Zacate Creek is inside

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of th ...

city limits and runs southwest for 10 miles until it connects to the Rio Grande. Zacate Creek has several

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

es leading to it. The terrain surrounding the creek is mostly clay. The vegetation surrounding the creek is mostly made up of

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...

, cacti, and

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

es. Zacate Creek and branches cross several highways in Laredo, Texas among them are:

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

, United States Route 59, Texas State Highway Spur 400,

Texas State Highway 359 State Highway 359 (SH 359) is a state highway that runs from Skidmore in southeastern Texas, near Corpus Christi, southwest and west to Laredo at the international border with Mexico. History The 359 route designation was first used on May 15, ...

, and United States Route 83. The northern branch of the Zacate Creek has a small dam which formed a pond located in Northeast Laredo which is usually filled during storms. The city of Laredo has developed the Zacate Creek Park and the Zacate Creek Greenway, a three mile trail near the creek.

Battle of Laredo

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 ...

, Laredo was a main route to export cotton to

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 ...

on behalf of 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 ...

. On March 18, 1864, Major

Alfred Holt Alfred Holt (13 June 1829 – 28 November 1911) was a British engineer, ship owner and merchant. He lived at Crofton, Aigburth in Liverpool, England. Holt is credited with establishing the long distance steamship by developing a type tha ...

led a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

detachment of about 200 men from Brownsville, Texas to destroy 5,000 bales of cotton stacked at the San Agustín Plaza. Colonel Santos Benavides commanded 42 men and repelled three Union attacks at Zacate Creek in what is known as the Battle of Laredo.Webb County Heritage Foundation; War on the Rio Grande
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Coordinates

* Source: in

* Mouth: Rio Grande

References

{{authority control Tributaries of the Rio Grande Geography of Laredo, Texas Rivers of Texas

Battle of Laredo

Coordinates

See also

References