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

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

, in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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

History

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. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the town allied with the Confederate States in its rebellion against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The cotton trade in Bagdad brought together more than 20,000 traders and investors from the United States (Union and Confederacy), England, France, and Germany. This led to the growth of Bagdad from a small coastal outpost into a fully developed town. Ships would anchor in the area off Bagdad and unload their legal goods during the day onto smaller boats, while they waited until nightfall to unload any obvious war materials. These materials were immediately sent to the Texas side and were never officially recorded by the Mexican customs authorities. When the war concluded, it had a devastating impact on the Port of Bagdad, which was left mostly abandoned. As of 1984, the port had never fully recovered from its decline. Today, nothing remains of the original settlement. However, a small lighthouse is located along the shores of Bagdad Beach about 0.3 km (0.19 mi) east of the former settlement. The resort town of Playa Bagdad is located about 14 km (8.7 mi) to the south.

References

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

, 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 an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, 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 Ghost towns in Mexico

History

See also

References

External links