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Fort Brown
Transcript
Although it played a central role in the early battles of the war between the U.S. and Mexico, for a long time this site had no official name.
As the U.S. troops worked frantically to complete the earthwork, they commonly referred to the site as the fort on the Rio Grande or the fort opposite Matamoros.
Some soldiers occasionally made references to the site as Fort Texas or Fort Taylor, but these names were not commonly used.
The site gained a name only after the conclusion of the siege of May 3rd to May 9th of 1846.
On May 17th, General Zachary Taylor issued an order naming the site Fort Brown, in honor of Major Jacob Brown.
Brown commanded the fort during the siege and died after being struck by a Mexican cannonball.
He also became the namesake of Brownsville, Texas, the town that eventually grew up around the fort.
Credit
NPS/Arthur Gonzalez
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