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Bagdad was a town established in 1848 on the south bank of the mouth of the Rio Grande, in Mexico. 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.
Bagdad
Port of Matamoros | |
|---|---|
Former settlement | |
 Sunset over the floodplains just west of Bagdad Beach | |
  Bagdad Location in Tamaulipas  Bagdad Location in Mexico | |
| Coordinates: 25°57′00″N 97°09′00″W / 25.950°N 97.150°W | |
| Country | Mexico |
| State | Tamaulipas |
| Municipality | Matamoros |
| Founded | 1848 |
| Abandoned | 1880 |
History
editOne 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 town allied with the Confederate States in its rebellion against the United States. 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.[1] 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.[1]
When the American Civil 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.[2] 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.
See also
edit- Boca Chica Beach — neighboring area across the border
References
edit- ^ a b Delaney, Robert W. (1955). "Matamoros, Port for Texas during the Civil War". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 58 (4): 473–487. ISSN 0038-478X.
- ^ Buenger, Walter L. (1984). "Review of The Matamoros Trade: Confederate Commerce, Diplomacy, and Intrigue". The Journal of Southern History. 50 (4): 655–656. doi:10.2307/2208496. ISSN 0022-4642.
Bibliography
edit- 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, 1957.
- McAllen Amberson, Mary M., James A. McAllen, and Margaret H. McAllen. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas. Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical Association, 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
edit
Media related to Bagdad, Tamaulipas at Wikimedia Commons- Matamoros:. The Gateway to Mexico (in Spanish)
