These Palmetto Pilings
Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
These palmetto pilings are the remains of the Boca Chica Crossing of the Railroad from Boca Chica inlet to White's Ranch on the Rio Grande. Begun by General Francis H. Herron, U.S.A., in 1864 and completed in 1865 by General Philip H. Sheridan for the transportation of military supplies. The cypress piling 1,000 feet north are what remain of a floating bridge constructed across Boca Chica Inlet by General Zachary Taylor in 1846 as a part of the road from Brazos Santiago to the White Ranch Landing and Clarksville on the Rio Grande, for transportation of military supplies. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
These weathered pilings mark two separate military supply roads a generation apart. The cypress piles are remnants of a floating bridge Gen. Zachary Taylor threw across Boca Chica Inlet in 1846 during the Mexican-American War; the palmetto pilings are what remains of a railroad crossing begun by Gen. Francis Herron in 1864 and finished by Gen. Philip Sheridan in 1865 to move Union supplies at the close of the Civil War.
Why it matters
This lonely stretch of the lower Rio Grande carried the logistics of two of America's defining nineteenth-century wars, a reminder that the far southern border was a strategic theater in both.
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Related people
- · Francis H. Herron
- · Philip H. Sheridan
- · Zachary Taylor
Related events
- · Mexican-American War
- · Civil War
Themes & tags
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