Soy de Duval

by  Arnoldo De Leon Arnoldo De Leon Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Angelo State University Despite their role in the Texas Revolution, however, the Benavides family encountered the same fate as other Tejanos faced once the fighting ended. Suspected of aiding Santa Anna and being involved in the massacre of Goliad and the Battle of the Alamo, many Tejanos had been chased from their homes and ranches. Some fled to the Rio Grande Valley, where the settlements established by Jose de Escandon in the 174Os and 175Os provided them refuge. Others fled to Louisiana to escape vengeful white men. Among those leaving for Louisiana were the four Benavides brothers who had helped found Victoria--Placido, Eugenio, Ysidro, and Nicolas. It was in Louisiana that Cayetana Moreno Benavides, the wife of Ysidro, gave birth in 1836 to Placido, the future founder of Benavides, Texas. After two years in exile, the Benavideses (except their brother Placido who had died in Opelousas, Louisiana,

by  Arnoldo De Leon Arnoldo De Leon Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Angelo State University Benavides, Texas, is located in eastern Duval County on Las Animas Creek and the Texas Mexican Railroad. It lies in a region rich in history and cultural tradition. The area's place in the Texas chronicle goes back to 1767 when the Marquis de Rubi crossed the area on his return trip to Mexico after inspecting the Spanish frontier of Texas. 1 Though uninhabited except by roaming Indians for the rest of the eighteenth century, in the 1820s it began to attract settlers from the ranching frontier Jose de Escandon had established along the Rio Grande, leading thereby, to the formation of little ranches like San Diego. 2 The area grew gradually in subsequent decades, though less than 1,000 people inhabited present-day Duval County at the time of the Civil War (1861-1865). In the years that followed the war, this section and the chaparral country extending to the Rio Grande became