Santos Benavides
Laredo, Webb County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Santos Benavides, son of Jose Jesus and Marguerita Benavides and great-great grandson of Laredo founder Tomas Sanchez, was born in Laredo on November 1, 1823. He married Augustina Villareal in 1842. Benavides, appointed procurador (administrative agent) of Laredo in 1843, openly cooperated with the forces of Mirabeau B. Lamar which occupied Laredo during the Mexican War (1846-48) in an effort to pacify the region. He was elected mayor of Laredo in 1856 and 1857 and chief justice of Webb County in 1859. During the Civil War Benavides raised a company of cavalry at Laredo which defeated Juan Cortina in the Battle of Carrizo in 1861. He became a colonel in command of his own regiment known as Benavides' Regiment. On March 19, 1864, his regiment successfully defended Laredo with only 42 men against a Union force of more than 200 men. During the late 1860s and 1870' Benavides engaged in mercantile and ranching activities with his brother Cristobal. He served in the Texas Legislature during the 1880s and in 1884 was appointed Texas Commissioner to the world's Cotton Exposition. Benavides helped found the Guarache party, a faction of Laredo's Democratic Party. He died in Laredo on November 9, 1891. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Laredo in 1823, a great-great-grandson of the town's founder, Santos Benavides rose to become its mayor and Webb County's chief justice before the Civil War. He raised a cavalry company for the Confederacy, defeated Juan Cortina at the Battle of Carrizo in 1861, and in March 1864 held Laredo with just 42 men against a Union force of more than 200. The highest-ranking Tejano officer of the Confederacy, he later served in the Texas Legislature and as a state commissioner.
Why it matters
Benavides's career shows how deeply Tejano leaders shaped the politics, commerce, and Civil War history of the Texas–Mexico borderlands.
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Related people
- · Santos Benavides
- · Juan Cortina
Related events
- · Battle of Carrizo
- · Defense of Laredo (1864)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Refugio Benavides
Laredo, TX
A descendant of Laredo's 1755 founder Tomás Sánchez, Refugio Benavides was a pillar of one of the border city's leading families. He served as alderman and mayor before the Civil War, then rose to captain in the 3rd Texas Cavalry, commanding a company that defended the Rio Grande frontier and helped keep the valley open as a Confederate cotton-export route. After Reconstruction he returned to the mayor's office for three terms, improving schools, sewers, and the city charter.
Calvary Catholic Cemetery
Laredo, TX
As Laredo boomed in the late 1800s, the border city needed a fourth camposanto, but politics, money, and neighborhood objections delayed the new Catholic cemetery until 1901. Its grounds hold special sections for infants, for priests, and for the Marist brothers and four orders of nuns who served the city, alongside laity and soldiers. Among the notable dead are Civil War figures Santos and Refugio Benavides and Bishop Pedro Verdaguer of the Vicariate of Brownsville.
Juan Francisco Farías Residence
Laredo, TX
This Laredo home traces to about 1840 and the family of Juan Francisco Farías, son of a Laredo alcalde and himself an alderman, mayor, and secretary to the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande. Built of locally fired brick clad in stucco, with two-foot walls, four fireplaces, and Corinthian porch columns, it stayed in the family for five generations until 1974. During the Civil War, Colonel Santos Benavides and Mayor Farías reportedly gathered here to plan Laredo's defense against Union forces.
Jarvis Plaza
Laredo, TX
Samuel Matthias Jarvis, a Columbia-trained engineer from New York, joined Zachary Taylor's army in the Mexican-American War, later married in Nuevo León, and settled his family in Laredo after the Civil War. As county surveyor and mayor from 1868 to 1872, he laid out streets and parks, mapped the city, and expanded the old Spanish town plan of 1767. He donated the land for this plaza, known by his name since at least 1881.