdad''. El Paso, Texas:

Texas Western Press Texas Western Press of the University of Texas at El Paso was founded in 1952 by Carl Hertzog, internationally renowned typographer, book designer, and printer. The distinctive Hertzog colophon and his incomparable touches continued to appear in T ...

, The University of Texas at El Paso, 1977. * Kearney, Milo, and Anthony Knopp. ''Boom and Bust: The Historical Cycles of Matamoros and Brownsville''. 1st ed. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1991. * Lea, Tom. ''The King Ranch''. Boston, Massachusetts:

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...

, 1957. * McAllen Amberson, Mary M., James A. McAllen, and Margaret H. McAllen. ''I Would Rather Sleep in Texas''. Austin, Texas:

Texas State Historical Association The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...

, 2003. * ''New York Herald'', July 29, 1865. * Parisot, P. F. ''Reminiscences of a Texas Missionary''. Austin, Texas: Johnson Bros. Printing Co., 1899. * Gonzalez Ramos, Manuel Humberto. ''Historia del puerto de Bagdad''. Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico: Cronista 7 Cartografo de la H., 2004.

External links

*
Matamoros:. The Gateway to Mexico
{{Foreign countries in the American Civil War 1848 establishments in Mexico American Civil War by location Foreign relations during the American Civil War Matamoros, Tamaulipas Populated places established in 1848 Second French intervention in Mexico Populated places disestablished in 1880

History

See also

References

External links