San Elizario
San Elizario, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
San Elizario was established in 1789 on the former site of Hacienda de Los Tiburcios as a Spanish colonial fort known as the Presidio de San Elceario. The Presidio was moved from its original location (approx. 37 mi. s) in response to requests from settlers for military protection from Indian raids. It operated as a Spanish post until 1814, when troops withdrew during the Mexican War for Independence (1810-1821). During its years as a part of Mexico, the Presidio de San Elceario (now San Elizario) was occupied periodically by Mexican troops. A reduced military presence resulted in the fort's decline. American control of the area began in 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which established the Rio Grande as the border between the United States and Mexico. When the county of El Paso was organized in 1850, the town of San Elizario was chosen first county seat and served as such until 1873. In 1877 it was the scene of a crisis known as the Salt War, in which local businessmen attempted to control the salt market that had operated since colonial times. Although San Elizario was bypassed by the railroad and has become a rural farming community, it remains an important element in the region's rich heritage. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1789 as the Spanish Presidio de San Elceario, this outpost was relocated northward to shield settlers from raids, guarding the El Paso district through the twilight of Spanish rule and the Mexican War for Independence. After the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo drew the border at the Rio Grande, the town became El Paso County's first seat and, in 1877, the flashpoint of the violent Salt War over access to communal salt beds.
Why it matters
San Elizario traces three flags across a single ground — Spanish, Mexican, and American — showing how the Southwest borderland was contested, settled, and folded into the United States.
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Related events
- · Salt War of 1877
- · Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Killing of General J. J. Byrne
Sierra Blanca, TX
In August 1880, the Apache leader Victorio's raiders ambushed a Fort Davis–bound stagecoach in a steep West Texas canyon, killing its lone passenger, retired general and surveyor J. J. Byrne, almost instantly while the driver wheeled the mules around and raced back to Fort Quitman. It was among the last acts of a two-year campaign in which Victorio's guerrilla tactics baffled and impressed the U.S. Army across Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Later that year, thousands of American and Mexican soldiers hunted Victorio down and killed him in Mexico.
Apache Last Stand
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On June 12, 1880, in the rugged Big Bend country of Presidio County, four Pueblo Indian scouts serving under General Benjamin H. Grierson fought and turned back a band of twenty Apache warriors. The marker records it as the last Apache stand in the county — a small but telling episode in the long, grinding conclusion of the Indian Wars in far West Texas. It reflects the era when the U.S. Army relied heavily on Native scouts to fight other Native peoples.
Espejo-Beltran Expedition - 1582-1583
San Elizario, TX
In 1582 the Franciscan Fray Bernardino Beltrán organized an expedition from northern Mexico to search for two missionaries left behind in what is now New Mexico, escorted by the merchant-rancher Antonio de Espejo. Reaching the El Paso area by early 1583, they learned the friars had been killed by Indians; Beltrán turned back, but Espejo pressed on to investigate rumors of silver and rich pueblos. His party became the first Europeans to explore the country from the Pecos Valley to La Junta, where the Rio Grande meets the Conchos.
Rodriguez-Chamuscado Expedition, 1581
San Elizario, TX
In 1581, drawn by Indian accounts of settlements to the north, the Franciscan Fray Agustin Rodriguez led a small missionary expedition up the Rio Grande, guided by the red-bearded soldier Francisco Sanchez, known as El Chamuscado, "The Singed." They became likely the first Spaniards to pass through the Pass of the North near present El Paso, exploring from New Mexico to the Texas Panhandle before hardship and death overtook their leaders.