| dc.description.abstract | The times of Santos Benavides, 1823 to 1891, were as violent and turbulent as any in American history. It was a time in which revolution, guerrilla, insurgent and international warfare, fratricide, and racial conflict fathered one violent adventure after another. Yet fortune and glory were available if one chose to face and had the strength to overcome these dangers. Such a man was Santos Benavides, a Mexican-American of Laredo, Texas, "a man of reckless and daring nature." Benavides began active participation in the troubled times as a teenage Mexican revolutionist in the Mexican Federalist Wars of 1838-1840. Although this effort was unsuccessful, the military experiences were especially beneficial to him for only in the last days of his life was he free from the dangers of armed conflict. Anonymity offered a much safer course in the anarchical era, but Benavides' family tradition and personal nature precluded this. From the time of his earliest ancestors, the original Spanish colonizers, the Benavideses were leaders in the struggle for the establishment of peaceful and viable communities along the lower Rio Grande border. As his forefathers did, so did Santos. As to his duty, "no man could have done more," wrote a contemporary historian. Yet his contribution to the progress and development of the region has been allowed to escape proper attention. Certain Mexican-American intellectuals have suggested, and not without reason, that Anglo-American historians have been remiss in their hesitancy to incorporate the story of men of Mexican heritage, like Santos Benavides, into their writings. Especially is this so, they charge, for the last half of the nineteenth century. Their criticism challenged this writer and this study is a result of that challenge. Its purpose has been to examine the events of that time and place with special attention given to the effect that the Mexican-American Santos Benavides had on those affairs. It is a story well rescuing. It was as Confederate officer and regimental commander that Santos Benavides made his most significant contribution. Although there were no important battles fought in Texas during the war, the support that the Confederacy received from Texas in war goods and supplies was of vital importance to the Southern effort. It is for his success in keeping the trade lanes open between Mexico and Texas that Benavides received the thanks of Texas and Confederate officials. He was promoted to the rank of colonel, the highest rank attained by any Mexican-American in the American Civil War. colonel Benavides believed strongly in the confederate cause and, unlike most of his race, held fast to its principles until the end of the conflict. He was the only American officer who commanded enough respect from the Spanish-speaking peoples to get from a sizable number of them a solid commitment to fight for either the Union or Confederate cause. In addition to his contribution to the confederacy, Benavides' effectiveness in combatting the violent acts of the lawless elements and Indians in his region were noteworthy. His defeat of the popular bandits, Cortina, Ochoa, and Zapata, stand as memorials to his courage and ability in the fierce struggle for law and order in the lower Rio Grande border. Any history of the region during those troubled times would be incomplete without the inclusion of the activities of Santos Benavides. | |
