Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

On May 8, 1846, General Zachary Taylor marched out of Point Isabel with about 2,300 men and 200 supply wagons to relieve Fort Texas, the earthwork on the Rio Grande where Major Jacob Brown held on with some 550 men. General Mariano Arista's Army of the North, about 3,200 strong, waited across the Matamoros road on this open prairie. Mexico had declared a defensive war on April 23; the United States did not declare war until May 12.

The fight began about 2 p.m. and became an artillery duel. Major Samuel Ringgold's "flying artillery," light guns on carriages behind trained horse teams, could move faster than the Mexican cannon, and Ringgold was mortally wounded. At dusk neither side held the field, and the Mexican soldiers buried their dead that night. The casualty counts are disputed: Arista's commissary reported 102 killed, 129 wounded and 26 missing, while the Americans reported 5 dead and 43 wounded. Arista fell back to Resaca de la Palma the next day and lost; the siege of Fort Texas ended, and the fort was renamed for Brown, who died of his wound.

The park keeps the story from both sides, with a Mexican 8-pounder field gun, living historians in Mexican War-era uniforms and an overlook with three interpretive panels over the battlefield. Resaca de la Palma, a 34-acre unit about five miles south, was added to the park in 2009; ask the park about access. Park grounds are open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and no entrance fee is charged.