Opening Moves on the Rio Grande: The Relief of Fort Texas

Led by “Old Rough and Ready,” the outnumbered American Army drove Mexican forces back across the Rio Grande and moved on to Palo Alto.

This article appears in: June 2011

By David A. Norris The hot days at Fort Texas were about to get a lot hotter. For days, the men of the 7th U.S. Infantry who garrisoned the remote fort had watched as enemy cannons were aimed at them across the Rio Grande from the Mexican town of Matamoros. Now they saw a large procession of civilians in flowing robes moving from gun to gun. One by one, each of the artillery pieces that glared at them was blessed by priests and monks. The 500 American soldiers inside Fort Texas were caught bet